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The start of this school year is unlike any we’ve had in the past. It is a high-stress environment for all stakeholders, and there are many unknowns. Although you might not be sure what instruction, delivery, and class composition might look like this year, there are a few knowns to work with. One big “known” is the importance of creating a community in your classroom.
Whether your classroom is virtual, face-to-face, or a hybrid model, you can still foster connections and help students bond with their classmates. In all environments, you can provide students with opportunities to share and create at the beginning of the school year. This blog post features three customizable activities for students!
Creative Activities with Spark
All three of the activities below showcase the Adobe Spark tools. If you haven’t used these before, Spark Post is a graphic design tool, Spark Video lets students create movies, and Spark Page is perfect for designing and publishing landing pages. I’ve featured Spark lots of times on the blog, and Ben Forta and I have a book full of activity ideas. It’s called 40 Ways to Inject Creativity into Your Classroom with Adobe Spark. Let’s dive into the three creative activities for starting the school year!
Download my free Spark Video graphic organizers here >>>
My Favorite Things Video
If you’ve joined me on a webinar this year, you might have seen me model this activity. A “my favorite things” video lets students share their favorite foods, books, movies, subject areas, you name it! You might create an example with your favorite things as a way to introduce yourself to your students, too.
For this project, encourage kids to make a list of 5-7 things they love. They can add an image, text, icon, or video clip to go along with each one. You might ask students to add captions and record their voice on each slide. Students can also choose a theme and music that connects to things they love.
All About Me Poster
An “all about me” project is an excellent way for students to introduce themselves to their classmates. Whether they are all together or learning from a distance, this introductory activity can spark conversations and help students get to know each other. For this type of poster, you might ask students to use the layout feature in Spark Post. They can choose a set number of images as their background and layer text on top to act as labels.
In the example above, you can see how I added four boxes and filled each one with an image. Students can add their pictures and use the text tool to place their names in the center and label each of their boxes. Spark Post makes it easy to export content, so students can download their graphic and upload it to Seesaw, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, or another space where they post their work.
Goal Setting Journal
For the third activity idea on our list, a goal-setting journal, I’ll point you to a blog post from last year. It includes a video goal setting idea, and you could try it out in this format, or set it up as an activity in Spark Page. Spark Page is the tool that lets you create a beautiful landing page you can update during the year. This feature makes it an excellent option for a journal activity.
In addition to the blog post linked above, I’ve added a podcast episode where you can listen to another goal-setting activity idea below—press play to listen, or find this episode on your favorite podcast app.
The Added Value of Creating at the Start
There are many benefits to starting the school year with a creative activity. It can help you:
- Introduce new tools: including ones you’ll use throughout the school year
- Set routines: like giving feedback and sharing student work
- Establish a baseline: help you identify where students might need extra help
- Early celebrations: with community building at the start of the year
I can’t wait to see what type of creative activities you set up for students this year. If you’re committing to include more creativity in your classroom this year, check out the Adobe Creative Educators program. It’s free, and I’m very proud to be a founding member!
Learn more about the program on this landing page, or head over to Spark for Education’s website to learn more about setting up your students for success with Adobe Spark.
