My school implemented club day last year. When I first began hosting my Animation Club, I went all out and made membership cards, a packet for students to take home and planned a different animation activity each month of the club. I quickly realized that I was causing more stress and headache for myself than was necessary.

The way our school handles club day is really neat. Students sign up for a club they are interested in and the club meets once a month for the fall semester. In January, students can sign up for the same club or they can sign up for a new club for the spring semester. The club days are on the 3rd Monday of the month during 'Cardinal Time'. I like that the clubs are during the school day, because it means every student has the opportunity to participate. I don't like that the clubs are during my only planning period/break of the day, which means I end up teaching 7 classes in a row with no time off....but once I started simplifying my club experience, things got a lot easier for me to facilitate. 

For the first club day of each session, I show the Brain Pop video about animation. There are two....so I usually show the one about traditional animation, as opposed to the one that is mostly CGI. I show several examples of stop motion animation on youtube and I give my students an overview of what to expect the next few months.

Since the club is a mixture of 5th and 6th grade students---and there are 25 of them---I encourage them to sit with a friend or a group that they can work with the entire time. Students have to work in groups to make movies so it is important to sit with people that they feel comfortable working with. We spent a little time with introductions that first day. I played an icebreaker game they had to stand up or sit down after I made a statement. This also helped me get to know the students and helped them quickly learn a few facts about each other. (I posted the game below). 

Finally, the very first club day, we spent the last few minutes creating a list on the board of possible short film topics. I was blown away by the list of ideas my students came up with. 

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When I asked my students this year if they would prefer that I provided an in-depth tutorial each time, where every group would be working on the same thing or if they would rather I just let them make movies, with very little structure. The feedback I received told me they really wanted to just go for it without the in-depth tutorials or if I did show them something, it could be optional.

Last year, during one of our sessions, we watched the animation chef tutorial on how to make a 'furious' character. The were amazing, but we were really RUSHED to get the characters made and the video made in our short 45 minute session. Some groups did not get done and other groups were not interested so they only worked a few minutes and their videos were not great. It was very stressful to prep the materials for them in advance so I was happy when they said they did not want the clubs to be so structured. 

For another session last year, we learned how to make animated ghosts using the DOINK app. Patricia Fuglestad has a great tutorial and I typed up the instructions for my students. The results were great, but the level of engagement wasn't as high because I only have enough iPads for about half of my students and each kid needed quite a bit of screen time alone with the ipad to edit their film, the other kid was just sitting back watching, being bored or getting in to trouble. 

After hosting about 15ish club day sessions, I have finally found a rythm that works pretty well. I have also been asking kids what they like about other clubs and one thing they have said is that they love it when the teacher gives out candy or snacks.

​So for our final session in December, I brought each kid a candy cane. They had to work with their group to animate the candy canes, using either the Lego Movie Maker app (currently unavailable in the app store), Stop Motion app or StickBot app. Then, they had to pop their stop motion film into iMovie to add music, export it to the camera roll and share it with me on Google Drive.....all in about 45 minutes. We did our best and most of the videos made it into my compilation movie. The animations aren't perfect, but they are pretty good and the kids were engaged and happy to eat their candy canes after filming. We watched this example to get warmed up. 

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I have a bunch of random stuff kids can use for movie making.

• Cardboard painted chroma green
• pair of green gloves
• green straws (Starbucks!)
• Small reposition-able action figures
• Stationary plastic toys from (goodwill)
• Butter and cool whip bowls with a groove cut out to use as tripods for the iPad minis
• Wooden nutcrackers from dollar tree (at Christmas)
• Wooden manikins--reposition-able and nice for movies
• Paper, markers and scissors
• Cardboard trifold boards-- I encourage them to set up their movie against wall so that the background does not have a bunch of distracting stuff messing up their movie a cardboard tri-fold is helpful as I don't have a ton of wall space
• Chroma green tape
• Slate boards (old green chalk boards) with modeling clay smooshed to the surface so that figures will stay put
• Chroma Green curtain 

Most of the time at club day, I give my students free range to make whatever type of movie they want. We did talk a little bit about story boarding. The first day of filming, the groups had to discuss their main characters, whether they wanted to use clay, paper or existing toys and whether or not they wanted their films to be green screen or not. I don't require them to create a storyboard each time, but usually the first day of movie making, so they can have a discussion before they start setting everything up. 

Here is the storyboarding template I have them use for movie planning. 
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​Here are a few videos my students have made on my youtube channel. 
Here are some animation videos I show if we have a few extra minutes after making our movies, before it is time for dismissal. 

