[ http://www.teachersfirst.com/spectopics/comics.cfm ]Wrap it in the Comics
Looking for a great year-end wrap up? Why not have students or the whole class create a comic-style summary of major concepts or personal learning favorites from the year? Find terrific tools and comic starters in [ http://www.teachersfirst.com/spectopics/comics.cfm ]TeachersFirst's Comics Resources. Even primary grades can help create a comic as a whole class activity. Share the results on your school web page or as summer take-home links or printouts.
The goal of Signed Stories is to increase the literacy of deaf children; however, it is a great resource for all children. After choosing a story, you will see the text, hear the story and see it in sign language. Almost 100 titles are available and can be searched by topic or by browsing all titles. Some stories offer more options than others. Many stories have pause and rewind buttons, so you can replay to see signs again. 10902
In the Classroom:
Use stories on the interactive whiteboard or projector to teach story elements - pause as the story is read to allow students to retell details to the stopping point then make predictions of what will happen next. Help students understand disabilities and adaptations to disabilities through watching the stories being told in sign language. This is also a great resource for students with deaf/hearing impaired parents or students/teachers trying to learn or practice sign language. In sign language classes, consider creating your own signed story videos for children's books and share them on a tool such as TeacherTube [ http://www.teachersfirst.com/single.cfm?id=9419 ]reviewed here.
This is an art teacher's blog. Be sure to click on the web 2.0 tab and the top to see a comprehensive list of web 2.0 tools. I highlighted several that I have experienced or seen demonstrated.
Participants will use www.readwritethink.org 's interactive tool "Literary Elements" to analyze the fiction's setting, characters, and conflict resolution.