Art – Page 10 – iLearn Technology

Nota

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3496 views

What it is: Nota is an incredible online collaboration tool that allows students and teachers to collaborate almost instantaneously on a shared whiteboard space. Instantly create and share any kind of document, presentations, notebooks, report, artwork, etc.. Nota makes any type of document and media work together seamlessly. The Nota interface is extremelly intuitive, it is quick to learn and use. Materials can be shared and edited simultaneously making it a truly incredible collaborative experience. Materials can be uploaded or added from sites like Flickr, YouTube, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and more. The Nota drawing tools work with any media or document in Nota. Public or private notebooks can be created. Collaborate with one or a hundred people on Nota and create as many pages as you want. Finished work can be stored, printed, or embeded. Best of all Nota is totally free!

How to integrate Nota into the classroom: Nota is the ultimate in online collaboration. It reminds me a little bit of a glog but Nota goes way beyond Glogster in so many ways. Nota can be used to complete group projects between students. The instant collaborative abilities mean that students can see each group members contribution instantaneously. Imagine using Nota to work on difficult math problems, create science diagrams, compare and contrast historical figures, create a character sketch of a character from a classroom novel, etc.. The possibilities are endless for collaborative learning. Work on a common notebook for whole class projects where each student is responsible for a contribution to the Nota. Make interactive whiteboards a truly interactive experience by combining with Nota. Throughout teaching, have students add their new learning to a common Nota notebook. At the end of teaching, use the interactive whiteboard to view the Nota and add any additional information and resources to it. Print out or send the Nota to students as a study guide that they helped create. Nota creates an impressive mashup of media and documents and allows users to collaborate and combine knowledge. When students work together to construct knowledge, they end up with a greater, more complete understanding of material.

Tips: Nota works with any web browser making it ideal for the classroom setting where students may not have the same computing platforms or Internet browsers at home.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Nota in your classroom.

Virtual Spirograph

June 29, 2009June 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3300 views

What it is: Remember Spirographs? I had a set that could keep me busy for hours. As I was searching back through websites to align with curriculum, I found the virtual Spirograph on Math Playground. Virtual Spirograph lets your students determine colors, pen positions, and the radius of the circles. Students can then draw the Spirograph adding layers. One of the best features of this fun site is the “where’s the math” button that shows a break down of the math involved in the spirograph activity.

How to integrate Virtual Spirograph into the classroom: Virtual Spirograph is a great way to teach practical (and fun) math. Students will learn about epicycloids and what happens when they adjust radius and reflector placements. Virtual Spirograph will help students visualize difficult math concepts and create fun artwork in the process. This is a great site to introduce with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can take turns adjusting the pen position and radii. Encourage other students in the class to predict what the epicycloids will look like based on the radii chosen and the pen position. Then click draw and discuss what actually happened. Virtual Spirograph can be set up as a math center for students to visit in the one or two computer classroom. Students can visit the center in small groups and take turns predicting the outcome as a partner adjusts the pen position and radii.

Tips: The Virtual Spirograph relies on a flash player, make sure you have one before using this site with students.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Virtual Spirograph in your classroom.

Creaza

June 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4419 views

What it is: Creaza is a suite of web-based creativity tools. There are four tools in the Creaza toolbox that will help your students organize knowledge and tell stories in new creative ways. Mindomo is the mind mapping tool. Students can use this tool to organize thoughts, ideas, links, and other information visually. Mindomo is the perfect tool for exploring new material, looking at connections, and organizing thoughts for further development. The mind map topics can contain media files, links, and text. Cartoonist is a cartooning tool that students can use to create multimedia stories. Cartoonist can be used to create comic strips or more personal digital narratives. The finished product can be viewed online or printed out. (Check out the video demo to learn how to use this tool.) Movie Editor helps students produce their own movies based on Creaza’s thematic universes, video, images, and sound clips. Students can use the Movie Editor to edit a short film, create a news cast, a commercial, a film trailer, etc. Movie Editor can import film clips, sound clips and images to tell a story. Audio Editor is the final tool in Creaza’s creative suite. Audio Editor is a tool that allows your students to produce audio clips. Students can use Audio Editor to splice together their own newscasts, radio commercials, radio interlude, etc.