My club is very popular and I wish I could have more than 25 students in my club but I am limited by the amount of space and I only have 12 iPads so we are maxed out. Follow me on youtube to see a few examples of our films each month!

Thank goodness for Art Hub for kids to help me plan the last day or so when only a few classes had a final day of art and needed to make something that they could take home the same day. This how to draw baby groot video, was very fun and cute! It was also perfect because Guardians of the Galaxy just came out and many of my students have already seen it. 

I always encourage my kiddos to sketch lightly in pencil first, and then use a sharpie to outline the good lines they want to keep, and erase old pencil lines. It adds a few minutes to the finished product but I think it is worth the time. We used colored pencils to color and shade. 

While students finished coloring and some added a background, I played a few end of the year videos from my youtube 'end of the year' playlist. I also really like the animation Planets on Vimeo, but I always stop it before the 12th planet as the last song isn't age appropriate, the rest of the video is pretty engaging. 

My theme this year is collaboration. I've made it my mission to sharpen my skills of facilitating collaborative projects in my classroom. Generally in art, students are lone wolves. Every choice they make is based purely on whatever they envision. By having them work in teams or pairs or whole-class, they are forced to compromise, problem-solve and they create something really special that couldn't have been done without input from someone else. It has been difficult for me...and my students...to get used to this way of creating. And they cheer when I tell them they get to work alone on a project...but as the year goes on, I have seen a remarkable difference in how they communicate and work together. This is the first project where I have almost totally relied on technology as the media...and I learned a lot about how to facilitate this sort of artwork in my classroom. I hope that this lesson will help you, should you attempt such a project in your classroom. Please leave comments+links if you decide to attempt a version of this!!

Let me also explain that this lesson was entirely inspired by a tutorial by Tricia Fuglestad. (In case you didn't know, Tricia was the 2012 Illinois art teacher of the year, I saw her in NY at the NAEA conference, and I was shocked and inspired by everything she is doing to pave a new technology infused-art-education program for art teachers) I figured if she could teach her kids how to make an alien run, then surely I could teach mine how to make an owl fly....(Vimeo: Tricia’s Do Ink tutorial  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/197102921165378574/ )

I watched her video like a dozen times to figure out how she explained each step of drawing the alien...and I realized that it really helped my students when I drew the owl 4 times in front of them, changing the wings with each drawing using the DO Ink app. They 'got' it a lot faster when I did it this way. My goal wasn't really to demonstrate the perfection of an owl in flight, it was to showcase a very basic animation and to give them chance to try something simple to gain some experience and confidence in the process. Next year (or during summer school), I can do a lot more with this--and it would probably be a whole lot easier with older students: 5th and 6th grade...and if I had BETTER stylus, that would've helped too...the stylus that I have kept falling apart or they just quit working all together.

Also, this project was really challenging because I only have 12 iPad minis...and my 3rd and 4th graders are USED to having their OWN iPad 24/7 in the regular classroom, it was difficult for them to work in teams. They were fighting, and complaining and at one point I got really, really frustrated with my 3rd graders...but the very next day, I did the same lesson with 4th grade and it went off perfectly...so I don't know, it might've just been that particular class/day/time and not this lesson at all to blame. Ha!


WEEK 1
Objectives/GLEs: STRAND I: Product/Performance (1.) Select and apply two-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art problems. (not assessed in 3rd Grade) (3.) Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes. Figure: Create an original artwork of a figure in an action pose  

Procedure:

When students first arrive, have them re-group with a new partner. Record which group has which iPad so that students can get their same iPad back next week.  (I’m also changing the seating chart).

Explain that during ‘free’ time, students have a variety of activities they can do. If it works better for their team to work on the iPad and communicate at the same time, then that is fine…but if one team member (or both) works better alone, they can take turns and the one who is ‘off’ the iPad can use the stations to engage in an art activity while they are waiting for their turn to animate.

Students will also be coming over to a special station to create an alcohol ink tile. They will not be taking it home today because I have to spray it with a sealer…so they need to write their name on the bottom of the tile in sharpie. (Remember: swap with alcohol, drip ink on surface. Use 3 colors).

Today we will be using a STYLUS. Please be careful not to tear the tip of the stylus up….be gentle with it.

Lesson:

1.     Watch the Brainpop video about animation.  http://www.brainpop.com/technology/scienceandindustry/traditionalanimation/ You must have an account to access the video, but it is an awesome way to introduce this project!

