WANTED!   Wanted Posters

by Jenny Helms

Materials Needed:

• poster board
• scissors
• crayons
• glue
• markers or colored pencils
• magazines

Regardless of age, the little kid in all of us comes out when crayons, scissors, and glue are brought into the classroom. The following language arts activity is a creative way to cover sentence writing, paragraph writing, and following directions for all levels of students.

For this activity the students will create Wanted posters of themselves or someone else. Each Wanted poster should contain a picture or sketch of the "suspect." The picture, sketch, or snapshot should be large enough to be seen from a short distance. Make sure you have old magazines available for this activity so that the non- drawers can cut out a picture to use.

Create an offense for the "suspect" and write it under the picture. This offense may be a bad habit. Write the name of the "suspect" and an alias (A.K.A. = also known as). Make sure the alias has something to do with the offense.

Write a paragraph describing the offense and what trouble it has caused. This paragraph should be about five sentences. You may wish to use such phrases as . . .

    "She/he can be seen . . . "
    "Use extreme caution because . . . "
    "She/he is usually found . . . "

Include a second paragraph of about three sentences that gives a physical description of the suspect. The reward should be something consistent with the rest of the "crime."

Encourage your students to have fun with this and be creative. Once all of the posters are complete, have individual students share their poster with the class.

As a teacher, you should always have an example to show the students; therefore, you will want to create your own poster before you introduce this activity to them.