This blog shares ideas for using Wixie to meet standards and learning goals with fifth graders, whether they are learning at school or at home. Select the image for each idea or use the text link to open a template you can assign as a teacher, or use as a student, immediately.
If your child uses Wixie at school, they can log in at home to create and share their learning through a combination of text, images, and voice narration! Your child's teacher may even be suggesting activities by assigning templates that will show at the top of your child's Wixie home page. (If your child doesn't have Wixie, sign up for a free trial account you can use for 90 days.)
Find more ideas, samples, and lessons for fifth grade at: https://static.wixie.com/edu/fifth-grade
1. Caption a photo to make your own meme
Memes are small snippets of culture that "go viral" via the Internet. Funny photos with captions are common tools of meme generators. Make your own custom meme by adding a caption to a funny photo you have captured in Wixie. You can also search "kiwi" at the Wixie home page to find a funny image of a kiwi. What might he be thinking? (template)
Once you have added a caption to the kiwi or created your own custom meme, copy and paste the URL to your work and share it with friends and family.
2. Set goals for your time at home
Take some time to set personal goals you want to accomplish during your time at home. This can help you feel a sense of control. Search "goal" in Wixie to find a range of templates, even one to help you set a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely). (template)
3. Create and send a digital postcard
After learning something new, tell someone else using a postcard! You could write a postcard from:
- a character in a story,
- a biome or habitat,
- a specific time in history,
- a unique geographic or cultural destination.
Wixie includes several templates (1- or 2-page) you can use to get started. Simply log in to Wixie and search "postcard" to find them. (template)
4. Family recipes
Are you learning to cook or bake while you are at home? Search Wixie for "recipe" and use a template to create a recipe card. Share the URL with a classmate so they can try something new with their family. (template)
To create your own collection, go to the File menu, choose Print and select the Table Tent option. Print, fold, and glue.
Use these instructions to make your own soda bread!
5. Make Wanted posters for vocabulary words
The ability to combine text, images, and voice narration makes Wixie an ideal tool for building vocabulary creatively. Use Frayer diagrams, trading cards, and visual vocabulary to cement new terminology. (template)
More ideas for building vocabulary in Wixie
6. Take a scratch art brain break
When the mind needs a break, a creative activity can help. Remember scratch art? Wixie has a collection of pages with a variety of backgrounds, simply search "scratch" at your Wixie home page. Open a file with a background that sounds interesting and make a design or picture. (template)
Use the Microphone tool to record a message. Then, copy the URL at the top and send to a friend.
7. Helping those who are helping others.
It seems like so many people around the world are working tirelessly to keep everyone safe, healthy, and fed. Ask your student(s) if they could give away 1 million dollars, which charity would they donate it to?
8. Design your own how-to video
How are you spending your time when you can't hang out and play with friends? Do you think of something you want to do and look up how to do it on YouTube?
Whether it's something you love to do or something new you learned, create your own how-to and share it with friends to give them a new idea for a fun at-home activity.
You can find a full lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator
9. Practice with the coordinate plane
Search "coordinate" at the Wixie home page to find a series of templates designed to help students practice how to read and represent data on a coordinate plane. (template)
Wixie also includes a series of templates students can use for graphing. From your Wixie home page, open the Templates folder in the list on the left. Then browse the Math folder, the Data Analysis folder, and then the Graphing folder.
10. Write a Haiku
April is National Poetry Month! Celebrate by writing and illustrating a haiku poem – a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
Use the New button in Wixie to start a blank page, add text and illustrate! You can also search "haiku" for a template with additional directions. (template)
>Don't forget the kigo! All haiku should contain a word that indicates the season.
Explore a Harmonious Haiku lesson plan
11. Send a virtual high five
Right now, most people are going above and beyond to respond to the pandemic. Show your appreciation with a virtual high-five. Has a friend connected on a regular basis, did your grandparents send something nice? (template)
Search for "five" at your Wixie home page and add text or voice narration to show you appreciate their being amazing. Use the paint tools and Image options to decorate.
