Day 14-12 & Some Comic Life!

I didn't snap any photos those days, bummer. But day 14 was Wacky Wednesday, we had wigs, silly socks, and a lot of backwards clothes and mismatched shoes.  Yesterday we got to relax on our beach blankets during literacy with some beachy music strumming in the background.  Today, was one of their favorites- sit by your friends. This is a BIG reward for this crew!

On an aside... Do you ever come across something at the end of the year and just smack your head and say "Gah! Why didn't I find this sooner!!!???"  Well that was me on Monday after I came across Comic Life. I had the app downloaded on our class iPad and it never dawned on me that there was an actual site! Let me tell you- it is pretty awesome.  We have been looking at graphic novels, and comics as other forms of writing in our class.  So this site fit in perfectly!  It is free for 30 days then you have to pay for a license fee, I am not sure what that is yet, but I will totally  be paying it.

For this project I gave them a list of choices for what they could share on their comic page. They could choose either the year in review, a science concept, a social studies concept, or their favorite book.  The first step is for them to sketch planning panels in their journals and write out what information they are going to share on their page.

Second, they took their ideas and added them to an actual panel template that I printed from the website and wrote out their scenes and sketched their characters.  Next week we will be taking our scenes and really drawing them and adding detail and color so I can scan to add to their page. I am super excited to share their finished projects with your!!

Had I known about this software sooner I would have been all over it.  I for see me using it as a timeline. Every week/month I, or the students will create one and post it in the hallway. Moving to an IB school I can see the kids using it as evidence of meeting the different aspects of the learner profile.  I also would like to use it in my wall displays we are required to have as a way to represent student response and profile some of the photos of them working!! Such fun things to do....!!!