Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #18: Photomosaic

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

Today I have something really special to share with you.  Have you ever seen a photomosaic?  It is a photograph made up of hundreds or thousands of tiny photographs.  There is one in the entryway of Daniel's office that I made of the front of our school from images of one of our retreats.  

This looks like it would be really complicated and cost lots of money to do.  Well, I'm here to share with you an absolutely FREE and SIMPLE way to do this.

The software is a free download it is called MacOsaix and it is incredibly powerful.  

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to make your own, unique mosaic.

For my 'master image' I chose the Apple Logo.  For my 'source' images, I chose Google Image Search.  This, then, searches Google Images to find millions of possible 'tiles' with which to make your mosaic.  You can also use your iPhoto library or a specific folder of images.  For example, you could make a mosaic from all the images you've taken this school year to give to your students.  Or, your students could choose a single image, say of the Mayflower and then make a mosaic of that image using all the photographs you've collected of the Mayflower project.  You can even use a Quick Time Movie. It will literally pull FRAMES from your movie to make individual tiles.  It's only limited by your imagination.  

http://www.macosaix.net/

So, how will you use this FREE and SIMPLE Tool?  I'd love to hear.  

Also, please remember that all of our Todd's Tuesday Tech Tips are available in one convenient place on the web.  You can get to them by clicking on the Teachers tab on our RC Web page, or by clicking HERE.

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #17: Spelling City

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!





Today's tip is for a wonderful resource that some of you have already heard about called Spelling City.  Spelling City is both a free and a paid site.  Most of the activities, including almost everything a regular classroom teacher would use is free.  The premium features allow a teacher to 'track' progress and keep records of the work students have completed online.  

In this program, you can set up weekly spelling lists for as many groups as you have.  Then students are able to practice and 'test' themselves in a multitude of fun ways.  

You can even print out cursive practice sheets for your students to use based on your spelling words.  

Spelling City offers several videos to help teachers get started with using the site.  Those can be found here.

I know several classroom teachers (including myself) have used Spellingcity.com in the past.  How would you use this site?  Please be sure to leave a comment on the T4 website so that everyone can learn from your great ideas!

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #16 Be Funky! Fast, Fun and Free Online Photo Manipulation

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week's tip is an all time favorite site for photo manipulation.  This one has been used by several teachers (Tammy and Dayle for sure) to create some pretty awesome artistic images of their students to go along with pieces of poetry or writing. 

What is Be Funky?  Here's what the website says:  With BeFunky anyone can transform their pictures into extraordinary works of art in just a few clicks.



Here is a quick video on how to use BeFunky! 

As it says on their banner, it is free and you don't have to register to use it.  This means that students could also easily use this on our network computers in your classrooms.

How do you think you or your students could use BeFunky?  Please be sure to leave a comment on the T4 Website so that others can learn from your ideas too!

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #15: How to scan (even color images) on our Xerox Machine!

Dear Colleagues,

I have just recently learned that our old scanner (CanoScan LiDE 25) is no longer supported on Mac OS systems from 10.6 or higher.  What's that mean to you?  Well, it means that our CanoScan LiDE 25 no longer works on most computers in the building!  We do have one computer in the RC (oddly enough, it's the really big and super fancy nice one we use near the massive printer).  Never fear, there is always another way around this and that's the focus of today's tip.

Did you know that our awesome Xerox machine up front can scan?  Did you know you could have those scans sent to your e-mail?  You can. 

Please see the attached PDF with step by step instructions.  Special Thanks to Matt Boyer from Washburne for making us this cheat sheet!


Here is a link to the article about 18 ways iPads are being used in classrooms.  How many of these do you think we could implement?

Here is a link to the PDF of the instructions.

Stop on over to the T4 Blog and leave your comments.

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #14: Ten Mac Tips

Dear Colleagues,

This week I have a tip that will help you work smarter on your Mac.  For some of you these might all be old hat; for others they might be brand new.  These ten tips come in the form of a video from How To Learn.

I hope you find them helpful.

Here's the LINK:




TB

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #13: What Should I Read Next?

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

Today's tip is partly for your students and partly for you.  It is a site called appropriately, What Should I Read Next?

This website is super simple to navigate.  Simply type in the title of a book.  Click on the title that you are thinking of...patiently wait about 10 seconds and POW!

The site delivers 'read alike' titles that you might be interested in reading.  

I tried this by putting in Beverly Cleary, my favorite children's author.  It then gave me a selection of her books to begin drilling down.  I chose The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  When I clicked on it, it gave me a huge list of books that are at a similar reading level and general topic.  This site works best with more confident readers.
















However a resource that seems to work better with the younger readers is Scholastic's Book Wizard.  It is also not perfect, but I think it does a decent job of meeting the needs of the younger reader.  

Here is a video of how to use Scholastic's Book Wizard.


So, how do you think these two tools could be helpful for you as a teacher and also just you as a reader?  I would love to hear your thoughts over on the T4 website.  

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Technology Tips #12: This Day In History

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week's T4 is all about "This Day in History."

The website: "On this day in history" allows you to choose any date and find out what was happening in the world on that day.  When you put in a day, you will get headlines, top songs, prices of everyday objects and much more.

Here's how to do it:

1.  Go to the website.

2.  Put in any date.

3.  Click the Quick Page option.

4.  At the top of the page you will find a link for a printable version of the page.



5.  If you choose the advanced tab, you can choose specific types of data from the day you chose.  You can even add your own information.

6.  Here are a few ways students could use this website:



How do you think you might use this tool?  Be sure to leave a comment on the T4 website!

Thanks,
Todd