Historical Claymation!

This lesson will be taught after my students have learned about sequence.

My students will use the search engine Google to locate a famous historical figure (Benjamin Franklin, Pocahontas) etc....

My students will identify and write a sequential story about their historical figure.

My students will make a claymation video of their historical figure moving using Tool Factory Movie Maker and playdough .

Step One -three Days

I will read autobiographies of several historical figures so the students will get an idea of who they want to write their story about. I will then select groups of students based on their reading levels so that the higher level students can help the lower level students with reading skills in this project. Then in the computer lab I will teach each group of students how to search for a historical figure. They will identify their figure and print their information about him/her. They will also print a picture of the head of the person to use in their claymations.

Step Two- One Week

In the classroom I will monitor each group of students and help them as they write their sequential stories about their historical figure. Also in each group I will teach them how to edit their stories as a group and make their revisions.

Step Three- Two Weeks

My students will choose one event that happened in their historical figure's life that they wrote about. For example, Benjamin Franklin discoving electricity. I will demonstrate how to make Benjamin Franklin and his kite using playdough and the picture of his head. Then I will show them how to take pictures of the kite moving back and forth and take pictures of the key in different positions. Then I will monitor each group as they build their person from playdough and take pictures of something moving or their person moving (moving their head back and forth etc...) In the computer lab I will show each group of students how to create their claymation or animation sequence using Tool Factory Movie Maker and using my pictures that I took of Benjamin Franklin. Then I will monitor them making their claymation videos. I will burn their videos on dvds for each student to have.

Step Four- Two Days

I will teach my students how to present their stories using voice control when speaking. Next each group of students will practice showing their videos and reading their stories to the other groups. They will receive feedback from the other groups of how they did.

Step Five- One Day

My students will present their stories and claymation videos to a third grade class!