3 Branches of Government

3 Branches of Government 

Life in Texas

Life in Texas! 

***Life in Texas Video!!***

Questions to follow video:

1. If you could pick any state to live in, which one would you pick?

2. What is your favorite part about living in your state?

3. What do you think Texas in most known for?

Chogger

The application Chogger is used to draw your own comics, caption photos, take webcam pictures and add speech bubbles to them and much more! Once you make a chogger you can share it for others to view, read and comment on or you can choose to make it private.  To make a chogger comic you can either draw it free hand or upload pictures into the comic. Drawing a comic free hand is very difficult and definitely requires some artistic ability while uploading pictures is also challenging.

            While I was making my chogger comic, I found there to be many problems. First, you cannot adjust the size of the image until it is added to the comic. This makes the comic making process a lot longer than it needs to be. Second, there were many errors with the chogger website that did not allow me to upload images for my comic. Once I finally completed my comic, and wanted to upload it, chogger once again came back with an error causing my whole comic to be lost. Overall, chogger is a very unreliable application. If this application were to be used in the classroom, it would be appropriate for 5^th grade students, although I would not recommend it. Using this application in any classroom would be frustrating to both the students and the teacher due its high sensitivity and time consumption.

            If a teacher did want to give this application a try, it could be used in various subjects. In math, a teacher could draw out a simple addition or subtraction math problem using picture. Or, in history, a teacher could illustrate a scene from any war. A student could also use this application to illustrate their understanding in any subject. 

Blabberize

The application Blabberize allows any picture to come to life. In order to make a picture talk, there are just a few simple steps. First you have to choose a picture. Next, you have to draw the mouth, the part that you want to move down when the picture is talking. Last, you have to choose what you want to picture to say either through a previous recoding or a new recording. The appropriate age for this application is 3^rd and 4^th grade. This application has very few steps making it easy to use. Although this application is easy to use, getting the mouth to move in the right spot takes patience and is very difficult.

            This application could be beneficial to both students and teachers. Students and teachers could both use this as a fun way to get information across. A lesson plan that 4^th grade teachers could use is make a Blabberize of both Senator Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama to present their opposing views. Presenting them through a blabberize would be easier to comprehend and would obtain the attention of the students longer.

            

Click Me to View a Blabberize!

ZooBurst

The application ZooBurst allows the user to digitally create a 3-D pop-up storybook. ZooBurst allows a boring concrete story to come to life through 3-D pictures and a variety of text. When creating a ZooBurst, there is a list of directions to help guide the user through the story making process. When making a ZooBurst, the user can personalize the book using pictures, text and colors of  his/her choice.  A setting or scene of a ZooBurst is never permanent as you can go back and change things as often as you want. This feature is important for both the use of students and teachers as their ideas are often growing and changing.

            This application would be appropriate for students starting in 6^th grade. Although creating a storybook online may be a simple concept, it is very time consuming and requires patience and writing skills. Making a storybook from ZooBurst could be used in any subject. In math, it could be used to tell a story of a math problem to make it easier to understand. Or, ZooBurst could be used in history to tell a story from the past in a more interesting way.

            Both students and teachers will feel accomplished after creating page by page and finally seeing their story put together. Both students and teachers can use ZooBurst to tell any kind of story or display and information in an exciting way. One downfall of Zoo Books is that the pictures and backgrounds available are out of date. Also, some common pictures and backgrounds do not exist.

            A possible lesson plan that could used by a 6^th grade teacher is after the students read the first Hunger Games novel, they could make create a ZooBurst including what they think will happen next. 

Click Me to View a ZooBook

Voki

Voki is an application that creates speaking avatars. Voki is a tool that can be very useful to teachers as it can motivate students to learn, improve message comprehension and make learning fun! To create a Voki, you first have to either create a customized avator or pick one from a large variety ranging from animals to holiday figures such as a pumpkin. After the avator is chosen or made, a voice is added once again through various methods. A voice can be added by recording, uploading or typing in what you wish your character to say. Once the voki is created, it can be shared or posted to any blog, website or profile.

