I must admit that I loved this week's assignments. I love to manipulate pictures and the tools in the sandbox had so many different things to play with. Here were some of my favorites:
ImageChef is a website where both text and images can be manipulated. The site is easy to navigate and user friendly.
I was impressed by the "Make Visual Poetry" feature. It would be an excellent way for students to create their own writing heart map. A heart map is a visual of heart where students list the things they love. This is an excellent reference point for them throughout the school year when selecting topics they would like to write about. In the past, my students have handwritten their heart maps in their writing journals. However, ImageChef is an excellent and more engaging way for the students to create their heart maps in the future.
Foldplay is a website that is easy to use. I can't wait to use the foldable books with my students in school. I like how they give directions on how to cut/fold the little book and it is adorable when finished because it's a tiny book. I'm thinking of using this the last few days of school to let the students make Memory books using our gallery of pictures at school and write short blurbs about what we have done in class. I think it will be a fun way to remember the school year.
Big Huge Labs combines your digital pictures with fun templates to create one of a kind projects. You could upload your digital picture, then create magazine covers, puzzles, or posters. This could be a great site to use for creative writing prompts. Each student could also make a trading card of a famous American or a famous explorer. Students could exchange the trading cards with one another to review important SOLs. I made a trading card for Jackie Robinson as an example.
McGuire-Day, J. (2016). Image modified from: Sandberg, B. (1954). Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers. Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jackie_Robinson,_Brooklyn_Dodgers,_1954.jpg CC-0
Creative Commons Image
Here is a photograph that I found on the internet. Google images was very helpful. I used the tip that Dr. Kimmel gave us about searching for a photo using the search tools to limit the search to a photo that is labeled for reuse or labeled for reuse with modifications. My students had to write animal research reports and frogs were a popular choice.
Balboa, C. J. (2007). Red-eyed tree frog. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_eyed_tree_frog.jpg CC-0
This is what the frog looks like with modifications using Tuxpi.
McGuire-Day, J. (2016). Image modified from: Balboa, C. J. (2007). Red-eyed tree frog. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_eyed_tree_frog.jpg CC-0
