We had some fun today exploring with fotobabble. This is a great way to record outings or events verbally using a photo as the stimulus.
Ethan reports back on the AOCA visit to the Grade 7s
AOCA came to our school to teach the Grade 7s about the ocean. Ethan reports...
Grade 5J talks about their technology lesson
Tyra’s group
Promise’s group
Taine’s group
Grade 3 was visited by a traffic officer
Mrs Beal asked Zain to give an off-the-cuff report back into the microphone, as she wanted to try out a programme called fotobabble; and he did a really good job. This is our first effort with fotobabble but we hope to iron out the problems and use it a lot more.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thoughts about adding videos to blogs and wikis
I have been thinking recently of the different ways of putting video on to a blog or wiki; and when a friend asked me for some ideas on how to do this I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to summarise what I have tried up to now and what I plan to try in the future! So here goes...
SHORT VIDEOS
This is something I learned very recently through another friend – isn’t it amazing how we learn from one another all the time! In Blogger and Edublogs you can easily add video if it is not too big in size. The problem comes in how your video camera saves files. The files (I think) need to be .wmv to be uploaded. This is where YouTube Downloader comes in handy. This is a free downloadable programme that can convert movies to different formats. You need to select the second option 'Convert video (previously downloaded) from file'. It works with any video. However Edublogs and Blogger show these videos differently as I will show you now.
Last year the Grade 3s used Photostory 3 (with narration) to make videos about Fish Hoek. This is how Edublogs shows the video:
Fish Hoek
(Edublogs says about their video approach, "It doesn’t embed your file in an actual video or audio player in your post; it only inserts a link to the file. When readers click on the link it opens another page where the audio file is played or it downloads the video onto their computer").
This is how Blogger shows the same video. It actually embeds the video.
http://grade4fishhoekprimary.blogspot.com/2011/05/learning-about-fish-hoek.html
I have to say that I really prefer the Blogger approach with ordinary video clips. Unfortunately Wikispaces only allows embedded video which is what I will discuss next.
SHORT EMBEDDED VIDEOS USING ONE TRUE MEDIA
The one I have tried to date is One True Media. A teacher from the USA visited us and the class spontaneously broke into song so I captured it on my camera and put it into OneTrueMedia
We linked with Miss Ale in Argentina for a collaborative-writing project and she made this video using OneTrueMedia:
Another teacher I linked with in Canada, Mr Millward, did his class graduation using OneTrueMedia. As you can see the programme is very creative.
http://millwardb.edublogs.org/2010/06/23/graduation/
SHORT VIDEOS USING ANIMOTO
With Animoto you are only allowed short videos of 30 seconds free but there is an Animoto Educators account which I have applied for and received. This entitles me to myself and 50 of my students having the Plus account in which we can upload full length videos (maximum 200MB).
Last year one of the Grade 5 classes participated in the ‘Monster project’ and many of the teachers around the world used Animoto to show everyone where they were at. Here is a sample from a Grade 2 class (Miss Hariju) in the USA:
SCHOOL TUBE
I must say that I love School Tube and it is my first choice since it is all about school! I learned about it from another of my PLN friends from America, Bob Greenwood, with whom I was involved in a project. He teaches Grade 2 and he has his own channel on School Tube. He makes so many videos. Take a look:
http://www1.schooltube.com/Organization/OrganizationHome.aspx?oid=129695
So that is what I have done. I have applied recently to become a moderator on School Tube and I have my own school channel. I plan to upload everything there. It gives me an embedding code and I put the code in my blogs and in my wikis. Our latest Adobe Youth Voices project has been uploaded there only today after the group inserted royalty free music clips to give the movie more feeling.
http://got.im/0JTE
I am running two 'creative writing and video-making' computer clubs at school, so I think I will be using this site a lot.
YOU TUBE
I also like using YouTube and I have a channel there as well for all my school videos. Once you have posted a video it gives you a code which you can embed into any blog or wiki. This makes it very easy. Often with school videos I make them private so that they can only be seen by whoever has the YouTube address link. We are on a video swap project with Denmark (Grade 6) and we use YouTube for this. I sometimes think that parents will be happier with the use of School Tube because it is mainly for teachers.
