Creating your own Lego Movies

With Lego Movie 2 hitting cinemas this week, I decided to embrace the children's enthusiasm to introduce stop motion animation. Stop Motion Animation is a brilliant and creative way for students to tell stories, explore ideas and explain different concepts.

There are plenty of different stop motion animation apps. My go-to app is I Can Animate.

There are so many possibilities with this app as you can link it with greenscreen to add an animated background before editing further in iMovie.

Here is an example of something we created:

I have posted a step-by-step tutorial video for how to create something like this exclusive to the supporters of my facebook page. Click here to sign up.

Creating an Interactive Christmas Scene

I love using Christmas as a way to engage children in their learning. They are excited, inquisitive and generally really interested in anything Christmas. Recently, I worked with Year 2 where they created their own Interactive Christmas scene using Chatterpix Kids and Thinglink. Here is an example of what they created:

I have posted a step-by-step guide for how to do this activity on the supporter part of my Facebook page. Sign up by tapping the picture below:

This idea can easily be adapted to other areas of the curriculum, such as:

Read more about this idea here.


Read more about this idea here.


Read more about this idea here

Continuing our Journey with the #StopDirtyPalmOil campaign

A few weeks ago, I blogged about a project my Year 4 class had started, inspired by the recent Greenpeace advert - There's a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom. To read that blog post, which includes original questions linked to the advert, please click the picture:

The response we received from the video the class created where they wrote in role as a helpless Orangutan, seeing their home destroyed was so positive and empowering.  Again you can read more about this by clicking the picture above. If you haven't yet seen the video, here it is:

From the reaction to the video, my class were inspired to go further and investigate the issue more. We discovered this from Greenpeace, which identifies companies with links to Dirty Palm Oil:

According to Greenpeace, these companies made a promise to be clean of dirty palm oil by 2020. My pupils decided to write to these companies to provide a polite reminder and ensure they are on target to keep their promise. 

After drafting their letters, I gave quality oral feedback through our iPads, this is something I cover on all my CPD sessions and will also be demonstrating on my subscription page on facebook.

The pupils were then given the opportunity to transform their writing into a video using Adobe Spark Video. This is another example of the READWRITEPERFORM approach in action. These videos were then tweeted and emailed to all the companies identified in the above image. Here is an example from our pupils:

Please let my class know what you think by leaving a comment on this video on facebook.

So far, we've received a lot of replies from the companies. I can't wait to share them with my class as they'll see how their writing is making a difference:

We will keep you updated with this project as we continue to learn about it in class. 

Using Music to Support the Curriculum - BBC Supermovers.

I think music is one of the most powerful yet underused tools in the classroom. If you've joined me on my training, you will know how I use it in class to support different areas of the curriculum. There are plenty of examples on this blog which demonstrates the power of music. You can see them here. 

BBC Teach Supermovers is a brilliant and FREE resource which gets your pupils moving, singing and remembering!
This video explores the Supermovers resource:

I was very excited when they asked me to get involved and make a video for their website. You can watch it here - 

Please support my class with their #StopDirtyPalmOil campaign

In Year 4, we have been inspired by the latest Greenpeace Advert - There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom. The advert tells the story of Rang-Tan, a young Indonesian orangutan that has been forced out of her home by humans. It is a beautifully animated video with a very powerful message:

We decided to look at the text used in the advert in more detail:

There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't know what to do.
She plays with all my teddies and keeps borrowing my shoe.
She destroys all of my house plants and she keeps on shouting 'oo'.
She throws away my chocolate and she howls at my shampoo.
There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't want her to stay,
So I told the naughty Rang-tan that she had to go away.
Oh, Rang-tan in my bedroom, just before you go,
Why were you in my bedroom? I really want to know.

There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do.
He destroyed all of our trees for your food and your shampoo.
There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do.
He took away my mother and I'm scared he'll take me, too.
There are humans in my forest and I don't know what to do.
They're burning it for palm oil so I thought I’d stay with you.

Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom now I do know what to do.
I’ll fight to save your home and I’ll stop you feeling blue.
I’ll share your story far and wide so others can fight too.
Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom I swear it on the stars:
the future's not yet written but I’ll make sure it's ours.

