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Comapping

What it is: Comapping is a mind mapping/concept mapping online application that offers a unique left to right mind mapping technique. While the application is not free, Comapping does offer a free trial version for schools and very competitive pricing. Students can collaborate on mind maps in real-time. Comapping has a feature that other mind mapping solutions don’t have, a presentation tool. Teachers and students can actually turn their mind map into a presentation quickly and easily in the same web-browser. Comapping also has an auto focus feature which makes it easy to collapse maps and “zoom in” to the portion of the map being worked on. How to integrate Comapping into the classroom: Teachers can use Comapping to structure lessons, units and themes in the classroom. Comapping would be an excellent way to organize the structure of the lessons for each subject and to align standards with those lessons. Students can create character diagrams, comparison charts, story diagrams, vocabulary word diagrams, timelines, effect of events, experiment maps, food pyramids, scientific processes, life cycles, and more. This tool will be valuable for your visual learners! Comapping would also be a useful tool when teaching students how to note-take. Comappings left to right mapping technique makes note taking succinct and easy to refer back to and understand. The collaboration portion of Comapping is useful to students completing projects together as well as for teachers and staff for creating units and lessons together. Tips: I encourage you to select “try Comapping without an account” to learn about how it works. This will take you to an interactive page where you can learn, step by step about how to use Comapping. Really neat! Once you are sold, you can sign up for a free trial account. Comapping for Education PowerPoint

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Picture Book Maker

Posted by admin | Posted in Art, Fun & Games, Interactive book, Language Arts, Primary Elementary, Science, Secondary Elementary, Websites, web tools | Posted on 29-10-2009

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What it is: Picture Book Maker is a fun little online picture book creator (bet you couldn’t have guessed that from the name!).  What makes this picture book creator unique is the great illustration elements that students can use in their story.  The illustrations look hand drawn with crayon and can be adjusted to fit the story.  Each picture has actions, these are multiple poses of the same character.  Even the text looks like it is hand written.  All of the characters for the story are animals (this site comes from London zoos).  There are also several backdrops and props for students to include in their story.  When the book has been completed, it can be saved to the gallery, sent to a friend via email, or printed out.

How to integrate Picture Book Maker into the classroom: Picture Book Maker is a fun way for students to publish stories online.  I love how the stories look like they were created by children. Students can pick animals to write a story about, the penguin could be used as a spin off of Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  After they are finished writing their story, it can be printed out or sent in an email to parents.  Picture Book Maker would be a good platform to create a story as a class using a projector or interactive whiteboard.

Tips: Be sure to visit the gallery of stories to see other student’s creations.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Picture Book Maker in your classroom.

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Comments (3)

Ventego said on 02-11-2009

Hmm… I read blogs on a similar topic, but i never visited your blog. I added it to favorites and i’ll be your constant reader.
Erika said on 04-11-2009

Wow! This is just what I was looking for. I am always looking for new ways to incorporate technology into my Kindergarten classroom. Previously, I have had to scan in the pictures that my students have illustrated to correspond with a class-generated story. This resource provides the opportunity to develop a storyline based on pictures chosen by my class. I can only imagine the amazing dialogue that will result. Thanks for introducing me to this resource!
Tim.I said on 12-11-2009

Every time i come here I am not disappointed, nice blog!

Greetings from Tim. :)

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