What better way to help promote literacy in a fun way...COMICS!
Make Belief Comix is a free website created by Bill Zimmerman. MakeBeliefsComix.com is a place for you to come and have fun by creating your own world of comic strips. This is a site for people of all ages who like to play and explore. Bill Zimmerman, the creator of MakeBeliefsComix.com, says in a short message “My intent is that you will regard this site as a safe place where you feel empowered to create and to test new ideas and ways to communicate through art and writing.”
Make Beliefs Comix has many uses and benefits in the classroom. With this website, students can create an autobiographical comic strip, practice new vocabulary, create daily comic diaries, create serialized comic strips, and create comic books. Make Beliefs Comix also promotes team collaboration, helps students practice their conversation skills, provides social skills training, provides foreign language practice, allows students to print or email their completed comics, introduces creative writing, helps strengthen conflict resolution skills, and promotes public speaking practice.
With Make Belief Comix, teachers can encourage students to write by using or choosing from the 350 plus free printables to help spark their imagination. Going through the steps in creating a comic strip, I believe the students will be learning and practicing the writing process.
With the new Common Core Standards becoming effective, my first grade students will soon be writing complete sentences. In my classroom, I will choose a topic such as Healing Words for my students to create a comic strip on where they will have to use vocabulary they have learned. I will then search for a printable in relation to the topic to help spark my students’ imagination and bring out their creativity. I will use this as a source of an outline to see what they will be putting on their comic strip and most importantly if they understand the topic. Once they have drafted and completed their comic strips, I will have them switch with someone in their group and have them read each other’s comic strip. By doing this activity, I am integrating many subjects such as technology, art, language, spelling, reading, and writing.
What students can do:
-choose characters and emotions of the characters
-add talk or thought balloon
-add panel prompts and objects (Ex: ice cream cone image)
-print or email to a friend
Websites:
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/ to read in detail the 21 ways Make Beliefs Comix can be used in the classroom.
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