Third graders have been studying Mali (SOL 3.2) recently so today we made comics about Mali using a program called Comic Life. I provided them with a blank template and showed them how to add a fancy title. Then I showed them how to twist and stretch the title and change the style of it. We added 4 panels to the comic and then we did an Internet image search for pictures. I gave them some suggestions and wrote a word bank on the board: Africa, empire, Mali, gold, salt, trade, route, pilgrimage, Mansa Musa, Sundiata, griot, Timbuktu, Sahara, etc. With our version of Comic Life, the students couldn’t drag images off the Internet into their comics, so I taught them how to drag the photos into their folders first and then, from there, drag them into their comics. Next we used the Style button to change the style of the photos. Finally I showed them how to add the speech bubbles. I explained that they should write in complete sentences and include good facts and details. When they completed their comics I combined them all into one document and uploaded it to FlipSnack. You can see the finished comic by clicking here.
