Animoto for End of the Year Slide Shows

Need an idea for putting together an end of the year slide show or presentation? Animoto is the way to go. I absolutely love using this site. All you would need to do is gather your favorite pictures or video clips and Animoto will do the rest. It gives you a professional looking slide show and you can set it to music by choosing from their own collection. Educators can also apply for a free Animoto Plus account (http://animoto.com/education) and create videos up to ten minutes in length. The free version account only allows you to create 30 second videos so I would highly recommend applying for an educator account.

You can choose a theme for your video style. Check out their sample videos for inspiration.

http://animoto.com/

You also have the option to choose your music, upload photos or video clips, add text, and arrange them in any order you would like. It really is such a simple, easy process.

Once the video is created, you can share with students and parents my email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or upload it to YouTube. The videos look so professional and is such a great way to share memories of the past year. Also, be sure to check out the Animoto mobile app to create videos on the go.

I know a lot of you have already discovered the awesomeness of Animoto but for those few who still haven't yet, it's a must for checking out. 

Roy the Zebra

I came across Roy the Zebra a few months ago and thought it was a wonderful website to use with students to reinforce their reading skills. It has a lot of reading games that can be used on the interactive whiteboard or as an extension to support your reading lessons during computer time. 

www.roythezebra.com

Some of the skills Roy the Zebra reviews is alphabetical order, long vowel phonemes, words that rhyme, consonant blends, and high frequency words. A lot of the interactive games are free but the website does have a few that are paid. Of course, I only use the free interactive games because there are plenty of good free ones where it isn't necessary to purchase anything. It is still worth checking out because the games are user-friendly and the students will love them.

In the activity below, students help Wellington the turtle clean up the sea by matching the correct double consonant blend to the beginning of each word.

  

Roy the Zebra mainly focuses on high frequency words such as days of the week, months, and colors. Students can help Tom get ready for bed by clicking and dragging the days of the week in the correct order.

Students can choose rhyming words by hovering over the apples to reveal a word. If it rhymes with the given word, they can drag the word into Belinda's house.