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Students can createand edit movies solo or

"Co l l ab -o -wr i t e " by

working together to

create a collaborative

movie. Some of the

e x a m p l e s o f s t o r y

starters include titles like

"Surprise" and "Rock

Out" where students

take charge of what

happens next!

MEET TH E ZI M MER TWINS !

G e t c r e a t i v e

Here is a great chance for your students to take a seat in the director's chair!

On the Zimmer Twins website (www.zimmertwins.com), students can

create their own cartoon movie endings to a story starter. They can also

create their very own animated movie from scratch. Only the creativity of

your students will decide what happens at each ending.

The Zimmer Twins is a fun way to incorporate technology into the

classroom. On the site, students will

meet Edgar and Eva Zimmer, 12 year

old twins with psychic powers. Watch

y o u r s t u d e n t s e x p a n d t h e i r

vocabulary, practice proper writing

habits, and become junior movie

producers all at the same time!

Students can:

Watch a starter (a short animation that ends with a cliff-hanger).

Create their own ending to the story by writing dialog for the characters

and putting scenes together.

Create a movie from scratch...your imagination is the limit!

Save their work on the website for other kids to watch, rate and comment

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MEET THE ZIMMER TWINSon.

Watch and rate movies made by other kids.

The fun and animated graphics will help spark your

students' imagination and creativity in whatever

they choose to do!

Zimmer Twins Lesson Ideas

Media. Develop greater media literacy.

Example: Write a commercial. Learn about

persuasive advertising techniques and propaganda

in the media

Example: Analyze movie or restaurant reviews and

students write their own. Observe how restaurant

reviews use a pattern to describe each restaurant.

Create a chart during a prewriting activity to clarify

the ideas and structure of a restaurant review.

Develop a restaurant review in the form of an

animated movie.

Example: Divide the class into small groups. Have

teams develop fact or fiction movies based on short

articles about a subject (animals, history etc...). At

the end other groups have to guess which is fact

and which is fiction.

Example: Students produce a news segment where

they explain, inform, describe, analyze, comment,

review or advise about an issue

Social Studies

Example: Encourage students to convey opinions

b y w r i t i n g a b o u t a c o n t e n t i o u s i s s u e

(environmental/school politics etc...) Half the class

will develop an animated movie supporting an issue,

half will formulate a movie against the issue.

Example: Use the story builder to create movies

that state an opinion such as, “If I was Prime

Minister or President what problems would I fix? If I

was mayor what would I change about the city?

Example: Bias and Stereotypes. Using the Zimmer

Twins characters as spokespeople, develop role-

playing scenarios that explore gender discrimination

and equal rights.

English

Example: Use metaphors and similes to build

interest in writing

Example: Work in the story builder to develop more

effective writing styles. Learn about the thesaurus,

and use a variety of adjectives to generate more

interesting sentences.

Example: No More Repetition. Use conjunctions to

improve writing style and string ideas into

meaningful sentences.

Example: Proofreading exercises – peer exercises

to check grammar and spelling in movies.

Example: Develop an exciting opener to grab the

attention of your audience. Use this opener to

create an animated movie.

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MEET THE ZIMMER TWINS

Example: Create your own movie starters. Switch

with a buddy, and develop the ending to their

movie starter.

Example: Short stories: how character, setting,

plot effect the story

Example: (English) Compose a story using five

sentences. Create a character that is angry. In the

story explain why your character is angry. Focus on

one theme (e.g. Character, Story plot, Character

traits, Tone...).

Example: (English) Character traits. Students pull

a character trait out of a hat, and then write a

story. The character’s actions must fit whatever

traits have been given without using the actual

words. Other students must guess.

Example: (English) Students use the story builder

to create a movie that describes going to the store

to buy 4 things. Students brainstorm for shopping

items.

Example: Collabo-write! Use the story builder to

work on group tasks. Divide class into small

groups. Pick opposing ideas for debate. Students

create a movie describing why there side is right.

The other team collabo-writes on the movie, and

explains a counter argument.

Example: Use magazines or newspapers for

reference. Students use these to research sentence

openers. Record a list of these of openers in a

writing journal, use a thesaurus if needed. Use

collected sentence openers to create a five-

sentence paragraph about a given subject.

Example: (English) Use pictures to reinforce a

story.

Example: (English) Use the story builder as an aid

to

study word order such as Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives.

Example: (English) Word sequencing. Teacher

creates a story with the story builder tool using

familiar vocabulary Teacher then shuffles the movie

clips around so they are out of order. Students

must put the stories into the right order.

Example: Similes. Teacher explains what a simile

is and why it is used. Teacher shows students how

to use the story builder. Students practice creating

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MEET THE ZIMMER TWINS

similes as a whole group. Students then practice

writing similes in groups of 2 at the computer. This

lesson may be adapted to a variety of themes

including, rhymes, homonyms, mood, and

appropriate tone.

Example: Comparing stories. Developing short

movies set in the present, past and future.

Example: Use the following list of set words and

actions included in the Zimmer Twins Movie Editor to

help develop descriptive animated movies. Use the 4

steps of the writing process (Prewriting, Drafting,

Revising, Editing) to encourage excellent writing

skills.

Talking actions

agrees angry bored confused disagrees dizzy

examines happy impressed plots plugs ears relieved

scared seeks surprised suspicious tease

Moving actions

announces lectures reads aloud reports sings talks

thinks whispers yells celebrates chases crowd surfs

dances drops faints falls finds flies floats gives hides

hugs lands

More moving actions

laughs leaves levitates meets plays rides rocks runs

sits sneaks sleeps stands steals struts wakes walks.