Monsterously Fun Writing Center

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I guess I never grew up past the phase of loving to play dress up and imagine there is magic in the world. For that reason I go ALL OUT for Halloween in my class each year. In preparation for Halloween week I created a writing center in which the students would write about how they would act, feel, look, and be if they were monsters. This built up their conditional tense writing in Spanish and just looked really stinking cute in the Hallway! So here you go, enjoy!
Step One: Find monster glasses. 
When I was helping my dad clean out his basement this past summer I found a huge bag of these monster glasses. He thinks he got them from Oriental Trading Co. (my favorite) for really cheap. I had each of my students pick their favorite of the glasses and wear them for a picture. I took these in advance so that I could print them and have them ready for the students when they did the center. The kids LOVED IT! There were so many giggles :)

Get the glasses from OTC here!

Step Two: Gather supplies. 
For the writing center I gave each child a long piece of black paper, a die cut frame in neon colors, their picture of their monster glasses, and a "Si fuera un monstruo" writing paper.

Step Three: Write your monster story. 
The students looked at their pictures and used their imaginations to write all about what they would do if they were monsters. Here's a sample of one of my student's work and the translation:

"If I were a monster...I would go outside of my house and scare everyone. I would leave and walk around outside and scare people. I would be worried that they would take me to jail or call the police. I would miss my parents and wouldn't want to go."
I thought her's was so cute - she really got into character and was thinking about the repercussions of her actions. I guess our character traits teaching is working :)
Step Four: Put it all together.
Once they finished writing I had the students color the monsters on the paper and put their page together. We had the picture up top with the frame, and then glued the writing page below it. I hung them outside our room in the hallway. We have gotten so many compliments from parents and teachers. I can't wait to do this again next year. Best of all, it doesn't have to be Halloween themed - you can use monsters anytime!