by Krissy.Venosdale | Apr 7, 2015 | Integrate, iPad, Out of the Box Learning
iStopMotion is one of those great apps. You know, the kind that are soooo easy to use, yet offer so many possibilities for learning and collaboration? Best of all? It involves hands on creativity to design the movie set and characters.
It’s great because it has an overlay, as in the purple clay man show below, so students can see where the object was last placed. It really helps students to know where to begin again with their object. The trick is to keep your iPad stable and set up a background using file folders stapled together or papers attached to the wall.
Please don’t limit students to just few ideas. Introduce the app, allow them time to explore and play, and then ask them what they could create. One question might inspire the next feature film in your classroom. Keep collaboration at a maximum by having each group member have a specific role, such as Producer, to move the objects, Director, to set up the scene and be sure story is followed, and Camera Operator, to click. Students could even work on storyboarding their movie before creating to save time in production and produce a more thoughtfully planned project.
So how can you use iStopMotion in the classroom? Here are some ways to get started in the elementary or primary classroom…
Character Project: After reading a favorite book, students can draw the setting. Then, students draw the character on cardstock and cut him or her out. Moving the character around on the background will work just like an old style cartoon!
Fractionator: Fractions are often hard to visualize. What if students design a movie to demonstrate fractions for younger learners, then invite them to your classroom and show them. Imagine a pizza made from clay that divides into fractions. Or, imagine what students could come up with if you asked, “How do fractions help us?”
Lego: A bucket of minifigs, a pile of blocks, and 5 minutes in a team to create a story? Then the app opens and students are writing, creating, and collaborating. The story could demonstrate challenging vocabulary words, character words, or even scientific concepts. Kids will think outside the box when it comes to Lego blocks and iStopMotion.
Patterns: Create a video that shows a pattern being built with blocks, manipulatives, food, or even paper objects.
Historical Stories: Imagine sculpting a tiny Lincoln for the Gettysburg Address? What about recreating man walking on the Moon? Whatever time period, it gets more interesting when turning it into a feature film. Ask students, “How might an event change the course of history?”
Measure It: Imagine if a tiny clay inchworm crawled up a ruler, one inch at a time, to measure objects in the classroom. It would not only reinforce how to measure, counting, and creativity, it would be fun to watch each other’s videos and see what was measured.
And if your students get hooked on stop motion video? Here are some fun videos that will inspire them….
- Pig vs Wolf
- Augmented Cartoon Reality
- Jellybean Music Video
- PostIt Stop Motion
- Western Spaghetti
by Krissy.Venosdale | Apr 4, 2015 | Digital Citizenship, Integrate
As educators, we pour our hearts and souls into helping students thrive, into encouraging them to find their passions, into providing tools that will enable them to leave our classrooms and schools and be whatever it is that they wish to be.
We also have an enormous responsibility to help them navigate the uncharted waters of the digital world. So if we have an opportunity to model it and be the kind of digital citizen we wish for our students, then I know that’s a chance we will all take.
When I create something to share, it’s not just a printable to me. Many times, it’s tied to something I learned from students, colleagues, and experiences. It’s art. It’s a piece of my heart. The words, the design, the entire product. And I love to share them. Because if I can make one teacher’s day more positive, then it’s worth it. I give the designs freely here, on my Flickr page, and provide high resolution printables that people can print. Because in my eyes, education needs more positivity, a lift, something that should be free? Inspiration. Sharing. Collaboration. Decorating Your Walls with Messages that Remind You Why You Teach and Learn. Printing a poster to frame and put on your desk. I love that.
I guess that’s why, when I see stuff that’s stolen, it’s awful. Often, the watermark is cropped off, sometimes, the very words I’ve written are lifted, and too many times… it’s for sale. Profit off something that was a piece of my heart? It happens. One quick Google search and it’s easy to find. TShirts. Posters. Printables for sale on teacher selling sites. Even the words with “Anonymous” under them.
So if there is something that you’d like to share, and I will continue to share openly, please ask yourself if you’re being the kind of digital citizen you want your students to be…
by Krissy.Venosdale | Mar 1, 2015 | Digital Citizenship, Integrate, Social Media in Education
It’s blue and black. It’s gold and white. You’re wrong. I’m right. I’m right. You’re wrong. It was crazy to watch as Twitter, Facebook, and even the National News became all about that dress. That’s when it occurred to me… what if we look beyond the dress? Schools, you have an opportunity to be the training grounds for the future and how sharing works. Or, you could just block it and we could all continue debating clothing colors. [Please, for the love of Sharpies, choose the training ground option… please.]
