Digital Citizenship Projects

Each year I do a large unit on digital citizenship with grades 3-5. I introduce the topics and really have great conversations with my students about this very important theme that is so relevant to our kids. In 5th grade, we dive deeper into social media and the positive and negative effects it has on kids. For this particular project, I let students choose a topic from this list:

• Digital Citizenship and Identity
• Privacy and Security
• Screen Time Management
• Information Literacy
• Digital Etiquette and Empathy
• Cyberbullying Management
• Digital Footprint
• Self Image and Reputation

I love this graphic by @sylviaduckworth

I give students choices to how they will present their information and allow them to be creative and expressive while addressing the topic they choose.

• Create a PSA
• 10 Facts About…
• Create a commercial
• Author a book on the topic
• Record a puppet show
• Create a presentation
• Create a movie
• Create a movie trailer

Apps Used

• iMovie
• Adobe Spark Video
• Puppet Pals
• Keynote and Quicktime
• 30 Hands
• Puppet EDU

The overwhelming majority of kids chose to use Adobe Spark Video to create their projects.

Sample Videos from My 5th Grade Classes

• Harmful Effects of Cyberbullying
• Digital Footprint
• Pros and Cons of Social Media Use
• Be Cautious on the Internet
• Cyberbullying
• Digital Etiquette
• Social Media
• Cyberbullying
• Social Media
• Managing Screen Time
• Social Media Talk Show
• Social Media Awareness
• Copyright and Creative Credit

Check out Common Sense Media for a wealth of information on digital citizenship, including amazing curricular resources.

 

 

Parts of Speech iMovies

What a better way to demonstrate knowledge of a topic than by creating a video using iMovie! One of the great things about iMovie is the built-in trailers that kids can use to demonstrate or show their learning. I have kids create movie trailers to show their learning in all content areas and the result is always amazing. This time around, I had third graders showcase their knowledge of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. I have included a few of my favorites below. One thing that is very important to note is that I never allow my students to just take off with the iPad and begin taking pictures and videos for their projects. They must always do a rough draft where they complete an outline as well as the built in storyboard in iMovie. Additionally, this is also where they can decide what type of shot (video or still photo) they will add to their movie. A great resource that I love to share with others was created by Tony Vincent. He has created planning PDFs, which include fillable or printable templates for students as they plan their iMovie trailers. I love this resource and I use it all of the time! Once students have planned their trailers, then they get right to work in editing the text and adding photos and videos.

Verbs Can Be Fun! from April Requard on Vimeo.

 

Verbs are Everywhere from April Requard on Vimeo.

Scary Verbs from April Requard on Vimeo.

Nouns by Dylan and Landon from April Requard on Vimeo.

Nouns by Ahmed and Shayan from April Requard on Vimeo.

All Sorts of Verbs by Parishi and Asha from April Requard on Vimeo.

Verbs from April Requard on Vimeo.

Adjectives: Reese and Caitlin from April Requard on Vimeo.

Create a Magazine Cover in Keynote

As most of you know, Keynote is my go-to tool for creating just about anything. One of the things I love to have my students create is magazine covers. They can use these covers to highlight a topic or subject they recently studied, they could feature an image of a person whom they studied, or they could create a cover of themselves showcasing something they’ve recently participated in.  Regardless of the topic they choose, creating a magazine cover will introduce students into so many tools in Keynote and teach them some skills in  graphic design. There are many online magazine generators that will allow for the creation of magazine covers, but they have all of the magazines, some of which are totally inappropriate for school. Additionally, you can easily create a template for your students so that the formatting is already complete and all they have to do is plug in their information.

Here’s the steps in creating your own cover in Keynote!

Keynote opens in landscape mode, so the first step is changing the orientation of the slide. 

 

 

Reverse the numbers so that your slide is 768 x 1024

This is how your new slide should look

Now, you are ready to begin adding elements to your cover. Here’s a cheat sheet that I created, which includes elements and tips for formatting text and adding shapes. Click Magazine Cover Elements to download the PDF.

This project will take users down a path in really getting to know the format tool in Keynote as they will work to change the color of shapes, use the arrange tool to send objects to the front or the back, format text, and also draw their own unique shapes to be used as placeholders for photos. This all adds interesting elements to the design. Once users add a shape as a placeholder, they simply drag in their desired photo and drop it on the shape. Then, the user can adjust the size of the photo so that it fits perfectly in the shape by using the masking tool.

Here is a TIME magazine cover created by one of my students.

The details added in this example:

This student used a large square with no fill and added a very thick border (red) and did the same thing for the smaller black border. He searched for a TIME magazine .png image to use as the title because we were not having any luck locating the Time Magazine font. He also added a shape for the main title to stand out. Additionally, he included a barcode that he created. You can create your own unique barcode at this bar code generator.

If you don’t have Keynote, you can create some very cool magazine covers here.

It is very fun to see what students create and how this allows them to report on something they’ve learned in a relevant and fun way!