Story writing #1: Using 'Design Ideas' in PowerPoint to create attractive story backgrounds with Grade 5

I am starting a series of story-writing posts today. This is the first one of three. 

One of the teachers at my school wanted help in publishing stories digitally rather than having the students write them in their books. So we worked together in creating lovely stories in PowerPoint. Powerpoint is a perfect application for publishing stories. In this post I want to suggest a way for a student to use the Bing browser and PowerPoint to create a background for an illustrated, digital story - a background that will vary from slide to slide, but keep to the original theme. 

Write stories that can be published

One of the things that I love doing in my classes is getting the students to write stories and publish them in different ways. I've always been of the opinion that it's such a pity to write a story at school and then let it just 'disappear into nothingness' in an exercise book. Why not get it published digitally, and share it with the world! My classes all have blogs, so they are able to publish the finished products on their blogs.

Use PowerPoint for writing stories

Microsoft PowerPoint is a great tool for writing stories.  Our students use mainly Chromebooks so we used the online Office and PowerPoint which they sign into with their Microsoft accounts. (Our school is in the throws of getting Office 365 for the learners – I can’t wait!).

Create backgrounds using 'Design Ideas' in PowerPoint

The wonderful thing about using PowerPoint is that it has a feature called Design Ideas. So every time you insert an image into a slide, Design Ideas comes into play down the right side and gives all sorts of suggestions for placing the image on the slide. Consequently you can use one background image in a variety of ways. Here is an example: 

How to create varied backgrounds

My class was writing a story about ‘Three wishes’ so, after the story had been planned, they needed to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint and create suitable backgrounds for the story on their slides.  

This is how to go about it:

1.  In PowerPoint create a presentation with around 5 – 8 blank slides.

2. Go to Insert/ Pictures/ Online pictures

3. This automatically opens the Bing Browser which you can set to only include Creative Commons images which are free to use. Type in, for example, ‘Clipart nature scene’.

4. Choose one and select Insert

You'll notice that 'Design Ideas' immediately goes into play and suggests ideas. Choose from these ideas. 

Examples of backgrounds 

Here are a few examples of backgrounds my class created using 'Design Ideas'. Take a look through. They created around 8+ different backgrounds, in the same theme,  with each image.  

 

 

Next steps

Once their presentations had been created, with varied backgrounds, the class added their stories and then set about adding illustrations. That process is for another blog post! But in the meantime - here is a link to the finished stories which i have captured in a Wakelet: https://wke.lt/w/s/epv3qS

The Microsoft Educator Center provides a great, free way to upskill yourself as a teacher

I have just earned my '21st century learning design: Introducing 21CLD' Course 1 badge on the Microsoft Educator Center! It introduces the six important skills for lesson planning, namely collaboration, communication, ICT skills, self-regulation, knowledge construction, and real-world problem solving and innovation.   This first introductory course provides the background leading to the selection of these specific skills. It is very interesting!  The others enlarge on each skill separately.  Here is the link for the first course:  https://education.microsoft.com/course/8220d07e/overview 

The Microsoft  Educator Center is full of relevant, free professional development courses for the modern teacher. Take a look: https://education.microsoft.com/en-us

Two places to find free typing lessons to use in the classroom

Some of my students, even as young is Grade 2 students, have been taught to type by their parents at home, which is very impressive! It is a great skill to have. I haven't used any typing programs this year with my school classes, but I would like to start again. I've been looking on the Internet for suitable free typing programs and then discovered that Commonsense Media highly recommends the following two websites:  www.typingclub.com and www.typing.com.

1. TYPING CLUB

What is Typing club?

Typing Club is found at https://www.typingclub.com/. It is a great choice of typing program as it helps students master keyboarding skills. It is available on any web-enabled device. It also provides dedicated iPad and Chrome apps. A great feature is that it integrates with Google Classroom.

Cost

It is free or paid. The ads of the free version could be distracting.

How does it work?

“ It starts with brief lessons that include speed and accuracy assessments. Fun videos peppered in between lessons focus on skills, and students get instant feedback. Students receive badges for progress and can skip around as needed. Typing Club has a number of exciting courses, including animated-story lesson plans that allow students to animate their own stories and cause them to unfold as they type. Students can work ahead as they learn, which is great for differentiation. (Taken from the Common Sense's review on Typing Club,)

How can teachers use TypingClub?

TypingClub has a teacher dashboard that allows for well-managed, whole-class typing instruction and practice. Teachers can begin by creating classes and assigning lesson plans for each class.

Lesson Plans

There are some amazing lesson plans.

For example, when you a lesson plan for your students, and they click on it, they get a whole spread of quick, fun lessons.

Why do students like typing club?

TypingClub's game structure, feedback, and badge rewards are appealing to students.

Extra reading

Common Sense gives TypingClub a five stars rating. You can read the rest of Common Sense’s great review here:: https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/typingclub

2. TYPING.COM

What is Typing.com?

Typing.com is found at www.typing.com. The extensive lessons, teach beginners up to advanced students to type. The program departs from the traditional home-row instruction; and rather  begins with F, J, and space keys, moves on to U, R, and K, and then adds more keys.

Cost

It is totally free (with ads) or with a subscripion. The adds can be distracting.

How does it work?

Typing.com has a large selection of extra lessons for practice. These include seven games, 10-key, medical terms, jokes, targeted problem keys, and choose-your-own-adventure stories.

How can teachers use Typing.com?

There is a teacher dashboard. Teachers can create unlimited classes with unlimited students, teachers, and administrators. They set up their classes either manually or by syncing with Google Classroom, Students can also join with a custom link made for their class.

From the dashboard, teachers are provided with a large number of customizations and they can even create custom lessons and typing tests using their own content. One thing they can’t do is directly assign individual lessons to students, to reinforce skills.  They can, however, assign full units.

Lesson Plans

Students work through the lesson plans systematically.

Why do students like typing.com?

They are motivated by their performance data, positive encouragement, and the way the lessons content can be customised.   

Extra reading:

Common Sense gives Typing.com a four-star rating. You can read the rest of Common Sense’s great review here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/typingcom