How scary should a calendar be?
4
Enabling the design decisions
It is important that the children can relate to the Big Task. Small Task 1 provides the opportunity for the class to become familiar with different sorts of calendar, where they can be found, who uses them and why. It is important not to rush this session as it provides the basis for three of the design decisions the children will make in later lessons.
Learning about facial expression and body language, which can be used to show friendliness or scariness, is important if children are to design their monster with a particular effect in mind. This is developed in Small Task 2. There are plenty of cartoon shows, films and television commercials featuring friendly and scary monsters, so there is a large amount of relevant material available that is already familiar to the children.
You can use the class and group monster calendar specifications to record the children's design decisions. These are an important record, as they provide the information to support both enacting and evaluating the design decisions.
As the children are modelling solutions on screen, which are easy to change, you will be able to encourage them to experiment with different ways of meeting a design decision.