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by Krissy.Venosdale | Feb 16, 2015 | Google Apps for Edu, Integrate
It’s always fun to find out what other people use as their “go to” tech tools. That app you can’t live without? That website you have bookmarked? The best way to learn new tools is to ask other people what their favorites are. I’m not saying these will be your favorites… but they were good enough when I gave them a try that I just keep on using them.
Chrome Bookmarks Bar: If you use Chrome, be sure to click “Bookmarks” and “Turn Bookmarks Bar On.” You can drag any address to this bar and create quick links. I love storing quick links to Google Docs I’m using for the week, or sites I need to access daily. With a rightclick, you can easily cut things from the bar, too.
Open Clipart Online
It’s no secret that I love a great graphic. However, when creating quick document, there’s no time to PhotoShop up something to match the walls in my office. So, OpenClipart does the trick. A great standard base of over 50,000 images that you can add into your documents.
MindMeister
I love the ease in which MindMeister takes a bulleted list and turns it into a graphic web right inside your document. Bulleted lists are so… nineties! This is a great tool for organizing information visually.
Save to Google Drive Sometimes you find a great resource on the web that you know you will want to take a look at or share later. This add on to Chrome places a tiny drive icon that you can click and save to your drive in the blink of an eye!
PicMonkey When you need to quickly edit a photo, add some text, or spruce up a pic for your class blog, PicMonkey will do the trick. While I love the full-fledged power of PhotoShop, PicMonkey has plenty of power without all the complicatedness.
SaveFromNet: A built in tool for Chrome to download YouTube videos for classroom presentations or sharing. Excellent for those presentations when you just don’t know if the Wifi is going to hold out.
What are your favorites? Google Drive Add-Ons? Chrome Extensions? Please share. We can never have too many in our tool-box, right?
by Krissy.Venosdale | Feb 11, 2015 | Integrate, iPad
Yes. Love is a strong word, but it’s almost Valentine’s Day. And these apps? I DO love them so much I kind of want to marry them. They are great. Why? Because they are not about consumption. They are about creation. Open ended apps that put the power of the iPad in the hands of the students, encouraging the REAL power of learning to come from their own thinking. What will your students create?
Easy Blogger Jr.
Easy Blogger Jr. is an interface for Blogger. It allows you to use a basic Blogger site for students to upload and share content to. The apps is also available to work with WordPress and Edublog. This app encourages students to reflect, share, ask each other questions, compare their thinking to other students thinking, and practice being responsible global citizens. Students can post photos, videos, and record voice overlays.
Book Creator
Such a simple app. It does just what is says… create a book. But there is so much more here. Add photos, videos, drawings, creations from other apps, text, sounds, and even pictures of projects. This app could be the start of student portfolios, weekly journals, creative poetry books, a place for students to write stories, and even non-fiction books to teach others. Even better? The books can be published to iBooks, enhancing students ability to see how their content can be authentically shared with the world in iTunes.
Drawing Pad
I have tried every drawing app out there. My own iPad is filled with apps that I’ve tried to find to rival my Sharpie and paper doodling love. Then? I tried Drawing Pad. I love it because of the options. An array of supplies to inspire students in various paints, markers, and more. Text can be added, or the drawings can be exported to other apps as photos.
PicCollage
The iPad is a great classroom camera, but we typically don’t print those photos or have an easy way to display. Here comes PicCollage… a great way for students to display their photos, add text, and even put a video clip. It’s a great introduction to digital media for young learners, and a flexible tool for the tech savvy kiddos looking for more.
Popplet
If I had Popplet when I was a kid, I would have loved taking notes. The visual delight of the little bubbles, organized in web form to break down information, makes my heart sing. Popplet can be used to organize story elements during creative writing, taking notes during research, creating a simple timeline, and even organizing a project into parts.
Is this every app I love? Nope. But you know what? When it comes to apps, less is more. There are millions of apps available, and it’s easy to think of them like Valentine chocolates… you can’t have to many. But the really rich, delicious truffle apps that feed your brain and creativity? Just a few of the right ones, and your students creativity will make your heart sing!
