5x7 Folded Card

Initial Wreath Christmas Card

Design photo Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Final Project

Using the Flip Camera, you will create a short video of some highlights of the year. This will be a positive video, but you can be creative. Decide what you want to include in your video. Write a script. What will you say? Will you include anyone else in the video (friends, teachers, etc.)? Make a storyboard. A storyboard is your plan - where will you film, how many scenes will you have, what props do you need, etc. Please remember that this video needs to be short so plan carefully. I need to approve your script and your storyboard before you film. You must practice and be prepared before you film.

Get some headphones and watch this informational tutorial on the Flip Camera. http://www.indiana.edu/~ittrain/tutorials/flipcamera/FlipCamapr8-2.html.

Check out the information and videos from Windows to learn how to use Windows Media Maker: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/create/polish.mspx

Thing 11

Library Thing

Go to http://www.librarything.com/. Join Library Thing and take the tour. You can add books that you own, books you are interested in, your favorite books, etc. You can see what other people with similar interests are reading and maybe get suggestions. Once you add some books, embed the widget in your blog to show some of the books you are interested in.

Thing 10

Please read the following definitions from dictionary.com:

Copyright: the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.

Intellectual Property: property that results from original creative thought, such as patents, copyright material, and trademarks.

Information Ethics: is the field that investigates the ethical issues arising from the development and application of information technologies.

Now, get some headphones and watch this video:
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11350&title=Disney_Copyright_Law

On your blog, discuss why following copyright law is important. Use Citation Machine http://www.citationmachine.net/ and create a resource list that contains 1 book, 1 website, and 1 image. Use MLA. Add this to your blog.

Thing 9

Online bookmarking sites are extremely useful. Most of us use several different computers - at school, at home, at the public library, at grandma's house. When you use the Internet and find a great website, you can make it a favorite on your computer so that you can find it again. However, when you change computers, you may not be able to find that website again. If you use an online bookmarking site, you can put all your favorite website together in one spot so that you can always find them from any computer.

Delicious http://delicious.com/ is one of the most popular social bookmarking sites. You use tags or labels to identify the different websites that you save so that you can find them easily. You can also search the delicious site to see what other people have saved and tagged. I search "Salem Witch Trials" and it took me here:
http://delicious.com/search?p=salem+witch+trials&chk=&context=main%7C&fr=del_icio_us&lc=

Another social bookmarking site that is set up a little differently is Only 2 Clicks http://www.only2clicks.com/. This one allows you to set up categories and pictures of either the websites or pictures that represent the website or category.

Look at both of these bookmarking sites and decide which style you like best. Set up an account (let me know if you need help). Select at least 3 topics or categories. Find at least 3 websites that for each topic or category. On your blog, share your links from your bookmarking site and tell how you could use a bookmarking site.

Thing 8

Google

We are going to explore some features that Google has to offer.

1. Go to http://docs.google.com/ and set up your account for Google Docs or use the following username: dsmslibrary@gmail.com and password: dsms1234. Explore what is available under "Create New."
2. Go to Google Squared http://www.google.com/squared. Type in a category that you are interested in. Examples: Greek gods; women mathematicians; renaissance scientists; dogs; national parks; video games; children's authors, etc. Explore the square and find 5 facts that are new to you.
3. Go to Google Docs, create new, presentation. Create a short presentation using the 5 facts you learned in # 2. (You can add pictures.) Post a link to your blog.
4. Using a laptop, go to http://www.google.com/. Type in one search term that you learned from your Google Squared research. For instance, if I explore "women mathematicians," I might select Hypatia because I would like to learn more about her. Click "show options" (on the left, before the links). Scroll down to Wonder Wheel under standard view. This turns your search into a graphic organizer. The links are on the right. As you click one of the links on the wheel, another wheel pops open, further refining the topic. Explore the Timeline. Find 5 new facts.
5. Go to Google Docs, create new, document. Write a paragraph using your 5 new facts. Post a link to your blog.

Thing 7

Thing 6

Voice Thread

Go to Voice thread. Browse the application. Click on the ‘help’ tab to get to FAQs and tutorials. Take the tutorials to learn how to make a spectacular voice thread.

Here are the steps to making a Voice Thread:

1. Select your topic.

2. Research your topic and take notes from several different sources. For example, you might get facts from a book, from World Book Online, and from a website.

3. Start a PowerPoint presentation. Label one of your slides "Resources." This is where you will put your citations for the resources that you have used. If you use World Book Online, you can highlight the citation, then copy and paste it to your Resources slide. For the other citations, use http://citationmachine.net/. This is a fill-in-the-blank program that will help you create your citations that you will copy and paste on your Resources slide.

4. Find pictures and images that go with your topic. Save them in your Pictures folder.
Add pictures and titles to PowerPoint slides (you must have a minimum of 5 slides but you can have more).

5. Then you will write a script. Use notebook paper or Word to create your script. Your script will be the information that you will say that will go with each slide. You can keep the information short.

6. When you are finished, let me approve it.

7. You will then create a Voice Thread account or you can use mine. You will download your PowerPoint into Voice Thread.

8. Finally, you will record the information for each slide using the microphone.

9. Embed your Voice Thread on your blog.

Thing 5 continued

1. Create a trading card of your favorite author.

2. Create a cover sheet or title page for a class assignment using an image generator. Include your image, your name, the teacher's name, the date, class period, and the title of the assignment. Post on your blog.

3. Create something of your choosing using an image generator. Post on your blog.

4. Write a paragraph about how you could use image generators at school and in your personal life. Post on your blog.

5. Select your favorite creation from Thing 4 or Thing 5. We will print it out in color and hang it in the library.

6. Test.

Thing 5

Go to http://cooltext.com/ and create a title for Thing 5.

Thing 5 deals with image generators. Image generators allow you to take a picture or photograph, add something to it, and create something original. There are lots and lots of options for image generators. Here are links to some image generators that you can explore and play around with:

Trading Cards: http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php

Scrapebook Generator: http://www.scrapbookgenerator.com/

Comic Strip Generator: http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

Newspaper Clipping Generator: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Sign Generator Maker: http://www.signgeneratormaker.com/

Sign Generator: http://www.signgenerator.org/

Happy Face Generator: http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/

Glitter Text: http://www.glitterizer.com/

1001 Fonts: http://www.freefonts.com

Thing 4

We're still exploring photo sites from Thing 3. Go to http://bighugelabs.com/. This is a fun site associated with Flickr. Now, take a picture that you find interesting and do something with it; you are going to create something original from this picture. Look at all the options available on Big Huge Labs. Then select 2 different pictures from the sites that you explored in Thing 3. Create 2 different things using those pictures.

Post your new creations. Tell where you got your original pictures. Write a couple of sentences telling how you think you can use Big Huge Labs.

Thing 3

Sometimes the right picture or photograph can help you express your thoughts or your opinions. Sometimes they help you illustrate a point in a project that you are doing. We want to use copyright free pictures. We are going to explore some photo sites. Pick a topic. Find pictures of this topic (an animal, a place, an item, something you are studying in school, etc.) using the following websites. Explore. Select your favorite picture. Write a paragraph about this picture. Post. Your title will say "Thing 3." Post your picture and the paragraph, then tell me where you got your picture. Describe your adventures in exploring the different photo sites.

Flickr Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Flickr Commons: http://www.flickr.com/commons/
DK: http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/static/cs/uk/11/clipart/home.html
Public Domain Images: http://www.public-domain-image.com/
Pic Search: http://www.picsearch.com/
Discovery: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/

Thing 2

It's time to post your thoughts and opinions about creating your blog and avatar. Label your new post "Thing 2." Write a paragraph telling us about your experiences with setting up your blog and creating an avatar. What did you enjoy? How were you able to be creative? What did you find difficult or confusing? Remember to write using complete sentences, put capital letters where they belong, and check your spelling. Then check the other blogs and write a comment to at least 2 people (of course, you will be kind and appropriate).

Avatars

An avatar is an icon or virtual representation of yourself that you will use on your blog. It is a make-believe picture of you. When you are dealing with an online community, you may meet people that you will never see in person. An avatar just gives a sense of who you are or at least some aspect of yourself. For instance, if you like to hike, you might choose a mountain or a park for your background. If you play guitar, you might include one as an accessory for your avatar. If you like dogs, you might include one. Or you might find just the right background.

You can choose where you create your avatar. Here are some sites that you might experiment with. Some of the sites will require that you set up an account. Everyone has an email address and passwords that you can choose from.

Voki: http://www.voki.com/ (To save your voki, you may have to type in something for the Voki to say. Later, you can record your own voice saying whatever you would like to say.)

Portrait Maker: http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml

DopplMe: http://www.doppelme.com/

Scholastic Stacks: https://my.scholastic.com/sps_my_account/accmgmt/FlashLogin.jsp?finalSuccessURL=http://kids.scholastic.com/community/my_profile.htm

Thing 1

What is Creativity?