International Dot Day is always something I look forward to. Since I teach technology classes, I knew I had to plan special activities where my students could learn a technology skill while also interacting with the book. First, my students listened to the story using TumbleBooks on our SmartBoard. Next, we had a great discussion about what makes this book special and how each of us contribute unique gifts to this world. Here’s the activities with samples from each grade level:
Students used the Adobe Voice app to retell the story in their own words. They used the app Drawing Pad to insert a drawing into their Adobe Voice project. This added a touch of personalization to their projects. Students practiced the art of retelling a story and also put creative touches on icons, music, themes, and appearance. I loved how these turned out. Here’s a few samples in one short movie:
I had my fourth grade students create art gallery advertisements using Pages. Students added text, changed font, color, and size, and inserted shapes using the shape tool. Once the shapes were inserted, they played with the many features to format their circles. They played with the fill tool, added lines, added rectangles to create a picture frame, explored the arrange tool by sending objects to the front or the back. Students loved figuring out how to add depth to their shapes by adding shadows, reflections, and exploring the opacity of the object. Here are a few samples of my student’s creating their art gallery advertisement:
I had my students create art galleries in Keynote. Like using Pages, using the shape tool in Keynote was very fun for these students. My students explored similar features in Pages and created their very own art galleries followed by a tour of their galleries before class was over. Students practiced so many technological skills when doing this activity. Here are some of the pictures from our “art gallery” in class.
Second graders used Drawing Pad to create their own unique dots. Once finished, I wanted to give them the opportunity to bring their dots to life and give their dots a voice by using Chatterbox Kids. This was a fun app smash project. Here are a few samples of their animated dots with voice:
Hope you enjoyed seeing how we’ve MADE OUR MARK this year! #DotDay2015