Activity
End-of-Year Activities: Slideshows and Memory Books
Take a trip down memory lane! Create a memory slideshow or digital book about 2022.
Have you been taking pictures throughout the year of your class? Do your students have pictures? Create a shared folder of class- or school-related pictures. Remember the school year by creating a slideshow with all your favorite school-related things!
Note: Remember, all pictures must have titles and/or descriptions! All slideshows must be fully accessible. Teach all students in the class to incorporate accessibility!
Individual end-of-year slideshows
Each student can create a slideshow using these pictures as prompts and incorporating pictures into his/her slideshow. Be sure to include pictures of teachers, etc. It’s never too early to model and work on organizational skills. Organize the pictures! You could have folders for categories such as Teachers, Subjects, Activities, etc. Ask the students to decide on the subjects and to organize the folders. (Hint: This can be a year-long activity!)
Create a list of slides for younger students, such as:
- My favorite teacher is . . .
- My favorite subject is . . .
- My friends and I . . .
- My favorite assignment/craft/activity is . . .
- The funniest thing that happened to me in class is . . .
- The scariest thing that happened to me in class is . . .
- The best thing about school is . . .
Note: Remind students that the content should be friendly and fun; no one should be bullied or embarrassed. It may be best to only allow students to tell stories about themselves, not other students.
Dig a little deeper! Have each student list why they chose this person, activity, etc. Create 3 sentences for each slide or a list of 3-5 bullet points. Be sure to include pictures!
Parents: Create memory books/slideshows of family events with your younger children and/or encourage children to create their own. “Present” or share these books/slideshows with family members! This is a fun family activity and these digital memories can be given as gifts!
Resources
- Tech Standards: Adding Image Descriptions to iOS Photos
- Tech Standards: Accessing Keynote Presentations with VoiceOver
- PowerPoint Lesson Plan for Elementary Students
- Technology lesson: Excel and PowerPoint (amazing Animal PowerPoint Activity)
- Tech lesson Week #1: (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote)
- Mother’s Day Activity: Presentation Tech Activity with Self-Advocacy Skills
- Apple Keynote Instructions (VoiceOver)
- ChromeVox: Google Slides Video Tutorial
- Navigating Google Slides with ChromeVox
End-of-year slideshow collaboration
Create a collaborative slideshow. Each student can pick one picture and create a slide about that picture. Define what the slide should include or let students be creative! The slideshow can be a collection of stories about the school year, a recap of favorite class activities, funny things that have happened during the year. Keep in mind in mind that stories should not bully or embarrass students! Collaboration skills are critical in group school projects and career projects!
This collaboration activity can be done with any collaborative app, including Google Docs. If your goal is tech skills, choose the application that you want your students to learn and/or practice their tech skills.
Parents: As a family, create a collaborative slideshow!
Resources
- Google Docs: Teaching Collaboration Skills with a Screen Reader Activity
- Add and Pass Activity: Google Docs Collaboration
- Teaching Styles: Creativity, Written Expression, and Collaboration (Includes how MIT uses assignments with slideshow collaboration)
End-of-year book
Create a digital end-of-year book, with each student writing a “story” about an event, activity, field trip, etc. The pictures gathered throughout the year can be used to prompt ideas and to illustrate pages in the book. The stories are a fun writing assignment and the finished digital book can be a shared keepsake for each student. Remember, incorporate the writing with the language arts skills that you are currently or recently taught. Example: Incorporating 5 vocabulary words, using quality descriptive words, conjunctions, onomatopoeia words, etc.
Choose your favorite book application (Example: Book Creator or Pictello) or use a book template from your word application.
Resources
- Creating and/or using simple digital books post
- Book Creating App: Create your own accessible books on iOS, Android and Windows Tablets post
- Creating accessible books using pages post
Presenting
Once the slideshow or book is created, do not forget to have students “present” their work to the class!
Tech Standards
The activities mentioned in this post are classroom functional applications of the national tech standards.
The Common Core State Standards K-12 Technology Skills Scope and Sequence is a terrific break down of specific skills by grade level. Use these standards to determine if your BLV student’s tech skills are in line with peers nationally!
AT Technology Skills Scope and Sequence: iPad is based on the above Common Core State Standards for students who use VoiceOver on an iPad. Note: This scope and sequence can be used as a guide with other devices and screen readers.
By Diane Brauner
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