How to integrate Creaza into the classroom: Creaza is a great suite of online tools that allow students to display learning creatively. The Media and Audio editors follow established conventions for sound and media editing complete with timelines. Using this online software will be a nice introduction to more robust media and audio editors. Mindomo is a great way for students connect new and existing knowledge. It is also a nice place for students to plan out a story. Cartoonist and Movie Editor are great tools that provide students with a creative outlet for telling a story. Allow students to show their understanding of a period in history by creating a cartoon about it. Display a new science concept in Movie Editor complete with voice over. Students could create a short video or radio type commercial for a book that they read in place of a traditional book report. The uses for are limitless, you will think of many ways for your students to use this creative suite to display knowledge.

Tips: Cartoonist is the only tool that has a video demo, this is a great way to teach your students how to teach themselves. Encourage students to learn how to use this tool by watching the video demo first and working with the tool. Movie Editor does take a little bit of playing with to figure out how to use it, give your students a day to play with the tools so that they get a handle on how it all works.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Creaza in your classroom.

Artopia

May 10, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments3387 views

What it is: Artopia is an interactive website that lets students learn more about and interact with different mediums of art virtually. “Students can closely examine important works of art and take part in activities that teach about styles, principles and processes of each art form. They can write about the artworks online, collect art cards in a virtual portfolio and view videos of professional artists at work. Teachers may exhibit their students’ artwork in a virtual gallery and both students and teachers can communicate with other artists in an online message board.” Artopia teaches students about dance, media arts, music, painting, sculpture, and theater. This is an outstanding addition to an art classroom!

How to integrate Artopia into the classroom: Artopia is a nice addition to any classroom. The site can be used to develop a greater appreciation for the arts. Students can be recognized and encouraged in their own art in the sites online art gallery. Artopia introduces students to important works of art and teaches them how to think about art. This site would be wonderful for working on critical thinking skills, creativity, and innovation.

Tips: Check out the Teacher Resources for lesson plans using Artopia in your classroom. Pass this site on to an art teacher, they will be thankful you did!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Artopia in your classroom.

The Children’s University of Manchester

April 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1975 views

What it is: The Children’s University of Manchester is a site created by the University of Manchester that has some excellent mini-lessons and interactive lessons for students on a variety of science, history, literacy, and art topics. Topics include the body and medicines, energy and the environment, ancient Egypt, the earth and beyond, teeth and eating, micro organisms, the brain and senses, talking textiles, and words. Each lesson is like an interactive text book where students are engaged in and discover learning. Each lesson includes an interactive lesson, downloadable resources, educational games, and videos. The level of interaction is outstanding for helping students to learn about each topic.

How to integrate The Children’s University of Manchester into the classroom: The interactive lessons on this site are perfect for instructing whole class using an interactive whiteboard. During the interactive lesson, students can be called on to interact with the material. Most lessons will have enough opportunities to involve the whole class. The site is also ideal for individual instruction in the computer lab setting. Introduce students to a new topic with these mini lessons, videos, and educational games that can be expanded on as part of a larger unit. These mini-lessons begin with a bio of a scientist, historian, etc. in the field of the topic. Read these bio’s together as a class and discuss these real-world applications to the topic being studied.

Tips: Computers will need Flash installed to display The Children’s University of Manchester lessons, games, and interactive activities.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Children’s University of Manchester in your classroom.

DoInk

April 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4813 views

What it is: DoInk is an outstanding free illustration and animation creator. The site has tools that are similar in feel and function to Adobe’s flash. DoInk creates custom animations right inside your Internet browser. There is an explore section where you and your students can get some inspiration for animations. DoInk provides tutorials for illustrating and animating making it easy to get started.

