One of the 5th grade projects is the report on a "historical" figure.
TC's first choice, Paul McCartney was rejected by her teacher!!!! WTF!!!! You don't say no to SIR PAUL! Anyways, we told TC to have some backup people on her list and present it to her teacher. Luckily, her 2nd choice was accepted!
Our daughter is quirky (like me) and didn't want to do a run of the mill famous person. No offense to Martin Luther King, Jr., Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, and so on. Oh no. Her inner geek shone brightly that day when she requested that her report be on the one and the only Stan "The Man" Lee!
In addition to doing a five to six paragraph report, they also had to reconfigure the report as a speech written in the first person They had to make a book cover (it's due tomorrow). TC cut out Lee's superheroes and put them on the cover. These were taken from her uncle's vintage comic collection that he gave to Bert last year (Bert's oldest bro).
Along with the report, book cover and speech, they also had to make a puppet of some sort.
TC used a plastic drinking cup for the body and covered it with brown felt for his jacket. She made the collars and a pocket with rolled up paper for the pen. Bert enlarged and color copied Stan Lee's face which TC glued onto foam core board and attached onto a shaved foam ball for the head. The arms were felt covered wires (so it's bendable) with the sleeves made of rolled up felt. The shoulders were attached to the cup with metal brads but they are covered by the felt. The puppets have to hold something that represents what they are famous for, so Stan is "holding" the first issue of Fantastic Four (1961).
Oops, the comic book cover was peeling on top of the foam core. TC cut out Thor's thumb and glued it onto the cover. She was supposed to include his wrist and wrist cuff but forgot so now, there is a mysterious detached "floating" thumb! Not seen is the "back side" of the hand behind the comic book (taken from another comic book cover). Do you know how hard it was to find hands that looked like they were holding something?
Here is the Thor comic that she cut up for his hand! (Gasp! A cut up comic book?) Look at Thor's right hand! This comic is vintage 1970's, totally made of cheap pulp and interspersed with hokey advertisements for being a muscle bound jock and cheap trinkets.
This is the left hand (not cut quite as neatly as it should have). Kind of looks claw like, eh?
Well, THAT was taken from this Shang-Chi comic cover (circa 1973 when Kung Fu-sploitation was in full force)! See the guy with the knife on the right? Yeah, that was his hand. TC scoured the different comic covers to see which hands she could use so she wouldn't have to draw Stan Lee's hands herself.
I thought it would be cool to surround the Stan Lee cup puppet with all the characters Stan Lee co-created and made famous. TC's small slender hand fits better in the puppet than our monstrous hands do. That legless puppet is giving me the creeps I must say!
Check out those vintage comics featuring Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, the Amazing Spider Man, Thor, the Fantastic Four. In another box, Bert also had some Dr. Doom, the Avengers, the Human Torch and more. His comics were from the 80's though.
TC has to practice her speech later on tonight. It has to be at least 3 minutes long. We've been her "audience" for the past couple of nights and have been giving her pointers on her inflection, presentation, and all. She better get a damn good grade on this! Her written report is fine but the speech needs work. The kids actually have to hold their puppet as they give their speech! When I was in 5th grade I don't remember having to a report this detailed!
This was her most fun project that we've experienced. Bert was happy to provide her with the old comics as props. TC had fun making the puppet. I also enjoyed reading the Stan Lee biography, Stan Lee Comic Book Genius, as well as his autobiography Excelsior! Turns out that Stan Lee was a player too! He courted his wife while she was still married! What? She was a British model and War Bride. She realized her marriage was a mistake so she went to Vegas to get divorced. Stan Lee followed her to Vegas after a few months and once her divorce was finalized, they were married immediately afterwards by the same judge who granted her divorce!
TC's next project will be on Charles M. Schulz!
3 comments:
Everything looks awesome BUT wow.. that is a lot of work! I don't remember doing anything that involved in elementary school. I'm sure she'll get an A.
I remember studying Native Americans in fifth grade and making a pueblo out of mud, but never all the work required in this. Good job! Her puppet is awesome.
hi darlene and wc - thanks! : )
tc was embarassed that i posted her puppet tho'.
she got a '4' which is equivalent to an 'A'. The class also had to score every kid's report and she said she got mostly 4's. The one's who gave her 3's said she talked too fast (which she is prone to doing sometimes).
man, i hated doing projects in school. we had to do a diorama of an indian tribe (sorry, native american) in 8th grade. it sucked. oh, and a relief map of california, which was also a pain to make.
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