Narratives and storyboards

What is a storyboard?

Once a concept or script is written for a film or animation, the next step is to make a storyboard. A storyboard visually tells the story of an animation panel by panel, kind of like a comic book.

Your storyboard will should convey some of the following information:

• What charaters are in the frame, and how are they moving?
• What are the characters saying to each other, if anything?
• How much time has passed between the last frame of the storyboard and the current one?
• Where the “camera” is in the scene? Close or far away? Is the camera moving?

Why make a storyboard?

Creating a storyboard will help you plan your animation out shot by shot. You can make changes to your storyboard before you start animating, instead of changing your mind later. You will also be able to talk about your animation and show your storyboard to other people to get feedback on your ideas.

How do I make a storyboard?

Most commonly, storyboards are drawn in pen or pencil. If you don’t like to draw you can also take photos, cut out pictures from magazines, or use a computer to make your storyboards. Keep in mind that your drawings don’t have to be fancy! In fact, you want to spend just a few minutes drawing each frame. Use basic shapes, stick figures, and simple backgrounds. If you draw your storyboard frames on index cards, you can rearrange them to move parts of the the story around.

Storyboard Language

CLOSE-UP SHOT:   A close range of distance between the camera and the subject.
DISSOVLE: A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in.
FADE – A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In.
HIGH CAMERA ANGLE:  A camera angle which looks down on its subject making it look small, weak or unimportant.
JUMP CUT: A rapid, jerky transition from one frame to the next, either disrupting the flow of time or movement within a scene or making an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
LEVEL CAMERA ANGLE:  A camera angle which is even with the subject; it may be used as a neutral shot.
LONG SHOT:  A long range of distance between the camera and the subject, often providing a broader range of the setting.
LOW CAMERA ANGLE:  A camera angle which looks up at its subject; it makes the subject seem important and powerful.
PAN:  A steady, sweeping movement from one point in a scene to another.
POV (point of view shot): A shot which is understood to be seen from the point of view of a character within the scene.
REACTION SHOT- 1.: A shot of someone looking off screen. 2.: A reaction shot can also be a shot of someone in a conversation where they are not given a line of dialogue but are just listening to the other person speak.
TILT:  Using a camera on a tripod, the camera moves up or down to follow the action.
ZOOM:  Use of the camera lens to move closely towards the subject.

Storyboard Examples

From the Jane Animation Project – Hunting Sequence

A simple storyboard made using stick figures

A storyboard for a TV Western

Storyboards

using storyboards

narratives for learning and research

Bill Law

The Career-learning CAFÉ this material supports

storyboarding – making it work

at http://www.hihohiho.com/magazine/mkngtwork/cafnrtvmanual.pdf

quick start

A storyboard frames a process for reflecting on experience. The experience could be at school or home, on the street or a project. Storyboards here are displayed as three-scene episodes. Each hinges on a turning point – a time when there could be a change-of-direction in what this person is doing with his or her life. A turning point brings into view another way to go, often a surprise. The turning point is, then, the ‘big scene’ – the middle scene in a three-scene scenario.

step one – the notes: to remember and jot down what happened – in the big scene and in scenes showing what was going on before, and what it was like after.

ideas for my ideas for my ideas for my

opening scene

big scene following scene

step two – the storyboard: to assemble the most important thoughts and feelings into a words-and-pictures account of the three scenes.

step three – futuring: to say what this person can now do about this. places to go

people to meet

things to do

The frameworks are assembled in what is called a ‘my-scenes-page’ – resembling a web-page. Some students and clients will readily take to it. They may want just to get on with it: learning how to do it by trial-and-error – maybe taking an A3 version away to work on at home. In some cases it can be completed in an-hour-or-so. However, the process can be taken deeper – in a scheme-of-work over several hour-or-more sessions. Examples of that more progressive learning activity are set out on pages 30-36.

learning from other people’s stories

Storyboarding is not a conventional worksheet or discussion process. Working autobiographically is challenging. Working first with other people’s stories is, then, a useful way to see how it works, and to appreciate what it can show.

There are 12 completed storyboards on the following pages. You can select which are most helpful to your group. They are set on the page so that you can print them as handouts, import them into a slide-show or display them as posters.

Each is introduced by case notes which a teacher, adviser or researcher might set down about this person. The notes are made sometimes before and sometimes after the storyboard.

filmic possibilities

why?

