7 Essential Multimedia Tools and their Free Alternatives

I, often times, have parents ask me about software and software purchases. This article is very helpful and, although I haven't used all of these tools, those I have used are excellent. I might add that for word processing, in addition to Google Docs, Open Office offers word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software for free, as well, and is the software we use, here in district 66.

10 Web Tech Innovations That Have Improved Our Lives

This is an excellent article listing the 10 web innovations, what they are, and how they have affected our lives. ...really interesting article that is bound to contain at least some information you didn't know, if not a lot of information you didn't know.

~Learning is a lifelong commitment!!

Decorate Your Own Gingerbread Man!!

The New Tri

The new tri is off and running. So far, we've spent some time getting back in the swing of proper keyboarding, and we've created some, very cool, Wordles. (If you're wondering what a Wordle is, click here to take a look at the sample I did using President Obama's speech to students.) Next week, we begin to work on our trimester-long project. We're gonna be gearing up for some travelin' soon!!

Stand Up for Kids

This is a GREAT way to show thanks at this time of Thanksgiving. Remember the drive ends this Tuesday. Take some time this weekend and see if you might have something to donate, or while you're at the store, pick up a pair of gloves, or a hat, or a tasty snack. The kids you're helping will be, forever, grateful!

Freeplay Music (freeplaymusic.com)

Here is the site I was telling you guys about. In the advanced search, you can search by style (like hard rock, hip-hop, techno, etc.), by Feeling (driving, intense, sad, mystical, etc.), by tempo (slow, medium, fast, etc.) and by instrument. Download options include .mp3's of the whole song, as well, as 60 sec. and 30 sec. clips.
...perfect stuff for creating great videos that can be uploaded to YouTube and other video hosting sites. This keeps you from having to worry about having your videos disabled (or your entire channel disabled as Danny O. told us about) by using copyrighted music.
Create those videos!! Remember: a great holiday present for your mom, dad, grandparents, etc. is a family video created by you, with LOVE!! It could be the best present you've ever given!

Our Myth Movies are Moving Along Quickly

Mrs. Maass had the kids well-prepared for this, very cool, project. We are in the process of using Windows Movie Maker to turn the Greek myths, written in Social Studies, into movies! Perhaps we have some future video producers and directors in our midst. The process involved a rough draft, a typed final version, and, then, completing the equivalent of a screen-play where the kids pulled out the main ideas and prepped for the types of pictures they thought would represent each main idea. By the time we were ready to begin creating the movie the kids were "ready to rock"! It's been a fun, creative, entertaining, and educational process. Next week they'll be adding the finishing touches, included selecting and adding the music to the final video.

In Honor of Our Veterans

Our Impress Presentations

We just finished learning about creating Impress slide shows with our very own "How to" presentations. The kids did an awesome job! They searched the web for the pictures they needed, used transitions and animations, and found .gif animations to make their presentations come alive! It's so much fun to be able to create with movement. Hopefully, they will utilize these skills for other classes as teachers give them various assignment options throughout their years at Lakeview. It sure is more fun to create a slide show than a plain old paper report!!

Gif links

http://www.free-clipart-pictures.net/

http://coolclips.com/

http://bestanimations.com/

http://www.gifanimations.com/

Check out this cool video!

Trying out a QR code generator

Do you know what the trick is to reading this?
Hint: Search for QR code to find out what it is and how to read it.
Hint #2: You need to use something that comes as a part of a gadget many of you use every day.

Pumpkin Carving Time

(from www.newgrounds.com)

Personal Marketing Brochure

We have been, diligently, working on our brochures for the past couple of weeks. The brochures highlight a job that each student is willing/able to do and includes research on the topic, as well as recommended websites, a custom-created logo and a short "All About Me" section. As this project comes to a close, we are able to look back at all we have learned. Probably, the most important lessons were related to the use of the Internet Search Engine, www.Altavista.com. We learned how to do a "Smart Search" and how to use quotes and the minus sign to make our searches more productive. We, also, learned that when we need to copy and paste information from the internet, sometimes the result includes extra formatting that causes a problem. To solve that problem, we go to the edit menu, and use "paste special" and "unformatted text". We, also, learned that when we copy and paste special from the internet, we MUST site our source so we do not plagiarize. All of these skills are life-long learning that will be useful down the road, as well as for this project!

My New Fave Free App.

I, always, have a messy desktop, so this app. is PERFECT for me. Maybe it would be helpful to you, as well. Fences, can be found here! Check out the little demo video on the site. SUPER simple to use! Yes, it's FREE!

Wordle! - This is Wordle

Our student Wordles were awesome. You can see them posted outside the computer classroom!

What a Week!!

What a busy week it was! We reviewed our learning regarding the hard drive and the RAM, got into our new project (a personal marketing brochure) and learned a bunch of new tips and tricks related to Internet Searching. Ask your child to tell you one tip they learned this week. But... be careful, once you ask them to give you one tip, they might give you quite a few more. We finished the week with a rousing game of Jeopardy, and, boy were they "ON"! All of my classes got almost all of the questions correct!! ...nice to know they are really paying attention. In one class, some excellent thinking on the final wager, earned one team a 1 point win!!
Nice job, guys! Hope you had fun with the game. I know I did! Have a great weekend and enjoy the extra day off!!!