Build Community in the Elementary Classroom with Animated Poetry

Create a Personalized Project on Day 1 Utilizing the Camera & Keynote

If you are looking for a fun, creative and personalized way to get your students engaged and practicing with Keynote on iPad from the first day of school, look no further than this animated acrostic poem! You can download (and edit) this back-to-school template for elementary students to create animated acrostic poems about themselves, giving you a fun and engaging way to build classroom community and hone their digital creation skills!

 

Completed acrostic poem image with screenshot letters and typed sentences describing author.
Still image of a completed animated acrostic poem comprised of letters found on a building scavenger hunt and a type-written sentence from each of the letters in the author’s name to give details about the author.
 

This project will allow your students to share about themselves while learning how to utilize tools in Keynote, creating a unique and polished project on the first day of school. Community building and creativity will be targeted in this straight-forward, entry-level activity that can be extended and customized in order to be used in any content area throughout the school year.

Download the Free Keynote Template to get started!

An editable keynote is provided for your use for the initial project to walk your students through the process in order to get started on their individual presentation.

Follow these steps to kick off your project

Step 1: Download the editable Keynote below to get started in your classroom - read through and edit out what you don’t need or add what you know will enhance your lesson.

Step 2:  Provide a completed example for your students to see the final product, then using the Keynote, walk them through the steps they will follow to complete the project.

Step 3: Set a timer for students to walk around your classroom, hallway, or school to collect individual images of the letters in their first name.

Step 4:  Provide time for students to crop the letters in their name, place them accordingly on the keynote slide, add their text description for each letter, and then animate and complete the build order.

Step 5:  Teacher will model for students how to add text box in order to type descriptive sentence and position near letter, then animate)

Step 6: Allow students time to work on their project with peer and teacher support.

Step 7: Share final products!


 

Written acrostic poem slides in from top left, blue arrow points to photo and typed version of acrostic poem from bottom left
Image of the documents in the process from rough draft to final copy of writing an acrostic poem and then collecting, editing, inserting, and completing the final animated presentation version of the acrostic poem

Why Should You Use Camera & Keynote?

The camera is the most underutilized and easy to maneuver tool on the iPad! It can be accessed by the youngest learners and used for documenting incredible things. When coupled with editing skills and then importing photos and video into Keynote, adding in animation, you can empower your students to create products that will dazzle their audiences and make their confidence in presentation skills soar.

 


 If you are eager to learn more about photo editing or Keynote animations, be sure to check out these amazing FREE resources:

Everyone Can Create: Photo

Keynote Support

Extending the Activity

Once your students have mastered the art of importing photos and animating them, take it one step further and have them add in audio or line draw to match the theme of their poem. Use the process of this project and take it into other content areas - research a person from history, explain a mathematical, scientific, or geographical term with an animated acrostic. Have students customize the background and add other items. The sky is the limit with how far you can go with this project - all starting with the basics of importing and animating photos!

 

Attachments

Attachments

The author has disabled comments.

0 replies