Poetry animation with Scratch
| Aim | Students have to exercise and improve their Scratch Knowledge. |
|---|---|
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Technology | Internet |
| Materials | Internet, Scratch installed on PC, video-projector, dictionary |
| Student:teacher ratio | |
| Age of students | 8 years+ |
Special information
The workshop aims to practice animal vocabulary items.
Step by step overview
We have used the poem “At The Zoo” by William Makepeace Thackeray.
At The Zoo ~William Makepeace Thackeray
First I saw the white bear, then I saw the black; Then I saw the camel with a hump upon his back; Then I saw the grey wolf, with mutton in his maw; Then I saw the wombat waddle in the straw; Then I saw the elephant a-waving of his trunk; Then I saw the monkeys - mercy, how unpleasantly they stunk!
Organization of the class: Students are organized into groups of 3 pupils each.
Warm up: Start off with an usual warm up and ask one student to read the poem. Then ask the whole class read the poem and try imitate the animals they are talking about just as in a theatre play. Ask the students to imitate a wolf, a bear, a wombat in order to see whether they know the words. They may not know the meaning of the words “mutton”, “maw”, “waddle” and “wombat”. Introduction: Tell the students, they have to recreate the poem in a Scratch program. Tell them they are going to make a film in order to make things even more playful and interesting. Presentation: divide the students into groups of three pupils each. Ask them to search for the right backdrop and then use the sprites which are the characters of the poem. Give them 15 minutes to complete the task. Let the students work by themselves and if they get stuck, ask a student to tell the whole class how it is done. The child can also show his colleagues on a video projector. At this phase they may not know how to look for images on the Internet, download them and then use them in Scratch. Ask the students to read the poem once more and indicate who does the talking. After they have completed the previous task give the students a few minute to look at “Looks” and “Control” blocks and then ask what block would be useful to create the characters’ utterances. Indicate the block “Looks” and ask the students to use this block and check how this works. From this point they shouldn’t be guided anymore. Ask them to use their imagination and create the rest of the project as they wish.
Tips to make the workshop go smoothly
At first the teacher has to make sure the students know how many characters they have in their project and who does the talking. The teacher shouldn’t aim to intervene too much during the class. He/She mustn’t act as a controller, but as a prompter and organizer.
Extensions and challenges
As an extension the teacher can ask the students to enlarge the characters or make them smaller. A challenge for them can be if they are asked to continue the poem and write a couple of new verses. The workshop can also be adapted to poems in general. The teacher can choose the poem according to the age of the students he/she is working with.