Tag: prezi

3rd Grade Simple Machines with Prezi

Screen shot 2014-03-25 at 11.21.24 AMThird graders at Holladay Elementary have been learning about simple machines (SOL3.2) so today I showed two classes (Ms. Marion’s & Ms. Cowart’s) how to make an interactive presentation about the simple machines using Prezi. First they selected a theme and wrote the title. We did the first slide together for the lever. I showed them how to make a picture of a lever using the shapes tool. For each subsequent slide they wrote the name of the simple machine, a brief description of how it helped make work easier, and added a picture. I showed them 3 ways to add pictures: they could draw it with the shapes, they could use the built-in clip art, or they could search online for a picture. On the last slide I showed them how they could upload their own picture from Photo Booth. Their final presentations look great! Take a look at a couple of student examples: Gavin’s from Ms. Marion’s class and Omayma’s from Ms. Cowart’s class. I posted all of the presentations to a Google Doc that you can also check out: Ms. Marion’s class and Ms. Cowart’s class.


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3rd Grade Synonyms & Antonyms with Prezi

Screen shot 2014-03-25 at 10.36.59 AMMs. Wells at Varina Elementary has been teaching her third grade class about synonyms and antonyms. So today I showed them how to use Prezi to make a cool interactive presentation about the words they have been studying. First we logged into our Prezi account and I told them to pick a word and think of synonyms and antonyms for that word. We discussed what resource would help us if we couldn’t think of many words, and most of the students knew that a thesaurus would be helpful. A good site to use is thesaurus.com. Once they selected their word, we picked a theme in Prezi and typed some synonyms for that word in the first slide. I also showed them how to add a picture from the built in clip art or with a Google image search. On the next slide they typed antonyms for their word and added a picture. For the last slide, I showed the students that they could upload their own picture from Photo Booth. Finally we published our Prezi presentations and I posted all the links to a Google Doc that you can see here. Take a look at a couple of student examples: Kahmauri (synonyms and antonyms for “big”) and Jonathan (synonyms and antonyms for “fast”).


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4th Grade Plant Prezis

AzariahFourth graders at Chamberlayne Elementary have been studying the parts of a flowering plant (SOL 4.4) so today they made interactive diagrams of a flower using Prezi. First they drew a picture of a flower in Pixie. They looked at online photos to get different ideas for the type of flower they wanted to draw. I explained that they needed to include all the parts of a flower (pistil, stamen, anther, sepal, petal, ovary, ovule, stigma, etc) in their picture. Next they exported their Pixie drawings as PNG files with transparent backgrounds. The transparent background makes it look better in Prezi. Then they logged into Prezi and uploaded their pictures. I showed them how to use the selection tools to zoom into a part of the flower. They added text to label each part and to write a description. When they were finished, they viewed their presentations to make sure they worked correctly. When you click the arrows underneath a Prezi, it zooms into the different spots. It’s a very effective way to present information. Their projects turned out great, and you can see them all by clicking here.




Henrico 21 Training

These past couple of weeks I’ve been conducting Henrico 21 training at my schools, and I’ve tried to incorporate different web tools into the presentation. So I thought I’d share them here on my blog. One great tool is Stixy which is basically on online sticky note board. That’s where I displayed all the important links and downloadable documents. You can see my Stixy by clicking here. After introducing Henrico 21, teachers shared their ideas about what makes a 21st century classroom using an online collaborative document called Type With Me. It was a great way to instantly share their ideas at the same time. As we discussed their ideas, I copied and pasted them into a Tagxedo document in the shape of 21. You can see it in the picture above. Next we looked at some videos of Henrico 21 lessons and evaluated them on a Google form. You can see a Prezi of my presentation below.




3rd & 5th Grade Volcanoes

Teachable Moment: I’m sure many of you have heard about the erupting of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland today. Why not take this opportunity to review your Rome unit in 3rd grade (Vesuvius erupted in the Roman city of Pompeii) or your earth studies unit in 5th Grade (SOL5.7d). One 3rd grade class at Laburnum created slideshows about the volcano in Pompeii. Their teacher, Mrs. Emmanuelson had actually visited Pompeii and shared her photos with the class. You can see some of their Keynotes here (I added the “Possibility” soundtrack from “Twilight” because volcanoes are always a possibility). I also created a website here with cool links, interactive maps, a Prezi slideshow, and a Flash animation explaining how volcanoes form. Finally, you can click here to download a folder of pictures to use, including amazing photos from Eyjafjallajökull like the one in this blog post (Source).




4th Grade Civil War Comics

The Civil War is a new SOL for the 4th grade this year so many teachers are looking for good ideas. One idea to help your students remember the major events in the Civil War is to create comics like this class did at Holladay Elementary. I gave them a template to use which you can download by clicking here. I also gave them a huge (31 MB) folder of pictures to use which you can download by clicking here. The students dragged the pictures they wanted into the boxes on the template, added their own text boxes and speech bubbles to explain the event, and then changed the style of the pictures and text to make it look interesting. You can take a look at some student samples displayed in a cool Prezi by clicking here. One of the neat things about sharing your students’ work in a Prezi is that you can embed it in a website like in the example. Let me know if you’d like to learn more about Prezi.




Using ActiVotes without a Board

Did you know that you can use the ActiVotes without a Promethean board? The ActiVotes are a great way to get all your students involved in review activities. They are usually stored in a grey box in your library (or maybe a classroom). Inside the box you will find 30-35 ActiVotes and an ActivHub. You plug the ActivHub into your USB port, pass out the ActiVotes to your students, and show some questions on your screen using the projector. The questions can be created with anything… Pages, Keynote, GoogleDocs, or you can even use Test Maker questions (just realize that the ActiVotes only have the letters A-F on them). To open the software look for expresspoll (Applications > Promethean > ActivInspire > expresspoll). You might even want to drag that to your dock for easy access. Once you open express poll, you will see a little question mark on your desktop. Roll your mouse over it, select the gear icon, and choose the ActiVote icon from the popup menu. Then a grid should appear on your desktop with numbers that correspond to each ActiVote. Students can start clicking their answers and watch as the grid lights up! When you press the red stop button, a graph will appear showing how many students chose each answer. It provides instant feedback so you will know what you need to review, and it keeps all the students engaged. I have a how-to video and handout on this website. Be sure to check out the Prezi explanation as well… it’s a cool new presentation program that you might like to try.