Digital Pet Books

Pet project product for the 1st grade.  This was one of the most fun products that came out of the the Pet Project.  I made a Google slide of my story.  The first story that I made, I asked the kids to write with me.  I needed 27 pages so the process took too long for a lot of the little kids in class so I adjusted the process to me writing the story about the 'happenings' of the day. This ran much more smooth.  So below, you will see an example of what I created before the students came in. I changed the story slightly each day because new pets came in for drawing.  I put one line on each page and then printed them out.  I was sure to include the page numbers so I would be able to get them back in order later on. All of this was done before the kids arrived. 

As the students came in, we talked about behavior around animals and my expectations for the day.  I read them the story in full to let them think about it as a whole.  Then I asked them to get in line and read each page to each student so they were sure to know the line that they had to illustrate.

Each kid handed in the image before the end of class.  I explained that they could included other animals in their image, but to try to highlight their part of the story in their image. I will say some of the kids went a little 'off-roading' with this request, but overall, the classes put together a great story. Below are the 4 stories... continue at the bottom for a little more of the 'how to' of this creation. 

Once the kids gave me their images, I used my iPad to take pictures of all the pages in order.  I shared them to my Google Drive (organizing them in folders).  Then I opened my slide show again.  I chose Insert > Image.

Then choose Google Drive > and then the folder you wanted, shown in the images below. 

I matched each of the images with the text already on the page.  On most of the digital books, I also placed a picture of the animals that visited that day.  The final slide is a Google URL shortener.  I made short URLs because when you do this, it allows for feedback to show when someone looked at the link.  I could track to see if after sending this digital book to each household, if they took the time to look at it.  This was feedback only for me as a communicating teacher.  I have to make sure what I do with my time is meaningful and valued... if not, I'll put my efforts else where. 

If you have questions, please buzz me a comment.  This process would be really good for a lot of things.  I would love to hear where it takes your brain.