Thing 14 -- Bitmoji and Booksnaps

I had time to log into bitmoji a few weekends ago and do the creating on the computer of an avatar... then when I got to the end, I couldn't get back... a little frustrating.  It wanted to put it into gmail, but for some reason it didn't work and there wasn't a quick way to go back into the page to make any changes.  Well as I dug a bit deeper, bitmoji works better as an app which I later downloaded to my phone.  From there I could see my creation in various additions.  I am not sure I would really use this at all.  I wasn't really happy with some of the "situations" or phrases that were used for me personally.  You really have to comb through to find something decent.  Too bad there isn't a kid friendly creation that they could use.  I think kids would really love to do this.  My 4 year old keeps asking if he can create one, as he watched me and helped pick out some of my features.  One other thing I didn't really like was I thought that there would be a little more you could do with it or picking backgrounds or details without a person's face.

I suppose students would get a kick out seeing a few of these around the library, or on bookmarks or book reviews or even letters home, etc...  Not sure I will really put these in to fore front of my mind.  I since creating them, I will at least try to use them once and a while.

One of the other topics on this assignment was booksnaps.  I love the idea of booksnaps.  I hadn't heard of them before.  As I was looking into it, I came across an old podcast with an interview of the creator.  I have for years creating book trailers with my students, but the project took months.  I think kids might have an easier time of this.  I want to start with these when we go back to school in the fall.  Something they read over the summer.  I really wanted to see if I could do this with summer reading suggestions with my fifth graders, but I am running out of time seeing them once a week if that at this point in the year.  So starting the year with it might give them a fun transition back into school to show off a favorite book for other students to learn about.  So basically:

How to make #BookSnaps

• Read, think, & be creative
• Take a picture of the passage that you connect with in some way.
• Highlight, underline, or box the part of the text with which you are connecting.
• Create a visual representation that shares your thinking.
• Use emojis, stickers, speech bubbles, draw pictures, etc.
• Include the title and author or book cover to give credit.

So I just finished Ban This Book by Alan Gratz. And decided to use this as my #bookchat subject.

A fun book with a lot of potential for discussing and talking about even more books! I can't wait to try this project with my students in the fall.