||Writing a recount
In this lesson,
students write a recount of a special event such as a school
excursion, a sporting event, a school assembly or parade.
|Key Learning Area
- Identifies customs, practices,
symbols, languages and traditions of their family and of other
- Describes the cultural,
linguistic and religious practices of their family, their
community and of other communities.
- Communicates the importance of
past and present people, days and events in their life, in the
lives of family and community members and in other communities.
Learning Area Outcomes:
- Social Studies:
- Recounts events and
situations involving themselves and others.
- Refers to current family,
school, local, national and global events.
- Discuss and demonstrate how to write a recount. Explain that
a recount tells us what, where, when, who, why and how.
- Have students write a recount of a recent event such as a
school excursion, sports day, assembly or parade. Once students
have completed their draft and conference their recount,
students publish their story in Microsoft® PowerPoint®
2003. You may
like to buddy up your students with a teachers aid, parent
helper or older student to assist them in typing their recount.
Import images from the special day or perhaps you would like to
have students draw a picture that can be scanned and saved as a
Download Excursion Template Download Event Template Download Bus Trip Template
- Students record themselves narrating their recounts:
- Select Slide Show> Record Narration. You can adjust
and test your microphone if you wish, otherwise select OK.
- The presentation will go into slide show view. Record the
narration for each slide then click Esc to exit slide
show view. You will be asked if you would like to record the
slide timings with the narrations. Click Yes. When you
run your presentation in slide show view, the slides will
progress automatically in time with the narration.
- Allow time for students to share their presentations.
sample file (requires sound).
- School is full of lots of wonderful experiences including
excursions, assembly and special events like sporting days,
parades, grandparents day and fetes. Here's your chance to share
your story about one of these special days. Where did you go?
When did you go? Who went? Why did you go? What did you do
there? Write a recount of your special event.
Recount Activity Sheet
- Using Microsoft® PowerPoint®, publish your story as a
presentation. Don't forget that when we write, we use lowercase
letters but on a computer keyboard, the letters are all in
capitals. You may need to get some help typing your story.
- Once you have written and published your recount, record
yourself reading your story. Speak slowly and clearly when
talking into a microphone.
- Enjoy sharing your story with your classmates.
You may like to have students
create a narrated video of their excursion using still images in
Microsoft® Photo Story
- You will need to have all images saved to file ready for
use. You may like to use digital photos or drawings that have
been scanned and saved to file.
- Once you
have your images saved to file, open Microsoft® Photo Story
Select Start> Programs> Microsoft Photo Story 3
- Select Begin a new story and click Next:
- Click Import Pictures and locate your saved images
from file from the directory of folders. Click on the images you
would like to insert. As you import images, they will be placed
on the time line. Adjust the position of the images by dragging
and dropping the pictures on the time line into the correct
sequence. Edit your images to suit then click Next:
- Add any text that you would like to accompany your images
such as a title, and click Next:
- Record the narration to accompany each image. You may like to
tell the story from memory, or type in notes to assist you:
- Click Customise Motion and adjust the motion and
duration of the panning and zooming effects by clicking
Specify start and end position of motion. Drag and resize
the before and after positions to determine how panning and
zooming will occur. Select Save after adjusting each
- Click the Transition tab and select a transition
effect to suit. Click Close when you have finished
choosing transitions, then click Next:
- Select a piece of music that you have saved to file, or
alternatively you may like create a piece of music within Photo
Story. You may even like to use more than one piece of music.
Simply click an image on the time line, and import a second or
third piece of music to begin playing from your elected image.
Adjust the volume so that the music plays in the background
without drowning out the narration. Click Next:
- Select what you would like to do with your story, then click
Browse to select a specific file that you would like to
save your published story to:
- Once you click Next, your story will published as a
wmv. file which can be played in Microsoft® Media Player. Don't
forget to Save Project so that you can reopen the working
document at a later date for editing.
- Now that you have published your story, it's time to sit
back and enjoy watching the movies with your class.
When assessing student learning, you may like
to use the Tracking Sheet template: