08 April - Comic Strip - 5th grade

Objectives:

Students will generate ideas for use in art projects and execute them by creating their own comic strip.

Materials:

Comic strips or comic books 

Comic strip templates 

pencils

erasers

sharpies

Procedure:

1. Find some comic books, or comic strips from newspapers, or print them from online sources and bring them into the classroom. You can distribute them to pairs or leave them on a table and allow the students to pick and choose what they want to see or read. This should be a fairly free form activity where the students just enjoy looking at the pictures and words.

2. Explain to the students that they will be designing their own comic strips. Show them the templates that they will use. Explain how a comic strip works. Explain how it is read: boxes left to right in rows, the difference between speech, thought, and exclamation bubbles, etc.

3.  Create the storyline. 

Have students create a simple story. Kids can pair up. For example:

Title: Alien Invader

1.A scientist experimenting with alien eggs is attacked by a hatchling! 

2.A galactic policeman is called to help. 

3.Three-eyed alien asks them not to hurt the baby hatchling. 

4.An exterminator shows up and wants to do his job.

5.Three-eyed alien begs for mercy. 

6.The scientist realizes that the hatchling just thinks he is “mommy”! 

7.The real mother shows up and takes the hatchling away.

If they are having trouble with this you can suggest:

- Have the students find a single-box cartoon that they like. Create two new boxes showing events leading up to the event or situation in the cartoon they have selected. Then create two boxes showing events following the event in the cartoon they have selected. 

- Think of simple fables, like Aesop's fables. Tell a fable using a story board (comic strip) rather than words.

4. Give each student/group a template and explain how that each story point gets drawn in one box. Show how to add speech bubbles (speech bubbles can go beyond the border of the boxes).

5. Create the speech (for the speech and thought bubbles)that tells the story. 

6. When students have finished drawing their comic strip in pencil, they can “ink” them using black sharpie.

Presentation:

The students can present the comic strips to the rest of the class.