Word Art Collage

I went to the TRC Celebration last week and learned pictures can be used to fill letters in word art.  My brain has rolled that information around and around trying to think of a way to use that in the classroom.  One of our vocabulary words this week was collage.  We took all the pictures of the school year and created a collage.  Students created their own using pictures they were in and I let them use the jpeg files they created of their work for previous projects.  They made the collage in Publisher.  We could have used PowerPoint and the next time I'll probably just use PowerPoint.  We saved the collage as a jpeg file.  We pulled the newly created jpeg file into PowerPoint (there's probably a faster way to do this but this is the way I did it this time).  We cropped the write off of the edges and made a nice square/rectangle of the pictures.  We stretched it to fit the screen and saved it as a jpeg.  Then in a new PowerPoint file each student typed his/her name using WordArt.   (This next part I'm not as sure of as I need to do it one more time to refresh my memory - so if it doesn't work, check back as I'll update this when I get a chance.)  I think we right clicked on the word art and went to format text.  After clicking fill we clicked photo and uploaded the photo.  It's pretty cool.  We saved it as a jpeg.  In a new PowerPoint we pulled in the WordArt collage picture.  We stretched it, saved it and printed it.  I usually don't let the kids print in color for obvious reasons, but I let them print their name collage in color.  What a souvenir they have of their school year.   Someday I'll do this again...when I have a minute to think as I think we had a lot of steps we didn't need.

This can be used with vocabulary, too.  Choose pictures to illustrate a word to make a collage and then pull that collage into the word using word art.

Using Glogster

I've wanted to try this all year.  We finally are getting a chance to do it.  I let the kids go out and create the background of their glog.  We played with some of the features....just enough to get them really into it, and then I had them get out of the program. There was lots of grumbling going on.  Now that they knew what they could do, I had them draw a "map" of their glog.   The topic was butterflies.  They know a lot about butterflies, we have lots of pictures and some videos.  They told me the glog is better than writing a paper because it's on the computer and the computer is fun.  (They wrote their paper on the computer...guess that doesn't count!)

Butterfly Final Projects

The students have completed their research and are compiling all their notes into a paper.  Students typed notes into Publisher as they read and researched.   The notes were written as a list of information.  Students printed the notes, cut them apart and sorted them into categories.  Then they glued them to notebook paper.  Each category was glued to a page.  Students know that each page will be a paragraph in their report.  In addition to the information the students have compiled, they will include a quote or two about butterflies from a classmate. 

They are excited to use the pictures we've taken as we watched the life cycle take place in our classroom.  We feel fortunate to have captured a butterfly emerging using a flip video camera.  We have some still pictures of butterflies emerging, too.   Not only will the students be able to enhance their reports with actual pictures from our experiences but they will also have diagrams they have drawn and scanned.  They have to have two labeled diagrams for their reports.  One diagram has to show the body parts of a butterfly and the other must show the life cycle.

I can't wait to see their final products!  Once the paper report is done, we'll start on glogs and add some of the video.

Butterfly Research

Since we have butterfly larva and are getting to witness the life cycle of a painted lady butterfly firsthand, we are researching butterflies.  We've already read one short book, currently reading Butterfly Battle, a Magic School Bus book, and have read a couple of web sites.  The students will compile all their notes into a paper complete with bibliography.  They will also create a glog about butterflies.  We were lucky enough to catch some larva turning into chrysalis today with the time elapse camera set at 30 seconds.  We have some fabulous pictures to use.  The bibliography is being compiled as we research and the bibliography is easy thanks to www.easybib.com.

Time Elapse Photos Update

It worked!  I have 770 pictures from the weekend.  We caught on "film" 4 larva turning into a chrysalis.   I set the camera to take pictures every minute over night tonight.  I hope I don't run out of space on the hard drive before the group being filmed tonight transform into chrysalis.

Jump Drives

We are lucky enough to recently obtain a jump drive for each student.  I can't wait to get their files off of the public folders and on the drives.  I taught the students how to find the jump drive and save to it today.  How much simpler life will be with the jump drives. 

Time Elapse Photos

Trying something new over the weekend.  We have butterfly larvae in our classroom.  They are getting close to creating their chrysalis.  We put a light on six containers and we are using our document camera to take a picture every five minutes over the weekend. I have a new external hard drive saving the pictures.   We'll see if we "catch" anything.