Tag: garageband

Jul 22 2010 July 22, 2010 September 10, 2010 NoComment by David

Summer School Web Tools

Posted in 5th Grade, Social Studies

This summer I taught a two week long technology enrichment class for 4th and 5th graders at Colonial Trail Elementary. My focus was using web tools to teach the new 5th grade SOLs about the regions of the United States. Each student chose a state and made a website about the state. We used Weebly to create the websites. First the students researched their state, then they made videos using Pixie, Keynote, and Photo Booth. We uploaded the videos onto a cool site for making online posters called Glogster. Next the students made songs about their states using Aviary for the music, SitePal for the vocals, and GarageBand to put them all together. They uploaded their songs to Glogster as well, then we evaluated sample Glogs using Voicethread. Another cool web tool we used is Tikatok to make online books about the states. Finally students embedded their Glog, added a Google map and a BuzzDash poll, and made a link to their book… all on their website. It’s really amazing. You can check out our finished website here. It has links to all the student websites as well as my blog and a video of our end of the summer party. All the students’ websites were fantastic but since you probably don’t have time to look at them all, here are two spotlights: Nicholas and Adina (password is clough). Below I have embedded an Animoto video of our class.


Tags:

Jun 08 2010 June 8, 2010 September 10, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Podcast “Jamestown Hardships”

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies

The end of the year is sometimes the best time to try out something new with technology. Maybe you haven’t had time during the year to really delve into a project, but now that the pressure of testing is over, you have some free time. Instead of just watching videos, why not have your students make their own videos or podcasts. Here’s one example that I’ve set up for you in GarageBand. It goes through the hardships of Jamestown. I have a picture of each hardship (swampy land, brackish water, disease, and lack of skills, SOL VS.3f) and students must record their voices explaining the hardships. They can also add in background music and sound effects. I’ve created a how-to video here, and in the video I explain how to put a copy of the template into each student folder quickly using an automator. You can download the automator on this page. Click here to download the “Jamestown Hardships” template, and you can see a sample podcast by clicking here. Go ahead and try something new here at the end!


Tags:

May 17 2010 May 17, 2010 September 7, 2010 NoComment by David

5th Grade Sound Podcast

Posted in 5th Grade, Science

5th Graders at Trevvett Elementary worked on creating sound podcasts using GarageBand. GarageBand is a great program to use for your sound unit because you can record sounds, change the pitch and frequency, and even see the waveforms. I gave the students a template to use which you can download by clicking here. It already includes artwork and chapter titles. All your students have to do is record themselves with a high amplitude, low amplitude, high frequency, and low frequency. The amplitude is easy to see with the waveforms which are automatically generated by GarageBand when you record. The frequency can be adjusted using the various vocal effects under track details. We used Monster for low frequency and Chipmunk for high frequency. Then we exported our podcasts as movies. You can take a look at a sample student podcast by clicking here.


Tags:

Mar 11 2010 March 11, 2010 April 16, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Scientists Podcast

Posted in 4th Grade, Science

Ms. Norris’ class at Laburnum used GarageBand to create podcasts about the famous scientists who have contributed to our understanding of electricity. They took their own photos in Photobooth, then added pictures of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Michael Faraday (SOL 4.3f). You can download the picture files by clicking here. Next they created a voiceover describing the contributions of each inventor. Finally they added a music soundtrack to go along with it. You can see a finished podcast by clicking here. I posted the finished ones to a Writeboard so that parents could watch them from home and leave a comment. Click here to visit that site (the password = room30). You might also want to check out another idea for the same topic… making a comic. Finally, be sure to check out the Michael Faraday song that I created with GarageBand and Keynote since that was one inventor that seemed to cause the most blank stares.


Tags:

Mar 10 2010 March 10, 2010 April 16, 2010 NoComment by David

Kindergarten American Heroes Podcast

Posted in Kindergarten, Social Studies

Kindergarten students can even make podcasts! They proved it today by recording their own voices and adding music to podcasts about the famous Americans they have been studying (SOL K.1). I gave them a GarageBand template with pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Pocahontas, and Betsy Ross (which you can download by clicking here). We practiced what they were going to say ahead of time, then they recorded their voices on their own as they told about the importance of each person. Finally they added a song of their choice from the GarageBand library. I exported them as QuickTime videos so they could be posted online. Take a look at a student sample by clicking here. There’s a cool feature to these podcasts that I’d like you to notice. Down in the lower right hand corner of the video, you will see a list of the famous people’s names. You can click on a name and go directly to that part of the video. That’s the Chapters feature of GarageBand!


