Tried It Tuesday: Multi Lens Camera

I hadn't planned on this particular post; it's a spur of the moment thing, but it is something that I HAD TO SHARE so I'm linking it up with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper for...

Check out these cool photo collages of some projects my kiddos are working on (The projects are from two items that I purchased during the recent TpT Cyber Sale). Aren't they cool?

Santa's Sleigh of Synonyms by Fancy Free in 4th

There's A Minion Reasons by Fancy Free in 4th

The collages were made using an app on my Smartphone called Multi Lens Camera. I found it in the Google Play Store shortly after getting my phone last spring, downloaded it, and then promptly forgot about it until today.

For whatever reason today I clicked on the app just as I was ready to capture a few shots of student projects. Here's how easy I found the app to use.

Selecting START brought me here.

I had to decide how many frames I wanted in the photo collage.

Selecting four brought me to a screen like this. I simply started snapping shots until I had all four spaces filled.

The arrow in the lower right of the screen started to pulse once all four pics were completed, so I clicked it.

I saved my photo by simply clicking the save button on the next screen. VOILA! Easy, peasy instant photo collage... No more fooling around with power point, pic collage, or loupe.com to make photo collages. I've found a MUCH easier way.

I still want to explore the app a little further since I noticed there was an EDIT button on the final screen above. I did click it out of curiosity to discover some color, cropping, and size features. I decided to wait for this portion of the app for another day. Right now I'm happy with the simple collages.

Throwback Thursday 9.25.14

Welcome to...

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

This post first appeared on The Teacher's Desk 6 on July 27, 2013. 

I've never really considered myself much of a photographer, and I've never done much with a camera other than point and shoot. Oh, I play around with the settings now and then, changing up the type of shot that's produced. Sometimes I even turn off the flash or use night vision and when I edit photos I might crop or resize them. However, that's the extent of my "expertise."

I didn't even take any photos this week other than of my favorite subject, Miss DaisyMae. No Saturday Snapshots is complete without a picture of her.

I do enjoy taking photos, but what I really like about snapshots is having fun adding speech bubbles to them or making slideshows/videos with them or even turning them into collages. I've found neat little pieces of freeware or web apps over the years that allow me to have a bit of fun. I've shared a few on Saturday Snapshots already: Phrase.It and Image Chef. This week I'm sharing a couple of images that I created to showcase a whole bunch of my snapshots. The first is of my favorite subject (see above), the second of my family, and the third of me.

The first two collages were created using Shape Collage, a small freeware program that you download to your computer (both Windows and Mac are available as well as iPhone and iPad). Additionally, there is a pro version that you can purchase that has loads of bells and whistles and tons of options. It takes but a minute to install Shape Collage and begin using it; no tutorial is necessary. It works like a typical word processing program, inserting pictures, selecting a few options (shape of collage, background color, borders of photos), then creating (in lieu of saving).

Much to my delight, when I went to Shape Collage this morning while writing this blog post, I discovered that the company has now added a web app. Called Get Loupe, it allows users to connect with social media accounts, accessing photos and publishing collages with the click of the mouse. With Get Loupe there are more shape options to choose from when creating your collage than with Shape Collage but it's just as easy to use. 

I've not been able to use Shape Collage with my students since it's a program that needs to be directly installed on a computer... that's a story for another time. However, now that I've found Get Loupe I can't wait to have my sixers (and eighth graders this year) make their own collages. I can think of so many possibilities for using this in class. How 'bout you?

More than a year later I still turn to Shape Collage and Get Loupe for creating collages, but now I also use Smartphone apps like Photo Collage and Pics Art. I seldom use my digital camera anymore, opting for the built in camera on my phone. These digital editing apps are great for quickly whipping together a collage of photos in no time flat, then allowing you to share them on Facebook, Instagram, and via email.

Here's a quick (like three minute) collage of some new items I recently added to my TpT Store. I took a screen shot of the product cover and saved it to my Gallery. Next I added all of the screenshots to Photo Collage with a simple touch of my finger. Finally I selected the frame and tapped Save. Voila! There was my collage. I chose to email it to my home account and from there uploaded it to Blogger. Like I mentioned, all of three minutes.

