50+ ways to use comic templates in the classroom

Kids of all ages love cartoon characters and comics, so why not take advantage of that positive connection? Comic strips are sequential in nature and generally use both words and images to convey their message. Templates are a good option because having the panels already on the page provides some helpful structure and takes away the fear of the dreaded "blank page." Offering several different designs allows students to choose the layout that appeals to them.

How to use comic strip templates in the classroom for any subject

The educational concepts and topics that work well in a comic format are endless. Almost any subject matter or grade level is a possibility from STEM to ELA and beyond, and it doesn’t have to be humorous. Those students that prefer not to draw can make a collage of photos. We’ll start with ideas for a specific number of panels.

2 Panel Comic

• Before and After
• Then and Now: for example, what your street looked like 100 years ago and today
• Main Idea and Key Details
• Cause and Effect
• Pros and Cons
• DOs and DONT’s
• Fact vs. Opinion
• Idiom: Literal and Understood meaning
• Theme vs. Main Idea of a story
• Proper and Common nouns
• Synonyms and Antonyms
• Prefixes vs. Suffixes
• Fiction and Nonfiction characteristics
• Contraction vs. Two Words such as I’ll vs. I will
• Even and Odd numbers
• Numerals and Number Names
• 2D shapes and 3D shapes

Two panels work well for 2-part concepts such as Cause and Effect

3 Panel Comic

• Beginning, Middle, and End of a story, event, or process
• A 3-step sequence such as making the bed: First, Next, Last
• A life cycle process such as Seed, Sprout, Flower
• Main Character, Setting, Plot
• Author’s Purpose definitions: Persuade, Inform, Entertain
• KWL chart: what I Know, what I Want to know, what I Learned
• Place Value: Standard form, Word form, Expanded form
• Fraction Forms: Number, Words, Picture
• Types of Fractions: Proper, Mixed Numbers, Improper
• Types of Lines: Parallel, Perpendicular, Intersecting
• Steps in an illustrated recipe
• Text Connections: to Text, Self, and World

4 Panel Comic

• The 4 Seasons: a tree or scene as it changes through the year
• Types of Sentences: Declarative, Interrogative, Exclamatory, Imperative
• Ways to Revise: Add, Remove, Move, Substitute
• How to Edit: Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, Spelling
• Types of Angles: Obtuse, Acute, Right, Straight
• Story summary: Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution
• Sights, Smells, Sounds, Tastes of a country, holiday, habitat

General Ideas

• Science concepts such as erosion, growth, mitosis, the scientific method, and so on
• Graphic novels
• Things to do on vacation
• My goals
• Jokes and riddles
• Autobiography or biography
• Book report
• Announcement
• Advertisement for a fund-raiser
• Tell a story using dialog only
• Define vocabulary words
• Illustrate verbs, nouns, adjectives
• Measure something several ways
• Write word problems and solutions
• Compare two or more ideas, books, people, or objects
• Define several fiction genres
• News story with Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?

Writing a biography of Abraham Lincoln using a comic strip template

Seasonal Ideas

• Back to School get-acquainted activity: My Pets, Favorite Foods, Hobbies, Interests
• How-to Steps: carve a pumpkin, rake leaves, build a snowman, or plant a seed
• Facts about Bats, Turkeys, Reindeer, President Lincoln, and so on
• New Year’s Resolutions
• Things I love for Valentine's Day
• My Favorite President: Opinion and Evidence
• Signs of ______: a season, event, or holiday

Tips for Creating Comics in the Classroom

1) Write ideas and sketches on scrap paper first. 

2) Choose template or draw panels to organize content. Don’t forget to leave space for a title and student name.

3) Write and draw in pencil first. 

4) Use numbers and/or arrows to guide readers if reading order is important. 

5) Go over pencil lines with pen or marker (or paste in cut out pictures.) Color if desired with favorite coloring tools. 

6) Add more pages as needed. 

So, I got on a roll with these ideas and there are a few more than fifty as it turns out. Hopefully these will be inspiring, and students will no doubt think of other great ways to use the comic format for thinking, writing, and making pictures about multiple topics. With all these different options, it would be easy to make new comics every week!

It’s not that difficult to make your own templates with a simple graphics program. If you would prefer print and go printable pages with 40 templates including themes such as apple, pumpkin, and Christmas tree layouts plus extras such as comic-style words and speech bubbles, please visit this link in my TPT shop.