How to integrate DoInk into the classroom: Adobe products not in the budget? DoInk is a fantastic alternative to Flash. DoInk would be a great way to familiarize students with the basics of animation that will lead nicely into using more robust programs like Flash. Allow students to create mini animations to demonstrate science concepts (think life cycles, rock cycles, water cycle, etc.). Students can also create short animations to display an understanding of verbs. Since verbs are action words, an animation is a great way to show the action.

Tips: DoInk requires registration with a username and password. For elementary students, I find it helpful to create one class account where students can create. This keeps you from having to keep track of a class full of login information. It also makes it simple to keep track of student work.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using DoInk in your classroom.

Spell with Flickr

April 3, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments2618 views

What it is: Spell with Flickr is a site that has been around for a while but I was reminded of it again this week when I used it with my students for a project. Type any word or name into the Spell with Flickr website and the site will pull letter pictures from Flickr to spell out the word in pictures. You can click on each letter to get a new picture and when you are satisfied with your picture word, you can drag and drop the word onto a desktop to use later or you can copy code to embed on a website, blog, or wiki.

How to integrate Spell with Flickr into the classroom: Spell with Flickr is a simple but neat website to use in the classroom. Students can use Spell with Flickr to type in and practice their spelling words, to create titles for reports, to spell out their name for an auto biography poem, and to practice letter recognition. Teachers can use Spell with Flickr as a fun way to create titles for bulletin boards, classroom signs, to make a unique word wall, or to make an alphabet banner. Spell with Flickr can also be used on wikis and blogs making it perfect for fun titles. Create an alphabet book, phonics blends book, or sight word book out of Spell with Flickr pictures.

Tips: If you aren’t happy with the pictures that were chosen for your letters, click on the picture for a new one.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Spell with Flickr in your classroom.

Ideas to Inspire

March 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2647 views

What it is: Ideas to Inspire is a truly wonderful site and wealth of resources for teachers. On this site you will find a collection of Google Doc presentations that include a number of ideas for engaging lesson activities in a variety of curriculum areas. The collection comes from inspiring teachers from around the world. You can find Ideas to Inspire on Writing, Interactive Math, Incredible Science, Amazing Art, Marvelous Music, and learn interesting ways to use Google Docs, Pocket Video Cameras, Interactive Whiteboards, Google Earth, Twitter, Netbooks, Webcams, and Visualizers. Ideas to Inspire also has great tips for non-techy teachers (I remember being one of those once-upon-a-time). Ideas to Inspire is very easy to navigate and each presentation is jam packed with truly inspiring ideas.

How to integrate Ideas to Inspire into the classroom: It happens to the best of us, we get settled in our ways and fall into a teaching slump where we can’t come up with a creative lesson idea to save our lives. Sound familiar? Ideas to Inspire is the place to go, here you will find inspiration, helpful tips, and get those creative juices flowing again! Take a few minutes and look through some of the presentations, you will be happy you did. 🙂

Tips: This is my last post for the day, head over to Ideas to Inspire and be inspired today!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Ideas to Inspire in your classroom.

Toy Theater

March 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3390 views

What it is: Toy Theater is a fun place for students to practice math, reading, art, and music through puzzle type games. Toy Theater encourages students in k-4 to get their problem solving brain cells working as they explore and discover the games in Toy Theater. In the art section, students can animate their own cartoon character, put on a puppet show, or make a Matisse. In the music section, students can make music with the Composer, interact with notes with The Music Maker, or go on a pounding mission with the Drum Beats, you will have miniature maestros in no time. In Math students can practice math facts with flippy flashcards, or feeding Freddy, and take a math practice test to put those math skills to the test. In the reading section students can enjoy a good joke, play with words with a sliding crossword puzzle (highly entertaining for teachers too), write their own road sign, or practice their typing skills. In the puzzle section students brains gt put to the limit with tic tac toe and memory games. In the playset section, students can create their very own virtual diorama about cars, sea creatures, plant, insects, ships, characters, aircraft, blocks, dinosaurs, and buildings.