FOR THE FUTURE
I would like to try out video sites recommended in blogposts:
a) Vimeo
b) Explore more with Animoto http://edupln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/animoto-in-the-classroom
c) Other recommended sites (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/03/30/not-the-best-but-a-list-of-online-video-editors/)
My BIG question at the moment is - how do you compress large .avi files of say 1.8GB in order to upload them easily? (Later...okay, I have just found the answer to this. You put the whole .avi file into Windows Movie Maker and it reduces it amazingly with little loss of quality. It really works...yay!)
SHORT VIDEOS
This is something I learned very recently through another friend – isn’t it amazing how we learn from one another all the time! In Blogger and Edublogs you can easily add video if it is not too big in size. The problem comes in how your video camera saves files. The files (I think) need to be .wmv to be uploaded. This is where YouTube Downloader comes in handy. This is a free downloadable programme that can convert movies to different formats. You need to select the second option 'Convert video (previously downloaded) from file'. It works with any video. However Edublogs and Blogger show these videos differently as I will show you now.
Last year the Grade 3s used Photostory 3 (with narration) to make videos about Fish Hoek. This is how Edublogs shows the video:
Fish Hoek
(Edublogs says about their video approach, "It doesn’t embed your file in an actual video or audio player in your post; it only inserts a link to the file. When readers click on the link it opens another page where the audio file is played or it downloads the video onto their computer").
This is how Blogger shows the same video. It actually embeds the video.
http://grade4fishhoekprimary.blogspot.com/2011/05/learning-about-fish-hoek.html
I have to say that I really prefer the Blogger approach with ordinary video clips. Unfortunately Wikispaces only allows embedded video which is what I will discuss next.
SHORT EMBEDDED VIDEOS USING ONE TRUE MEDIA
The one I have tried to date is One True Media. A teacher from the USA visited us and the class spontaneously broke into song so I captured it on my camera and put it into OneTrueMedia
We linked with Miss Ale in Argentina for a collaborative-writing project and she made this video using OneTrueMedia:
Another teacher I linked with in Canada, Mr Millward, did his class graduation using OneTrueMedia. As you can see the programme is very creative.
http://millwardb.edublogs.org/2010/06/23/graduation/
SHORT VIDEOS USING ANIMOTO
With Animoto you are only allowed short videos of 30 seconds free but there is an Animoto Educators account which I have applied for and received. This entitles me to myself and 50 of my students having the Plus account in which we can upload full length videos (maximum 200MB).
Last year one of the Grade 5 classes participated in the ‘Monster project’ and many of the teachers around the world used Animoto to show everyone where they were at. Here is a sample from a Grade 2 class (Miss Hariju) in the USA:
SCHOOL TUBE
I must say that I love School Tube and it is my first choice since it is all about school! I learned about it from another of my PLN friends from America, Bob Greenwood, with whom I was involved in a project. He teaches Grade 2 and he has his own channel on School Tube. He makes so many videos. Take a look:
http://www1.schooltube.com/Organization/OrganizationHome.aspx?oid=129695
So that is what I have done. I have applied recently to become a moderator on School Tube and I have my own school channel. I plan to upload everything there. It gives me an embedding code and I put the code in my blogs and in my wikis. Our latest Adobe Youth Voices project has been uploaded there only today after the group inserted royalty free music clips to give the movie more feeling.
http://got.im/0JTE
I am running two 'creative writing and video-making' computer clubs at school, so I think I will be using this site a lot.
YOU TUBE
I also like using YouTube and I have a channel there as well for all my school videos. Once you have posted a video it gives you a code which you can embed into any blog or wiki. This makes it very easy. Often with school videos I make them private so that they can only be seen by whoever has the YouTube address link. We are on a video swap project with Denmark (Grade 6) and we use YouTube for this. I sometimes think that parents will be happier with the use of School Tube because it is mainly for teachers.