Some questions we explored:

• What is a Rang-Tan? 
• Why do you think there is an Orangutan in her bedroom?
• Why does the young girl not know what to do?
• What does the word 'destroy' mean?
• Why does the Rang-Tan howl?
• Why doesn't the girl want the Orangutan to stay? 
• What word does the girl use to describe the Rang-Tan?
• Do you think the Rang-tan is naughty? Why?
• On a scale of 1-5 how desperate is the girl to know why the Rang-tan is in her room?
• Where does a the Rang-Tan live?
• Why are humans there? 
• Why are humans destroying the forest?
• Why does the Rang-tan keep repeating the line "There's a human in my forest..."?
• What do you think happened to the mother?
• What is the main reason for burning the forest?
• What is palm oil used for?
• What clues in the video let us know what palm oil is used for?
• How does the girl feel about the Rang-tan at the end? 
• Why do you think her opinion has changed?
• How will she fight? Why will she fight?
• How can she share the story far and wide?
• What would you do if you were the girl?
• Do you think this advert is effective? Why?
• How can we help?

The advert certainly empowered the class to explore the issue further. We discussed how terrifying it must be for the orangutans when the diggers and trucks come and demolish their rainforest home. We decided to write stories as Orangutans going through this experience. We considered how to create the most effective story by using different elements:

• A short, effective hook opening sentence.
• Describing the weather to create the mood. 
• Describing how we felt through our actions.
• Using multi-sensory descriptions to help the reader visualise the horrific scene. 
• Changing the length of our sentences for effect.
• How to not use words like diggers/trucks but instead describe them as monsters and beasts. 

Although it was their first draft, I was really impressed with the writing the students produce. The children knew that the work they produce would be shared online for the world to see, which added an authentic purpose:

During afternoon assembly, a group of pupils stayed out of the assembly and recorded some of their writing on the green screen to create this awareness advert:

We would love your support by sharing this video and commenting on it. We are hoping this will help raise awareness of this issue but also inspire year 4 to continue to write and share more about this issue. So far we have received messages from Greenpeace and WWF:

So please show your support and encourage our learning by sharing and commenting on their work. Watch out for more work which will appear on their class blog over the next few weeks!

If you want to support the Greenpeace campaign to #StopDirtyPalmOil,  sign the petition here.

Getting Creative with Keynote

I am not going to lie, I am very jealous of all the amazing teachers attending the Global ADE 2018 summit in Texas. I have been closely following the hashtag #WWADE2018 and #EveryoneCanCreate and enjoying some of the amazing content being created and shared.

It has reminded me of all the brilliant new additions to the Keynote app and inspired me to try some with a project with my children. They are going on a school trip tomorrow to the zoo and so created this animated quiz about animals:

Keynote has been an app that I have used personally in my CPD and training sessions for years. Essentially, it is Apple's version of Powerpoint. At the UK ADE summit last year I was very fortunate to get a one to one tutorial with a Keynote expert, Alan Rosenfield, who really opened my eyes to creating engaging content to support my training sessions. More recently, Apple have announced a number of new updates to Keynote which take the app beyond a simple presentation app to an incredibly powerful creative app.

Here are a few of the features we used in the video above. Each one can easily be adapted to a whole range of other topics and activities. 

Drawing

The ability to draw adds an incredibly powerful dimension to the app in terms of creativity and animation. Take the Elephant example in the above video. The pupil added an image of the elephant from the shape tools and then traced over the top with an Apple Pencil (the pencil certainly helps in term of accuracy but isn't a necessity) they can then colour the image. But here is the lovely addition, once completed, you can tap onto the image, choose animate and select the line draw option. When you tap the play icon, it then plays back a video of your drawing. Here is a quick gif demonstrating this tool:

It was the brilliant @MrTullock who first made me aware of the line draw tool when I saw he had created this and shared it on his facebook page:

I had a play when I created this animation for our podcast:

If you haven’t listened to my podcast yet, head over to 2mrpspodcast.com and give it a listen! Final episode of the year coming this week!