– Storyboarding unifies what some other techniques separate. It enables students and clients to set down what is going on both as an individual and with other people. It also allow for the expression of thought-and-feeling responses to all of that.

Students and clients will choose their own ways of storyboarding. But looking at other people’s will alert them to possibilities for achieving important filmic effects

> arrange the frame to look down, up or at a level; > positioning each person in the frame; > using close-up or wide-angle; > attending to expressions and gestures;

> putting in details that set the scene; > refining dialogue down to essentials; > including ‘the hero’s’ thoughts and feelings; > moving left-to-right in each scene to show what talk-and-thought comes first and then later.

These are more than just graphic tricks: they are part of the process of reflecting on the meaning of a scene. Much of this will be taken-in without labouring the point. But they are also be talking points. Your students or clients are becoming the directors, script-writers and heroes of their own films. Understanding how narrative works is a route to taking control of each their own story

On the following pages each story is preceded by case-notes and occupies a place in a careers work programme. It raises an issue: ’what does storyboarding do that the case-notes and conventional class-work may not do?’.

> sorts out complexity: > focuses uncertainty; > makes the events more memorable; > makes the learning process more readily accessible to more students; > opens the experience to interrogation – ‘why this?’, ‘why then?’, ‘why like that?’; > highlights turning points – an essential part of learning for flexibility; > express a unified sense of inner life – thought and feelings; > sets the individual in a social context > makes reflection on experience less lonely.

These are not written as formal performance indicators. They are no less important for that.

the my-scene-pages

Storyboards are set out on my-scene-pages – designed to resemble a web-page. They are in three parts

> > >

my notes: storyboard: futuring:

remembering and sorting what happens; organising how-one-things-leads-to-another; imagining what this means for future action.

All of that three-stage process is important to student- and client-learning. But they are also critically useful to adviser- teacher- and researcher- enquiry into what students and clients are making of their formal and informal learning experiences.

name

Will Sarah Sean Lucy John Stanley Mark Errol Marjorie Alice * Mary Joey

my-scene-page directory

notes written by teacher adviser researcher

page tv 4 sleepover 6 street 8

turning point in experience of

adviser lesson 10 adviser tv 12 teacher the net 14 adviser home 16

researcher teacher teacher researcher researcher

home 18 friend’s house 20 project 22 adviser 24 home 26

* Alice’s storyboard is wholly in text – an option that some clients and students will prefer.

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/picture.html

**********************************************************************************************************

Here is a fantastic site I have found to address the narritive of our game

http://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/writing/narrative/story-starters.pdf

Numeracy

This is called ‘Flip Counter’.  It is a resource to model counting in 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s.  The aim in making this game is to clearly demonstrate which digits change as you count.

http://www.ictgames.com/flipCounter/index.htm

 

This is sorting numbers.  Choose a number range, read the numbers sequence and then place the clouds in order

http://www.ictgames.com/sasNumberSort/index.html

 

This is called ‘Whack a mole’.  Choose a number to start from.  Choose the size of the steps to count in.  Then whack the moles with the next number in the sequence.

http://www.ictgames.com/whackAMole/index.html

Words and Pictures

Whether you’re a teacher or a parent (or both) this site will have something for you and your children. The games and activities are designed to help children develop their knowledge of phonics (sounds within words) and how these are represented in written form.
In order to read and write confidently children need to develop a wide range of strategies to support them in their early years at school. Phonic knowledge is an important part of this as it helps children identify the relationship between sounds and letters and to use this information to support their spelling and reading.

The games and activities on this site are divided into 5 modules which each focus on a different area of phonics work. For a detailed breakdown of the activities themselves see Site contents.

 (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Words)

This area of phonic knowledge is introduced in the Year 1 Term 1 objectives of the National Literacy Strategy’s Framework for Teaching. However, these activities are suitable for schools who are not following the Strategy and for home use.

CVC words form the most reliable group when learning the relationship between letters and their sounds, although even here there are irregularities (e.g. when r is the final letter, the short vowel changes its sound).

This unit consists of:
2 interactive onscreen games (Shockwave 7)
10 Magic Pencil video clips with activity sheets
4 ‘Print and Do’ game kits
10 activity sheets for the Literacy hour
10 activity sheets that make a ‘Scrapbook’
10 ‘Write a poem’ worksheets
8 new poems in the Teachers and Parents section

This area of phonic knowledge is introduced in the Year 1 Term 2 objectives of the National Literacy Strategy’s Framework for Teaching. However, these activities are suitable for schools who are not following the Strategy and for home use.

