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=Welcome to Comics for Education=

My Comic Strip
Father and son aliens from Planet Archaebacteria arrive on Earth. They are looking for archaebacteria which is needed to save their planet. They encounter multicellular organisms and use their dichotomous key to discover these organisms are from the animal kingdom. || The father and son find the fungi kingdom and possible dangers. ||       ||
 * Monday || ==[[image:Page_1.jpg width="521" height="406"]]==
 * Tuesday || [[image:Tuesday.jpg width="516" height="401"]] ||
 * || The father and son aliens find themselves in a garden with the animal kingdom. A Venus Flytrap tries to eat the son. ||
 * Wednesday || [[image:Wednesday.jpg width="512" height="400"]]
 * Wednesday || [[image:Wednesday.jpg width="512" height="400"]]
 * Thursday || [[image:Thursday.jpg width="529" height="412"]] ||
 * || The father and son find the protist kingdom and are getting closer to finding archaebacteria. ||
 * Friday || [[image:Friday.jpg width="562" height="439"]] ||
 * || The father and son find the eubacteria kingdom and discover its dangers. ||
 * Saturday || [[image:Monday2.jpg width="558" height="442"]] ||
 * || The father and son find archaebacteria. They collect specimens and hurry to head home. They will save their planet! ||
 * || The father and son find archaebacteria. They collect specimens and hurry to head home. They will save their planet! ||

My Lesson
** Title: ** Comic Life Dichotomous Key of the 6 Kingdoms ** Author: ** Patsy Kraj ** Audience: ** This activity is for a seventh grade life science classroom. This activity would also be relevant to a 9th grade biology classroom. ** Purpose: ** The purpose of the activity is to give students hands-on experience using a dichotomous key. It will provide a means to demonstrate learning. ** Learning Objectives: ** Aligned to Georgia Performance Standards listed below. At the end of this activity students will be able to use a dichotomous key, create a dichotomous key, and explain content learning using correct vocabulary. ** Georgia Performance Standards ** ** S7L1. Students will investigate the diversity of living organisms and how they can be compared scientifically. ** a. Demonstrate the process for the development of a dichotomous key. b. Classify organisms based on physical characteristics using a dichotomous key of the six kingdom system (archaebacteria, eubacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals). ** S7L4. ** **Students will examine the dependence of organisms on one another and their environments.** d. Categorize relationships between organisms that are competitive or mutually beneficial. ** S7CS10. Students will enhance reading in all curriculum areas by: ** c. Building vocabulary knowledge • Demonstrate an understanding of contextual vocabulary in various subjects. • Use content vocabulary in writing and speaking. • Explore understanding of new words found in subject area texts. d. Establishing context • Explore life experiences related to subject area content. • Discuss in both writing and speaking how certain words are subject area related. ** Story: Under Daily Comic Strips ** ** Time: ** The procedure is based on 90 - minute class periods on a block schedule. ** Activity Procedure: ** 7 days Day 1 – The first comic strip will be introduced to the class. The class will receive a dichotomous key of the 6 kingdoms. As a full class activity we will explore the components of a dichotomous key. In small groups, students will make a list of attributes of the animal kingdom. Day 2 – The second comic strip will be introduced to the class. As a full class, we will review the components of a dichotomous key. In small groups, students will make a list of attributes of the plant kingdom. As a full class, we will compare the lists from Day 1 and Day 2. Day 3 – The third comic strip will be introduced to the class. As a full class, we will discuss attributes of the Fungi Kingdom. The class will explore hand-on examples of fungi. Individually, students will make a chart comparing and contrasting attributes of the three kingdoms. Day 4- The fourth comic strip will be introduced to the class. In small groups, students will use Inspiration software and laptops to develop a dichotomous key including the animal kingdom, plant kingdom, and fungi kingdom. The students will share their charts from the day before to compile information for the dichotomous key. Day 5 –The fifth comic strip will be introduced to the class. As a class, we will discuss attributes of the protist kingdom. Individually, students will work on laptops and explore pictures of protists on a track in TrackStar. As a class, we will review the findings on the track. Day 6 –The final comic strip will be introduced to the class. As a class, we will discuss eubacteria and archaebacteria kingdoms. The Smartboard will be used to explore microscopic pictures of both kingdoms. In small groups, students will create a dichotomous key comparing protists, eubacteria, and archaebacteria. Day 7 – (It is assumed that students have already used Comic Life previously.) Individually, students will create a comic strip using Comic Life. Dichotomous keys created by groups earlier will be used as a premise for the comic strip. Students must choose a kingdom that will be exemplified by the comic strip. The comic strip will contain at least four attributes of the kingdom used. The attached rubric will provide assessment guidelines. ** Lessons learned from the experience about oneself and about learning online: ** Comic Life has many useful applications in a classroom. It provides a means of communication of content learning that can be assessed. It can also be used as a means to engage students in classroom discussions through teacher created comics. The application was easy to learn. My difficulties with this assignment were related to the content I chose to use. The content was broad and difficult to apply to this assignment. If I were creating this assignment again I would use a smaller focus. One difficult I can foresee for students is acquiring pictures to use. I would not want the students to spend too much time on pictures. I would rather the focus be on content learning. Comic Life must be used as a tool for students to express their content knowledge. Learning online enhanced this activity. I was able to perform searches and utilize the Internet to look up questions I had about Comic Life.

My Assessment Tool

 * || ** Digital Storytelling : Comic Life Dichotomous Key Kingdoms **

Teacher Name: **Mrs. Kraj**

Student Name: ||


 * CATEGORY || 4 || 3 || 2 || 1 ||
 * Images || Images create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors. || Images create an atmosphere or tone that matches some parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors. || An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work. Image choice is logical. || Little or no attempt to use images to create an appropriate atmosphere/tone. ||
 * Grammar || Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity, style and character development. || Grammar and usage were typically correct (for the dialect chosen) and errors did not detract from the story. || Grammar and usage were typically correct but errors detracted from story. || Repeated errors in grammar and usage distracted greatly from the story. ||
 * Content - Dichotomous Key || Dichotomous key is defined and used correctly. At least four variables are used. || Dichotomous key is mostly defined and used correctly. Three variables are used. || Dichotomous key is defined but not used correctly. Two or less variables are used. || Dichotomous key is not defined and not used correctly. ||
 * Content - Kingdom Characteristics || At least four kingdom characteristics are present. || Three kingdom characteristics are present. || Two kingdom characteristics are present. || Less than two kingdom characteristics are present. ||
 * Quality || Project is neat and attractive. || Project has one area that needs attention to detail. || Project has two to three areas that need attention to detail. || Project has more than three areas that need attention to detail. ||

Total Points:___/20