Word clouds are fun to make for holidays or anytime of year! This is a great project for home schoolers, or anyone who has access to computers where they teach. A word cloud is a random arrangement of words, in this case a passage of writing where common words such as "and", "the", "if", etc. are omitted and the text is then arranged in random order, with the words that appear more often being larger than the others. Word clouds are not "readable" in a literal sense, but you can usually get the idea of what a passage is about just by scanning the largest words!
I made these samples using two great websites, Wordle.net and Biblegateway.com.... here's how I did it:
1. Go to www.biblegateway.com, where you can search for a passage using keywords such as "shepherds" or "angels", or you can search by topic or just type in the address if you know it. You can also compare the passage in different versions, such as the NIV or New King James.
2. Select and copy the text you want.
3. Then, go to www.wordle.net (notice that it's ".net" and not ".com"). Paste your text into the empty box and click "create".
4. From there, you can play with the layout (vertical, horizontal, every which way, etc.), change the font or colors, or just keep clicking the "randomize" button at the bottom until you get a combination you like.
Word clouds are unique designs you can use in a variety of ways. Some of my students used them to make Christmas cards for their buddy classes and we'll be making these in January using Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. You can also type your own words into Wordle following a theme like the word cloud below.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Creative New Year!
Your Christmas wordles are wonderful. Our school made these word clouds from saint reports in October and they were really nice. I like how your examples were taken from Bible passages.
ReplyDeletegreat resource! Thanks for sharing...I had never heard of the website before
ReplyDeleteSo glad you posted this...I've done this before with Bible verses, but have long since forgot where I did it! I was thinking some time ago that I would like to give each student in my school a page to list 5 (positive) words about school (can be adjectives, favourite subjects, teacher names, funny moments etc.) and I would compile them into a word cloud and well...from here on in I haven't quite decided. Maybe paint it as a mural on a wall. Thanks again. A blessed Christmas to you!
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