Activities
Not only are Bitmoji Classrooms cute and fun to make, but they can also be made practical to meet the needs of virtual teachers and students. Educators are using bitmoji hacks to make the most of their virtual classrooms. This includes creating 3D bitmojis, adding their voice into their classrooms, and hosting virtual experiences, like field trips and library visits. If you’re looking for ways to spice up your Bitmoji Classroom and take it to the next level, look no further.
1. Link assignments from Google Classroom right into your bitmoji classroom!
In your stream of your Google Classroom, click the three dots next to the desired assignment, then click “copy link.” Paste this link into your bitmoji classroom and students will be brought directly to the assignment from your bitmoji classroom.
2. Use your bitmoji classroom as a Google Meet or Zoom waiting room!
As students begin to enter your virtual meet, present your bitmoji classroom front & center so it’s the first thing they see (in Google Slides, click “view” > “present”). Have directions displayed to keep students engaged while they wait for the meet to begin. You could post a prompt, like “Would you rather eat sweets or salty snacks for the rest of your life? Be ready to share!” Or you could prompt students to sketch a picture of their favorite reading spot at home.
Pro Tip: Be sure to also include a timer in your waiting room so students know when your meet will begin. To insert a timer in your bitmoji classroom, click Insert > video > search “timer” and select the amount of time you need > Select. The video timer will pop up and you can move it around! Just click “play” when you’re reading to start the timer in your waiting room.
3. Make images more accessible with Alt Text!
This bitmoji hack gives additional support in viewing images or videos. You can add Alt Text to both items to allow readers to access the information in another format, like reading the Alt Text or having it be read aloud in order to better understand the image.
Right-click on an image or video > Alt Text > type in a description of the image or video.
4. Add your voice!
Add directions, read alouds, and morning messages in your own voice to your bitmoji classroom.
Step 1: Visit Online Voice Recorder https://online-voice-recorder.com/ (this is a free website!)
Step 2: Click the red button to start and stop the recording of your voice
Step 3: Save your recording to your desktop by clicking “Save” in the bottom right corner.
Step 4: Drag the recording file into your google drive (this is a must so that the recording syncs well to google slides where your bitmoji classroom is). Pro tip: Create a folder named “Audio Files” where you can drag in all of your audio files.
Step 5: Go to your Bitmoji Classroom in google slides. Click Insert > Audio > choose the audio file you just dropped into your drive (it should pop up first)
You’ll see a little speaker pop up where students can then click play on to hear your voice! Use recordings so that you can add directions, read alouds, and morning messages in your own voice to your bitmoji classroom.
5. Flatten your images so that your Bitmoji classroom will load more efficiently.
You may recognize the image below as what tends to happen when your bitmoji classroom is loading…
To avoid the lag, in order to “flatten” your bitmoji classroom, you just need to screenshot your entire classroom and place the new image onto a blank slide. Your bitmoji classroom will load much more quickly without all of the separate images loading one at a time. Bonus: Your students can’t edit images/move them around if they’ve been flattened!
6. Include multiple teachers’ bitmojis!
Do you have a co-teacher? A TA? A parent who wants to volunteer one day? Simply have another adult (or the student of the week) send you via email an image of their own bitmoji. Copy and paste the image into your bitmoji classroom! Then you’ll have multiple friendly faces inside your bitmoji classroom.
7. Create a field trip inside of your bitmoji classroom!
Change the background of your bitmoji classroom to match a field trip location, like an aquarium or a museum, then link images and text to videos of and readings about that location.
8. Make your bitmoji 3D!
This is one of the most exciting bitmoji hacks! As if 2D bitmojis weren’t engaging enough, some teachers have found a way to make your bitmoji come to life!
Step 1: Go to the search engine in Snapchat and type “bitmoji.” Scroll down to Lenses and choose one filter.
Step 2: Record your bitmoji dancing around in the filter you chose by holding down the snapchat recorder. Save the recording.
Step 3: Visit the website unscreen.com from your phone, which turns your bitmoji into a GIF.
Step 4: Upload your video clip by clicking “upload” and choose the option “transparent”
Step 5: Click “download” then either add the download to your drive, email the download to yourself, or airdrop it to your MacBook if you’re using all Apple products.
Step 6: Once the GIF is successfully on your laptop, go to your bitmoji classroom and click Insert > Drive (if you uploaded the GIF to your drive) OR Upload from Computer if you saved the GIF to your desktop
It’s a lot of steps, but so worth it! Check out the moving version of the 3D bitmoji:
9. Link images to anything & everything!
Via: @ms_vila
Students will be excited to see what they can click on and will be surprised to see what they are brought to.
10. Create an interactive virtual library!
After you’ve inserted all your favorite read alouds, be sure to link the book images to YouTube read alouds of each book.
Via: ELT Inspired
Pro Tip: Want your students to hear the read aloud in your voice? Record yourself reading it on your phone or tablet then upload your video to Google Drive. You can then link your google drive video to the image instead of a YouTube read aloud!
We can’t wait to see what else teachers come up with for their bitmoji classrooms! For now, how will you take your bitmoji classroom to the next level? Tag @BoredTeachers on social media with your creations!