12. Write a letter to or between characters in a story
Taking the perspective of a character in a story can help students understand their motivations and better comprehend their response to events in a story. Assign a stationery template, use the Stationery backgrounds, or have students design their own. (template)
Give students a prompt that requires them to use evidence from text to justify opinions or make an argument.
13. Work with expressions, equations, and data
Wixie includes a folder of math backgrounds students can use to represent expressions, equations, and data. Combine these with the paint tools and virtual manipulatives like algebra tiles to get students playing with numbers for deeper understanding.
To find these backgrounds, log in to Wixie and open the Templates folder in the list on the left. Open the Math folder and then open the Templates folder inside and browse to find the grid, plot, or mat you want to use.
14. Publish a personification story
Have students personify an object, use Wixie to write and illustrate a story about it, and publish their work as an eBook!
Explore a Personification Stories lesson plan
15. American Revolution projects
When every student completes the same task, like creating a trading card or comic, project work is easier to manage. While this is effective, students also thrive with choice!
Explore these samples from students studying the American Revolution. Create a choice board or task your students with sharing their learning in the medium they choose.
16. Paint with pointillism
Challenge students to create paintings with pointillism! Use Wixie's paintbrush tool, adjust the size and color, and click the page to make a dot. Change the size of the dots and color to form a larger image.
Explore a 5 E's-style lesson for this project
17. Create visual versions of poetry
Wixie makes it easy to create visual poems to celebrate National Poetry Month.
Open a new blank project, type a poem from your favorite poet or one you have written, adding stanzas to each page. Add illustrations and record yourself reading it.
You can find a full lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator.
18. Inform with Infographics
Research information or collect data on a science topic. Create charts and graphs, analyze the information, and create an infographic to display your findings. Share your infographic to raise awareness on Earth Day! (template)
Explore a Creating infographics lesson plan
19. Design a new book cover
Have students create a new cover design for a book they are reading to demonstrate comprehension and explore character, plot, setting, symbolism, and conflict. (template)
You can find a full lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator
20. Celebrate a hero without a cape
Real-world heroes do not have to wear a cape or possess superpowers. A hero can be a nurse or a police officer, but also a parent or teacher. Interview someone you consider a hero and share your interview to spread the word about their amazing deeds.
You can find a full lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator
21. Create an Arcimboldo-inspired self-portrait
Giuseppe Arcimboldo is an Italian Renaissance painter known for his portraits of people that use objects like fruit and books. Challenge students to create Arcimboldo-style self-portraits by combining clip art images in Wixie. Browse the Curriculum library and Art to find a template to support student work. (template)
Explore an Arcimboldo-Inspired Self-Portraits lesson plan
22. Create a character scrapbook
Ask students to demonstrate knowledge about a character's physical traits, feelings, experiences, and actions by creating a digital scrapbook for them. Students can include images of important events, diary entries, objects important to the character, letters from a friend, and more. (template)
Explore a Character Scrapbook lesson plan
23. Create a Historical Newspaper
Have students create a newsletter or newspaper to show what they have learned about the events, politics, and culture of a different time in history. (template)
Explore a Day in the Life lesson plan
24. Raise awareness with a public service announcement
Students in fifth grade are starting to have the capabilities and passions to change the world, and Earth Day usually gets them interested and fired up about environmental issues. Students can use Wixie to combine images with voice narration to raise awareness, inform, and change behavior.
When developing a public service announcement (PSA), students have a chance to practice and apply persuasive writing skills in a real-world, authentic context. A short PSA targeted at a particular audience also encourages students to focus on writing organization, as well as voice and word choice.
Explore a Don't Let the Earth Down lesson plan
25. Create a neighborhood field guide
Ask students to go outside, or even look out a window, and simply observe the plants and animals there. Have them find a plant they find beautiful or an animal that interests them. Use the paint tools in Wixie to carefully record their observations along with text labels and insights to share what they notice. (template)
Students can then use their observations and sketches along with a field guide to help them identify the species if they don't know what it is. They can add additional information or notes to create a field guide for the species that live nearby. (template)
Explore a Fantastic Field Guides lesson plan
26. Draw your own Tree for Arbor Day
Gustav Klimt's "Tree of Life" is one of his most recognizable paintings. Search "Klimt" in Wixie and use the Eraser tool to create your own Klimt-style tree using a scratch art-style template. (template)
Scratch art drawing in Wixie is done with the Eraser tool, not the paint brush!
