Friday 30 May 2014

Five for Friday - Teaching Animation

Happy Friday Everyone!

I can't believe how quickly this week off school has flown by. Back to school on Monday for 38 more days...


Over the holiday I have been planning our unit of work on animation and searching for great animation lesson ideas. This was not something I was looking forward to doing but now that I have thought about it and found some great ideas, it looks like it will be fun!

My Five for Friday are some of the things I have planned for us to do each week...


We will begin our work on animation by making thaumatropes! I stumbled across the Youth Learn site which had some good information here. Our topic is Travel and Transport so we will each pick a different type of transport to animate. I've made a simple one to show them (please don't judge my drawing - it was just a quick example so they can get the idea!). When I spin it, it looks like the people are in the bus and that the bus is on the road!



We will then make flick book animations. Again, we will link this to our topic so I have made a (very) simple example of a hot air balloon either rising or landing (depending on how you flick it). I've laid it out as it would show when flicked here because I can't show it moving in a photo!




After making our flip books, we will move on to cut out animations. I haven't had a chance to make one yet but I'm thinking of one static background and a simple car moving across the page (or the sky with a plane flying across). This is a lovely animation that I will show my class:

Paper Cut Out Animation on Vimeo
I also got some good ideas and liked the clips on Moving Image Education.

Next it will be Stop Motion Animation (a great chance to watch some too!). I haven't decided yet if we will use lego, teddies or plasticine - any thoughts? This is a useful clip from BBC Learning Zone Class Clips to show the class before we get started:

BBC Learning Zone Class Clips
I do also like the idea of a huge whole class 'Art Attack' animation which I just found here.


If we have time we will also explore Pivot Stick Animator. Simon Haughton's Website (which I have used for planning other great computing lessons) has some great information about using this in the classroom. I used Pivot with much older children a couple of years ago and they loved it. I'm hoping my 6-7 year olds will be able to enjoy it too!


I'll keep you updated on how we do with these activities each week. 
(feel free to follow me for updates!)

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If you've had success teaching animation or doing any of these activities in your class, please leave a comment below - all tips and advice will be greatly appreciated!

Have a great weekend!



8 comments:

  1. Wow your children are so lucky, that animation unit looks like it will be so much fun. I think I might try some of this out with my kiddos the last few weeks of school. I'm so glad to have found another English blogger too!

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  2. Sorry for another post, but I just looked at Fern Smith's blog and she is offering some transportation freebies at the moment.
    http://www.fernsmithsclassroomideas.com/2014/05/ferns-freebie-friday-free.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FernSmith+%28Fern+Smith%29
    Becky

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    1. Thank you so much - for the comment AND for thinking of me when you saw those great freebies! I definitely have some children who would benefit from them. It is good to find another UK blogger!

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  3. Great animation lessons! I wish I was in your class! Sadly, I am on summer break! (Not really sad about this!)

    Carol
    Teachers Are Terrific!

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  4. Lots of fun ideas! Kids always love anything they can move. They love flick books!
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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  5. What a great idea. I have never taught animation with my kiddos but using a flip book might be a fun culminating activity!
    Mrs. Spriggs’ Kindergarten Pond

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  6. Your animations seem like so much fun! I wish I was that talented! You're kiddos are going to love it! :)
    -Christa
    learninbooks.blogspot.com

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  7. I want to do animations with my kids too! Great scaffolding- I wouldn't have thought of that and just tried to jump right in.
    ~Heather
    The Meek Moose

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