A post shared by Lee Parkinson (@ict_mrp) on Jul 16, 2018 at 12:17pm PDT

If you haven't listened to the podcast yet, check it out: 2mrpspodcast.com

Masking through Images

This was something I picked up from the ADE summit from the awesome Abdul Chohan:

Just learnt something new with #everyonecancreate at #WWADE2018 pic.twitter.com/XzpBn6sbgn

— Abdul Chohan (@Abdulchohan) July 16, 2018

The first thing we did in the animals video above was to create an image in Adobe Spark post of the glasses (see right). This was then added over the picture of the animal and using the Instant Alpha tool, you can make the lenses transparent.

To make the glasses move over the picture we used the Magic Move transition. This was repeated over a couple of slides. The following gif demonstrates this process:

The potential to this idea is massive. Giving clues about a part of the body or a planet linked to science for example. Maybe sharing clues about a book or a character in English. Revealing clues about a certain location in Geography or a famous historic landmark. This masking tool can also be added over video too, taking it a step further.

Recording Audio

Possibly the best addition is the ability to add audio recording to each slide. The best part is that it is so simple to do. Simply tap the + icon and choose the record audio option:

Once selected, the children can record at the bottom of the screen. The brilliant thing about it is how it easy it is for children to edit and re-record by just scrolling back and tapping record again. The pupils can stop, gather their thoughts and then continue to record and then insert the whole recording to the slide. 

Image Animations and Transitions

With some of the other images, we simply used some of the animations to create the reveal picture. By adding an image and tapping the animate tool, you can then select the desired animation. You can then adjust the duration to match the audio the students have recorded. 

Another option is to add different shapes over the image and using an effect to get rid of them one by one. Here choose the build-out effects and then order them to play automatically after each other. 

These are just a couple of options we used but there is a wealth of others within the app. 

Export as Video

Another brilliant addition is the ability to export every project as a movie. Previously, it would be a case of playing the Keynote and using the screen recorder option (which I have previously blogged about here.) With the movie export option, this saves a lot of time and improves that functionality. 

So with all those amazing new additions to this fantastic app, the question is, what will you create?

As always, please do share anything you create using these ideas, all I ever expect is that you just give us a shout out and thanks for where the inspiration has come from. I can't tell you how demoralising it is when people use ideas from the blog and then try to pass them off as their own. Don't get me wrong, it inspires me to stay creative and original but when those ideas are then being used on other CPD sessions without any credit, I just find it very disappointing. 

Make sure you follow on Mr P on:

Making our own Interactive Avengers Story Cubes

Before I start discussing what we did, it is only right to share where the original idea for this project came from. This blog post by the brilliant @Joe_Moretti gave me the inspiration for this project - AR STORYCUBES PROJECT

I have been using my iPad with my children to support them with their reading journal homework for a while now. My boys struggle with their handwriting and find it very onerous to write even though they have some great ideas.

As discussed by @MrTullock at the Animate2Educate conference last week, technology should be used to enable children to show their knowledge and understanding even if they struggle with an element such as decoding or handwriting or spelling. I loved a quote he shared, and I have linked it in a poster to the story @CarolJAllen shared around the latest BGT winner.

I want to use technology so my children and pupils can create content to express themselves, their knowledge and their understanding.

Making our own Interactive Avengers Story Cube was the perfect example of this. My children are obsessed with Avengers at the minute, so I bought them the origin storybooks. These are great books as they tell the origin story of each superhero as a story rather than comic. If you click the picture below, you can buy the books yourself.

We generated three questions to ask each superhero:

• Who is your alter ego?
• How did you become a superhero?
• What are your superpowers?

Using the app, ChatterKids Pix, the children recorded videos as the characters answering those questions using what they had learned about the superhero from reading the book. They linked the three videos together using the app Apple Clips, where they could add titles and music. 

Their finished videos looked something like this:

They made a similar video for each superhero. Then used the app Foldify to create their own cube:

Once they finished the design and printed it out. I would recommend before cutting and sticking it together, to use app HP reveal to link the videos to each face of the cube. For a detailed guide for how to use the app HP Reveal - click here. The app uses Augmented Reality to link your video content through a trigger image. Once this has been completed they can cut out the cube, fold along the dotted lines and glue the flaps to create their own cube!