27. Write a blackout poem
To write a blackout poem, you cover up words on a page of text until the leftover words form a poem. Search "blackout" in Wixie to find templates containing a page of text from Tom Sawyer (template), Shakespeare (template), Lewis Carroll (template), and more.
Read the text and circle words you find interesting, then read them in order to listen to your poem. Circle additional words to fill out the idea and blackout (or pink-out, as the case may be) the rest of the words and add additional painted decoration.
28. Craft a concrete poem
Concrete poems are poems where the words are arranged in a shape that reflects the topic of the poem. Write your poem in small phrases or stanzas and use the rotate handle above a text box in Wixie to adjust the direction.
29. Create tourism materials to promote a state or country
To help students better understand the unique features of a state or country, have them use Wixie to develop materials to promote that location and create a pitch to attract visitors to this location at a virtual tourism trade show. (template)
You can find a full lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator
30. Thinking about life under quarantine
Master of lateral and creative thinking, Edward de Bono, designed the Plus-Minus-Interesting (PMI) thinking routine to help you consider all sides to an issue or situation before forming an opinion.
Life is definitely different under quarantine. Think about your experience and share things that are positive, negative, and simply interesting. Search "quarantine" at your Wixie home page or open a general PMI organizer by browsing Templates>Graphic Organizers. (template)
31. Create a "Things I can do at home" cube
While some kids appreciate the quiet and independence, others really miss the face-to-face connections they have at school. If students are feeling down about being under quarantine and away from school and friends, they will still hopefully have a few positive and interesting things, or pros, on their PMI list from yesterday. Take these positive things and turn them into activities you can do at home.
Brainstorm six things you enjoy doing at home, such as taking a walk, doing a puzzle, or cooking. Search "cube" in Wixie to open a 3D cube "net" and add text and images to each side with a unique idea for things you enjoy doing at home. Print, cut out and make your 3D cube. (template)
If you ever feeling down or bored, pick up the cube and roll it like dice. Do the activity you enjoy and see if it improves your mood. You can also copy and paste the URL to your cube and share it with a friend so they have new ideas they can use to keep from getting bored at home.
32. Create a thank you card for your teacher
Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Day! Open the Templates at your Wixie home page and open the Stationery folder to find a thank you note starter you can use to type a letter to your teacher. Better yet, start a blank Wixie page and use the paint tools to create an original drawing. You can also use the image button and camera option to capture your picture! (template)
Use the microphone tool to record your voice and let your teacher know how much you appreciate (and miss!) them, your teacher would love to hear from you.
33. Deepen understanding of volume
Recognizing volume and understanding it as a measurement of a space involving cubic units is an important skill for understanding how to measure three-dimensional space. Search "pool" in Wixie for a multi-page assignment where students identify the formula for volume, calculate the area of a given rectangular prism pool, and then create their own pool designs for a specific volume - identifying the length, width, and height. (template)
Read more about this real world of math lesson
34. Create a book bento
Create a book bento to retell important details about a text or to visually celebrate your favorite title. Search "bento" in Wixie for a fun background, then arrange images about the book and add hyperlinks for an interactive collage. (template)
35. Craft an If/But Comparative
Comparing and contrasting is a powerful learning tool, as shown by educational research. Crafting an If/But comparative report is not only a fun way to share knowledge, it promotes both analytical, and creative, thinking. Have students craft an If/But comparative report to showcase how two topics they are studying, such as animals, book characters, or geographic regions, are similar and different.
36. Paint your own pop art
Explore the ideas of pop art and mass appeal (think Andy Warhol). Search "pop art" in Wixie for a template you can use to design a pop art montage. Add stickers and use the invert colors option or glue stickers down and use paint bucket to fill with different colors. (template)
37. Create an ABC's of... Book
After researching and learning about a topic such as geography, matter, ancient civilizations, or even the unique history and geography of your state, have students use Wixie to create an alphabet book to share knowledge they have learned, organizing their writing using the ABC’s. (template)
Have them each complete a book, or assign each student a single page and combine into a class book using Wixie's Import Pages feature.
