Fourth graders at Davis Elementary just took a field trip to the Hanover Tavern to learn more about Patrick Henry and the Revolutionary War Era in Virginia (VS.5). Today students in Ms. White’s class reflected on what they learned using Padlet. I posted a link to Padlet on Google classroom, and the students signed in using their Google accounts. Since this is on the HCPS CORE Resources list, it’s OK for students to sign in and set up accounts. Padlet is a great webtool that provides an online bulletin board for your students to post text, images, and even videos. First we clicked the “New Padlet” button at the top to create our Padlet. Students customized the wallpaper and the icon, and typed a title. For the Description, students wrote an open-ended question for their classmates to answer on their Padlet. We discussed the difference between open-ended questions (like, “What was your favorite part and why?” or “What is something that surprised you?” or “What would you like to have explored more?”) and one-answer questions (like, “When did the Revolutionary War start?” or “Did you have fun?”). Next, students clicked the Share button, and we made sure that the Privacy was set to Secret (only people with the link could view it). Then we copied the link and pasted it to Google classroom. Now students could click on each others’ links and add posts to the Padlets by double clicking on them. They typed their name for the title of each post and their answer to the question in the box. They could also click the camera button and take a photo of themselves. We made sure that we didn’t put our posts on top of anyone else’s. With Padlet, you can move your own post, but not other people’s (the creator can move anyone’s posts though). You can see some student samples here.

Fourth graders at Laburnum Elementary have been studying 20th Century famous Virginians (VS.9), so today students in Ms. Robinson’s class chose one of them and created a comic about their accomplishments. I posted a link to StoryboardThat on Google classroom, and once students accessed the website, they clicked the “Create a Storyboard” button. I explained that their comic would have three panels. Each panel needed to provide an important fact or accomplishment for the Virginian they chose. We discussed ideas for backgrounds and where to find authentic-looking characters (mostly from the 1900s tab). I also showed them how to customize the characters by changing their color, clothing, and poses. After students added backgrounds and characters to each panel, I showed them how to add speech bubbles. We discussed the importance of writing complete sentences that explain the facts and accomplishments. Students could open a new tab to do additional research if necessary. Once they were finished, I showed them how to take a screenshot of their comics (Click the Start button > Snipping Tool) to save them since they can’t create accounts. Finally we posted our comics to Google classroom for everyone to see. You can see them here.

Fourth graders at Davis Elementary have been studying the Revolutionary War in Social Studies (VS.5), and they have been learning how to formulate questions about nonfiction text in Reading (SOL4.6b). So today students in Ms. White’s class created Revolutionary War comics and asked their classmates questions about them. We used StoryboardThat to make the comics because it has plenty of Revolutionary War backgrounds, characters, and props for the students to use. First we brainstormed ideas for the comics so everyone wasn’t doing the same thing. Students could make comics about any Revolutionary War event they had learned about so far. Since they were just beginning the unit, they didn’t have many events to choose from yet, but as they learn more, they can make additional comics. I showed them how to change the characters’ poses and expressions to fit the context. I also explained that the speech bubbles needed to include enough facts and information for their classmates to answer the questions. When they were finished, we took screenshots of the comics and posted them to Google classroom with a question. The students enjoyed reading each others’comics and answering their questions, plus, it was a great review. You can see some student samples here.