The lesson plans and print off activities in this module focus on the 10 different groups of clusters that are covered in the new Words and Pictures Plus TV series.

This unit consists of:
1 Interactive onscreen game (Flash 4)
10 Magic Pencil video clips with activity sheets
2 ‘Print and Do’ game kits
19 activity sheets for the Literacy hour
10 activity sheets that make a ‘Scrapbook’
10 ‘Write a poem’ worksheets
5 complete lesson plans

This area of phonic knowledge is introduced in the Year 1 Term 3 objectives of the National Literacy Strategy’s Framework for Teaching. However, these activities are suitable for schools who are not following the Strategy and for home use.

Long vowel sounds are particularly difficult for children as each sound can be represented by a variety of different letter combinations (the long ‘a’ sound for example can be represented in at least six different ways: day, grey, eh!, great, train, gate).

This unit consists of:
10 interactive (Shockwave Flash) poem based activities
2 interactive onscreen games (Shockwave 6)
4 ‘Print and Do’ game kits
5 sentence level activity sheets
10 activity sheets that make a ‘Scrapbook’
10 Write a poem worksheets
10 complete lesson plans for the Literacy Hour
10 printable large format illustrated poems

This area of phonic knowledge is introduced in the Year 2 objectives of the National Literacy Strategy’s Framework for Teaching. However, these activities are also suitable for schools who are not following the Strategy and for home use.

Vowel phonemes are notoriously difficult because many of them can be spelt in two, three or even more different ways e.g. chair, care, bear, where. As an added difficulty some words such as pear and pair, which sound exactly the same, are distinguished only by the spelling of the vowel. It is unlikely that young learners will discover these alternative spelling patterns for themselves through their own reading, so it is important for them to be given regular opportunities to see these vowel spellings in sufficient quantities for them to be able to gain familiarity with the alternative patterns.

This unit consists of:
2 Interactive onscreen games (Flash 4)
10 Magic Pencil video clips with activity sheets
2 ‘Print and Do’ game kits
10 acivity sheets for the Literacy Hour

 

High Frequency words play an important part in holding together the general coherence of texts. Many of these words are irregular or have difficult spellings and because of their important grammatical function they are often difficult to predict from the surrounding text.

The National Literacy Strategy’s Framework for Teaching lists approximately 200 high frequency words that pupils should be able to read on sight, in and out of context, by the end of year 2.

This unit consists of:
1 interactive onscreen game (Shockwave 7)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/teachers/intro.shtml

Teaching Phonics

Phonic’s

Research on Phonics Lessons

An interesting post regarding teaching a kid how to write their name

 

An interesting post regarding teaching a kid how to write their name. The same influences can be addressed for our project…

When you think your little one is ready, it might be a good time to start turning those scribbles he makes on paper (and the wall when he thinks you’re not looking) into something a little more legible.

One of the first things children learn to write is their name. It’s the easiest for them to learn and you’ll find they want to learn because it’s the one word they hear most often, besides ‘no’ and ‘don’t’, that is. It is a word all their own because it represents their identity.

So what are some of the best and easiest ways for you to help them reach this important milestone?

I don’t think I have to tell you to be patient. You’re the parent to a toddler, patience (or at least the attempt) is ingrained in you at this point. Make sure to use a lot of praise as well, even if all he can manage at first is a straight line down the page. He’s trying. That’s the first step.

Hopefully you can take the time every day to read to your child. This isn’t just good for his language skills; it’s also a precious bonding time for the two of you. It doesn’t have to be a whole book. Good luck getting them to sit still for that long. It could just be for five minutes or even one page every day. Just enough to get them familiar with words and their sounds and what letters look like.

When you start to notice that he like to scribble down on paper, you can start nudging them on the journey to writing their name for the first time.

At the toddler age, your child is a complete mimic. You know you’ve had those moments when you’re driving along with your little one in the backseat and all of a sudden he blurts out a word that he’s heard mommy or daddy say more times than they should. When he sees mommy or daddy at the table, either doing paperwork or balancing the check book, chances are he’s going to beg you for his own paper and pen so he can be just like mommy and daddy.

Around this time, you can start to take action. You’ve seen those letter magnets on refrigerators? Those are really great tools for teaching kids the alphabet because they love to play with them. Pick out the first letter of your child’s name and sound it out so that they recognize the sound that letter makes and can match it to the sound of the beginning of their name. Get them used to the shape of the letter and practice writing it with them.

