Animoto and some Football Season Preparedness

*Disclaimer* not a paid review.  Which, I don't see why they would, when they offer the product for free...but whatevs.  I just want you to know I love this program.

Today was my second tech class I signed up for this summer.  Yesterday I was awakened to the possibilities of Activinspire flipchart wowie wow wowness.  But that sort of thing takes time to produce, so I'm not ready with anything to show you guys yet.

Today though, was quite different.  Today I got submerged into a good dozen or more little technology tidbits which were fun and exciting and oh, oH, OH! I just can't wait to try them in the classroom!

I'll break it up into chunks though.  Just one a post.

My favorite of the day was Animoto.

I have only used the free version - which allows you to create 30 second clips.  Totally doable in the classroom- do you need them to go on and on and on?  This is a great way to teach SUMMARIZING.

Animoto is a video slideshow producer.  They provide an interesting animated background, a selection of music, and all you have to do is add in your pictures, video clips, and text and it composes it for you!

Seriously - it is as easy as they advertise:

I was at class and only had access to pics I found on Google- but I still had fun.  The music choices are good too- 300 with the free version!  And even though you can't pick from ALL of the backgrounds, there's still enough to whet your appetite.

Now, I've come home and fiddled and made the following.  But I am warning you now that it is, indeed, an ADVERTISEMENT, for me though - not Animoto..  Don't want anybody feeling like I schnookered them.  I posted to TPT this evening my new Football themed math pack called Run For The Playoffs.  The clipart is ours as well, and up in the store.  We used our Kids to create this Football Kids Clipart Package.  And that's the end of the sales pitch. 

But do watch the video and check out how great the transitions are, and the music is pretty groovy too.  With already having these photos ready for TpT, I got this done and published in under five minutes.  It would have only taken longer if I had to prep the photos first.

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

 

 

Registering is free, you can upgrade any time you want.  The next package up, which offers you ten minutes worth of show, and also the ability to download- is just $30 a year.  And I am seriously considering that as a school-related expense.

 

Not because I'm thinking the kids would need more time to do a quick video- but I'm thinking about me as a teacher.

 

The applications for this are pretty endless- if we want to get super clichey about it.  But let's break it down - engaging music choices and interesting backdrops - could you not deliver an introduction to your unit with one of these exciting slideshows?  Would it actually be possible to get kids up and excited to learn about erosion with some carefully placed flash flood video clips and an electronica beat?

 

Back to school night - pretty easy way to introduce myself to the milling around parents.  Or put together a montage of what sorts of projects their kids will be doing this year with photos from years previous.

 

What if the kids provided the pictures to a story, you scan them in, put them in the correct order, then add captions with the text and create a video storybook?  Would probably want more than thirty seconds for that.

 

What about end of the year student gifts where you put all your photos together?  I know of teachers who have spent hours on other programs making these.  I have never done it for just that simple reason- but look at this?  All I have to do is load up all the photos I've taken over the year.  Each photo takes up about 2 seconds of space.  Ad in a caption, it adds another second.  Add a "spotlight" to make it linger a bit longer and there's another couple of seconds.  Add in whatever text you want for another couple of seconds a slide.  You could show a lot in ten minutes.

Ah, me!  It just hit me now - I took this e-course from Fairy Dust Teaching on music in the classroom, and there's this section on how to introduce composers and artists and musical instruments to your kids- and this would be perfect for that BECAUSE - they have quite a selection of classical music pieces available in their music library.  Stopwatch on- scratch of an idea- it is 7:27...

and I'm back at 7:52.    I had nothing prepared for this and had to search for stuff on the internet.  Took 25 minutes.  Most of it the searching.  The actual creating, like I said before, less than five minutes. Voila:

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

 

 I'd definitely need the upgrade to do this one justice.  But, oh! The possibilities!

 

I think it's so easy that I know I can teach my second graders to use it. Could you use this?