Day 2

Creating a Digital Story

Bringing the classroom into the home!

Very unusually for an Irish primary school, we subject teach. In Class 2 English (7/8 year olds) I want the children to reflect and share experiences from their summer holidays.

Objectives:
Reflect and recall
Value the experiences of others
Get to know any new students
Connect with their teacher as he/she shares their stories
Appreciate their own experiences
Home - school liaison

Preparation
I will ask the children to bring in mementoes of their holidays - photos, certificates from summer camps, souvenirs, airline boarding passes, tickets to shows, museums, a near empty bottle of sunscreen - just about anything!  The more eclectic the mix, the better!
I will scan or photo the items creating a digital resource for our book.

In Class
We will also have a circle time show and tell. Encouraging the children to relate and share experiences is a must before attempting the more daunting task of recording through writing. They are prompted and inspired through listening to others.

Next comes the writing. Create individual worksheets using the photos of the students' mementoes.  For the best result these should be colour.  These worksheets will also make a great visual display in the classroom.

Once the writing task is done and dusted, rehearse reading aloud from their worksheets.  I will model this drawing attention to tone and pace. Feedback is vital: 'Was I too fast/slow? How could I make it more interesting?' 

Then put them into groups, encouraging positive feedback from their group.

Teacher's Homework
For this younger age group I will prepare the first draft of our story by uploading the children's photos, giving one page per child and one for me.  Little Bird Tales as it is free, easy, allows use of own photos and you can record audio too!

Back in Class

Each child can then record the audio of their story, reading from their finished worksheet, while their page is displayed on the whiteboard!   

More Teacher's Homework!

Finally I  will add the children's texts and check everything through before publishing.

Enjoy!

In school, share it with other classes and familes can enjoy it at home!