Tag Archives: google slides

Animation Workshop for Google Slides

Try these three fun ideas and sharpen your animation skills with Google Slides!

In a previous post, I described a new TechnoKids project for Google Apps for Education. TechnoToon inspires students to write in a comic format. The graphic format of the writing with images, callouts, starbursts, text boxes, and word art, really hooks student interest. The final project is animated and shared with peers.

Here are some creative animation tricks to make any presentation unique and engaging.

Sign in to Google Drive and create a new Google Slides file.

Ghostly Creature – Make a Character Appear and Disappear

  1. Click Layout. Select Blank.
  2. Insert a ghost or other clip art image you want to use as a character.
  3. Place it in the center of the slide.
  4. Select the clip art. From the Slide menu, click Change Transition.
  5. Make the ghost appear: Click Add animation. Select Fade in and pick After previous.
  6. Make the ghost disappear: Click Add animation. Select Fade out and pick After previous.

    7. animation workshop

  7. Click Play to watch the ghost appear and then fade away. Click Stop.

animation workshop

Take the challenge! Make it appear as if the ghost is floating around the scene.

  • Add a Fly in from Right animation. Set it to After Previous.
  • Add a Fly out to Right animation. Set it to After Previous.
  • Add a Zoom in animation. Set it to After Previous.
  • Add a Zoom out animation. Set it to After Previous. Play it!
  • Have fun! Combine any IN animation with an OUT animation to make the ghost fly!

Car Race – Adjust Timings to Make a Chase Scene

  1. Add a new blank slide.
  2. Insert two clip art cars onto the screen.
  3. They should be driving in the same direction. If they are not flip one.
  4. From the View menu, pick a magnification that lets you see the scratch board.
  5. Place the cars off the canvas on the LEFT.
  6. Make the car drive: Select a car. Add the animation Fly in from right. Select After Previous. Drag the speed to Slow.
  7. Make a car pass another: Select the second car. Add the animation Fly in from right. Select With Previous. Drag the speed to Medium. Play it.

car animation
animation

  • Change the second car to After Previous.
  • Adjust the speed for both cars to 0.6 seconds Fast.

Fly a Spaceship – Crop a Picture and Group It

  1. Add a new blank slide.
  2. Use your skills to add a spaceship and a person clip art.
  3. Crop the person to show only their face. Crop the face into a circle.

    4. spaceship animation

  4. Place the face over the spaceship to make it look as if the person is looking out a window.
  5. Select the spaceship and person. Right click and pick Group (or use CTRL + G).
  6. Make the spaceship fly: Add the animation Fly in from right. Select After Previous. Play it.

    TIP: Rotate or flip the spaceship to make it fly in the right direction.

spaceship animation

Spark Student Writing with Animated Comic Strips

Digital Storytelling
For reluctant writers and for creative writing enthusiasts, using technology to write a cartoon is a fun, highly motivating activity.

Digital storytelling sparks students’ imaginations. Adding elements such as images, callouts, text boxes, starbursts, and word art inspires students even more. Then creating animation effects and transitions makes the writing activity exciting and challenging.

How can you integrate comic strip writing into curriculum? Here are a few ideas!

