Spice up Your Booksnaps!
What are BookSnaps?
BookSnaps is a term used for annotated digital snapshots taken by students while reading texts. Popular apps for BookSnaps include Google Slides, Book Creator, Seesaw, Google Drawings, and Explain Everything. Tara Martin is one popular educator credited for coining the phrase “BookSnaps” and sharing her fabulous BookSnap ideas all over Social Media.
Do your BookSnaps seem flat or disorganized?
Use Google Drawings or Slides to help students stay organized while promoting creativity!
Google Drawings and Slides are my favorite tools for a number of reasons:
- Students may collaborate on BookSnaps using the Share Tool.
- Students may provide and receive feedback using the Comment Tool.
- Students may use the Explore Tool to locate images and research topics.
- A Key for coding the text can be provided in the margin.
- Bitmojis are easily integrated using Chrome Extensions.
- Insert animated GIFs or captioned student-created images
- Students can use the Mote or Screencastify extension to explain and record thinking about their BookSnaps.
- Students can “Turn In” their work using Google Classroom.
- Teachers can “Make a Copy” of a template for every student or differentiate by modifying templates to meet individual needs.
Use a Template
Create Stickers for Annotating Text
Teachers may create their own images or GIFs by using FREE apps such as Google Drawings Sticky Al.Â
- Teachers may use the Free Sticky Al on iPad to take photos using various facial expressions and gestures to use in the reading responses. (I recommend model being surprised, angry, sad, happy, confused, and also using hand gestures. Then add fun labels to express the thoughts.)
- Uploading images into Google Drive and placing them in a folder. Students may use your images for the rest of the year. Or, have them create their own using Google Drawings.
Go to Insert-Image to locate images and insert them into Drawings or Slides.
You can even caption the images or customize animated GIFs right in the Sticky Al App! Awesome!
Google Slides Template
Google Drawings Template
I love the ideas in this post. I noticed that Sticky AI had the same terms of service as Bitmoji that requires students to be 13 years of age. Do you take the images for the students with your device or has Prisma communicated that students under 13 can use? I know I’ve had some apps send me in writing that students could use and I didn’t know if this was one of them. Thanks!
The App is 4+ but I’m sure you must be 13 to create an account. Great point! Thanks for visiting! Also, I added the animated GIFs to blog post 🙂
THis is exactly what I have been looking for for my 4th graders. Trouble is, we use ipads and they can’t run Google Draw. Do you suggest a work-around?
Amy Winton, Yarmouth ME
This was very informative. Do you happen to have a rubric to grade these booksnaps?