An Arctic Animal Adventure

 

Interested? Students researched an Arctic animal, used PhotoStory 3 to independently make an animal riddle movie, and composed a persuasive essay as a group for a vodcast. The final projects were presented using GlogsterEDU. A Google Form was used to keep track of the votes cast for the most interesting Arctic animal.

innovative? National Geographic's Creature Feature provided a perfect place to begin research - with images, cards, videos, sounds, maps, and a printable fact sheet. The students proved to be capable of more than I initially thought possible! They quickly found 5 facts and were ready to move on. Yet, we took a day of small groups and learned how to successfully use a highlighter with the printable fact sheet and found some important elements were missing in what they had recorded. So, they were encouraged to make them a little more detailed - and did!

A new appreciation for PhotoStory 3 grew recently, as Dennis Grice shared his animal riddle idea that he's done with his students in California. After talking with him about my previous concerns - mostly blurry pictures - and learning that it may have been the result of students saving the thumbnail of an image and not the full-size one, I was excited to utilize this simplistic yet amazing program with my class. Don't let the simplicity fool you though, because my students really utilized the options offered to their fullest potential -

Our Animal Riddle Steps:

Step 1: image upload - A Digital Kit with a variety of PowerPoint backgrounds to provide color, mixed with images from Creative Commons & Discovery Education were easily shared with each student.

Step 2: text - Since they had an organized research paper with their 5 facts already on it, they were ready to type. The chose the font color, type, and size too.

Step 3: voice recording - PhotoStory3's simple start and stop button allowed them to record independently, as well as playback their work to ensure its quality.

Step 4: customize motion - Students were able to add movement & zooming techniques to the photos with text.

Step 5: music - Students really loved this part of creating their own background music for their unique movie!

The group component of the project - the persuasive essay - was well worth the effort. Chris Hyde had suggested a persuasive movie and we adapted it to fit our current project. Student groups met and discussed what three elements made their Arctic animal the most interesting. Some facilitation was needed to keep the groups focused, but each learned how to take the ideas that they all found and put them together in a final writing piece. The Step-up-to-Writing technique that we use for writing assisted them in their format. I'm a huge fan of Step-Up's color-coded basic outline and the organized transition they provide to paragraphs. They practiced and practiced - then filmed their vodcasts.

Final Glog Presentations - Each animal group designed their own glog with each individual's animal riddle and the group's vodcast. They loved choosing their own elements, players, walls, texts, and graphics. Groups really did a nice job taking turns and working collaboratively on the SMARTboard.

I made the glog to link them all together & included a Google Form for the votes to be tallied. Next, I sent out a Tweet, parent email, and this post to see what votes the students would get - just for fun! They are looking forward to the final tally!

IMPACT: My students loved all aspects of this project. Throughout the day they'd inquire when we'd be working on our Arctic animal projects. We've done a lot of group projects and this one the could really "own" with the creation of their PhotoStory3 movies. How neat is it to be a producer and create an original movie about a content-related topic?Also, when you have high standards for research and writing, students will prove they can make that choice to work to their fullest potential.

I had the opportunity to be inspired by ideas that Dennis Grice and Chris Hyde shared. I also had the priviledge to learn new components of PhotoStory3 from Mr. Grice and Cathryn Mascara including the option to customize motion on slides with text. Inspired by Mr. Grice's tutorials for his students, I installed Jing on my computer and have started to figure out how to make video tutorials for my students!

Impressed: The group leaders of each animal group really made me proud! This time I chose students who are capable, but don't always choose to display the leadership qualities that they possess. They were organized, effective, and helpful in a less dynamic way, but in a way that was absolutely beneficial to the group as a whole, but also for their confidence as well. I was also impressed with the final student projects - they have come so far with their cooperative skills and tech skills! They are ready for more CHALLENGING projects!