Book recommendations
Students can write book recommendations as they have in past years. But instead of posting a hand written “card” with their book blurb, they will create wordle recommendations either by copy and pasting their text, or listing character traits, plot points, genre and conflict.
Tall Tale Character Creation
Every year my second grade students study tall tales in depth. At the end of the study, the students create their own tall tale character. Instead of listing their traits and strengths, the students will create a wordle to post beside their illustration
Dewey Study
Our fourth graders take on Dewey in their final year of lower school. They are responsible for learning the 10 main categories, and each year I ask them to choose their favorite category. (Don’t laugh! They have favorites, trust me!) As a part of their favorite category explanation, they will create a wordle listing the sub-categories within.
As a colleague recently pointed out to me, images are powerful. So are words. Combining the two gives people pause, and can encourage deeper thinking on so many topics.
What would you do with wordle (or word clouds) with your students/patrons/kids?
Andi Sibley
We have used Wordle at the beginning of the year for kids to write a short paragraph of their “Hopes and Dreams” for the year and then make a word cloud of the text. We hang them up or make slideshows for back to school night. Have also made posters of Wordle library media center mission statements, brainstorming sessions of digital citizenship elements or values, class rules, goals, book talks, field trip reports, and tall tales, poems or short stories. Almost any text put into a wordle reveals focus, values, themes or POV. It is really one of my favorite cool tools!