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From Pencils to Pixels: Animating Opinions with Scratch

Our latest Scratch adventure with second graders was one for the books! After writing persuasive pieces on the quirky question, "Would you rather be a shark that can't bite or a penguin that can't swim?" students brought their stories to life—one code block at a time.

Using Scratch, each student animated their opinion, adding movement, dialogue, and even sound effects to express their ideas in a whole new way. I was blown away by how thoughtful and creative their projects turned out. Every animation was full of voice, personality, and purpose.

A simple writing prompt evolved into a cross-curricular project that blended literacy, storytelling, and computer science. More importantly, it allowed students to see their ideas come alive–and the pride on their faces was everything.

We started with storyboarding our ideas.

three penguins greeting each other, calling each other by name, Harold, Susie, and Bob, Bob insults Susie and Harold tells him to be nice. Bob apologizes to Susie then invites her to play with them.
Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub

2 penguins greeting each other and one asking the other to play with them
Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech hub

story of Peter the penguin going to the pond where he is invited to go swimming, but Peter admits he canot swim. He says he has to go home for dinner.
Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub

Then, went straight to learning to code with Scratch.


Student sitting at their desk with their compuer open to Scratch coding their storyboard
Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub

Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub
At the end, students presented their animations!

Video Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub
Video Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub
This is exactly why I love integrating creative technology into the classroom: it empowers students to be authors, directors, animators, and thinkers, all at once.

 The creativity is just getting started!

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Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 12, 2025 at 10:27 AM

    What a great post and blog, Vicki! Your students are so lucky to have you as their teacher.

    ReplyDelete

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