FOR THE FUTURE
I would like to try out video sites recommended in blogposts:
a) Vimeo
b) Explore more with Animoto http://edupln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/animoto-in-the-classroom
c) Other recommended sites (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/03/30/not-the-best-but-a-list-of-online-video-editors/)
My BIG question at the moment is - how do you compress large .avi files of say 1.8GB in order to upload them easily? (Later...okay, I have just found the answer to this. You put the whole .avi file into Windows Movie Maker and it reduces it amazingly with little loss of quality. It really works...yay!)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Fun using Storybird
This morning I tried out Storybird on one of my Grade 7 classes. All these lovely, free, creative writing applications available on the web are really fascinating, and fantastic! In Storybird, the starting point is art, and you get your inspiration from choosing an interesting piece of art created by an artist. Once you have chosen your piece of art and you start your storybird, you are presented with another myriad of pictures (perhaps as many as 100) that match the original choice in one way or another. I think it is a very clever idea. The class found this very engaging and became quite absorbed in the task. What I love is when they ask if they can carry on at home! Only five completely finished their storybirds in the hour, and I allowed them to publish them without any further editing from me! Risky! Nevertheless here they are:
Chemar7 (her online name)
No Ordinary Day by chemar7 on Storybird
Ellvis7
All of my crazy, weird ,stupid, at times annoying , loud and caring friends by ellvis7 on Storybird
Bontun7
RUPHERS THE MOON RABBIT by bontun7 on Storybird
Ethwes7
The new kid by ethwes7 on Storybird
Zoemor7
The Mermaids Treasu by zoemor7 on Storybird
Tylviv7
THE EVILPEOPLE by tylviv7 on Storybird
Chemar7 (her online name)
No Ordinary Day by chemar7 on Storybird
Ellvis7
All of my crazy, weird ,stupid, at times annoying , loud and caring friends by ellvis7 on Storybird
Bontun7
RUPHERS THE MOON RABBIT by bontun7 on Storybird
Ethwes7
The new kid by ethwes7 on Storybird
Zoemor7
The Mermaids Treasu by zoemor7 on Storybird
Tylviv7
THE EVILPEOPLE by tylviv7 on Storybird
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
We loved using 'Little Bird Tales' today
I heard about Little Bird Tales from my PLN (Personal Learning network) and because everyone has been raving about it, I decided to try it out with the Grade 3s today. It was wonderful! I gave them the topic of 'My holiday news' and they first created five pictures about their holiday in Storybook Weaver and saved them as jpegs. Then we went to Little Bird Tales and added the pictures one by one with a sentence or two about each picture. The class loved the experience. WE didn't get as far as narration - that is for another time!
Please click on the actual pictures of the story below.
Zain
Anasacia
Charl
Please click on the actual pictures of the story below.
Zain
Anasacia
Charl
Friday, May 6, 2011
A judge in the Partners in Learning (Africa) competition
Recently I was invited to be a judge in the Microsoft Partners in Learning Competition for Africa. I regarded it as a huge privilege and I learned so much from all the amazing entries which came from all parts of Africa. Those entering had to submit a lesson or project using one or more of the following programmes:
Songsmith
Autocollage
Windows Movie Maker
World-wide telescope
Photosynth
Photostory 3
These are all free programmes from Microsoft. Naturally I had to delve into all the programmes to see their potential, and wow, they are all fantastic.
The entries were really good and the final winner was a team of two High School teachers from Durban Girls College in Kwazulu-Natal, an English teacher and a History teacher. They combined two learning areas and set a project on Apartheid Laws. The girls had to present their projects as a video using Windows Movie Maker. The sample was amazing. As a result of this entry, the two teachers won a trip to the Pan African Microsoft Innovative Teacher Finals which will take place in one of the African countries later this year.
Songsmith
Autocollage
Windows Movie Maker
World-wide telescope
Photosynth
Photostory 3
These are all free programmes from Microsoft. Naturally I had to delve into all the programmes to see their potential, and wow, they are all fantastic.
The entries were really good and the final winner was a team of two High School teachers from Durban Girls College in Kwazulu-Natal, an English teacher and a History teacher. They combined two learning areas and set a project on Apartheid Laws. The girls had to present their projects as a video using Windows Movie Maker. The sample was amazing. As a result of this entry, the two teachers won a trip to the Pan African Microsoft Innovative Teacher Finals which will take place in one of the African countries later this year.
Talking pets
I love it when I do something in computer lessons and the students absolutely love it. This happened today! We went to Talkingpets.org and the students selected a pet of their choice, added accessories and backgrounds, and created a message for the pet to verbalise. They chose a voice to express the message. The programme did the rest of the animations. I did this lesson as a prelude for a more complicated mammal project. In the mammal project the students will research a mammal of their choice, and create a page of information about the mammal. They will then use use Blabberise.com to make their mammal talk (with the students' own voices) and tell us about itself. The students will create their own animations in the programme.
