Friday Five

Here is this week's version of my Friday Five Tech Tips.

This week all of my tech finds have come from twitter chats.  It is amazing what you can find when you are lurking around stalking “listening” to other people’s tweets.

1.  Google Lit Trips:  According to the website, Google Lit Trips are free downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story.

The focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students. Some familiarstories in the K-5 section include:  Make Way for Ducklings, Abuela, and Possum Magic. 

2.  Super Lame: With this web tool you add a caption, word balloon, or make a comic out of your photos. This is an easy free tool. You can have students or snag a creative commons picture from the web. They can add speech bubbles to the picture to practice, writing, grammar, or vocabulary.  They can use it to create dialogue for characters or historical figures.  The opportunities are endless.

 3.  9 Slides:  This site combines video and PowerPoint and runs them both simultaneously. You can upload a slideshow and sync it with your video. You can add personality to your presentations.   This is great for introducing a new unit or for a flipped classroom or PD opportunity. What a great way for students to explain their presentations with video of them talking as their presentation slides play.

4.  Kizoa:  According to the website, Kizoa is a comprehensive and easy-to-use slideshow creating platform online, enabling people to easily share photos in a dynamic and creative way.

Users can upload, store and edit photos, then turn their memories into custom designed slideshows with hundreds of creative options to choose from, including music, animations, text, transitions and other flash-based effects. This web tool is free and it reminds me of a pumped up version of Photo Story.  This is a unique way for students to create multimedia projects.

5.  Haiku Deck:  This is a presentation app.  It is simple and free.  One idea is to use this app for students to create visual flash cards.  Use pictures from your camera roll or from the creative commons photos available from the app.  The app comes with six themes but more are available from in app purchases. 

I didn’t plan on having a theme this week but pumped up presentations can be made with 4 of the five choices today.  I can't wait to see what you create.  Please share!!!

Have a great weekend!