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National Comic Book Day

September 25 is National Comic Book Day, a time to appreciate and honor all things comic related, from old cartoons to children's comics to anime and beyond. Cartoons and comics can be game-changers in the classroom, making complex content more understandable for our students. Discover several comics and cartoon sites related to different curricular topics that you can share with your students. 

Grades 8-12

Webcomics Web Archive

The Library of Congress presents this collection that features comics created explicitly for the web from 2014 to the present. Topics include dinosaurs, astronauts, hyperboles, gender identity, mental health, and many others.

Grades 2-8

Rustle the Leaf

Peruse this collection of online comic strips, videos, and more starring Rustle the Leaf and his friends. Choose from the comic archive to view all the comic strips or view short movies to learn more about the environment.

Grades 7-12

Running for Office - Cartoons of Clifford K. Berryman

Clifford K. Berryman drew political cartoons at the turn of the 20th century depicting U.S. presidents from Grover Cleveland to Harry Truman. Share the cartoons themselves and the issues and personalities behind them. Have students try to draw their own.

Grades 6-12

Physics Central

Bring physics to life with the online comic book "Spectra," found at the bottom of the main page. Share this PDF comic book with your students, then have cooperative learning groups read the comic together and make a list of questions and comments.

Grades 9-12

Stick Figure Hamlet

Stick Figure Hamlet brings comic imagery to each act and scene of this classic work of Shakespeare. Start at the beginning to view all the cartoons or choose a specific act or scene, then follow along as your class reads Hamlet.

Create a Comic or Cartoon

This section shares five tools you and your students can use to create comics and cartoons. Use these tools to develop stories related to the content in your lessons, then challenge your students to make (and share) their own cartoons to demonstrate their understanding.   

Grades 4-11

Free Comic Maker.Com

Create comics quickly and easily using this step-by-step comic template. Choose from a list of premade templates, then start creating by using ready-made clipart characters and speech bubbles. You can also upload your own pictures.

Grades K-12

Comic Strips Templates

Students can choose colorful designs in various formats, including single strips or comics with multiple frames, on this site. Each template includes several pages that form a complete cartoon, a blank frame, and illustration sets to use with your design.

Grades 2-12

ToonyTool

Try out this simple canvas to create a single-frame comic, a cartoon strip, or an animation. Start your canvas and choose what you want to make, select a background (or upload your own), add characters, then share, download, or save.

Grades K-12

Printable Comic Strip Templates

Find several different comic strip templates on this site. Choose from templates with various numbers of panels, squares, or archtops. Click on any template to view and print the PDF version. Have your students write comics as a review before a test.

Grades K-12

Witty Comics

Use this tool to design a comic with dialogue using pre-drawn backgrounds and characters. Add a title for each scene or page, then add dialogue between the two characters. You must register at the site to be able to save your work.

This Week at TeachersFirst

If you teach geography to grades 2–6, you don’t want to miss our Globetracker's Mission! This choose-your-own-adventure travel story kicks off this week and will be stopping at a new location each week from now through April. In addition, our FREE OK2Ask virtual workshops continue this Tuesday. We’re also sharing a related blog post and kindly ask for your input on our weekly poll.