Creating an Avatar

The students in my class each have their own blog on our class Kidblog account.  Some of them have been very excited about this and have posted several times this year, but others have been slow to get on board.  Sometimes it is difficult to devote the necessary time to building our writing skills through blogging.  During the two weeks before winter vacation, I reminded my students that ideally blogging should be a conversation.  We took some of our writer's workshop time to read each other's blogs and write comments.

To make their blogs more individual, I had each person create an avatar using either Doppel Me or Build Your Wild Self.  I had not done this with a class before.  In the past we just used the avatars that were available through Kidblog.

The kids LOVED this.  I gave them the option choosing which avatar maker to use.  This lesson also provided a great opportunity to teach the class how to upload a photo to their blog, as well as upload an avatar. 

I found Build Your Wild Self avatars easier to download as jpgs, but both websites worked.  Some of our avatars are pictured above. 

Is It Symmetrical?

We are working on symmetry.  We had one of those moments that I had to change my lesson plans on the spur of the moment.  I had my small groups work with a partner to create a design with geo blocks.  The design had to have at least one line of symmetry.  I photographed the designs they created.  Later I showed the designs to the rest of the class.  We had to determine whether the design was in fact symmetrical.  Students used a yard stick to show where the line of symmetry was.

This lesson turned out to be a home run.  It was a quick and easy lesson.  The kids loved doing it and they were excited to see their designs on the screen and to have them used in a lesson for the whole class.. 

Now we are following up with a lesson I found on Pinterest.  Students are using rulers and other drawing tools to create a symmetrical design.  Here is the link to the original post on the blog Art Lessons for Kids.