Tags:

Mar 05 2010 March 5, 2010 March 9, 2010 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Famous Americans Podcast

Posted in 3rd Grade, Social Studies

Third graders have been studying famous Americans (SOL 3.11), so to show off what they have learned, they created podcasts using GarageBand. I created a template and gave them a folder of pictures to use which you can download by clicking here. First I showed them how to drag the pictures from the folder to the podcast track. Next the students recorded their voices on the vocal track. They explained why each American was important. Finally we added music using the song library included in GarageBand. The results turned out great. Take a look at a couple of student samples by clicking here and here.


Tags:

Mar 01 2010 March 1, 2010 March 9, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Civil War iMovies

Posted in 5th Grade, Social Studies

The Civil War is a new SOL for 4th grade this year, and I’d be happy to help you with ideas and resources. One 4th grade class made Civil War iMovies. Using the same folder of pictures that you can download on this post, students selected a topic and created an iMovie by combining the pictures with a video they recorded of themselves introducing the topic. Then they added transitions and text, and finally they selected a soundtrack to go along with it from the media tab. I exported them as QuickTime videos so they could be posted online. We did all of this in just one hour! Take a look at a couple of student samples: Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln. One of the problems with iMovie is that the projects are saved to the computer’s hard drive instead of to the students’ folders. So that exporting step is important if you want to save them to the students’ folders. Otherwise, you could avoid this problem by doing a similar project in GarageBand. It wouldn’t have the video, but it would still have the pictures, voice, and soundtrack. You can download a GarageBand template to use by clicking here.


Tags:

Feb 16 2010 February 16, 2010 March 8, 2010 NoComment by David

5th Grade Poetry Podcast

Posted in 5th Grade, Language Arts

Today, fifth graders at Holladay Elementary created poetry podcasts. Before the lesson, each child had chosen a poem they wanted to recite (reciting poetry is a great way to improve reading fluency). So the first thing we did was to go to Pixie and draw a picture for the podcast artwork. Then we exported it as a JPG file, opened a GarageBand podcast project, and dragged the picture into the podcast track. Next I showed them how to record their voices on the vocal track. Finally we added sound effects and music to the Jingles track. The projects turned out great! Take a look at a few examples:
1. Audrey’s poem about the number zero
2. Danielle’s poem about a dog
3. Aaliayh’s poem about bird droppings (she found it in a book!)
4. Jordan’s poem about eating eyeballs (another interesting one!)


Tags:

Feb 09 2010 February 9, 2010 March 8, 2010 NoComment by David

Kindergarten Sound Patterns

Posted in Kindergarten

An important skill for kindergarteners to master is identifying patterns. Ms. Hayes at Holladay had a great idea for helping her students with this concept. She wanted them to try making musical patterns in GarageBand. So I created a template which you can download by clicking here. Your students could try playing along with the pattern using the Musical Typing feature (to access it, just go to Window > Musical Typing in the menu bar), or they could try saying the letters as they are played. Your students could even record their voices by clicking the Vocal Track and pressing the record button. To see what it looks and sounds like, click here.


Tags:

Nov 25 2009 November 25, 2009 January 5, 2010 NoComment by David

5th Grade Place Value Raps

Posted in 5th Grade, Math

One 5th grade class at Trevvett wanted to do place value raps. They had been listening to a song from a CD called “Rockin’ the Standards” which you can download on iTunes by clicking here. However, this class wanted to create their own remixes of the song. So their teacher gave them a copy of the lyrics and I showed them how to create different beats in GarageBand. Then with a partner they rehearsed and recorded their raps, trying to keep up with the beat they had selected. A cool thing to do with your students after they create a rap like this is to watch it in iTunes with the visualizer turned on. Click here to see one of the student examples. If you would like a tutorial and a handout for creating a rap with your class, click here to go to my website.


Tags: