Interactive House from E-On

We used this interactive house activity from e-0n with a group of students on a seasonal pilot project.

The Winter Warmers sessions have included activities to help understanding how to cope with the cold weather.

We used this brilliant house to prompt discussions about keeping warm at home and being energy efficient.

Thanks e-On!

http://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Going-Green/Energy-Saving-Advice/Interactive-House/

Talking Avatars

I've been using Voki characters with my students over the last few weeks and it's amazing how many skills they are learning. Each student created their avatar and some recorded their voices using a mic we found while rummaging around in the cupboards. We could only use one pc for creating the sound files so we had to be clever and saved the files then sent to each student by email. What a great extension activity just because we didn't have all the software needed!
All the students managed to embed their avatars in their blogs on the class Ning network.
I'm sure we'll be trying these again for No Smoking Day and World Read Aloud Day (Same day)

Some of our local tutors had a try at a workshop I ran and I'm sure they'll be making them again at home. How can you resist?

http://voki.com

Tagul - Word Clouds

http://tagul.com

Tagul is a web based application that allows you to create word clouds which you can then embed in websites and blogs. After some interesting work in the clouds last week with my students, I'm keen to see what they make of this one.

MakeBeliefsComix

MakeBeliefsComix are simply great fun for all ages. Create comic cartoon strips with all the handy drag and drop tools then print or email to a friend. Some of my students created their comix and then sent them by email to our social network.

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Word Clouds

Word Clouds with www.wordle.net

Using Wordle In The Classroom

 

Be Funky - Photo Effects

BeFunky photo effects can be handy for use in social networks when students are a wee bit camera shy. Most seem to enjoy creating effects to disguise themselves a bit and as their confidence grows, they are keen to try new ideas.

My example-from The Big Cuppa Project, my Scooby cuppa with a charcoal effect from BeFunky.


http://www.befunky.com

Picnik - Easy Photo Editing

Picnik is an easy to use photo editor with lots of effects. As it's a web based application, I found it useful in community education. Still need to check if it's blocked on local authority, public access computers. There's no need for registration so I found it particularly handy with some of my student groups who have restricted access to the Internet.


http://www.picnik.com/

Photo of home made fruit scones edited in Picnik with "boost" effect and polaroid frame.

Photo Story 3

Create slide shows using your digital photos, adding music, captions and effects.
Photo Story 3 is a free download and is easy to learn. Although there are other slide show creating tools around, this one is quick for most people to get to grips with and for teachers that means less prep time!


Download

Here's one I created using paper based drawings which were then scanned to the computer and coloured using MS Paint. I used one of the built in music tracks but you can upload your own Mp3s.

Audacity

Audacity is a free audio editor with multiple uses for learning. I've been using this recently to encourage students to feel more confident about using their voices. For students who speak a wee bit too quietly, we can easily amplify their voices and have been trying the different sound effects we can apply. In our next lesson we'll be using our voice recordings with avatars.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/