Today kindergarten students reviewed their coins using Pixie. You can download the template by clicking here. First students had to drag the coins to the correct column to identify them. Next they typed the value in the text boxes. Finally they took their photo and recorded themselves naming each coin telling its value. You can look at a sample here. Making audio recordings in Pixie to go along with a project is a great way to have your students clarify their understanding as well as practice oral language skills. If you notice, the template has a picture of coins inside the word “Money.” This is called Word Art, and it’s easy to do in Pixie. You drag a picture to your document, paste it down with the glue tool, then add a text box on top of the picture and type your words. Finally, click the word and click the “Word Art” button over the color selection box.

Kindergarten students have been learning about the seasons and patterns, so this Pixie activity reviews both, plus it gives you the opportunity to introduce Pixie to your class. I’ve been using this lesson with several of my kindergarten classes now that Pixie has been installed on all computers. Let me know if you still don’t have Pixie. First the students open the template which you can download by clicking here. Then they type their names in the box. Be sure that your students capitalize their names using the Shift key instead of Caps Lock. This prepares them for two-hand typing later. Next they click and drag the stickers to complete the sample fall patterns in the first two rows. For the bottom row, they click and drag the stickers to create their own pattern. It’s also a good idea to have your students verbalize the patterns, so we use the record button and students record their voices reading the patterns aloud.