Big Huge Labs (Ideas for Classroom Use)

I know I have blogged about this site before, but as I was showing it to a teacher today, I was reminded why I love it so much!

Big Huge Labs is such a wonderful site for teachers and students.

Here are a few ideas on ways to use their site.

1. Cube-upload 6 images and you can make a cube (the size to fit in the palm of your hand) with lots of uses. For example, upload scenes from a book and have the students tell what is going on during that scene, why they liked or didn't like it, create a different ending than the picture shown, etc. Or, create jpegs asking questions for your cube such as "What is your favorite book and why?", "Where is your favorite vacation location and why?", etc. This can get small groups talking quickly just by rolling the cube!

2. Motivator Poster-create a motivational type poster by uploading your picture and adding text to it. These don't have to be the usual "TEAMWORK" type motivational poster....get creative and use it for other uses such as vocabulary words...upload a picture that shows the meaning of the word, then make the large word the vocabulary word and the tagline under it can be a sentence showing the correct use of the word. You could also upload a book cover a student has read, make the large word a word they choose to describe the book, then the tagline can be a sentence to describe why someone should read the book.

3. Magazine Cover-let your students get creative and create a magazine cover all about them! Or how about making one for their mom or dad for mother's or father's day? Simply upload a picture of the student with their parent and have the student create headlines about their parents. Another idea would be to upload a book cover as the picture and the headlines on the magazine cover can be persuading students to read that book.

4. Trading Card-create a "baseball" type card for students in your room. They can put a title, subtitle, and description of themselves for a beginning of the year "Get to know you" activity. Use it for a character in a book. Have the student illustrate the character and write a description of the character for the trading card. We have also used this for students to create a trading card on an assigned President. It could also be used to create trading cards for different locations throughout the world....post them around your room so students can learn about various places like a virtual field trip.

5. Captioner-don't have lots of money to spend on comic software? No worries! Just upload your picture and have students add thought or conversation bubbles to them easily with this feature.

Big Huge Labs has tons of choices for you to use with your photos. There is also an educator account which allows you to use the site without ads and allows students to sign in without an email address!

If you use this site with your students or to create things in your classroom, please leave a comment to share your great ideas with everyone!

CAPTURED! Photo of the Day for Students/Classes

I've always seen people who do the photo a day for an entire year, and I always think, what a great project. Well, I doubt I'm the first to try it with classes, but I created a Flicker Group for Students/Classes Photo of the Day just for the school year (really only days students are in school.) It would be great to have as many classes participate as possible. Please consider joining. :)
I hope to present this idea to my teachers like this: 1.  Rotate students choosing what to take a picture of, taking the picture, and sharing about it (maybe the caption-just a simple sentence).
It would be great to have classes around the world join this group so we can learn more about each other just simply by sharing pictures!!! It also is for all grade levels.
So, as you start back to school, let your students start clicking and post those pictures to our group!!!  It will be GREAT!
Please note: A WIKI will soon be posted for this project for classes that participate to share their info.

Slide.com

WOW!  Have you checked out Slide.com? I found out about this neat tool at ISTE 2010. This is a very easy way to create a slide show, customize it with different themes, effects, and embed it into your blog or website. Create an account for FREE!!!!
To use this great tool, just upload your photos (from your computer, facebook, flicker, and many more), customize your design, choose your effects, save it and it gives you the embed code.  SO EASY!
Check it out! Parents AND students will love seeing activities from your classroom in this neat, interesting way!
Below is just a quick example I made of a few of our 3rd grade class day photos.

PhotoPeach

PhotoPeach is a free slide show program that is easy to use. Just upload your photos (30 maximum with the free account), choose music from their selections (or use your own with premium account or choose no music), then it makes a slide show for you set to the music. It can be embedded in a blog or shared in other ways as well. This is a great way to feature a program, field trip, or just share pictures of your students with parents. Here is a sample of a PhotoPeach I created to showcase pictures from our school's Student Faculty Basketball Game.
Student Faculty Basketball Game 2010 on PhotoPeach

Fotobabble

I saw Fotobabble on twitter from @teryl_magee and @kditzler  so I thought I would check it out.  The account is FREE and it's very user friendly.  So, what is Fotobabble?  According to their site, "its the easiest way to add voice to photos. Its free - just upload a photo, record your voice and share!" Audio recordings can be up to 60 seconds.
Fotobabble could be used in your classroom to share information about field trips, projects, reflections about learning, and much more (see list below from their site with ideas)! The final picture with recording can be embedded on your blog (like above). Easy, free, and great classroom tool! If you think of other uses, feel free to leave a comment!
Q. What can I use Fotobabble for?
A. Anything you can think of. Here are just a few examples:

• Home-made greeting cards
• Talking postcards from your travels
• Review products, songs, movies, TV shows, anything!
• Citizen journalism: Reporting from the scene of something newsworthy
• Provide commentary on a photo found on the web
• Promote your brand, products or services (OR SCHOOL!)
• Narrate the story behind a special photo
• Adding a visual element to your poetry, drawing or music

Cool Sites to Use with Your Photos

Recently, I taught an after school enrichment for students on Digital Photography and sites to create neat images that feature your pictures. The students that took the class really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun to teach. First, they learned how to use a digital camera and we walked around our campus taking pictures of various things and people. Then, we uploaded those photos to iPhoto. We reviewed how to crop those pictures, change color, etc.
Then, the fun started! We used Dumpr to create effects such as a Rubik's cube with our photo, an easter egg decoration, our photo in a museum, jigsaw puzzle, and more!
LoonaPix is another site that will create other images with your image in it.
PhotoFunia is one, but there are a few that could be a little controversial with kids. Not too bad, but look and you will know what I mean. On this one, they can put their face on a bodybuilder, their picture on the side of a building, on a wanted poster (very popular with our boys), or on a postage stamp.
Big Huge Labs just may be my favorite (and they have educator accounts!) On this site, you can create a pop art poster, mosaic maker, jigsaw puzzle, magazine cover, motivation poster, trading card, just to name a few!!! Are you studying presidents? Have your students create a trading card about their president. Print off multiple and they can trade with their friends and learn about other presidents. I used the calendar to create a calendar for the grandparents this past Christmas. We uploaded a picture for each month, printed it off, then I put a hole in the corner and put it all on a small silver ring. It was a hit!
Hopefully, you will have time to check these sites out. You can use them with students, for personal use, or even for gifts!