Video Editing [by fire]

Well, I have been thrown in without warning to being a video editor!  The naive me thought that I would just record the kids at school singing their Chanukah songs using my ipad, send it to the computer and ta-da it would just work beautifully on the PC to show to parents!  Needless to say, it did NOT work that way at all!

First off, the MOV file extension is the Apple version, which words great in Apple's Quicktime Player, but will not load to Windows Movie Maker for editing.  Therefore, I had to find and download a converter program (I found an article on eHow that directed me to the FormatFactory tool) that would convert MOV to MPG, which again did not load to Movie Maker, even though it is an acceptable format (not sure why this did not work).  So, I reconverted all the videos from MOV to AVI and some of them loaded to Movie Maker, but not all.  Again, I am at a loss as to what was wrong.  But onward I must move!

Then, of course, I had to figure out how to edit the video clips in Movie Maker to cut some parts out, as well as to concatonate all the good footage together.  The goal is to rip the final product to a DVD, so that the teachers can play these videos on an endless loop in their classrooms during our Chanukah Around the World evening.

So, lots more work to do, but I really hope that the final product looks and sounds good for the parents.  The kids worked really hard on their songs!  Now, I just have to hope the teacher's computers will have the needed video player and bandwidth to play the videos!!!!

I am thankful for...

... All the great stories and resources available to me!  This includes my family, all the wonderful people in my PLN, the many fun and helpful web 2.0 tools and the oodles of great reads out there!

We had a pre-Thanksgiving gathering last night it was wonderful to discuss all sorts of topics with four generations of my family:  great-Nana and Papa-John, Grannie, myself and my husband and our two children.  It was great to have intelligent conversations, from a variety of viewpoints.  And one of the best parts is, we get to continue the conversation tonight over turkey and a post-dinner game of dominoes!

Of course, I'll be taking pictures and videos of all the happenings this holiday.  I love using Animoto and Photostory to create videos to share our Thanksgiving memories and Shutterfly to create beautiful photo arrangements and photo books.  My iPad is the easiest way to capture photos and video.  I love that I can email photo and videos right away, without having to convert anything or download them.  I can instantly share with family members who couldn't make it in person.

Through Twitter I've gathered lots of great teaching ideas for Thanksgiving.  I was able to use some this year with my students and have saved some for next year.  Those that I follow are always sharing great websites, apps and tools.  It's one of the first places I check for new ideas.  Now, to keep up with my goal this year of compiling and organizing these resources, so I can easily find them when I need them!  I've created a Weebly site (very, very easy to use) to help with that....www.onegalllibrary.weebly.com.

Finally, I needed something good to read during these couple of days off of work, so I turned to a cool website I found for a little help.  http://www.ujhs.com/booktalk/historical_fiction.html is setup along a timeline and helps you find post-Civil War historical fiction.  A second website I use for finding historical fiction is http://dawcl.com/search.asp.  You can tailor your search to find just the right time period, character ethnicity and more.  Take a look and find your next great read.

So, I am very thankful for many things.  I am off to relax with a warm cup of coffee and a good book. A little quiet time before the Thanksgiving meal and talk-fest!

Happy Thanksgiving!

International Children's Digital Library (ICDL)

 URL:  www.childrenslibrary.org

This powerful website provides access to thousands of digital books!  Take a look today and see how you can integrate this awesome resource into your classroom.

The mission of the ICDL Foundation is "to promote tolerance and respect for diverse cultures by providing access to the best of children's literature from around the world."

Whether you are reading for pleasure or sharing a digital book with your class, this digital library can support your diverse needs.  The ICDL collection includes over 4,600 titles, in 61 different languages!

You can use this awesome resource for free.  You are able to register and setup an account if you'd like. Some of the benefits of having an account include:  create a personal bookshelf; the last page read is saved, so you can pick up where you left off; and you can setup your language(s) preference.

Possible classroom use:

• If you have an interactive whiteboard in your classroom, you can show these digital books to your class. The benefits are that the pictures and text are larger, for all to see, and these titles are available anytime (no need to check them out or find that they are already checked out by someone else) and from anywhere you have internet connectivity.
• These books could also be used with small groups or individuals. If you do stations in your classroom, this could be a, ‘independent reading station.’ Students would be given the website address and directions on the title they should read or students could be given the selection criteria for finding a book they could read independently (or in small groups).

