Fifth graders at Trevvett Elementary have been learning about words with multiple meanings and homophones (SOL5.4). Today students in Ms. Brown’s class created a Google slideshow to illustrate two different meanings of a word or a pair of homophones using context clues. First we utilized the Schoology discussion feature to brainstorm multiple-meaning words. You can see a short sample of the discussion by clicking on the photo accompanying this post. Notice the student names and photos are blurred out. You can do that using a cool site called FacePixelizer. Next the students opened a blank Google slideshow (the quickest way is to give them a direct link to their Google slides). I showed them how to search for an background image that isn’t too distracting by clicking the Background button > Image > Choose > Search. Some good search terms to use are “texture” or “bokeh” (blurred lights). Then we changed the title to “Multiple Meaning Words” and added their name to the subtitle. I also demonstrated how they could change the font, size, and color of the words. On the next slide we typed a sentence using both meanings of the word or homophone, and we underlined them. I explained how to add transitions and animations to the slide as well. Finally, I showed them how to add an image illustrating the sentence. We shared our slideshows with each other on Schoology. You can see them all here. (UPDATE: I taught a similar lesson with Ms. Hall’s class at Holladay on 10/10, but we did it a little differently. I have added them to that page).