Comic strip templates for Kindergarten through 12th grade writing and art

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Thanks for stopping by and happy reading, teaching, creating, and/or taking a break!

Loreen Leedy
Children's author-illustrator
Instagram: @loreenleedybooks
Pinterest: @LoreenLeedy
Facebook: @authorLoreenLeedy

50+ ways to use comic strip templates in the classroom for any subject or grade level

Plant Adaptation Book and Activities

Amazing Plant Powers has been out for awhile but I just got around to making these FREE printable activity pages...oops! This picture book is full of information about plant adaptations and has received nice reviews such as "A great supplement to plant units, and a welcome introduction to informational texts,” from a review by School Library Journal. More info is available on this page of my web site.

Click book cover image to get FREE activity pages in my TPT store.

My husband Andy and I co-wrote it and took most of the photographs, which are the primary images in the book. Andy has a Ph.D. in plant pathology so that was a big help! Amazing Plant Powers is available from the usual sources so request it from your librarian or order it from a bookstore to make use of these printable pages.

The objective for these activities is to engage students in looking closely at the text, photographs, vocabulary, and other content in the book, per the Common Core State Standards for Reading Informational text. Here is what is included:
• a photosynthesis diagram to label
• plant power searches
• book report poster activity
• plant superhero writing prompt
• plant product search
• scavenger hunt
• journal note pages

Click image to view FREE printable pages for Amazing Plant Powers.

I hope these pages will be useful and enjoyable for your classroom or library. Thank you so much for coming by, and if you’d enjoy more posts about children's books, classroom activities, educational resources, and freebies >>> please subscribe on the blog sidebar.

Happy reading!

Loreen Leedy
Children's author-illustrator
Instagram: @loreenleedybooks
Pinterest: @LoreenLeedy
Facebook: @authorLoreenLeedy

From print to digital with a picture book

Some years ago I wrote and illustrated a nonfiction picture book about the life cycle story of sea turtles that was published by Doubleday. Tracks in the Sand had a starred review, multiple printings, and was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the National Science Teachers Association. But like most books, it eventually went out of print and could only be found in libraries or perhaps a used book store.

The funny thing is, the sea turtle life cycle has not changed in millions of years. So the content of this book is still accurate and useful for general informational reading as well as Ocean, Reptile, or Turtle units in classrooms. When the technology for digital books became readily available, especially tablet reading devices, it seemed like a great opportunity to bring Tracks back to life. Here are the basic steps I followed:
• Ask the publisher to return all rights.
• Revise the planned layout and/or text as needed.
• Scan the artwork and adjust colors.
• Reformat the pages to fit tablet and projection screens.
• Place type on the pages.
• Save in desired format.
• Upload to online shop or bookstore.

It actually took weeks to get it all done. Some other requirements came up because the first digital version was for the iBookstore, so each page had to be cut in half to work with their "page-turn" animations, and a half-page cover had to be created. To see a preview of how it looks as an iBook, click here. Personally, I'm not a fan of the whole page-turn thang, it just seems kind of silly. And I really dislike how the digital “gutter" is so visually prominent. Too distracting and phony.

Picture books present some tricky issues when adapted into a digital format. Unlike text, images don't easily reflow, and if a two-page spread was originally designed as one wide image, it doesn't work well to split it up. The only alternative is to make the wide image very small, then the reader has to zoom in and swipe around to see it up close. Awkward.

My solution for Tracks was to completely redesign the pages—each digital page is about 75% of a two-page spread from the print book. Some people may prefer to keep a digital book as similar as possible to the original print version which is certainly an option. Not me, I enhanced the contrast in the art, left out some images entirely, and moved some seashells around. I also made a few minor changes to the text, such as moving a text reference to “mating” from the beginning to the end of the text.

Recently I decided to put Tracks in PDF form, which can be read in the iBooks app (without any page-turns), viewed in a PDF reader app, or shown via a projection system in a classroom. Here is a composite image which also shows the printable activity pages. To see a preview in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop, click here.

Hopefully this post gives a helpful overview of what is involved in putting an out-of-print picture book into digital form. If you're really organized, you could design the book from the start with digital in mind. Step one might be to avoid double-page spreads. Not sure if that's a good idea, but it's something to consider.

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Loreen
Children's author-illustrator
Instagram: @loreenleedybooks
Pinterest: @LoreenLeedy
Facebook: @authorLoreenLeedy