http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/
It is a web-based tool, but it is also available as an app for Ipad and Android devices! Click on the link to download the app:
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/mobile-apps/trading-cards-30922.html
What is it and how does it work?
This tool is an interactive graphic organizer with a twist. Instead of being a generic organizer that has simple shapes, this tool is a graphic organizer that is designed as a trading card. This tool provides students with a nice alternative way to demonstrate their literacy knowledge and skill. This interactive allows students to create their own trading card about a real or fictional person, place, object, event, or abstract concept.
When you first get to the site, you are asked to type in your name. Then you are taken to the next screen which looks like the picture below:
Once you have selected the type of card you want, you will type in the answers to the prompts you are given. Your typed answers show up on the left side of your card. .Note: For your typed answers you are limited to 120 characters.See screen shots below for more explanation:
When you have finished creating all your cards, you click on finish. Then you will have several options. You could print out your cards, save them as a pdf file, send your trading cards to other people via e-mail or save a draft copy of your trading cards in case you want to work on them later.
Want to see an example? Of course you do! Click on the pdf file below to see a trading card I made using my daughter as the example:
sample.pdf
Classroom implications:
This tool has boundless possibilities for the classroom as it can be used by multiple students for multiple subject matters. Since it is web based and is an app, students could do some of the work at home and then come in to class to present their work. You could have students make a game using their trading cards or have them rank their cards by order of importance, or significance. To get more lesson plan ideas, click on the link that is below. Once you get to the link, scroll down on the page to get to the lesson plans.
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/trading-card-creator-30056.html?tab=1#tabs
Until we meet again at the café! Happy snacking!
*** Davison, Hall (2008). Thinking big as the world gets smaller. In Powerpoint Presentation [Web]. Discovery Learning Network. Retrieved May 2,2008, from Thinking big as the world gets smaller