Welcome to Project 1! For this project we were to explore new tools available for free online, and chose one tool to create a learning activity. I really enjoyed Storybird as well as FlickerStorm.

Below you can find my explanation of what I learned from both, as well as the learning activity I created. 

Story Bird

1.  A great tool is storybird. This program allows you to create stories very easily. It gives you the option of printing the story you make or you can just read the story on the computer and show the students the pictures that way. I created a story about a girl name Ellie who was new to a classroom. I think this would be a great story to read to a class when a new student arrives from somewhere new.

I also enjoyed created a story with storybird. The story I created can be found here... http://storybird.com/books/when-ellie-came-to-town/

FlickrStorm 

2. Another great program is FlickrStorm. One lesson may include having the students type in their favorite color as the search, then have them choose their favorite photo that was found and start to write a story about the picture. To include a different subject area you could have students search words and look for patterns or shapes in their pictures. The possibilities to include FlickrStorm in a lesson are endless. It just takes a creative teacher to use the photographs as inspiration to a great lesson. 

ANNOTATION: (BASED ON FLICKRSTORM LESSON 2)

1) Creators/Authors of the Media Project (include your group members if it is group work). Victoria Huish

2) Identified Grade Level(s). 1-6

3) Subject matter: Does integration of subject matters take place? What is (are) the subject matter(s)? FlickrStorm can be used in every subject matter. This media allows a teacher or student to search for photographs that can add visual to any lesson or assignment.

4) List one or two goals/objectives for this project.  FlickrStorm can be used to enhance lessons by providing children with exceptional graphics. Students and teachers can use this website as a tool to create lessons and complete assignments. This could meet the objective for including photos for visual learners. This could help meet the goal of hooking students during the introduction of your lesson as well.

5) In what ways do you foresee could this project facilitate kids learning in your classroom? Will this media project encourage use of problem solving skills by the learner? If so, in what ways? I could see my students becoming very engaged in their learning while using this tool. With the growth in technology in our world it is important to teach our students to be comfortable with these tools and become familiar with technology in their classroom. The website offers little room for error so a student should not feel defeated when searching for a photo. This would allow students to feel confidence when using a computer and possibly give them the courage to try more useful tools technology has to offer. 

6) The link to the product (s) (eg. the URL for VoiceThread or the URL for iMovie on YouTube) if any.

While I was getting familiar with this product one of my favorite photographs was when I searched "hills". I attached the photo at the top of this page. Gail Lovely mentioned she enjoyed searching "frogs". You can enjoy your searching at... FlickrStorm

7) What kind of file (.docx, .pdf, .wmv, .mp3, .m4v ... ) is the product? What plug-in is needed to view the product and where to download the plug in? The files in the product are picture files, so they would be jpeg. (To use storybird the computer being used would need to have Adobe Flash Plugin installed.)