In todays workshop Greg showed us a number of fun and interactive websites. We made movies and designed 'Wild Things' and 'Lego People'. We did a bit of sketching and looked at a website focusing on different types of stories and story activities. One website contained a sustainability game called 'Catchment Detox'.
Zimmertwins
We played around with creating movies on the Zimmertwins website - It was fun. You select all the scenes and add the dialogue. I have inserted an image below showing a section of my movie but it is difficult to see all the options available. You can also click on the website link below to find out more.
The website allows you to select different scenes according to what the character is doing. For example, you would choose a 'talk bubble clip' if the character is talking or an 'action clip' if the character is dancing. There are three characters. Eva, Edgar and 13 (A cat).
I made a movie about Edgar getting lost and 13 rescuing him. However, I wasn't able to save it because you have to become a member of the website.
This website provides good opportunities for students to integrate storytelling with computer animation and building characters through dialogue and movement.
Dvolver Moviemaker
Below is a movie I created using Dvolver Moviemaker
The steps are simple to follow. First you select a background and a sky. Then you select a plot and your characters. You then type in the characters lines and choose some background music (the music can get a little annoying for visitors to your website!!).
Once you've made your movie you can choose to send it to someone by entering their email address. To insert my movie into this blog I selected the code in the white box (by clicking ctrl A) and copied it. Then I went to Edit Html and pasted the code. Then you go to publish post.
This website is a lot of fun and good for making cartoons / movies that tell a simple story. However, it may not be suitable for primary school level as it contains scenes and characters that could tempt children to create movies of an adult nature.
You can make your own movie by clicking on the link below.
Build Your Wild Self
Build Your Wild Self is another fun website that allows students to be creative while also gaining some important knowledge about animals. The students design themselves based on what they look like. They then choose animal features/parts to replace with their regular features. For example, instead of keeping their mouth the way it is they might replace it with a walruses mouth. Which is what I have done below. As you can see there is an information box that talks about walruses tusks. The program also names the wild thing for you. Mine was called a 'Wal-Frog'.
Sketchswap
allows you to do your own sketch and then swap it with anyone in the world by selecting 'submit drawing'.
This could be a good way for students to learn how to sketch with the computer particularly if the school has a tablet available. The simplicity of the sketching tool also requires students to be creative in providing texture and depth to sketches.
Rollermache
The Rollermache website contains everything kids would want to know about planning and creating animations and films. It would be a great resource for students and teachers.
This website includes four sections:
Inspire - A video gallery of clips from professional animators, filmmakers and artists giving “behind the scenes” tips and tricks to budding creators.
Plan – A section giving suggestions on how to generate ideas for stories, characters, and worlds. This area also provides tools and templates to develop these ideas and concepts towards realisation, such as storyboards and script templates.
Create – This area shows kids how to actually make stuff like animations, flipbooks and zines using what is available on the web for free as well as using bits and pieces from around the house.
Gallery – A place where children can upload their completed video, sound and photo creations to the site for others to see and rate. All uploaded content is pre-moderated before it goes live on to the site.
Find out more by clicking on the following link:
http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/
Storygames
This website contains all sorts of reading and writing activities. Greg focused on a Rebus story where pictures replace some of the text (see below). You could show students the rebus story and get them to write their own. It will help them to think about how pictures can be used in telling stories.
http://www.storygames.com/TeachManPF/Rebus.html
Reasonably Clever
If you go to mini-mizers and then classic kid-safe mini-mizers you can create your own mini-figure like a little lego man/woman. My character is at the beach in her colourful bathers and matching hat. She also has a sandwich in her hand. It allows you to choose skin colour, hairtype, clothing, background....
Although fun, I feel creating characters like this may have limited application to the classroom. The website is also difficult to navigate through and find the right information, which could confuse students. For instance, there is no page which describes what the website is about and its purpose.
Catchment Detox
Catchment Detox tests you to see if you can successfully manage a river catchment and create a sustainable and thriving economy.
It's an online game where you're in charge of the whole catchment. You get to decide what activities you undertake - whether to plant crops, log forests, build factories or set up national parks. The aim is to avoid environmental problems and provide food and wealth for the population.
This online game teaches children the importance of maintaining a catchment and shows how challenging it is to do so. Find out more by clicking on the link below:
http://www.catchmentdetox.net.au/
Myths and Legends
This site is for pupils, teachers and all those who enjoy stories and storytelling. The tales on this site have been told over and over again. Many are very old and date back centuries, but a few come from only a short time ago.
http://myths.e2bn.org/about/accessibility.php
Photostory 3
Greg recommended downloading Microsoft Photostory 3 so I will have to get onto that.
This program enables the creation of slideshows from your photos and then publishes the slideshows so that they can be emailed or even shown on your television. You can also add special effects such as music or voice narration to the slideshow. Find out some more information on Photostory at the link below:
N.B. I used Picasa 3 from Google to create a slideshow on my second practicum. I will have to try Photostory to let you know which one is better.
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