How To Draw Nate From Big Nate

Big Nate: From the Top

Big Nate: From the Top

LINCOLN PEIRCE

Age Range:7 to 12

Lexile Measure: 330 (What's this?)

Series: Big Nate (Book 1)

Pages: 224

Type: Comic Collection

Publication Date: October 19, 2010

ISBN: 9781449402327

About The Book
Teaching Guides
Activities
Videos

About The Book

Big Nate is taking it from the top—the top of the troublemaker's list!

Nate Wright is eleven years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for school detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth-grade Renaissance man. Middle-grade kids everywhere can relate to Big Nate's daily battle against overzealous teachers, backbreaking homework, wimpy cafeteria food, and all-around conventionality. This collection features cartoonist Lincoln Peirce's daily and Sunday comic strips packed with his vintage flair and insights into school humor.

About The Author

Lincoln Peirce has been drawing the Big Nate comic strip for more than 20 years. Born in Ames, Iowa, Peirce grew up in Durham, New Hampshire. As a kid, he began creating his own strips in the sixth grade. Peirce taught high school in New York City and has created several animated pilots for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. He lives in Portland, Maine, with his family.

Teaching Guides

More Teaching Guides

The Teaching Guide that Pairs with Any Big Nate Book!

Any BIG NATE book can be paired with this teaching guide providing a sneaky way to engage students in language arts lessons.

Nate Wright is known to his pals and teachers for many things, including his penchant for mischief and his school record for detentions. The school life of Nate, his pals, his rivals, and his long-suffering teachers are experienced in hilarious detail in every book of the long-running, best-loved series by Lincoln Peirce.

Big Nate: Say Good-bye to Dork City

Grade Levels: 3-5
Curriculum Connections: English Language Arts

Students will analyze the actions and motivations of several characters in Big Nate: Say Good-Bye to Dork City. Students will then write and draw comics showing their own motivations and actions in real life situations.

Activities

More Activities

Make Comics with Big Nate

Middle-grade readers everywhere love the shenanigans and wisecracks of the bestselling Big Nate series. Now they can create comics of their own, just like Nate! In this free printable make-your-own-comic activity, Nate and his squad of sixth-grade pranksters break down comic-creation into easy steps. They open up a world of artistic possibility for fans of the beloved strip. Students can create their own four-panel stories in Lincoln Pierce's signature style, coming up with their own characters and dialogue along the way. As they work, encourage middle-graders to focus critically on their personal writing and drawing processes. You may be inspiring a future cartoonist!

With this activity, students will be encouraged to think about comics as an art form. Doing so will help them learn how to use this time-honored medium to express their own stories. If aspiring artists have trouble thinking of new ideas, there's plenty of inspiration to draw from the chaotic fun of Nate's daily routine. He's always battling against overzealous teachers, protesting unfair wedgies, and trying to set the all-time record for detentions in a single school year. Implementing this Big Nate activity in the classroom or at home is easy.

First, download the free printable make-your-own-comic template. Then, guide your students through imagining, drawing, and writing their own version of a Big Nate cartoon strip. Show them as many examples of Big Nate comics as you want to get their brains in gear. Creating a comic strip is a great exercise on its own, but pairing it with any of the classic Big Nate stories takes engagement and enjoyment to the next level.