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

Present class projects as e-books using Microsoft PowerPoint

The task

Every term I set one of my classes a task of creating a eBook project in one of their subjects in line with the class curriculum and presenting the project as an online eBook using PowerPoint. This is because I want all of them to have practice in creating eBooks because eBooks are a great way to present online information. eBooks can be viewed online via a link. They can also be displayed on blogs either by embedding the PowerPoint or by creating a link to it. Here are the steps for this project. 

Step 1: Choose your topic

You could create a project on any topic you like. In my case I chose a Grade 7 life skills curriculum project the students had to research and write a summary of one of the following diseases: which they would then present to the rest of the class full stop The diseases are: tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria, measles, Hepatitis B, Influenza, Yellow Fever, Diphtheria, Small Pox or Black Death. I usually try to get two students working on one topic so that they can get together for brainstorms and planning but still come up with their own individual project.

Step 2: Create the content for the eBook
Give the students a rubric to guide them. This could include the type of pages/slides that they should use in their projects. In our case the pages/slides were as follows
1. Title page
2. Table of contents
3. Definition of the word disease.
4. A general overview of the disease they have chosen
5. The incidence of the disease, including a map
6. Causes of the disease
7. Signs and symptoms of the disease
8. Diagnosis
9. Treatment options
10. Strategies for living with the disease
11. Prevention of the disease
12. Additional interesting information
13. Bibliography

In each section the students need to find information, videos and images that are free to use; and create links to articles to back up their findings. They could collect the information via Microsoft Word before selecting from it for their final PowerPoint eBook. Here is the link to the rubric http://bit.ly/2OLBUGE 

Step 3: Create a PowerPoint template for the contents
We used PowerPoint for several reasons.
You can add video and sound to the final product via Office Mix.
You can embed the Power`poiYou can save the final product as a PDF.nt in a blog or website.
It is easy to manipulate images within the PowerPoint, and overlay images and text.
Each slide can also contain a section or page of information in the final eBook to add to the book feel of the final presentation.
The slides can be linked together for ease of use.

This is how you create the template:
Open PowerPoint and choose your layout. Decide how you would like the eBook to look.
Go to the Design Menu, Click on ‘Slide Size’ on the right and make your choices. We selected the portrait slide orientation and changed the slide size to Custom 7.5 X 10 inch (my computer works in inches!). This part is optional to the size you would like to choose.\
Point and choose your layout. Decide how you would like the eBook to look. We wanted the project to look like an eBook.

Here is a link to a presentation showing how to set

Step 4: Add the cover image
In this section we learn about Creative Commons images and Public Domain images versus ‘any’ images. The best way to add an image is to save it on your computer and then use the snipping tool to get the portrait orientation. Insert the cover image by clicking on the ‘Picture’ option in the ‘Insert’ menu, and select the cover image where you saved it on your computer.

The learners then overlay the cover image with their names and the title of the e-book. This feature is one of the plus points for using PowerPoint for making eBooks.

Here is an example of a cover page:

Step 5: Insert page numbers (slide numbers)

Start the numbering system now. Go to Insert/Slide numbers and make your choices as shown below. Select Slide number, Footer, Don’t show on the slide and Apply to All

Step 6: Create a Table of Contents page
This allows the reader to go anywhere in the presentation. Once you have created all your slides you will link each heading in the Table of Contents to a slide heading.

Step 7: Create the eBook
The learners use the content they have recorded in Microsoft Word to create the content for their PowerPoint. They ensure that the font and font sizes are uniform throughout the eBook.

Step 8: Insert your bibliography as you go along
I like the learners to draw a line at the bottom of each slide so that they can put links to the pages where they found their information even though the information has been synthesised into their own words. They also create the Bibliography for the last slide with the relevant links.

We didn’t learn a particular format for citing a bibliography in this project – that will come later. I simply asked them to give an explanation and a link. In the next project we will write the Bibliography in the format below as found in A Sample Elementary Bibliography Style Sheet found at http://bit.ly/2gOJxPe

                                  
This is how we did the Bibliography for this project. It appeared on the last slide.

Step 9: Link the slides to the Table of Contents

Once your e-book has been written link your slides to the Table of Contents. The way to do this is:
a) Highlight the line of text in the Table of Contents you want to hyperlink
b) Go to Insert/Hyperlink
c) Select ‘Place in this document’
d) Chose the slide heading from the selection that appears
e) Click on OK

You’ll notice that all the hyperlinked lines of the eBook are now automatically underlined showing that they are active.

Using PowerPoint creatively to teach an activity on adjectives and descriptive writing to a Grade 3 class

Mrs Truett's Third Grade

Earlier this term, whilst researching on the Internet, I cam across two posts on adjectives that fascinated me. The first was a post in a Grade 3 blog (Mrs Truter's Third Grade) showing two photos of an activity on Adjectives https://bit.ly/2NfO6EZ (see the photo on the right). The second post was a video on the use of adjectives in descriptive writing found at hhttps://bit.ly/3qN0hXo This gave me the idea of doing something similar to both of these posts with a Grade 3 class and including technology (see photos below).  The students enjoyed the activity so much that I decided to write a blog post about it.

