Symptom: How to make Shakespeare quotes new and exciting

Did you read the last post where I talked about the craziness of my spring book fair? Well, in the middle of everything one of the gifted teachers stopped by and asked if I had an idea of how to update her Shakespeare project the 5th grade students (between her and the other teacher, there are about 25 students).

The students were completing a unit on William Shakespeare, and in the past they had created t-shirts with a quote. The students would choose their favorite Shakespeare quote and then use fabric paint and markers to write out the quote and decorate the t-shirt. The teacher shared with me that it was messy and took longer to finish that the time she had available. (Remember the ice storm? It rearranged everyone's schedule!) 

Oh, and by the way, she needed this cool, new idea the next day. 

Never fear - the library doctor is here! I offered her this prescription:

PicMonkey  
www.picmonkey.com

I found out about PicMonkey from Pinterest. It's a web-based photo editing tool and is free! Yes, FREE and you don't even have to create an account! They do offer accounts and you can upgrade to access additional tools, but for this lesson we didn't need the extra tools.

My prescription plan including teaching a lesson to her students on how to use PicMonkey. They would use our school's subscription to Image Quest to select images that related to their quote. They could create a single image or a collage and add their quote with the text tool. Next, they printed the saved image using iron-on transfer paper that you use with your printer. 
 
 











The images were printed, ironed on the t-shirts and proudly worn within minutes of being created. The students LOVED this lesson and are making t-shirts for their tennis teams, for birthday party favors, and just for fun. Whenever I see one of the 5th graders that were in the gifted classes, they stop me and tell me how much they love PicMonkey. Give it a try - you're going to love it too!