2.     Demonstrate how to use the DoInk app on the iPads.

• a.     Using a stylus, open the Do Ink app.
• b.     Click on the Home button. (show them one that I’ve already made so they can get the overall picture of what they are doing).
• c.      Click on drawings. Hit the + paintbrush button.
• d.     Use the drawing tool to draw an owl flying. (Use black brush size 7 is just about the right size)
• e.     Use the handout provided to put the wings, eyes, and beak in various positions on all 4 ‘onion’ skins.  (explain what onion skinning is) Do not ‘fill’ the background. If the color ‘spills’ students did not connect lines to form a solid shape.
• f.      On my iPad, demonstrate how to add the 4th owl in the sequence. Demonstrate how to fill colors, erase, and resize the screen.*I Should have drawn all 4 instead of just the one.....it would've helped those first few classes to 'get' it.
  

Week 2

Objectives/GOAL: Both students need to finish animating the flying owl by completing 4 fully colored single frames. Each frame should show a different pose of the owl.

Then the ‘teams’ will create a composition. This will allow their owls have a path to walk across the screen. Students will collaborate to design the background and finish the flying owl composition.

Lesson:

1.  Watch the Brainpop video about animation.

• a.     http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/digitalanimation/
• b.     You must have an account to access the video, but it is an awesome one to introduce this segment of the lesson.

2.     Demonstrate how to create a new composition. Students who are sharing an iPad can merge their two owls (and resize them) on the composition (use the +gear button, add drawings over top). They will need to save the finished compositions to the camera roll with their names and class code as the title.

• Demonstrate how to create a new drawing using the +paintbrush button, draw a very simple landscape and color it.
• Demonstrate how to create a new COMPOSITION.
•  Click the +gear button.
•   Add the freshly designed background 'landscape'.
•  Show how to resize
• Show how to add the 2 animated owl drawings.
• Demonstrate how to move the owl over to the left, and start a new path across the screen.
• Demonstrate how to make the entire thing about 6-7 seconds long, this will slow down the path considerably.
  
• Demonstrate how to RENAME, and SAVE the composition to the camera roll

Procedure:
  When students finish their composition on the iPad, they should use the Inigma app to scan the QR code that is posted in the room. This code will take them to a Smore flyer online that will lead them through a variety of animation activities. https://www.smore.com/egjp-animation All of the materials needed to create each of the animation activities are on a table in the art room. (I only did this with my 4th graders who were familiar with the inigma+smore apps.


REMINDER: Explain that during ‘free’ time, students have a variety of activities they can do. If it works better for their team to work on the iPad and communicate at the same time, then that is fine…but if one team member (or both) works better alone, they can take turns and the one who is ‘off’ the iPad can use the stations to engage in an art activity while they are waiting for their turn to animate.  Everyone should be working on SOMETHING at all times.

WEEK 3
1. Students needed an additional week to work on animations. Since this happened around Thanksgiving break, we returned from Thanksgiving to start a new project, and reserved this for 'free time'. Several groups just needed a little more time to finish, while others needed a lot more time. And other groups, were completely finished. I did show the iMovie app, and challenge a few ambitions groups to make a 'Movie Trailer' for their owls, which would tell a story...and require more animations to fill up the video segments in the pre-designed trailers. No one has finished a trailer yet...

The first week, I wrote down which groups had which iPads. I took a picture of the seating chart on my iPad and mirrored it on my TV so that students could check the chart to remember which iPad+teammate they had.

**Note: Since I was doing this same project with 6 classes, we DID have trouble with some students 'forgetting' which owl was their original on the iPad. Since groups from every class were using the iPads, it was really hard to personalize the drawing so that no one else would claim it for their own. So like if one boy drew a blue owl, and the boy in the very next class really liked it, and 'couldn't remember which owl was his own' he might just pop that first boys owl into his composition and I would never know.....especially if they made some little change. In the future, I would have each grade do a different subject matter....or I would only do this project with one grade at a time.

Teacher Resources
Here are a couple of links to help navigate the Do Ink app. I watched these to help prepare myself for the lesson.

Download: Do Ink App https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/do-ink-animation-drawing/id364762290?mt=8

Do Ink: How to Animate and Draw http://blog.doink.com/post/45767533769/how-to-animate-and-draw-on-the-ipad-with-doink

Do Ink: Amazing 3rd Grade art http://blog.doink.com/post/21725802601/amazing-third-grade-project-on-doink-ipad-app

Vimeo: Tricia’s Do Ink tutorial (sorry it is linked through my Pinterest because I cannot access Vimeo anymore) http://www.pinterest.com/pin/197102921165378574/ my entire lesson is based on lessons done by Tricia Fuglestad.

 http://drydenart.weebly.com/ for more information on iPads in art education.