31. Google search strategies

Absolutely everyone uses Google. Recently a friend sent me this tiny URl to a site / blog containing  20 quite relevant search strategies to get the most out of Google.

While many of these are well used eg Use quotation around words to do a very targeted and specific search, there were new ones for me.
I've listed some below that I know definitely will help me out.

Hyhpen for excluding words

Colon for specific sites

Pages that link

Use of an asterix as a wild card

Using Google to solve maths problems

Finding file types

Searching a range of numbers

Tracking packages, faster than the online site.............. So the blogger claims 

How many of these do you use?

What ones would be appropriate to teach our students especially in this the 21 Century?

32. Popplet

I really love this program as I use it to collect inspiration, mind maps, create my photo galleries or just explore  and brainstorm ideas.

  Popplet is suitable for Window and iPad. It's easy to use and you can sign up for free.

 After log in, there appears a pop up window to show you how to create your popplet step by step. You can do more setting by clicking on the wheel button at the top of the page.

  

From one popplet, you can create more and more sub-popplets as you want, you can group them by colour.

You can add video from Youtube, pictures from Flickr or from your computer or even you can draw your own one.



Furthermore, you can share your popplet to social pages like Facebook, Twitter;or embed it to your blog ;or add collaborators by clicking  on the 'Share' button at top right corner.

31 Pictogram

Pictogram is a young students graphing application, very similar to graphing in Infant video tool kit, Blog post 68.. Pictogram is owned by the school and is available to be loaded onto your classroom computer including the lovely green helpful  talking parrot who acts as a prompt.

Pictogram really is a very visual starting point for graphing, and from there you could move to graphing in Infant video kit and or Excel. The graphing categories are already pre-ordained and include many  Western suggestions for graphs including all the predictable ones, hair colour, eye colour, fruit, vegetables etc.




This is a very visual programme designed to scaffold children into graphing. At the top of the window  are 5 icons choices which allows you to display your entered data as shown in the 3 Fruit examples.

Possibly one of the best additional features of Pictogram is that it allows the user to click on the copy icon ( the 2 text documents) and then paste the image into a Word document for example. From here the students can really begin to use their thinking and analytical skills to talk / write about the information shown in their graph.

33. 2 Animate

While this software is designed for younger students, it is a really cool piece of software for children to explore the theory and practice of animations. Every budding Peter Jackson in this world has to start somewhere.

 2 Animate comes in 2 levels, simple mode and advanced mode.
Simple mode has very basic tools and limits the animation to 4 slides. The later
introduces more tools and builds on the skills which have been scaffolded in
simple animations. I tend to jump straight into advanced mode, which does
require the students to do some thinking about the images they draw and how
they will be depicted in the movement. I also prefer the tools and features
available in this mode as they align closely with KidPix making the transition
from one application to another seamless.

 Advanced mode offers unlimited
slides, therefore really encouraging the student to think about small movements
in an animation.

The lasso and the ability to enlarge or shrink the drawings
also encourages thinking eg a growing hungry caterpillar.

Year 1 are quite familiar with the software. They have used
it for growing plants and creating hungry caterpillars in their IPC topic
growing things

How will I use this
in the classroom?

Recounts

     story retelling

Growing

     things

Changing

     lifestyles

Any

     thing to do with movement and motion

Speed

     and distance

The art

     of creating animations

Higher

     order thinking.

Improvements

Technological

     progress.

34. Animoto. Demonstrated by Alan Jacques

Animoto was the slideshow / video application that Alan showed us.
This programme is really easy and intuitive to follow and steps you through creating a video

While it is very easy to use there are a few of pointers that may ease the process or help you out.

1. The photos that you wish to use need to be in a folder. The smaller the resolution the better because you can use more photos. Animoto automatically loads your photos and will only use as many as it takes to make a 30 video. You can arrange the order. If you add text that cuts down on the number of slides. We are using the make a 30 second slide show for free, rather than purchasing the pro version, which of course you can do. I have found that Animoto will use between 23 – 25 low res images

2. Signing in. You can sign in as a new user, or you can sign in with your Facebook account details. A word of caution here. Part of the terms and conditions with using Facebook is that when you upload images to your Facebook page the images then become the property of FB. That’s an aside. If you wish to use your FB log in then there is a warning that Animoto wants to access your FB details WARNING.. I created a new account specifically with Animoto.

3. Animoto offers lots of different templates to use. However many have PRO written on them, therefore reserving these  for the people who decided to upgrade from free to Pro.

4. When up loading your photos Animoto does offer you many options of online applications that store images eg Photbucket, Flicker, Picasa etc. The top selection on the menu is your computer which is really great for photos you have just snapped.

5. Animoto will turn your images automatically to landscape, if you have taken any shots on portrait mode, eg turned your camera on its side to capture a giraffe. This is useful as you don’t have to dg through doing a search and select for landscape images.

6. Animoto offers a few sharing options too. Facebook of course. However blogger is an option if you want use your video in your blog and Animoto gives you the html code. HOWEVER Animoto is only giving you a link, the video doesn’t play in your blog.  Animoto is redirecting you from your blog to their site to play the video. Good salesman techniques.
BeeBots  year 1

7. You can Export your video. I haven’t done this because to date I have “fallen” into the Animoto sales strategy. The sites clearly states “ you can export your video to other sites if you have an account with them”, and then the rider. “This process will take 20 – 30 mins”.  I haven’t had a spare 30 mins to wait, and the time does also depend on your network connection speed, so of course it may be longer.

Happy creating and happy viewing

35. Picasa. Embedding albums, images, and slideshows

Google have produced a really nice "how to" which explains how to use Picasa and embed photo albums, images and slide shows with images into your blog. The tutorial is step by step and is easy to follow, to achieve a really nice result.

Their blurb says ." All it takes is a small snippet of HTML that you paste in the source code for your blog or website. Here's how"

Click here for the link to Google Picasa and embed up load and feel proud of your efforts. Easy as.

36. Words inside words. Neoformix

Uyen my TA at AP primary told me about this online website. She used it for part of a display

Neoformix states that they are "simple tool to generate large text that is made up of words rendered in a smaller font." Neoformix is a word cloud generator with a slight difference. See postings 87 Tagxedo 97 Wordle,  about other word cloud generators

What that Neoformix blurb really means is that there is a box to write a large word in, in this case I chose the word blogging, and a box to write smaller words. The small words that you write appear inside the big word. Neoformix allows to you have quite a large number of smaller words. 

On the home page is a link to a snow flake shaped word generator which has even more options and colour like other really good generators. The snow flake option really encourages thinking and word association as well as all the cool tool that also foster thinking in how will this look? What will me audience see? How can I improve the presentation?