My students created a project for their Holiday Showcase this year. I projected the slideshow during the waiting time prior to the start of their program, and parents really enjoyed it. ((There were many of them using video cameras to record the slideshow.))
I need to credit my friend and mentor, Diane McInturff (@giftedteacher) for this idea. She’s an amazing thinker, and such a blessing to me.
I read the book Someday by Charlotte Zolotow to the students. Then, we talked about font sizes, shapes and colors. Using KidPix, students created a new page, typed the word “Someday”, changed the font/size/color, typed their name, drew a picture, and dictated their “I will….” sentence. It took two 30-minute class periods- one to read the book and model the font concepts, and the second for the students to create the images. Rather than having them save, I took screenshots as students finished. Here is the result:
Kindergarten Showcase 2010 from Berthoud Elementary School on Vimeo.
[media-credit name=”Stock Xchng | http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1319900″ align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]
Last year, I did a mini-project with Kindergarteners prior to their Showcase night where they drew snowflakes, typed their name on the page, and printed them. They were precious, and a neat winter wall decor item. I talked with students briefly about how snowflakes are all special and unique…. just like them! ((Although, I learned today that conventional wisdom about ‘no identical snowflakes’ is not true. Check out the info here at Wolfram Science.))
This year, I’m sprucing up that project by showing a short BrainPOP video on Snowflakes and then sharing another video from University of Wisconsin-Madison on Computer Modeled Snowflakes. (I wish this video was embeddable, but it’s not. It’s worth the click!)
Rules of the game?
- Use blue colors.
- Keep the background white.
- Type your name.
I’m also downloading Wolfram’s MathematicaPlayer for my older students because it has an interesting snow growth simulation that I’d like to show to the older students.