Canva World War II Trading Cards

Students will:

• know and understand key biographical information about important leaders from World War II.

• be able to create a visual representation of their learning.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Duplicate: To duplicate means to make an exact copy of something.
    
2. Sources: Sources are where someone gets information that can be analog or digital.
    
3. Text Box: A text box is a box that you type in text (words, numbers, and symbols) online.

To prepare for this lesson:

• Background learning and knowledge about World War II would be helpful to teachers and students.

• Make sure that students have access to http://canva.com. It might be helpful to create a Canva for Education account.

• Decide how many cards you want the students to make and if you want them to print the cards or share them online. 

• Decide if you want students to work together. If so, they can share the project with each other by clicking on share in the top right corner of your design and adding their emails to the design.

• Watch the following videos to help you and your students learn how to use Canva. 

  • Canva YouTube Channel with lots of helpful Canva tutorials

  • Edit Photos: Canva Design Skills for Students

• A finished example of a project card can be found at bit.ly/wwtradingcards

See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4student website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

1. Go to canva.com

2. Click on Create a Design, and click on custom size to make the width three inches and the height five inches. Then click Create New Design. 

3. Use a history book available in a classroom or library or visit the website sparknotes.com/history/european/ww2/key-people to decide which four people (two from the Allies and two from Axis) you are going to make cards for in your project.

4. Decide your background by going to backgrounds and selecting a color/style you want to use. 

5. Next, find a picture you want. You can do this in two ways. Either way, you will need to click on the photo and move it where you want. 

   1. The first way is to go to elements, then to photos, and search for a picture you want. Then click on it and move it to where you want it. 

   2. The second way is to find a picture from Google and right-click (ALT click on Chromebooks) on it. Then click Save Image As and click Save. Then go back to Canva, click on uploads, then upload files, then click on the picture. If you use this method, make sure you cite your sources on where you got the pictures.

6. Add the person's name and title by clicking on text inserting a text box, and typing the person’s name in the box.

7. When you finish that, then you click Add Page so that you can add details about the person including his name and title again, and important features such as height, weight, where they were born and died, and when they were born and died. 

8. On that same side of the card, you can add another text box and add sources from which you found the information. 

9. The next thing you are going to do is duplicate the pages. To do that, click on the thing with the plus sign in it that is in between a key and a garbage bin. That allows you to get the same exact copy of what you just did, and you can do the same steps you just did just for a different person. Do steps 5-9 for the remaining trading cards students create.

Different options for assessing the students:

• Observations
• Check for understanding
• Following directions for the creation of the cards
• Information on cards is accurate and students cite their sources.