I use picture collages a lot on my blog, but I also use them in my classroom. One really good way a photo collage comes in handy in a classroom is in Science class. I collect a lot of photos from the internet to help support key Science concepts. By combining several into a collage, I have only one file to contend with rather than several. It is so much easier for me to keep track of teaching photos this way.

That was my TPT offering for this week. It's now your time to share. What do you have in store for us this week?

Monday Make-up

I'm making up for lost time today. I forgot how busy a teacher's life gets once school resumes. How do you folks do it who, not only teach, but also have to juggle family time on top of blogging and TpT-ing? Bless you for all that you do! I am behind on grading papers, cleaning house, doing laundry, and blogging. It seems all I do lately is a hurried post with a few pictures... that's today as well. I'm sharing three things with lots of pictures each.

FIRST... Our school did something for the first time: we all participated (K-12) in the Kick-It for Cancer fundraiser! If you are not familiar with this endeavor, please check it out here. It's a fundraiser that was begun by a youngster who suffered with cancer and wanted a way to help other children like him. His idea was to host a kickball game wherein the participants would pay-to-play and the money would be donated to juvenile cancer research. The idea went viral when the Cleveland Indians heard about the game and stepped up to bat, promoting the fundraiser and raising a great deal of money each year.

We had a GREAT time today, in spite of the busing situation (I refuse to talk about this and spoil a terrific event), as is evident from the smiling faces and busy/active children.

SECOND... I'm participating in the September Photo Challenge on Instagram and have been keeping up fairly well over there. I'm sharing the photos here as well so that you have a peek into the life of an old experienced, sixth-grade teacher who still LOVES what she does! Here are days 11-15.

THIRD... Each week I've been trying to involve my sixers in a hands-on science investigation. This week we investigated the physical and chemical properties of matter by simply burning a small amount of sugar over a candle flame. By experiencing the phase changes (from solid to a liquid to a gas) and noticing the change in color, smell, and texture of the sugar, my sixers came to the conclusion that what was left in the mini-aluminum pan was no longer sugar. What it was they were unsure; however, once I showed them the chemical formula for sugar (C12H22O11), they quickly deduced that the hydrogen and oxygen burned off in the form of water vapor or steam, and what was left was carbon. Tomorrow they will be recording important vocabulary and key concepts in their science interactive notebooks that relates to this investigation, while I locate all my tools for this week's project: graduated cylinder, balance, weights, spring scale, centimeter rulers, etc.

And there you have it... my make-up work! PHEW!

Throwback Thursday and Photo Challenge Day 11

It's that time again (I almost forgot it was Thursday...egads!... and I did forget last week...sigh)...

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

This blog post originally was posted on Aug. 13, 2013, my first ever company freebie that I received just because I am a blogger.

I had heard about it! I had seen pictures of it on blogs! I had read teacher testimonials about it! Really? A pencil sharpener, I thought! What could possibly be so exciting about a pencil sharpener?

Now that I've had the chance to try it... WOWZA... never, mind that it's the quietest pencil sharpener, ever... it's REALLY the BEST pencil sharpener EVER!!!!!! My pencil sharpener arrived in the mail last Friday and I couldn't wait to try it out! I quickly opened the shipping box and found...

a nicely packaged green (my favorite color) pencil sharpener. OK, nothing extraordinary yet. The next step was to remove it from the box. I found two pieces: the sharpener and a clamp.

I did not want to take the time to use the clamp since my sharpener is intended for my classroom and I am test-driving it at home, so I dived right in. The sharpener has four small grips on its bottom and does not slide on a smooth surface. I figured I could just hold it with my left hand while cranking it with my right.

It took me a moment to figure out that I had to use the levers at the top of the sharpener to allow the pencil in. Once the pencil is in the sharpener, it is held securely by the sharpener itself. You do not need to hold the pencil.  The crank turns easily and stops when the pencil is completely sharpened. Here's where the pencil sharpener gets extraordinary!

Tell me... aren't these the sharpest pencils you've ever seen?

And the sharpener is indeed the quietest one you'll ever use. How do I know? Because the nosiest, most curious cat who comes running at every new sound slept through the entire process of me sharpening my pencils, and she was not four feet away. It will be GREAT to have no pencil sharpener noise in the classroom! I can't wait to show off my new sharpener and have my kiddos try it!

