I think it’s great when teachers assign projects instead of reports. I am less pleased when the assignment is to create a life size cardboard replica of a historical figure (assigned by the teacher) with the face cut out for students to pose behind. Do they really think a fourth grade boy is going to do this?
It’s not meant to be a project for the children, rather an unspoken competition for the parents…oh the joys of parenting!
Can’t you get one of those beer stand up things of women in a bikini at the grocery store and then just modify it?
There’s software somewhere you can download to print life-size photos of people. I don’t know the name of the software, but it was used to print out pictures of our CEO, CFO, CIO. The printouts were taped to cardboard and we got to pose with them at a recent event.
http://www.megaprint.com/fullsizepeople.html
Here’s one example.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=life+size+poster+printing+software
Here’s a google list of other options (most cheaper than the first one I linked).
Argh, that’s my pet peeve! When my 13yo was in 5th grade, he had one such project. It said right there in the handouts that “the parents are encouraged to help”, so I helped… I let the boys use our garage and bought materials for their storefront. I had no idea that by “help”, the teacher meant “parents should do everything themselves”. The time comes to show the project and everyone shows up with storefronts seven foot tall… made out of wood… and my son and his two friends show up with their lame cardboard box. The worst part? All three of them got Es for this project! Now my other son is going to have the same project in a year, and I’m already trying to decide which way to take – team up with super-handy parents who have a super-big car, or let him do everything on his own, but warn that he’ll get an E for his work?