  • Write an Original Story: Plan a story or simple scenario that has a beginning, middle, and end. Divide the action into panels. Use text boxes to describe the scene, callouts for characters to speak or think, and clip art to illustrate the action.
  • Only a Dream: Create a dream sequence that shows a series of imaginary scenes. This is an easy way to plan a digital story.
  • Illustrate a Wacky Scene: Have fun with a cliché or popular expression. Make a simple scene that explains what happens when pigs fly, there is a blue moon, or it starts raining cats and dogs.
  • Invent a Superhero: Create a character and give them a name and superpower. Have the hero save the day! Take part in a rescue mission, engage in an epic battle with a powerful foe, stop a crook, or retrieve a lost item.
  • Tell a Joke: Make people laugh! Use one slide to make a silly scene, two slides to show before and after clips, or several slides to tell a knock-knock joke.
  • Transform a Popular Story: Remake a nursery rhyme or fairy tale into a cartoon. Swap the characters, adjust the story line, or rewrite the ending to create a modern twist on an old favorite.
  • Retell a Story: Summarize the main parts of a story. Sequence the key events using slides as scenes. In the first scene introduce the characters and setting. The following slides illustrate the action.
  • Rewrite the Ending: Produce an animated scene that illustrates a different ending. Include a slide that explains why this ending is better than that of the author.
  • Makeover a Realistic Story into a Cartoon: Consider what a story would be like if the people were substituted with cartoon characters, the setting shifted to an imaginary place, but the plotline remained similar. Create a short animated clip of the cartoon version.
  • Join the Action: Insert yourself into the story. What advice would you share? How would you help? Recreate a scene from the story. Use a clip art character, photo, or web cam image to put yourself into the scene. Does your advice or behavior change the ending?
  • Form a Connection: Reflect on the story. What connection do you have? Do you like the same things as the main character, have you shared a similar experience, or does the story remind you of something you have seen or read? Explain the connection and use evidence from the book or your life to support your ideas.
  • Conduct a Character Analysis: How does the character change as the story unfolds? Create a three panel animated comic strip. In the first panel introduce the character at the beginning of the story. Use callouts and textboxes to show their mood, describe their character traits, and explain their role within the story. In the second panel illustrate an important event that causes a change or growth within the character. In the final panel show the character at the end of the story. How are they different?

Use any of these ideas with TechnoToon and Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint to inspire and spark the inner author in your students.

Cartoon Lessons

Teach Public Speaking Skills

Teach public speaking skills

TechnoPresenter teaches public speaking skills

Designed to develop public speaking skills, TechnoPresenter is the newest project release by TechnoKids Inc. In this project, students create an effective presentation and then learn how to capture the interest of an audience. With specific strategies and step-by-step lessons, students build the skills to become effective communicators.

TechnoPresenter can be integrated into any curriculum area – social studies, science, history, geography, or health. The project is inquiry based: teachers select the topic for the presentation, then students formulate their own questions on which to focus their research. Using Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint, students build a foundation in presentation skills: creating slides, researching information, adding and formatting text, making a table, and adding images and Word Art to engage the viewers.

Finally, students are guided through the rehearsal and practice steps of the oral presentation. They learn how to use speaker notes to add extra details, examples, a personal story to share, as well as links to the online sources they used. public speaking With specific directions about voice, pacing, body language, and eye contact, the student presenters are well on their way to becoming confident and skilled public speakers.

Additional optional activities include:

  1. Turning the project into a collaborative activity
  2. Inserting a video
  3. Creating a graphic organizer
  4. Animating text
  5. Having fun with body language skits

Learning how to become an effective public speaker can contribute to success in both school and career goals. And the earlier students learn these skills, the more likely they are to feel comfortable speaking to a group. Catch them before they build that nervousness or fear in later grades. There are several more reasons for teaching public speaking and presentation skills:

  • Builds other skills such as leadership, creativity, persuasiveness, charisma, and organization
  • Boosts self-confidence and self-worth
  • Fine tunes verbal and non-verbal communication skills
  • Develops poise and confidence for other contests such as Spelling Bees and State and National level debates and speech competitions

Learn more about TechnoPresenter and how to teach public speaking skills.

5 Reasons to Teach an “All About Me” Unit of Study

All About MeStarting a new school year with an All About Me project is a popular teaching strategy. There are many benefits to incorporating this unit into curriculum. Here are five:

  1. Build Self-Esteem: Use the All About Me activities to have students reflect upon what makes them special. By recognizing characteristics that make them unique, students develop a sense of self-worth.
  2. Learn about Students: Use the All About Me activities to get to know your students. Discover their strengths, goals, likes, and personal interests. This is a fun way for students to tell you about themselves. Use this information to support learning.
  3. Develop Friendships: Use the All About Me activities to help students recognize others in the class that have similar interests. This can become a starting point for fostering relationships among students.
  4. Build a Sense of Community: Use the All About Me activities to have students learn about one another. By sharing personal details students form a connection with one another.
  5. Develop Oral Communication Skills: Use the All About Me activities to have students practice public speaking and active listening.

TechnoKids’ TechnoMe technology project integrates an All About Me unit of study with technology.