How to integrate Toy Theater into the classroom: Toy Theater is a great website to use as a learning center in your classroom. The short, easy to play games are perfect for short center activities. I love the puzzle type environment that encourages problem solving and bends the brain a little. The playset universe would be a great section to use with an interactive whiteboard, students could take turns creating a ‘universe’ to showcase learning on a topic such as ocean, plants, insects, dinosaurs, geometry, etc. Students can work together to show what they know together. After students create a playset, have them pull out a writing journal and journal about the playset the class created. Being a computer teacher I am constantly looking for fun ways to let students practice typing skills. In the read section you will find a game called letter fall, letter blocks fall from the sky, students have to type the letter before 5 blocks can stack up. There are multiple speeds to make the game a challenge for your different typing levels. In the computer lab setting, see who can last the longest before 5 letter blocks stack up (there is a timer at the bottom of the screen).

Tips: This is a great site to send your students to when they finish work early and are asking “what can I do now?”

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Toy Theater in your classroom.

Tikatok

March 12, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments5281 views

What it is: Tikatok is a great website to excite your students about writing. With Tikatok each of your students can become a published author, create, share, and gain an authentic audience for their writing and illustrations, and receive writing support through the StorySparks system. StorySparks are a framework that gives students prompts at the bottom of their screen as they are writing their story. They are tips such as “the beginning of the story is where we define a setting, where does your story take place?” StorySparks come in different levels depending on your student ability. Using Tikatok, students can build literacy skills such as: writing, story structure, reading, comprehension, imagination, creativity, character development, story development, critical thinking, organization, drafting, and technology skills (typing, uploading pictures, saving, collaboration, and communication). Students have options when creating a story, they can choose a topic and idea to start a story or they can start from scratch with a blank story. The first option allows students to get help with the hardest part of story creation, thinking of an idea and beginning a story. Students fill in blanks about their story and get a basic story that they can embellish and add to. In the second option, students create a story from scratch. Teachers can register classes and keep track of the stories their students are creating. Teachers can also send students messages and comment on stories. There is also an option for students to work collaboratively on a story. Students can adjust their stories template, colors, text, and images. When students are finished, their story can be viewed online, printed out from a PDF file, or published and purchased for $15-20.

How to integrate Tikatok into the classroom: Tikatok is an excellent tool to bring into your writing classroom. It can be used as a publishing center for finished pieces of writing, as a collaborative writing project, or as a place to keep all written work. The ability for students to use story starters is outstanding for those kiddos who are forever saying “I don’t know what to write about”. They absolutely won’t be able to use that excuse here! Even if you don’t have the ability for all of your students to write stories on Tikatok because of limited computer access, use the story idea starters using a projector as students write in journals. I love the ability for teachers to keep track of all student writing in one place. Since Tikatok is online, students can work on their stories from any Internet connected computer making it especially useful for those students who are slow or those students who like to write novels. 🙂 When students are finished writing stories, have a reading day where students can read other student stories and leave comments and feedback. Only have access to one or two classroom computers? Have the whole class take part in a collaborative story. I love Tikatok for several reasons but the ability to view ‘published’ work online in book form is handy for the environment (it is green), for families who want to see their childs work, and the sense of authentic audience that it brings students. Student work is always higher quality when they know their audience base is larger than the teacher! I also love that the stories can be saved as PDF files and printed for classroom libraries or the school library. The ability to purchase bound books is motivating for many students and parents love to have their kids work officially published. In my classroom I will leave the stories online and send home a flier to parents about how to purchase a bound book if they would like to. So neat!

Tips: Tikatok has the ability to upload student illustrations, if you don’t have a scanner at your school, students artwork can be sent to Tikatok and will be uploaded within 24 hours. I like the idea of using a computer based drawing tool like Skitch for illustrations. Sign up for a teacher account today, it is so simple to get started!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Tikatok in your classroom.