More "Places You'll Go" Animoto Poems

Nick sings all about Italy. (Well, that is not really Nick singing!)


Danielle likes to chill out.


Matt likes the bright lights of Las Vegas.


Josh like the varieties of creatures to be found in Australia.


Samantha is thinking about wonderful things to do in Germany.



Harir is feeling hungry in Malaysia.


Julia writes about Florida.


Darcy is a California girl!


Andrew the great would like to go swimming.

"Oh the Places You'll Go!" Animoto poems based on "The Irish Dancer"

For "Read Across America Day" in celebration of Dr. Suess' March birthday the students at New Searles School chose a place they would like to visit and wrote about it. Some of the students in my class used that place as the inspiration for their animoto video poem . Here are some of thier completed poems. See the introduction to the project here.

Here is James' grand video poem.



Here is Samantha's bouncy video poem.



Here is Ashley's celebrity filled video poem.


Here is Katie's festive video poem.




Here is Kaleigh's sunshiny video poem.




Here is Julia's video poem (just don't swim with the allitgators!).



Here is Parker's peaceful video poem.



Here is Jishni's extreme video poem.

The Irish Dancer

We recognized St. Patricks Day one day early when I showed the class a short animoto I made of an old 14th century poem called "Ich am of Irlonde". I call the translated poem "The Irish Dancer.' One old version of the poem goes like this:

Ich am of Irlonde



Ich am of Irlonde,
And of the holy londe
Of Irlonde.


Goode sire, praye ich thee,
For of sainte charitee,

Com and dance with me
In Irlonde.

The class figured out what most of the Old English words meant before I showed them a translation. Next, I used the poem as a model and inspiration to make up a few "invitational" poems of my own. The class then was challenged to write their own poem They could use the examples given and write a poem about a place they knew well or would like to visit, invite someone special to that place, and ask them to do something fun there together. The poems came quickly as I find this type of modeling is an easy way to write thier own poetry.

Later I showed the class how to work with the animoto website. I purposely made my animoto above a 30 second animoto as parents can sign their kids up at home for animoto and they can make short 30 second animotos together for free. That is plenty of time to get a quick video made for sharing, including videos with poems.

Later we went to the computer lab to start our animoto poems. Only one student has finished so far, but we should get the rest done this week. Cameron came up with a  poem about Australia that may have you thinking twice about eating at The Outback. Other student videos will be put up here when they are finished.



This web page has a video that shows how to use animoto. It does not show how to add text, but my class knows how to do that already. Animoto is a great website. Have fun with it!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I am reading to the class a fantastic book by Brian Selznick called, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". I wrote about this book last year on my teacher's blog Simply Teaching.You can find the post here. The post describes the book and also has videos of an automaton, the Georges Melies movie, "A Trip to the Moon", a video of the author descibing the story, and a video on special effects in the movies (related to Georges Melies). 

Here is the official website for The Invention of Hugo Cabret. You can find lots of additional information about Georges Milies, automatons, Paris, the train crash (one student already checked on his own online to see if it was real), the author and other background information. There are also more links to interviews and videos. Have fun exploring!

Shang Ya! Friendship Oath Poetry

Oath of Friendship

Author Unknown

Shang ya!

I want to be your friend

For ever and ever without break or decay.

When the hills are all flat

And the rivers are all dry,

When it lightens and thunders in winter,

When it rains and snows in summer,

When Heaven and Earth mingle---

Not till then will I part from you.

On Friday the class read an old Chinese poem called "Shang Ya". It is an Oath of Friendship written 2000 years ago. We used the poem as an inspiration to write our own oaths of friendship. We also used charcoal, water color paints, and markers to create our own style of Chinese art on which to write our poems. Here is an animoto video of the process and finished results.

Guatamala

My son Andrew is a freshman at Gordon College. Over Christmas break he spent two weeks in Guatamala with some other students to get to know the people of that country and to help with various projects. Before Christmas (and the trip) he visited our class to see the Mayan projects that we had made. He was impressed by the projects and enjoyed learning a bit more about the country he was about to visit. I have taken some of the photos from his trip and made an Animoto video so that the class can see a bit of the people and beauty of this country that they recently studied.

Andrew likes to help people. This was the sixth relief trip of one to two weeks in duration that he has made in four years. He has previously been on three trips to the New Orleans area to clean up after Hurricane Katrina as well as a trip to Houston after another hurricane. He has also spent two weeks in Haiti, a country he had plans to revisit even before the recent earthquake. He works hard to earn money before each trip so that he can go. What more could you ask of a kid who is not yet 20 years old? Enjoy the video.

Why Should We Have Class, When We Can Party...

Instead!!!! Wow my class knows how to throw a party!
Thanks class.