Activity 2:
Turn the story into a comic/graphic novel

Brief Explanation of Activity

Using either Aliyah’s original version of the story, or the ‘Story Pirates’ version, turn the story into a comic/graphic novel. Students can choose to stay true to the versions provided or can add their own twists/characters/ending. The key is to keep the main idea of the story present in the comics while having fun and making it their own. For example, do the characters have to be human? Aliyah loved gummy bears and dogs…why not make Ms. Fred an alien? Could the setting be somewhere else? The future? A school?

For younger grades, students can also be given a part of the story and they have to create a single cell and the whole class works collaboratively to create the class graphic novel. Teachers can give sentences to work from.

Students can use software such as:

https://www.storyboardthat.com/comic-maker

https://www.canva.com/create/comic-strips/

https://www.pixton.com/

http://comiclife.com/

Templates can be found at:

https://www.adobe.com/express/create/comic-strip

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Download-Comic-Strip-Template-Pages-for-Creative-Assignments-149469

https://www.printablepaper.net/category/comics

Possible single-cell template (right-click to save image)