Shidonni

Shidonni

http://www2.shidonni.com/

Shidonni is an online game which is fun, engaging and allows students to be creative. The site provides digital drawing tools where you can create your own characters which then come to life. You can even create the world in which they live and the food they eat. The number of drawing tools are increased as the student participates in games and completes challenges.

Students can also send pictures and messages to friends they have added, send a character around the world and create an online book using their own characters.

How can Shidonni be

used in the classroom?

Shidonni is represented as a galaxy and provides you with up to three worlds to draw your own environment and characters. There is an upgraded version Shidonni Pro which provides more options.

Here are some examples of worlds students could create and units they could be integrated in.

Task: Create a virtual world which represents your own.

Students can draw:

• their favourite place,

• Where they live

themselves, family members, friends and pets.

• fill the fridge up with their favourite food.

• The teacher could create a world for students from the class. Students can send a picture of themselves to the teacher. This would create a world with all the students represented.

• Students could also share pictures of themselves with each other in the class. This is a great task for the beginning of the school year.

Task: Create a world based on a period of time in history.

Again this could coincide with a research assignment or unit of work.

You may focus on one period of time or students could choose their own.

• The world can include buildings relevant to the era and people wearing the relevant clothes.
• Here are some suggestions:
• Ancient Rome
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Egypt
• Stone Age
• Medieval
• Dinosaurs
• Shakespearean time

Task: Design a world based on a country.

• The class might all be working on the same country or culture or each student could choose their own.

• They may even wish to research their own cultural heritage.

• This task would be a great accompaniment to a research task.

Items to include:

• a flagpole and draw the flag of the country

• a famous landmark

• Housing, plant life and animal life

• people in appropriate dress

• food native to the county to put in the fridge

Task: Create an Underwater World.

• Some suggestions:
• Provide a list of specific creatures for students to create

• Each student is responsible for one creature which they have to research and compile information about its living environment, its life cycle and food it eats. Students then draw and create a world for their creature.

• Students can send their sea creature to each other in the class to create a collection of creatures.

• Transform their virtual world into a 3D version by making a model using modelling clay, shells and cellophane.

• Design their own sea creature by combining parts of several creatures.

• Look at the use of camouflage and have students draw animals which are hard to see within their environment.

Task: Create a world based on a novel you have read.

• This task may be used with a novel the entire class is working on or students could choose their own.

• Students can draw the characters of the book and the world in which they live.

• This task can then be continued with the virtual book available in the game. Students could write an alternative ending to the novel or write a book review.

• By allowing students to transform their reading into a visual form, students will gain a better understanding of the book and allow the teacher to check for understanding, plus it is a lot of fun.

Task: Design a world based on a living environment, such as dessert, rainforest, bushland, beach or swamp.

Explore the landform, plant life,

animal life within these environments

Task: Create a Fantasy World with creatures and places which do not exist.

This world is only limited by the students’ imagination.

Creatures may include robots, monsters, alien life forms or dragons.

This could then lead into a storytelling unit using the digital book within the game.

Task: Create a world based on Outer Space.

• Some Suggestions:
• What does life look like on a different planet?

• Draw planets from our solar system or students could work in groups

focussing on one planet

• What else can be found in outer space

• Students can write their facts in the virtual book

Task: Create a world which could exist in the future.

You could pose the following questions:

What will we live in?

What will we be wearing?

Will there be animals?

What food will we be eating?

What has happened to the environment?

Ask students to send one of their characters away using the passport feature. The passport will indicate countries the character has visited. This could lead into a research assignment.

By using this game students have the opportunity

to devlop skills in:

Creativity

Design Elements

Problem Solving

Decision Making

Literacy

ICT Skills