Practice finding that first letter in books, magazines or signs outside.

Pick out children’s books where the main character has the same name as your child so that they can get familiar with the letters that make up his name. Ask him to find his name on the page.  Show them items that start with the first letter of their name.

Write up labels with their name on it and let them stick them on things that belong to them like cups or toys.

Once they are able to pick out their name you can set up some exercises where you write out their name on a sheet of paper and they copy it. Even if they get the letters out of order or misshapen, praise their efforts. At this point it’s more about getting him familiar with the lines of curves of the letters in his name than if he can write K-Y-L-E or just a series of squiggles and lines. Gradually, the lines will start to resemble the letters just as a result of sheer repetition.

Play games or sing songs that involve their name.

Make writing a fun habit for them. Maybe you can get them a small desk and chair and their own little stack of papers and fun crayons. Work with them in short increments every day. It might be fun to get some cheap fun stationary and glittery pens that you can bring out only when it’s ‘writing’ time so they can get excited about using these fun tools. The more enthusiasm they have about something, the more likely they are to learn it quickly.

Stick to block letters at first (all capitals) as opposed to cursive letters. The lines are easier for children to get the hang of and the curves of cursive letters might make them discouraged if they can’t get them right.

Don’t make a big deal over mistakes.  If the lines of a letter, say an N aren’t connected, just calmly point out that ‘oops, these parts aren’t touching like they’re touching up here. Do you want to try again?’ Make sure to make a big deal of their second attempt, even if it’s only slightly better.

Display their attempts somewhere like the fridge where everyone can see and your child can see how proud you are of them. As they progress, replace the pages so they can see how they’re getting better.

Finally, look into reading/writing games from companies like “LeapFrog” that comes with a special pen which when you slide over words will read them aloud thus allowing your little one to see and hear the letters. They can then make the connections between the letters of their name on a page and it will help them find the letters that make up their name and be able to copy them.

These are just some of the ways you can help your child reach that important moment where he’ll write his name for the first time, without copying or any help from mommy because mommy had already laid the foundation for that very special achievement.

Ten Creative Ways to Teach Your Child the Alphabet

1. Make an Alphabet Book

Make your own alphabet book with your kids. You can purchase a blank paper book at an educational supply store or you can make one with construction paper and a three-hole punch. Help your child make a page with each letter. You can have him write the letter or find the letter in an old magazine and cut it out. Cut out pictures from an old coloring book or magazine that has words that start with the letter on the page.

2. Play the ABC game whenever you drive somewhere

This is an easy and fun way to teach your child the alphabet. Whenever you drive anywhere play the ABC game. Have your child find the letter A on billboards, or license plates, or signs. Start with the letter A and then look for letter b, c, etc. Once you finish the alphabet you can play again.

3. Sing the Alphabet Song

Children love to sing and what better song to sing than the Alphabet Song. Start your day off with a song or two and be sure to include the ABC song.

4. Play the Alphabet Memory Game

You can purchase flashcards of the alphabet or make your own with card stock paper or construction paper. Have your child match the capital letter A to the lowercase letter a. Or you can start with letters that are all lowercase or all capital. Each time your child matches the letters have him tell you what letter it is.

5. Make Alphabet Cookies

What child doesn’t love cookies? Get alphabet cookie cutters or use frosting to write the letter on each cookie. Have your child tell you which letter he wants to eat!

6. Make an Alphabet Photo collage

Purchase disposable cameras for your child. Take a trip outside, to the park, zoo, or wherever. Spend your time looking for pictures of words that start with the letter A or B, or whichever letter you choose. When you get the photos developed let your child cut them out and glue them onto a collage. Have your child write or trace the letter for your photo collage onto construction paper and glue the photos around. Children love taking pictures and this is a lot of fun.

7. Another Alphabet Game

We have probably all played this game before. Its fun for kids and can be fun for adults too. If your child is young you can just play a simple game. Start with the letter A. “A is for apple”, “B is for banana”, “C is for cat”, and continue on with all the letters. If your child is older you can play the game with a theme. For example, play lets do the alphabet game with fruit or animals. This way they are learning to sort animals or fruits and also practicing their alphabet.

