Comic strips can be used to reinforce rules or concept in the classroom. On the campus where I work students draw comics to show understanding of a concept as a formative assessment. I like the fact that there are three FREE websites to create comic/cartoon strips. I will explain my experience with using the websites to create comic strips.
The first website I used was Make Beliefs Comix. This site does not require you to sign up. You can start creating the comic right away. It automatically starts with three panels. You have the option to choose from about forty characters, eight talk balloons, eight thought balloons, background colors, and a choice of two, four or three panels. This was very easy to use. I could see elementary students being able to use this website easier. I am constantly reminding my students how to take care of books. So, I decided to make a strip about caring of books.
I had to create an account to use this site. When creating a you can choose the number of panels you want and the direction. There can be 1-4 panels either horizontal or vertical. You have the option of characters, backgrounds, props, conversation bubbles, or upload your own pictures. You also have the option to redo a comic strip that is already published. For some reason I had more trouble than I should using this website. I had to do some resizing to get my text to fit inside the conversation bubbles. I thought the characters with the phones were cute so I decided to use them. Overall it's fairly easy to use. It has a lot of character options that students would enjoy using.
I
used Pixton to create a strip of the writing process for my classroom. I chose a character and added conversation
bubbles.When I added another panel it
copied the character from the first panel and the conversation bubbles and I
just added text. This site was easy to
use. I could not download the cartoon
with the free account. I was only able
to share by email. I did the one below
first. Then after not remembering how to
add the comic to my blog I decided to create another comic strip for a word
problem. If you can tell me how to easily embed the comics to my blog please leave a note in the comment section.
I
am a classroom teacher. I would like to
use comic strips as reminders in centers and introducing character traits. I could even add comic strips to the
classroom newsletter or remind app. Make
belief comix actually gives a list of 25 ways to use comics in the class
including introducing social skills, practice new vocabulary words, practice
social skills, or promote team collaboration.
I am sure there are many great uses for comic/cartoon strips in the
classroom or library.
I referred to this website
Zimmerman, B. How to play with Make BeliefsComix.com. Retrieved November 6, 2016 from
I love how you used the vertical panels instead of the horizontal ones! I wasn't as creative in that aspect but wish I had played around with the different layouts. I really like how you used a math problem with your comic! I plan to do that this week with my first graders!
ReplyDeleteGreat job integrating math into the comic. I enjoyed all your comic strips very creative.
ReplyDeleteAll the comics had a good lesson. You incorporated something of use into all of them.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using comic strips as a formative assessment for students, and thanks for the idea of using them as reminders for students in centers! I think comic strips will help students know the expectations better than a written list.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using them as reminders for your centers. I am still in the classroom too, so when I was working on this I found myself gravitating towards ways I could use these NOW instead of just how I could use them in a library
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your idea to use comix as a reminders in center. That is a really different way to display instead of using a list of steps. Very clever
ReplyDelete