Here are a few samples from the Talking Pets lesson today.
Camilla
Tamlin
Amber
Taigan
Monday, May 2, 2011
Our Paying it Forward project 2011
The Grade 5Bs and I have been involved in a project called PAYING IT FORWARD (2011). The project is recorded on a Wiki called 'Paying It Forward' created by Mrs Beal. (http://paying-it-forward-project.wikispaces.com/) On this wiki you will notice that five other schools have joined us in this project, and they will be uploading their information soon.
The class that is busy with this Paying It Forward project is a Grade 5 class at Fish Hoek Primary School. Here is a picture of the class with their teacher in their classroom. The teacher responsible for the project is the computer teacher, Fiona Beal, who worked with the class teacher Mrs Gail Beagley in setting up the project.
Description of the project
There are a number of organisations in our little town of Fish Hoek that really strive to serve the community needs without wanting anything in return. We often read about what they do in the newspapers or we hear of them through people who have been helped by them. We decided that we would have a tea in our classrooms and invite representatives from the various communities that we are interested in to come and tell us all about what they do. We would listen carefully and then break into groups and think of ways to help the different communities. Each group would then work on what they have decided to do for the organisation.
Our Community Tea
Here is a photo of the different people that came to our 'Community Tea' as we called it.
*Starting on the left we have Mrs Lovick who represents Living Hope's work amongst schools where they teach the children the right way to live.
*Next to her is Lauren Denne who represents Living Hope's work with children teaching them arts and crafts at children's clubs.
*Mr Holgate is from a loal church where they are holding a fund-raising concert to raise money for the Sunflower Fund which is one of the groups represented here
* Next we have Emily who represents TEARS (the Emma Animal Rescue Society).
*Next to her is Kirsten from the Sunflower Fund which has a bone marrow registry for cancer sufferers.
*The last person sitting on the chairs is Mrs Snowball who represents Baby Safe, an organisation that helps young unmarried moms who are not sure how to look after their babies.
Maps showing where the communities represented are situated.
In our next computer lesson we found where these communities are situated using Google Earth and Google Maps. We used a programme called Zap Grab to copy and paste these into Word documents so that we could attach them to our wiki.
Here is an example.
Group interviews
After our community tea we broke into groups, and each group interviewed a different person to find out what the difficulties are that the organisations face. It was very interesting to hear of all the good things that are happening in our little town right before our eyes. There are so many people who care about others!
The class that is busy with this Paying It Forward project is a Grade 5 class at Fish Hoek Primary School. Here is a picture of the class with their teacher in their classroom. The teacher responsible for the project is the computer teacher, Fiona Beal, who worked with the class teacher Mrs Gail Beagley in setting up the project.
Description of the project
There are a number of organisations in our little town of Fish Hoek that really strive to serve the community needs without wanting anything in return. We often read about what they do in the newspapers or we hear of them through people who have been helped by them. We decided that we would have a tea in our classrooms and invite representatives from the various communities that we are interested in to come and tell us all about what they do. We would listen carefully and then break into groups and think of ways to help the different communities. Each group would then work on what they have decided to do for the organisation.
Our Community Tea
Here is a photo of the different people that came to our 'Community Tea' as we called it.
*Starting on the left we have Mrs Lovick who represents Living Hope's work amongst schools where they teach the children the right way to live.
*Next to her is Lauren Denne who represents Living Hope's work with children teaching them arts and crafts at children's clubs.
*Mr Holgate is from a loal church where they are holding a fund-raising concert to raise money for the Sunflower Fund which is one of the groups represented here
* Next we have Emily who represents TEARS (the Emma Animal Rescue Society).
*Next to her is Kirsten from the Sunflower Fund which has a bone marrow registry for cancer sufferers.
*The last person sitting on the chairs is Mrs Snowball who represents Baby Safe, an organisation that helps young unmarried moms who are not sure how to look after their babies.
Maps showing where the communities represented are situated.
In our next computer lesson we found where these communities are situated using Google Earth and Google Maps. We used a programme called Zap Grab to copy and paste these into Word documents so that we could attach them to our wiki.
Here is an example.
Group interviews
After our community tea we broke into groups, and each group interviewed a different person to find out what the difficulties are that the organisations face. It was very interesting to hear of all the good things that are happening in our little town right before our eyes. There are so many people who care about others!
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