Abstract Paramecium from Stop-Motion Animation

• First graders began by learning and overview of the history of animation from Winsor McCay to modern computer animation like Pixar. They learned a little about the mechanisms that make movie cameras and projectors work and how this technology allows filmmakers to create tricks that give the illusion of movement. 
• For our stop-motion animation we wanted to keep things simple and so we chose as our subject matter simple, single cellular life forms such as paramecia. We watched footage of how microscopic organisms move around using tiny hair-like structures called cilia and flagella. 
• Students all created their own collage-based abstract microbe with a flagellum and we took dozens and dozens of photographs to create an animated video that would mimic the appearance of these creatures under a microscope.