← BACK TO TEACHER LESSONGrade 5 · Cartooning · Pencil, eraser, and optional black drawing pen on paper

MODERN ART LESSONS · STUDENT WORKSHEET

Windy Duck: Give Your Character a Voice

Make a short dialogue comic featuring a duck with a runaway hat. The character wants to wear a hat outside, but a breeze lifts the hat away. One possible ending: it catches it upside down and finds a leaf inside. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.

Character reference shared across ten skill lessons—not a picture of the completed assignment. Study the example for possibilities, then close or cover it. Your work should make different choices.

Story starter and example

The character wants to wear a hat outside, but a breeze lifts the hat away. One possible ending: it catches it upside down and finds a leaf inside. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer. One speaker states the problem briefly; the other offers a surprising suggestion. The final picture shows the result rather than explaining it twice.

What to do

  1. Your finished project is a short dialogue comic featuring a duck with a runaway hat. Read the story seed: The character wants to wear a hat outside, but a breeze lifts the hat away. One possible ending: it catches it upside down and finds a leaf inside. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
  2. Start with flat bill, broad feet, and a floppy hat. These are helpful shapes, not a tracing template.
  3. Write a short exchange between the character and a helpful friend. Choose words that add something the picture cannot show alone.
  4. Plan speech-bubble space before drawing faces and props. Place the first speaker’s bubble first in reading order.
  5. Draw the scene and point each bubble tail toward its speaker. Read aloud and trim repeated words.
  6. Ask a partner to read the bubbles in order and identify the speakers. Move one bubble or shorten a line if needed. Plan for an unfamiliar reader; compare alternatives and revise pacing, emphasis, or consistency using feedback.
01

My project: a short dialogue comic featuring a duck with a runaway hat. My chosen ending is…

02

Speaker A says… Speaker B says…

03

Plan bubble order before drawing.

04

Words I can remove because the picture shows them…

05

Story clue: How will I show that the character a breeze lifts the hat away?

06

Before feedback, I wanted the reader to notice… The reader actually noticed…

07

Revision: I changed… because…

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