Posted in Projects, Roanoke County Schools, Writing

Mission 00 Rain (A Skype Project)

Posted on by Tina Coffey

A few weeks ago, students from Oak Grove, Glenvar, and Clearbrook Participated in a global project called Mission 00 Rain organized by Mrs. Henriquez-Santiago. After reading the book Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Jodi Barrett, students imagined that in addition to the town of Chewandsawallow the rest of the world has also been plagued by the unexplained appearance of giant food falling from the sky. They pretended that they were secret agents presented with the task of saving the world by writing clues and solving riddles about this curious type of “rain”. Students wrote and presented riddles about a food item that fell past “their ” classroom window using Skype (a free video conferencing tool). By solving the riddles, the classes saved the world!

Here’s some pictures from the event! (you can see even more on the Mission 00 Rain Wiki)

Mrs. Hushour’s and Mrs. DiNicola’s Classes

Mrs. Allen’s and Mrs. David’s Classes

http://photopeach.com/public/swf/story.swf
 

 Mrs. Chamberlands’s and Mrs. Olivera’s Classes

Mission 00 Rain (Glenvar) on PhotoPeachhttp://photopeach.com/public/swf/story.swf

Posted in Geocaching, Roanoke County Schools, social studies

Hunting for Treasure with Kindergarten Pirates!

Posted on by Tina Coffey

The Kindergarteners at Glenvar Elementary went treasure hunting on Friday to look for “pirate loot!” Using treasure maps and gps units, they found all sorts of goodies while practicing their map skills. They did this in full pirate attire, of course! Here’s some pictures of the event…it was a blast!!

Pirate Geocaching with Kindergarten! on PhotoPeachhttp://photopeach.com/public/swf/story.swf

Posted in Instructions, Roanoke County Schools, Tech Tools

Using Flip Cameras with Movie Maker

Posted on by Tina Coffey

flip-video-cameraMovieMakerlogo

There’s two ways to use the Flip Video camera with your Movie Maker software.

First Way–Install Flip Video Software

(Go through the complete process the first time you use your camera with a computer):

  • Plug in your flip video.
  • Choose “View your Videos in Flip Video Software.” (if this option doesn’t already pop up for you, click My Computer > Flip Video Drive > Setup_FlipShhare)
  • Go through the steps to install the Flip Video Software.
  • Now you can export your videos off the flip camera, save them to your computer, or close of out the software altogether. You should also now be able to import videos into Movie Maker.

Second Way–Install the ffdshow Codec

(for lab computers, if you don’t want the flip video software installed, or if the above steps don’t work):

Need to know how to use Movie Maker?  Here’s a Movie Maker Handout.

Now you, and your students, will be able to use your flip video movies in movie maker and create all sorts of great digital stories!  🙂

Posted in Projects, Roanoke County Schools, social studies, Video

VA Regions Song

Posted on by Tina Coffey

Fourth Graders at Clearbrook Elementary are participating in a cross-state Virginia Regions project on the Regions of VA Wiki.   While Mrs. Schlosser’s Social Studies classes are participating in some of the projects on the wiki as a group, a few students decided to participate in the podcast project on their own.  During their free time, they created a song about the Regions of Virginia.  After practicing it, it’s been recorded and posted on the wiki.  I’m so impressed that these kids worked on this song on their own, and think they did a great job!  It’s a familiar tune…but after I listen to it, I walk around with their song in my head for hours.  In case you’d like to listen, here it is:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7464021&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Regions of VA from Tina Coffey on Vimeo.

You can also find it on the Regions of VA Wiki under podcasts.  Nice job, ladies!

If you live in Virginia, there’s still time for your class to jump in an participate in SOME or ALL of the projects on the wiki. Please join us!!