Why being the tekkie teacher AND a homeroom teacher doesn't suck....

I have a great class. A fabulous class.

We have worked hard this year on many academic pursuits. Now we are doing projects...tekkie projects. One is (I'm so glad you asked) are Animoto slide show/animations based on quotes from Twelfth Night, a Shakespearean comedy.
The assignment was: 1. pick a quote from the play; 2. select photos (we've collected many of our own digital photos on the public drive so there are no copyright issues); 3. manipulate photos (we've used GIMP); 4. upload photos to Animoto; 5. Post them on our Grade 5/6 blogsite

Check them out. Be entertained. Get cultured. We did.

Podcast Central

...hello....this is patriciaellencone aka "Ms. Cone" reporting live from the computer lab at Hafford Central School.

I've given some creative writing / performing assignments to go with our study of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Many of my students are creating podcasts using Audacity. I have no idea (much) how all of this will turn out, but right now the kids are having a blast (so am I if the truth be told).

I've created a notebook with some podcasting links from where we can download sound effects and music loops.

...We'd like to have any tips that anyone out there can pass on about the use of Audacity. We'll pass any one that we learn.

Keep posted...

ArtsEd meets ELA and Voicethread with Interesting Results

My grade 5 and 6 class had truly wonderful plasticine art projects of their favourite places to be. I thought the project results were too good not to take further, so I asked Jennifer Shumanski, grade one teacher extraordinaire, if she wanted to partner up and help us with an online story project about the grade 5/6 favourite places to be.

First, I took pictures of all the art projects. Next, I had some students in 5/6 scale the images in GIMP and then upload them to Voicethread. Yesterday, armed with a story framework and their art projects, grade 5 and 6 students went to the grade one classroom, buddied up, wrote stories, practiced reading, and enjoyed Timbits. My students will word process the stories with large fonts, and have their buddies read their stories as Voicethreads. I've taken "mugshots" of the grade ones, and will upload them soon

Track our progress: Our Favourite Places to Be