            The grade level that I think voki would be appropriate for is between 4^th-5^th grade. Creating a voki requires the knowledge of spelling and sentence structure. Also, the user will need to be able to read and follow directions while navigating through the various steps to create a voki.

            The application voki could be beneficial to both teachers and students. Teachers could create a voki to get information across to their students in various subjects. Having an animated character opposed to a teacher teach to students will keep them much more engaged and interested.  A voki character could be used to simply tell students directions or teach a small lesson in addition to instruction given by the teacher. Students could create a voki for a project to present information to their class. When creating a voki, students will feel they have more freedom with the many different options voki provides. A possible lesson that could be taught using voki is the students could read a book such as Hatchet and pick a character to portray trough a voki character. They could then have the voki character describe how they felt throughout the novel.

Click Me to View Voki!

GoAnimate

GoAnimate

GoAmimate is a free program to create animate videos. The videos can be created for school, business or just for fun! Once you create an account on Go Animate, there are a variety of options for creating a video. You can create a video to a specific topic such as the presidential election or a specific theme such as outer space. Or, you can create a video completely on your own.

 I found this program to be very easy to use and navigate through. When making your first video, pop-up windows and arrows guide you through every step. This allows the user to get a feel for the program and all the options that are available. Once the video is created, it is very easy to go back to it any make any changes you may wish. For each video, the creator is able to choose the background, the characters, the characters voice, speech and actions along with many other smaller aspects entailed in each video.

This application would be helpful to both teachers and students. For teachers, it is a helpful and fun way to get information across to students. Presenting it in a fun video will keep the students engaged and interested. The students could also make a video to relay on information to show they understand concepts taught by the teacher. An appropriate age to use this application would be 4^th grade. Although this application is very easy to use, skills such as spelling and computer navigation skills are needed. Using a fun program such as GoAnimate will make the student motivated and excited to work and pay attention in school. This program could be used in all subjects ranging from social studies to math as there is so much variation and personalization available. 

Click Me to View Presidential Campaign Video on GoAnimate!

Wordle

Wordle

Wordle is a program that is used to create patterns and shapes with a list of text of the user’s choice. Once the list of words has been entered, the user is able to pick the font, the layout and the color that will be applied to the list of words. Once the Wordle is created, there are four different options that can be chosen. The first option is “open in window”; this allows the wordle to be viewed in a separate window. From here, you can continue to change the layout, font and color of the wordle. The second option is “print”. The third is “randomize, this will randomize the layout, the font and the color of your wordle as many times as you want. The last option is “save to the public gallery”. This option allows the Wordle to be saved to the website making it viewable by the public. Saving in to the public gallery will also give you a code that can be pasted into a blog or home page to link to the Wordle.

            When I was creating my Wordle, I found the program to be overall easy to use. To create a simple “word cloud” a list of words could be efficiently entered right from the home page. The options to change the layout, color and font of the wordle was then brought up that was also easy to navigate through. One aspect of wordle that I found frustrating is that if you wanted two words to appear on the same line a ~ had to be entered between each word. This took some reading of the FAQ’s to figure out which was time consuming. Also, some of the FAQ’s were key information for creating a wordle that should have been found in some sort of directions or guidelines on the home page.

            Overall, I believe Wordle is a fun program for teachers to display a list words to their students. The appropriate age students to use this program would be middle school because some aspects of it are difficult to use. Although middle school students would be able to navigate through this program, they may be uninterested by it or even find it boring.

Click Me to Check Out Wordle!

Bread and Jam for Frances

Bread and Jam for Frances 

Click this link to purchase the book - http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Jam-Frances-Read-Book/dp/0060838000

Click this link to view and listen to the book - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErwsouRnY8

Questions to follow reading:

1. What did you like and dislike about the book?

2. What is your favorite thing to bring to lunch at school?

3. What are 2 new foods that you are going to try?