This week, all of our 3rd Grade classes decided they wanted to honor Black History Month with some research and followup by creating an eBook. They invited me in to help - YIPPPEE! I was happy to help as I have created eBooks with classes in the past. Check out this blog post of a class ebook from last year, 3rd Graders Share Their Story of a Snowy Day.
Students discussed and researched using a few websites that I preselected. 3rd Grade teachers wanted students to have the option to choose for themselves from an expansive list. Once they were done with their research, I shared with the students a Google Slideshow, with each student getting one slide. In the past, when I teach students to share a document, I am careful to go over the pitfalls of sharing a document between so may people. By taking the time to discuss the dos and don'ts of this digital experience, it smooths out many issues that might arise.(like accidentally deleting each other's work) Students created a text box with the name, birth/death dates and contribution of their distinguished Black American. We spent some time talking about standard accepted formats for typing dates, the format if the person was still living, how to choose the most critical fact/accomplishment for their person since space was limited. We made sure to cover the need to write the text and not just copy it. Students added text, and a background image. We discussed how to choose an image that didn't get stretched out of shape, maneuver text boxes, and change font color based on the background in the image so that the text would show.
Once the students completed their work, I downloaded the slideshow into pdf formatted document and uploaded it to http://anyflip.com . It was super quick and easy and made a beautiful sharable eBook! This format is perfect for students to share their learning with each other and the world!
