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Draw a Stickman

What it is:  Draw a Stickman is a delightful site that I learned about from @amandacdykes on her blog Upside Down Education.  On Draw a Stickman, students are prompted to draw a stick figure, the figure they draw springs to life and is faced with several challenges, students must follow directions and draw several props for their stick figure to interact with.  This is a mini interactive story that has students reading and following directions, solving mysteries, thinking creatively and solving problems.  Students will love the hero of the story (the character they created) and the villain (a dragon). How to integrate the Draw a Stickman site into the classroom: Draw a Stickman is a fun interactive site that uses student creations to tell a story.  Students can complete the interactive on individual computers, iDevices (the site works great!), interactive whiteboards, or classroom computers. Aside from just fun practice at following instructions, Draw a Stickman would be a great fictional story prompt.  Students have the bones of a story and can fill in details, vivid verbs, adjectives, etc. to tell the story.  Students can focus on fleshing out their hero, the plot of the story, the details, the setting, etc.  Students can come up with a moral of a story that they add in the customized ending.  This link can be sent as a tweet, facebook link, or in an email to accompany the story they have created.  These stories would be fun to share as a class…how many different stories did students come up with using the same base? On an interactive whiteboard, students can go through the story together, labeling the different parts of the story (beginning, problem, climax, resolution, ending).  This interactive can help students identify parts in a story including setting, characters and plot. Tips: After you have gone through Draw a Stickman, you can personalize the message at the end and share.  Add any two lines of text that you wish.  This could be a fun way to reveal messages to your students! Please leave a comment and share how you are using Draw a Stickman in  your classroom!

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Pic Lits

Posted by admin | Posted in Art, inspiration, Interactive Whiteboard, Language Arts, Middle/High School, Primary Elementary, Secondary Elementary, Websites | Posted on 14-01-2009

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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What it is:   Pic Lits is a really neat creative writing site that provides pictures and a word bank for students to create a enriched sentence or sentences about the picture.   “The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture.”  Students can choose to only drag words from the word bank to create their sentence or compose a sentence freestyle. 

 

How to integrate Pic Lits into the classroom:   Pic Lits is a great way to get students to think creatively and critically about writing.  Students can choose any picture and then use the word list to create a sentence.  Pic Lits is complete with punctuation and any word can be capatalized.  Students can use Pic Lits individually on computers, as a whole class with a projector, or as a creative writing center in the one or two computer classroom.  When using Pic Lits as a class, choose a picture for the day and have students write their sentences on paper using words from the word bank.  Take turns sharing to hear the combination of words and the different meanings that students gathered from the picture.  This is a great writing exercise to use  in your classroom every day!  Here in Colorado, we often have indoor recesses for bad weather.  Use Pic Lits with an interactive whiteboard and invite your cooped up students to choose pictures and create sentences.  

 

Tips: Students can sign up for a free account and save each Pic Lit they create.  At the end of the year, each student can create a book of their Pic Lits to take home for creative inspiration. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Pic Lits in your classroom.

Comments (5)

Terry Friedlander said on 15-01-2009

Hi Kelly:

Thanks for the kudos regarding “PicLits”. Your suggestions on integrating PicLits into the language arts curriculum are very helpful. There are many ways to use the site that not only include composition but grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and poetry.
There are lots of way to engage a class of student from K4-K12. We are considering several new features for 2009 which will broaden the scope of usage. We hope to add a “PRINT IT” function for cards and holiday PicLit writing. Another important addition would be group all the PHOTOS by theme/category which several high school have suggested. We are considering a “CONTEST” which would be optional. Rewards might include a gift certificate for a BOOK or two d from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
See the “LEARN IT” section for ideas on lesson plans starting with a simple sentence and heading towards poetry in the “MASTER IT” section of “LEARN IT”.
cheers and thanks again. Any ideas are always welcome. ( terry@piclits.com )
Terry Friedlander, founder.
Digital Storytelling « Computing for Kids's Blog said on 14-10-2010

[...] PicLits lets students choose a picture and words from a word bank to create a sentence or story. [...]
Suzanne Casey said on 09-03-2011

Great blog – I just discovered PicLIts and started using it with my 8th grade. I am amzed at the things they write about & the images they choose for their writing. This is a wonderful resource to keep the creativity flowing.
I have a question (and since you mentioned an end-of-year booklet)…How do you (or can) copy & paste or download the piclit so that I can make a collection for them or to showcase to parents/teachers/other students here at our school?
Thanks so much!
Suzanne
admin said on 09-03-2011

Hi Suzanne, I have the students take screen shots using command + shift +4 (on a Mac) or Skitch (http://skitch.com). This makes it easy to turn the student images into a booklet or Keynote/Powerpoint presentation.
Adventures in Technology - PicLits- Another great edutainment tool said on 02-06-2013

[...] I would have to say that one of my favourite posts by iLearn Technology was about a free download called PicLits because it can be used with younger students. One of the [...]

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