Lesson idea
The Grade 3 students find at least 20 positive adjectives relating to themselves. They present these creatively using PowerPoint where the skills of font choice, font size and colour are emphasised, They discover how adjectives used in writing make writing come alive and write a descriptive paragraph about themselves using as many of the adjectives as they can.   

Step 1: Create a template for the students to use
I figured this could be created on two A4-size pieces of paper joined together with a piece cut out for the head. I created the template idea for the students to copy in PowerPoint.

Download the adjectives template as a PDF

Step 2: Explore adjectives with the class and how they can be used in descriptive writing
The next step was to talk about the importance of adjectives in writing.  We revised the meaning of adjectives. I read the class a very plain paragraph that had no descriptive words and asked them to draw a quick picture using a drawing programme they were familiar with (in this case Paint). All the pictures were different. Then I read the same paragraph but this time with lovely descriptive adjectives and asked them to draw the picture. This time the pictures were very similar because the adjectives had led a much clearer image being imagined.

Step 3: Brainstorm positive adjectives that can be used to describe other students in the class.  
We now had a brainstorming session on adjectives that could describe others in the class. The instruction was that the class should use only positive words but that no names should be mentioned.  As the students called out words I typed them out and displayed them on the screen via the data projector. These were left on the screen as prompts for words during the remainder of the activity. 

Step 4: The students think of 20 adjectives to describe themselves and fill them in on the provided template
Since the school I volunteer at uses Windows computers we used PowerPoint for this lesson. However Keynote on an iPad or a Google Presentation on an Android tablet would have done the trick as well. 

Step 5: The templates are completed and printed
As far as technology skills are concerned this was a good way of working creatively with font types, font size, colour and font position. As far as using adjectives is concerned the students enjoyed thinking of positive words about themselves. 

Step 6: Print the templates, cut out the head space, glue the two pages together and draw hair using regular crayons
Here is a photo of some of the final results of this activity. 

Step 7: Create a description of oneself using the selected adjectives
In the next lesson this part of the lesson would be tackled. The students will use the adjectives to write a descriptive piece about themselves. 

Write some amusing 'dotty' rhymes for International Dot Day with grade 3

We are loving our Dot Day activities in preparation for International Dot Day on 15th September. We love being part of the collaborative Dot Day project with three other countries (see http://dotday.edublogs.org/)

We had a fun, dotty lesson recently that involved grade 3. What happened is… the Grade 3’s wrote some DOTTY RHYMES!  Let’s say it another way - amusing nonsensical rhymes!

This is how Google defines 'dotty':

This is what happened in the lesson.

In a previous lesson the grade 1s listened to the Dot Day story by Peter Reynolds found on this page. They each had to think of two or three words, which I then wrote lightly in pencil on their coloured dots and they traced over the writing in khoki pen.

The Grade 3s then chose one of these coloured dots and created a dotty rhyme from the two or three words on the dot.   They wrote their dotty rhymes in PowerPoint. You’ll see, in the example below, that the two or three words on the dots they chose are underlined in each dotty word.

Here are the dotty words:

What I did after they wrote their rhymes is I copied and pasted them all into one PowerPoint. PowerPoint is great for this because it allows you to keep the original formatting. I then uploaded the PowerPoint file to Microsoft OneDrive where it became a PowerPoint Online document. PowerPoint Online can be embedded into a blog or website so it was easy to embed into this post.

Here are the dotty rhymes.

The magic of using PowerPoint for story writing in Grade 2 and displaying their stories online!

I am always searching for creative writing ideas especially for the ICT classes of younger students that I teach. Recently I was looking around the blog of a local computer teacher at Bridge House and I saw that she mentioned a wonderful Literacy website called Communication 4 All. When I opened the page that she referenced I was really excited. I knew that our Grade 1s and 2s would LOVE using one of these freely downloadable templates for story writing.

Take a look at  http://www.communication4all.co.uk/http/StoryMaker.htm 

Let me introduce you to a few of these band then show what the Grade 2s did with them:

a) Well-known stories

b) Winter stories

 c) Spring stories

d) Summer stories

e) Autumn stories

f) Historical stories

g) Pirate stories

With my Grade 2 class I gave them a choice of which template they would like to download and strangely enough they all wanted to write about Easter! (They are all looking forward to Easter it seems). Two of the students finished their stories today. I found that OneDrive is great for publishing these PowerPoints online so that the class can share them with their parents. One Drive is a free Microsoft application that gives you free access to a range of Microsoft Office products https://onedrive.live.com If you would like to see how I uploaded these stories to PowerPoint Online in One Drive please visit this post on the SchoolNet blog where I have outlined the process in detail.

The results are shown below. I'm sure you'll agree that displaying these stories on One Drive is a great way to share them with the world.

I love PowerPoint!

I have to tell you that PowerPoint is an all-time favourite application with me. Apart from its main purpose as a presentation application it just has a myriad of other amazing uses. One often hears the words 'Death by PowerPoint', and rightly so at times when PowerPoint presentations are cluttered, text-heavy and just plain boring! But did you know that PowerPoint is a powerful and useful application that can be used in many different, unexpected setting! Here are 25+ examples.  I wonder if some of the other good presentation tools out there can also do all these…

PowerPoint is alive and well! 25+ ideas for using PowerPoint creatively in the classroom (by Fiona Beal) from Schoolnet SA