This is screen shot of the simple search feature (accessed by clicking “Read Books” from the main page). As you can see, you have many options for your search: By language, age, types of characters, picture vs. chapter book, length of book, Search by Collections (which gives you many additional options, like genre) and Browse Exhibition (books grouped by theme). They even have a search by the color of the cover (not sure what you might use that for??). In short, there are many ways to search and browse this expansive collection.



The ICDL also has an ipad and iphone app, as well as an app called StoryKit, for creating your own electronic storybook.

delirium (a great book....and how I feel right now)

It is Sunday, before the Packer game, and I am sitting in the Sunroom on this cool, sunny fall day.  The radio is on playing a Train song, I have a pumpkin spiced hot coffee (tastes and smells wonderfully like Halloween), the sun is shining through the window on my feet, making them toasty warm, A piece of leftover chocolate candy from trick-or-treat, and I am kicking back reading a good book. Can it get any better than this?  It is delirium.

Dictionary definition:
de-lir-i-um (noun)
1. An acutely disturbed state of mind that occurs in fever, intoxication, and other disorders.
2. Wild excitement or ecstasy.

Let's go with the "wild excitement" part of the definition....no intoxication this early in the day and no disorders that I know of!

I am about half way through Lauren Oliver's "delirium" and I am hooked.  If you liked Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" series or enjoyed the heart-pounding action and suspense of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games," you need to pick up this dystopian series!  The first half of the book sets up the plot and setting of this restrictive world where at 18 years old you receive "the cure" for the disease 'amor deliria nervosa' or more commonly known as LOVE.  Lena's mother walked off a cliff rather than submit to another operation (the first several did not cure her).  Will Lena follow in her mother's footsteps (literally)?

Off to read the rest of this intriguing novel......need to find out what happens to Lena and her BFF Hana.

- delirium
- pandemonium
- requiem (Spring 2013)
- hana (novella, available as an ebook)

Check this series out and let me know what you think.  Kick back in the sun with a great cup of coffee and enjoy.   I hope you experience the delirium too!!

Weebly

We have chosen Weebly to use for the school-wide "Chanukah Around the World" project.  Helpful links and tools are being collected on the WIKI.  Each grade is researching their own country and will present their findings in traditional and technological ways.  Students will explore:

• Geography
• Literature (both secular and Judaic)
• History (secular, but with a focus on Judaic)
• Culture & Chanukah Customs 
• Integration of technology and information resources

A culminating event will be held on for parents, family members and the community, so that they will be able to experience "Chanukah Around the World."

Weebly is easy to use and its free!  Take a look and sign-up today!

URL:  www.weebly.com

FlipSnack is Deliciously Easy & Fun

FlipSnack is a great tool for use in the classroom.  Remember those great class books that you create with your students in kindergarten and first grade?  Well you can now make them into a flipping book (no profanity intended) to share with students, parents and grandparents on your school website!

It is so easy.  I like the idea of still having the kids draw, color and write their own page.  You can still compile the printed copy for use in the classroom and then you can also create a digital copy to share on your website.  All you have to do is scan each child's page and save as a single PDF document or as individual PDF documents.  Then load the PDF document(s) to www.FlipSnack.com and publish!

Who doesn't like to see their own art work published on the web?!?!?  Give it a try and wait for all the great feedback from your students and families!

Here is the start of a quick one that I started.
Step 1:  I used MS-Word to create each individual page.
Step 2:  Saved each page as a PDF
Step 3:  Logged into my FlipSnack account
Step 4:  Loaded the PDFs
Step 5:  Published & Shared -->  http://snack.to/fzh52utv

Slidestaxx

Perusing the web today (trying to meet my SMART goals :) and ran across this fun tool called Slidestaxx.  Simple to use and great way to organize your images, videos and websites into a slideshow.  All you have to do is create an account, login and begin creating.  You can even embed your Slidestaxx onto your blog or classroom webpage.

Here I created a very short Slidestaxx to present our school's new WIKI for Chanukah.