Published in 1993, The Giver is one of the most critically acclaimed dystopian-future literature stories ever written. It is often used by middle school ELA teachers, and it is one of my top ten all time favorite books! Needless to say I was VERY excited when our 8th grade ELA team told me that it is a book they study with their students. Integrating my media curriculum into the ELA teacher's curriculum can be a challenge. I want to support and extend what they are doing in the classroom, but I also have my own curriculum that needs to be taught. For this lesson, I saw the perfect opportunity to teach the students about copyright free image search with Creative Commons. The students were at different places in the book as we began the lesson, but all were able to be successful with the lesson! We began by discussing important events and symbols in the book. Students listed an apple, ribbons, a bike, a sled, pills or medication, a baby, stuffed animals, and more. First, students searched on GoodReads.com for quotes from the book. They selected one that they felt was important. Next, they went to Creative Commons and searched for an image that went along with the quote and that showed the theme of the story. Finally, they used PicMonkey to assemble their picture and text. Some students chose to change the font or bold the words that were critical to their artwork. PicMonkey allows users to edit photos without an account and share without logging in, so it was perfect for the short period of time that we had with each group. Below are some of the results - I was amazed! The students really understood the theme of the story, and they were able find copyright free pictures! Win-Win! Could you do something like this with your students? Share below, I'd love to hear your ideas!!
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April is School Library month, as I am sure you know! In preparation, I decided to hold a bookmark contest (thanks Pinterest!) for my students. I created a template (download the Word Doc below to make your own) and accepted entries through March 18th. Some of the artwork I got was just incredible... look! As you can see, there were quotes about animals, movies and reading; there were pop-culture references, artwork about books, and famous sayings from famous authors! The winners will be sent to printing to be printed in color on cardstock and distributed to the school! So exciting! Check back in April to see who won! Now you want to do your own bookmark contest, don't you? Download the Word Doc below to make your own template!
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About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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