Comic Books with Google Slides

Last year I posted about the 3rd grade Cultural Tour comic books project I did. It was a first attempt and it went well. But as with anything there is always room to improve.

This year I created a tutorial for my students and colleagues to follow to allow them more time to work independently.

The below Slides presentation is the comic book I made for colleagues as part of a professional development series we call ST@C.

There are also links to various examples of student work. Google Slides is an awesome tool, not just for traditional presentations but for pushing the bounds of possibilities.

Hope this helps other teachers and students get started creating comics with Slides...

Cultural Comics with Google Slides: a 3rd grade experiment

It was the beginning of June and my colleague Ms. Conklin and I met to talk about a final project. A project the students could have a lot of fun with through the last month, but also a project that would also incorporate their cultural universal unit of study.

We decided to take their research on a location and turn it into a comic book style travel guide. A comic book they create from the ground up and build collaboratively.

We decided to use Google Drawing and Google Slides to make comic books...

Koko's Kitten: a layered collaboration in 2nd grade

Recently, two Second Grade classes read Koko's Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson. 

To extend the experiences and add a technology component we had both classes work in layered partnerships to create their own reflections on Koko's Kitten, as a group book.

Students worked in teams of two to create a "page" of this new book. Both classes came to the lab simultaneously and each student partnership worked on a single computer, using a single Google Slide. Once each student partnership was finished with their page they were all printed out and the class partnership built an amazing bulletin board to showcase this collaborative reflection on Koko's Kitten.

The board looks amazing...

3rd Grade Google Slide: The Year Long Reflection

The Project:

Using Google Slides 3rd grade students will create a 13 slide presentation, one month at a time, over the entire school year.

The Why?

It is never too early to start building a digital portfolio and not every portfolio will look the same. But one great way to show true growth and progress is not to publish the best of the best, as most portfolios tend to be, but rather show real, individual progress and growth though the eyes, and words, of the students themselves. It's important for students to think about, and voice, the things that stand out to them the most, their "a-ha" moments of clarity, their personal triumphs. It is also important for students to keep a record of such things and look back on them. It's one thing for us as teachers to say "you've come so far" but it's far more powerful for the student to look at a body of work and say "this is how I've grown."

The How?