8. Play Alphabet Bingo

Make your own Bingo cards with construction paper. Write the letters of the alphabet on it. You can make this simple by making your Bingo cards more like a Tic-Tac-Toe game or you can make them like a traditional Bingo card. Call out the letters and have your child mark them or put a Bingo chip on the letter. When your child wins they can yell out Bingo! Purchase little prizes from the dollar store to make this even more fun.

9. Make an Alphabet finger painting

Use poster board or construction paper and make a finger painting with different letters. Have your child paint the capital letter and lowercase letter. Let him decorate it with whatever colors he likes.

10. Play the Alphabet Hide Away Game

Fill a bag with different objects that start with different letter sounds. For example, you could fill it with a car, a book, a pencil, etc. Show the child all the items in the bag. Then put all the items back in the bag. Have them find the items by touching them only. Say can you find something that starts with the letter B? Say what sound does the b make? Then see if they can find the book in your bag just by touching. This game is not only good for learning letters and sounds but also helps them with using their senses and tactile skills.

Tips when assisting kids on learning to write

Writing: Content for Junior & Senior Infants

 

Creating & Fostering the Impulse to Write	Developing Competence, Confidence and the Ability to Write Independently	Clarifying Thought Through Writing	Developing Emotional & Imaginative Life Through Writing
§         Experience and enjoy a print-rich environment. §         Receive help from the teacher, who will sometimes act as scribe to assist with accuracy and presentation. §         Write and draw frequently. §         Write for different audiences. §         See personal writing displayed. §         Read personal writing aloud and hear it read.	§         Learn to form and name individual letters using various materials. §         Write and draw. §         Understand the left-right, top-bottom orientation of writing. §         Develop a satisfactory grip of writing implements. §         Copy words from signs in the environment. §         Copy letters and words informally as part of class activities. §         Write his/her name. §         Use labels to name familiar people or things. §         Write letters and words from memory. §         Become aware of lower-case and capital letters and the full stop. §         Develop the confidence to use approximate spelling. §         Begin to develop conventional spelling of simple words. §         See the teacher model writing as an enjoyable experience. §         Choose subjects for drawing and writing. §         Choose the form of expression he/she finds appropriate	§         Draw a picture and write about it. §         Draw and write about everyday experience or about something just learned. §         Writing naming words and add descriptive words. §         Rewrite sentences to make the message clearer.	§         Draw and write about feelings. §         Draw and write about things he/she likes and dislikes. §         Draw and write about sensory experiences. §         Draw and write stories. §         Hear a rich variety of stories, rhymes and songs and write about them. §         Use mime and role-playing to create imaginary situations and then draw and write about them.

 

 

 

Writing: Methodologies for Junior & Senior Infants

 

Note: Many teaching methodologies appropriate to the development of writing capacity are inherent in the content detailed on the previous page.   §         Provision of print-rich environment e.g. labels, flashcards, posters. §         Teacher as scribe – pupils tell story and teacher writes and pupils may copy / type. §         Compilation of Our News. §         Scribbling, writing patterns using different media e.g. chalk, crayon, paint. §         Tracing of basic letters on sandpaper and sand, making letters with marla and use of magnetic letters. §         Letter formation including lower case, upper case, capital letters and full stop. §         Making cards and writing simple messages. §         Copying / writing own name, environmental labels, words and simple sentences. §         Writing for different people / purposes e.g. card, name on art work. §         Display personal writing and read pupils’ writing aloud. §         Making of little books e.g. My Book about…Autumn. §         Teacher models letter formation on the blackboard / air and pupils imitate. §         Start with dot – left / right, top / bottom. front / back. §         Teach writing grip progressing from chubby crayons to chublets, to chubby pencils to standard pencils. §         Allow children to spell own words – approximate spelling. §         Draw a picture and write about it e.g. name, caption, sentence. §         Add descriptive words to naming words. §         Dominoes – match the start of a sentence with an ending and write. §         Draw and write about feelings e.g. happy face and write word ‘happy’, I feel sad / happy when…

 

Tips for teaching Senior infants

After a bit of research I found the following PDF’s on teaching kids maths.

It structures classes, lessons and focal point’s for lessons

Site 1, Site 2, Site 3

This site here displays flip charts aimed at kids. Although we are focusing on HCI we can draw influence from these charts regarding layout, styles, colours, formatting and content. Press here for more.

This link displays further games for teaching kids maths. by focusing on the fun element like in these games we can incorperate these ideas when designing our interface and games. Press HERE fore more