Front Page | Lesson Plans By Grade Level | First Grade Lesson Plans
Have the students login and go into the KidPix program to a white screen. Demonstrate the lesson, using a projector, and have the students do the task at the same time you are teaching it.
Opening a Saved Document
Ask them if they remember what they were working on the last visit. (A Christmas project) Then ask if anybody remembers how to open the file. Recall the steps of File, Open, in the Look In box arrow down to their username (F:\), click on it, go to the file Christmas in the big white box in the center of the window, click on it to highlight it (it should appear in the Preview box), and then click on Open.
Christmas Project - Part IV - Christmas Tree
Tree
Tell the students that they are going to draw a Christmas tree is the space. Their program should already be on "Draw", click on a Christmas tree color in the color splotch. Click on the medium size ball and on the straight line (not the squiggly) one for drawing. Now click and drag to draw a line across the screen for the bottom of the tree. Click when you have the correct size. Put the mouse on one end and click and drag a diagonal line up for one side of the tree and then the other. Make sure to touch the lines so there are no leaks.
Next click on the "Fill Bucket". The color is already chosen. Make sure the solid block is chosen and fill in the tree.
Now click on the color brown. Click on "Draw". Make sure you are still on the medium ball and the line for drawing. You are going to draw the trunk of the tree. So start towards the middle at the bottom of the tree and draw a line down. Next go over a little bit and draw another line down. Then connect the two lines. Once again make sure all lines are touching each other.
Then click on the "Fill Bucket". The color is already chosen. Make sure the solid block is chosen and fill in the trunk of the tree.
Ornaments
For the ornaments, click on "Draw" again. Click on the color red, the medium ball and the squiggly line. Just click once on the tree and there is an ornament. Do not drag the mouse. Make a total of three red balls. Tell the students not to put them in a line but spread them out in different places on the tree. Change the color to blue and add three blue balls. Do the same for the colors purple, yellow and pink. Do not let the students do this freely or it will end up with more ornaments than Christmas tree.
Star
Now click on stamps. Scroll down to almost the end to the category "Toonies 2". On line 15 is the star for the tree. Demonstrate how the small star is too small. The medium star looks OK. But the large star will make the tree bend over it is so big. So put a medium star at the top of the tree.
OPTION: If you choose too you can have the students save their file before they add their presents under the tree. File, Save As, username, Christmas, Save and "yes" replace the old file.
Presents - Changing Color of a "Stamp"
To put presents under the tree click on "Stamps". Scroll down/up to the category "Celebrations". On line 17 is the picture of a present. Use the small ball and place ONE present under the tree. That is a present for you. Tell the students that we need one present for every person that lives at your house under the tree. But they need to be a different color. Have the students watch as you change the color of the present.
The red box is around the present because we have selected that picture. Now click on the pencil that is next to the size balls at the bottom. A window appears with the stamp in it. In the upper right corner are icons for working with the picture. Briefly tell the students that each picture is made up of little squares called pixels. You can change things in the picture by using these tools. Quickly describe what each icon does: the pencil lets us change one square at a time: the fill bucket fills all the squares that are the same color at one time; the undo guy changes the last mistake on this window; the firecracker (we don't want to use); the right and left arrow turns a picture to look right or left; and the turn arrow turns it one quarter around until you get back to where you started.
Demonstrate how you change the color of the present by clicking on red. The first time you change the color it will take longer than the other times because the original picture has lots of shades of green in it. Click on the fill bucket. Start clicking on the green squares. Sometimes it fills it one square. Sometimes a lot of squares. If you accidentally click on the black, go to the Undo Guy right away. If that doesn't work, raise your hand for help. Tell them that we need the black lines for the present to show under the tree when we print it. When the picture is all filled with red, click on OK. The present is now red. Place the present under the tree.
Now click on the pencil again and select another color for a present - blue. This time when you fill it with the fill bucket it will go much faster because we only have one shade of red in our picture.
Tell the students to go ahead and change the color of the presents for every person in their family. Remind them that they cannot have any black or brown presents.
TO FIX THE PRESENT IF UNDO GUY DOESN'T WORK: This lesson is good practice in mouse control but accidents do happen. If they have filled in the black, you can click on the pencil instead of the fill bucket, click on the color black and click on each pixel to restore the outline of the picture. If you use the fill bucket it will just change everything that is the same color black. The pencil does one square at a time.
Finishing and Printing
When they have all the presents for their family, have them raise their hand for you to check. Have the students do a File, Save As to save their completed project while you watch. Then the teacher will do a File, Print, full page for the students to take home to their parents.
Students can draw freely or use stamps to make pictures until the end of class time. Remember to exit the program before logging off.