Explore an ABC Book lesson plan
38. Create a trading card to celebrate nurses
Celebrate nursing heroes during the COVID-19 outbreak by learning about a relative, neighbor, or family friend working in this field. Interview them to learn what inspired them and create a poster or trading card highlighting their commitment and hard work and share it with your community. (template)
Get step-by-step directions and more ideas for creating trading cards in Wixie.
39. Write your own word problems
Visualizing word problems in Wixie by using the paint tools to draw models or by adding images from the media library can help students better identify key pieces of a problem and the relations between them.
Get step-by-step directions and more ideas for getting started with word problems in Wixie.
40. Compose a melody
Wixie includes a library of music notation students can use to compose their own music. Search compose to find a simple template with notes and rests already included and this notation library attached to the Image button. Have students record themselves singing their melody or playing their compositions on a recorder or keyboard. (template)
41. Create surrealist art
Inform students about surrealism. You might inspire them with by reading a book like Pish, Posh, Hieronymous Bosch. Have students use Wixie's symmetry paint options to create bizarre creatures juxtaposed around a normal self-portrait. Write a poem about the way the surrealism feels.
Explore a Surreal Symmetry lesson plan
42. Create comics, cartoons, and even graphic novels
Comics and cartoons are a great way to engage students in the stories they are reading, the information they are researching, and the ideas they are exploring in your curriculum. Use them for narrative writing, retelling, sharing understanding, teaching others, raising awareness, and more. (template)
Explore additional ideas and lesson plans for creating comics
43. Conduct an interview with a figure from history
Research a historical event and share your newfound knowledge and opinions as you conduct a fictitious interview with a person who was there. (template)
More ideas for conducting interviews
44. Work with number patterns
Patterns are all around us. Use your detective skills to figure out what number will solve the pattern in the template. Add a page in Wixie and use the number stickers to create a growing pattern for someone else to solve. (template)
45. Create a historical survival guide
Combine research, empathy, and how-to writing by asking students to create a how-to or survival manual for a time in history you are studying. What tools are essential? What strategies should you employ? Where should you go? How will you get there?
46. Build your creativity
Creativity is an essential skill for success in the digital age! Wixie makes it easy to build your creativity as you play. Browse the Templates folder and then the General folder to find and open the "creativity practice" template. Use the paint tools to turn circles into recognizable objects (à la Edward de Bono!) (template)
47. Plan an event
From class parties to birthday bashes, planning a party, and getting others to (help) pay for it requires students to practice and apply both math and argument skills. Search Wixie for "party" to find a template you can use to evaluate if students have the addition and decimal skills necessary. (template)
Then, choose an event, like an end-of-the-year class party (face-to-face or virtual!), and ask students to plan the event and share how much it is going to cost.
Explore a complete lesson plan for this idea on Creative Educator.
48. Write your own tall tale
Legends and tall tales are stories filled with unbelievable events or exaggerations that explain a person’s character or how something came to be. In this project, students write, illustrate, and record their own tall tale about a historical figure or location.
Explore a Legends and Tall Tales lesson plan
49. Create a Wanted poster for a story's antagonist
It is often the antagonist that makes a story interesting or gives a plot direction. Have students create wanted posters for villains in the stories they are reading to evaluate comprehension and help them consider how they might craft a villain to add impact to their own writing. (template)
50. Create Silhouette Art
A silhouette is a sharp outline or shadow of an object. While students can always draw silhouette outlines, they can also create them using stickers from the Image library.
Start a new blank page. Use the Image button to find and add a sticker to the page. Simple stickers are best. This may also be a great time to talk about horizon line.
Have students select each sticker, go to the Edit menu and choose Glue to Paint layer. Use the paint bucket to fill each sticker with black. Clean up spaces with the paint brush and add ground if necessary. Finally, select the Arrow tool and use the Background Picture button to find a colorful background!
