Using Plot Maps With Stop Motion Animation

Shorts of the Week


We are currently reviewing "No Excuse" Literary Terms in my middle school reading class.  When I dropped the subject of Plot Maps, they acted like they had never heard of them.  I am pretty sure they have seen them repeatedly in their educational careers.  However, since it was one more topic they appear to never have been exposed to, I decided we needed something catchy.

My fourth and fifth grade students happen to be working on creating Stop Motion Animation (more on that later).  We had been watching some pretty cool Shorts of the Week as examples.  I decided to pull these gems in for my middle school students to analyze and complete plot maps.

The Process:

I walked them through a short Stop Motion Animation clip called Gulp.  In it, a Jonah-style fisherman gets caught in the belly of a giant fish.  At 1:45, it is an easy one to view, discuss, and repeat as needed.  The beauty of Stop Motion Animation is that when you are scrolling through the video, you can see clip by clip progress, and stop just where needed. 

The first time I tell the kids to watch and just enjoy.  Afterwards, we jot down everything they can remember about the clip.  In most cases, that includes the title, creator's name, protagonist, antagonist, a few rising actions, and the resolution.

After a second viewing, we are able to fill in more pieces.  During the third viewing, we stop many times and had an in-depth conversation.

While not part of our Plot Map, we did discuss the foreshadowing evident in the video, and the connection some students made to the story of Jonah.

Be sure to check out the Gulp.  The Making of

Free Plot Map

The next day, we repeated the process with another Stop Motion Animation piece called Back to the Start.  This one clocks in at 2:21, and is branded content for Chipotle.  It is a touching story about sustainable agriculture.  It is a more complex piece than Gulp, and a great one to take kids to the next level. 

After viewing the clip many times and discussing it, the kids completed a Plot Map.  This time, we were able to have a discussion about symbolism in the video, and ventured into an ethics discussion on sustainable agriculture and the environment.  

We also talked about how Willie Nelson's version of "The Scientist" impacted the mood of the video.  We then listened to Coldplay's version of "The Scientist" and inferred how the mood would have been different if the creator would have chosen it to accompany the video.

While we didn't compare a written text to a multimedia version, we were able to analyze how the plot plays out just the same way it would in a story: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

On December 28, 2014, there was an article available on The Atlantic called "Cracking the Sitcom Code".  It's interesting how sitcoms all follow the same simple formula.  It appears as though many Stop Motion Animation films follow the typical Plot Map my middle school student claim to have never seen before...

Hopefully, this time they will remember.

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud

Poem by William Wordsworth
(The kids find the author's name to be a hoot ~ WORDSworth ~ his words must be worth a lot!

Imagery, personification, vocabulary...This is a such a great poem to use with kids!  The poem can be found at the Poetry Foundation website.

We began by reading a copy of the poem and using the Internet to view images of daffodils, vales, and bays.  We talked about the meaning of vocabulary words new to the kids: jocund, pensive, sprightly, and solitude.  Then, the kids worked hard to consider what the author wanted us to take away from this poem.

After reading the poem several times, I shared this awesome comic strip version of the poem that I found through a McGraw Hill site (scroll down to page three).  This helped my students understand the poem even better, especially the idea of personification.  Later, the kids drew their own examples of personification.

Printable Personification Page through Google Drive

Another great discovery was the picture book I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud illustrated by Sami Suomalainen, available as a PDF and located at Be There Bedtime Stories.  The kids were intrigued by the illustrator's interpretation of the poem, and it helped them understand it in a different and deeper way.  After all this work with the poem, we completed a Literature Web. Since it was our first attempt, we did it together, stanza by stanza.

Our next step is to complete a Vocabulary Web for some of the new words from the poem.  The kids will use Internet resources to complete their webs with a partner (call me tech savvy, or just know that we don't have dictionaries in our room...) 

Vocabulary Web

Try this great poem with your class!

Choice Boards for Early Finishers

Choice is a powerful tool for the classroom.

Students feel empowered when we offer choices for their learning.  Providing students who finish their work early with options that require higher order thinking is meaningful and motivating.  This year, I am giving my fourth and fifth grade students monthly Choice Boards.  The tasks utilize creative options from the top two levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (create and evaluate) and from the SCAMPER mnemonic, developed by Bob Eberle (substitute, combine, add something, magnify/minify, put to other uses, eliminate, and rearrange).

Simple pocket folders decorated by the students hold the choice boards and "projects in process."  Students choose activities from the board that reflect their strengths, interests, or new areas they would like to try.  

*We also talk about other options that are always great choices when they have free time ~ the perennial favorites of reading and writing stories, poetry, and research.

Free Download: 
August Choice Board for Early Finishers

TPT

The tasks for August focus on timely "back to school" topics!

Teachers: Click through the link of your choice above to find the free August Choice Board and try it with your students.  You will find a color version and a black line version. Enjoy!