To learn more about this terrific teaching tool and order your own just visit Classroom Friendly Supplies online.

This same pencil sharpener is STILL going strong in my classroom more than a year later. It gets a real workout each day. Although a little worse for wear, suffering a severe fall on the first day of school this year, a little duct tape in a coordinating color is keeping it in tip-top working order. LOVE my pencil sharpener, today's Instagram September Teacher Challenge photo topic.

Now it's your turn!

Wordless Wednesday

Is anyone participating in the IG September Photo Challenge? So far, I've been able to keep up... so far! It's really fun (and sometimes quite eye-opening) to see photos from fellow IG-ers and compare them with my own. Check them out on Instagram.  #septemberteacherchallenge.

I'm linking my photo with Miss DeCarbo for her weekly Wordless Wednesday party. Be sure to stop by her blog to check out other teacher blogger photos of the week.

September Photo Challenge Day 3 and Wordless Wednesday

Today's photo in the September Teacher Photo Challenge calls for a pic of a bulletin board.

How many of you change your bulletin boards on a regular basis? I absolutely HATE bulletin boards. All of mine are tied into routines, anchor charts, learning posters, etc. so I do NOT have to change them EVER! Here is a shot of one of my boards. On it students keep track of their homework, brag tag (some are currently missing), and classroom rules.

I'm joining Miss DeCarbo for Wordless Wednesday for this photo as well. Be sure to stop by her blog to see lots more fun, interesting photos shared by teacher bloggers.

September Photo Challenge Day 2

Today's photo challenge topic calls for a shot of a chalkboard.

 Hmm? Technically, there is a chalkboard in my room, but it is covered by a Smartboard and a part of a widescreen T.V.. Therefore, it's not used as a chalkboard. I use what little is left of it as a place to hang learning posters or student work.

When  I think about it, I really do not have the board space on which to write a lot of material. I find that since I am housed in this current room I rely more on anchor charts (I go through A LOT of chart paper), learning posters, interactive notebooks, and smartboard activities than on the traditional chalkboard/whiteboard kinds of teaching and learning activities of my past. I've adapted in a variety of ways, so much so that I really haven't missed using the chalkboard. I remember when I fist moved in to this room, complaining and moaning about the lack of board space. I didn't think that I would survive without it. Survive I have, and happily so... no more chalkdust, clapping erasers, or chalk prints on my pants!

What is your favorite way to present lessons to your students?

September Photo Challenge Day 1

Here it is already September 1st. Time seems to fly once school is back in session. It's hard to believe that we've put in two weeks already. Busy with school work, I've been neglecting my blog a bit although I've been posting on Instagram regularly.

There's a fun little teacher photo challenge that appears each month on Instagram.

I have great intentions at the beginning of every month but seem to peter out halfway through. I decided I'm going to challenge myself to make it through EACH DAY of September, posting a photo on Instagram according to the topic.

Today's topic is Labor Day Activitiy. I worked on making my class set of brag tags today: printing, laminating, cutting, punching, sorting, and stringing. They are all ready to go for tomorrow mornng!

My sixers LOVE brag tags! I used them with this group last year during fifth grade Language Arts class and they really helped the kiddos keep motivated with homework and studying for spelling tests. My sixers have been asking me where their tags are. I decided to wait until my class roster settled before making them since the initial set of tags is personalized with student names. We have new students enter during the first few weeks on a regular basis. This year my class has added three new boys since the first week of school.

In celebration of finishing my brag tags, here's a little FREEBIE for you. This is one of the tags that I give to my sixers in their initial set. You can download your copy HERE. If you'd like to read more about the complete product simply click on the pic below.

Throwback Thursday 6.12.14

It's time for yet another installment of Throwback Thursday. Look through those PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Then add this badge to your post and link up below! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAYBACK will do! Just join in the Throwback fun!

My PURR-fect Previous Post for this week features not a blog post but two photos, a then and now of my sixers! They have changed a great deal throughout the year, not only physically but emotionally, spiritually, and academically as well. I am VERY proud of them! The BEST part... I don't have to say good-bye to them this year! I will have them once again next school year, this time as seventh grade English students. 

Watch out, kiddos! You're not done with me yet!

THEN: September 2013

NOW: June 2014

It's your turn now!