Emoji-cize Learning

Emoji-cize Learning

Session Description

To get your own copy of the emoji activities, click below.

Your students already love using emojis, so why not use them to enhance classroom learning? Learn creative ways to use emojis to motivate your students to read and write.

Emoji Random Writing Prompt Generator

In his blog, Control Alt Achieve, Eric Curts explains how to create an Emoji Writing Prompt Generator with Google Sheets. Eric used Google Sheets to create a writing prompt generator that produces a random set of two, three, four, or even five emojis at a time. Instead of providing words for a writing prompt, he used a formula in a spreadsheet to inspire kids to have fun writing a story or a poem.

According to Eric (and I agree), there are several great reasons for using emojis as writing prompts:

  • Since emojis are images, they can be used with students of any age, language, or reading ability.

  • They can provide a wide range of ideas since each student will have their own interpretations of the pictures.

  • Emojis are very popular with students, so they will likely have familiarity with the images.

  • They are fun! And writing should be fun. And learning should be fun. And school should be fun!”

To get your own copy of the template, click below. Simply print it out and cut the emojis into puzzle pieces.

Translate Quotes, Famous Books, or Speeches

Students can translate names of books they are reading, quotes from characters of the book, etc. into emoji. Translating into emoji can be a motivator for students.

TRY IT! Try this example - Book Titles with Emojis

See the example below of Frozen as told by Emoji

TRY IT! Write a story based on the prompt I put on the screen. Write it on this padlet - https://padlet.com/diana_benner/emoji

Emoji Puzzle Ice Breaker

Students these days use emoticons all the time. So why not have an icebreaker activity that incorporates them? As your students enter the classroom, hand them an emoji puzzle piece that will match one other student in the class. After all the students are in the class, have them walk around the classroom and try to find the other student that has the matching emoji puzzle piece.

Once they have found their match, students can interview each other or quietly talk about themselves. Give them some guiding questions, just in case they get stumped for what to talk about. (Have them share birthdays, their favorite snack food, best song to listen to while studying, etc. Just make sure it’s nothing too personal.) You could repeat this activity each day until every student has talked with every other student.

To get your own copy of the template, click below. Simply print it out and cut the emojis into puzzle pieces.

Identify and Explain Feelings with Emoji Characters

In his blog, Control Alt Achieve, Eric Curts explains how to use emojis to identify and explain feelings. As the name implies, emojis are especially good at expressing emotions. This can work well for activities where the students need to identify and explain feelings. For example the student could identify the feelings of a character in the most recent chapter of the novel they are reading for class, or movie they watched, or other story.

    • The template below by Eric provides 72 emojis representing different emotions.

    • The student uses the emojis to show which emotions a character was feeling in a book, story, movie, or such.

    • To do this, they click in a square with a chosen emoji, then click the "Background Color" paint can icon in the top toolbar to fill in the box with a selected color.

    • When done choosing emojis, the student can then write an explanation of how those represent the character's emotions.

    • The student can even color the text they write to match the colors they chose to fill in the emoji boxes.

To get your own copy of the template, click below.

TRY IT! Watch The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood. Next get a copy of the Character Emoji Template and describe some of the characters in the book.

Getting to Know Me - Emoji Google Drawing Activity

Get to know your students better by having them complete a Getting To Know Me Google Drawing.

To get your own copy of the template, click below.

Create Your Own Emoji - Google Drawing Activity

Create your own emoji in Google Drawing and then embed it in a Google Doc, if you want. This makes for a great writing activity. Have students describe themselves or identify why they drew their emoji the way they did.

To get your own copy of the template, click below.

Rebus Stories

Rebus stories are texts where key words and phrases are replaced with images. Create your own rebus stories using emojis to represent some of the words or have students create their own rebus stories using emojis. As students read through the stories they can build their vocabulary and comprehension skills as they decode what each emoji means. Here’s a cute rebus story for you to use as an example.

Annotating Texts

When students read a text, you encourage them to annotate the text by highlighting and writing notes in the margins. When students read texts on the computer or tablet, why not have them annotate with emojis? These little faces and other images can help students quickly note their feelings on different sections of the text and give them a simple way to locate important points later on.

Word Problems

Why not spice up traditional word problems by incorporating emojis? You can use emojis to replace key words and phrases, similar to how you would use them in a rebus story. Emojis can also represent numbers in problems.

For example, if heart+heart=10, then how much does one heart represent?

Illustrating a Process

Few scientific videos are more entertaining than Bill Nye’s explanation of evolution using emojis. Like Bill Nye, your students can create their own videos or diagrams using emojis to illustrate different parts of a scientific processes. Or you can just incorporate Bill Nye’s series of emoji videos into your teaching.

GE Emoji Science

Another emoji resource to use in your teaching is GE Emoji Science. This Periodic Table ditches the chemical symbols in favor of emojis. Clicking on an emoji will open up an engaging explanation of a scientific concept for kids.

To get your own copy of the template, click below.

TRY IT! You will be assigned a number. After you have a number, go to the About Me Emoji Google Slide and create your emoji.

About Me Emoji Google Slide Activity

Assign each student a slide number and have them create their own Emoji. After they have created their emoji have them write a paragraph about themselves and/or why they created their emoji the way they did.

Emoji Exit Ticket

Emoji Exit Tickets are a great way for students to summarize what students have learned during your lesson in a fun and relatable way!

They also provide you with great feedback to assess student progression and understanding.

To get your own copy of the template, click below.

Create Emoji Poetry

Emojitranslate.com allows you to copy and paste text and translates it into emoji for you. This is a starting tool, but students will have to add more emojis to the translation. With this tool they can begin translating modernized versions of fairytales into emoji or their own imagined stories.

Check out this Nursery Rhyme. Can you guess what it is?

Insert Emojis to Google Drive Files or Calendar Invites

    • Open the Calendar event or Google Drive file you want to insert your emoji

    • Click here for a list of emojis

    • Click on the emoji you want and press Ctrl + C (Windows & Chromebooks) or Command-C (Apple)

    • Simply go to your Calendar event or file and press Ctrl + V (Windows & Chromebooks) or Command-V (Apple)

    • If it’s a Calendar event, click Save

Write a Summary with Emojis

In his blog, Control Alt Achieve, Eric Curts lists different ways students can use emojis to summarize. Instead of having students write with words, let them say it with images. Students could use emojis to write a visual version of many traditional assignments such as:

  • Write a story, movie, song, or play in emojis.

  • Summarize what happens in a story with emojis.

  • Explain a science concept or process with emojis.

  • Retell a historical event with emojis.

Using emojis in this way encourages the students to decide what are the most important details or concepts, and then create a visual summary that clearly conveys those ideas.

Codemoji

Codemoji is an engaging tool that helps teachers guide students through the main coding technologies that drive websites: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It's ideal to supplement direct instruction as an option for flipped or blended classrooms.

Site: https://www.codemoji.com/

Grades: 2-8

Free

Personalize Emoji - Made with Code

Create your own emoji and personalize it. Inspired to help girls code, this site uses the Blockly programming language to add a character in a virtual workspace.

Site: https://www.madewithcode.com/projects/emojify

Chrome Apps & Extensions

Additional Resources