Using the app HP Reveal, they can scan each side and the app should load the digital content linked meaning you can watch and learn all about that superhero. 

Once finished, my children wanted to share what they have created and more importantly share how to do it so others can make their own so created this YouTube tutorial video:

As stated in Joe's original post at the top, there are lots of different ways in which this idea can be used:

• The water cycle
• The life cycle of the frog
• Breaking down a maths problem into six parts or six different maths videos… watch an equation come to life …
• A science experiment
• Bringing history to life (can you imagine six sides with a head on each side coming to life using Morpho Booth so that the heads come to life and speak!)
• A Geography cube of the globe where a map comes to life with a video created in Explain Everything. ( A journey cube?)

Enhancing our Mini Beast topic with technology

Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of working in Year 1. Their topic for this half term has been mini beasts and so I wanted to share with you some of the work we have been doing through technology.

First, you may have seen the Hungry Caterpillar video we made, you can read about how we created this here.

The children have also been learning about different mini beasts, researching facts and information and then creating these videos using the app - Shadow Puppets Edu:

Last week, students were writing their own mini beast poems, focusing on the use of alliteration. To add an element of performance, the pupils recorded themselves sharing their writing using the app ChatterPix Kids. Here are some of their examples:

These are just a couple of example of how I try to promote the use of technology in the primary classroom. It is about children creating content through these creative apps. Each of these ideas can easily be adapted to any topic you are doing with your pupils. 

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Creating Interactive Guides to the Human Body

You may remember a project I did with Year One last term:

I decided to do a similar project with Year Three for their science topic about the Human Body. 

We started with the Curiscope Virtuali-tee. This amazing augmented reality t-shirt never fails to create a lesson of awe and wonder! If you've not ordered one of their t-shirts, I would highly recommend it. Buy a t-shirt here.

As a class, we explored all the different parts of the body and used the guide to learn facts about how our body works and what each organ does. The children were then given a part of the body and given some more time to find other facts about it.

Using the app Chatterkids Pix, the children had to create animated videos sharing their learning.

The students also used Greenscreen to create images giving the illusion we could see inside their body. Using Seesaw, they labelled all the different parts of the body:

To link everything together, we used the app Thinglink. This allowed all the pupils to embed their videos onto their labelled picture to create a whole class interactive guide to the body. This video explains the process:

If they're into the craze, use it to engage!

Viral crazes, you either love them or hate them. As a teacher, it is probably the latter. There is nothing worse than trying to explain the past progressive tense and spying a pupil trying to perfect the latest dance craze.

 

We've had everything - dabbing, bottle flipping, even the Harlem Shake... remember that?

The latest seems to be the Floss Dance. My pupils have been doing it so much they seem to have forgotten how to walk, they just floss everywhere. Dentists up and down the country must have been buzzing when they heard there was a floss craze. "FINALLY, people are taking our recommendations seriously" I could hear them cry. Imagine their surprise when they realised it turns out to be an awkward, Dad dancing move.

The look on their faces!

In the past, with some of the crazes, I have used them to great effect when it comes to writing in class. I truly believe children will do their best writing when they are writing about something they are truly engaged with. One of the first ever projects we did with our iPads was using popular games like Angry Birds and Temple Run as a stimulus. We have since used Minecraft and other tools to engage children with their writing. 

Most of the time, I use the Mantle of The Fool approach I picked up from the brilliant Alan Peat. This involves the teacher playing the fool and asking the students to help them learn something. 

This is exactly what I did this week.

"Students," I announced. "I need your help."

"Over the Easter break, I am attending a wedding. There will be dancing involved no doubt and I need to impress." I lied.

"I was wondering whether you could help me and teach me how to do this new dance move the floss, so I can impress everyone!"

The hook was set. They were desperate to help, teaching the teacher something is such a powerful hook.

"The only way I will be able to understand and practice at home will be if you can create some instructions."

Instructional writing at the best of times can be a struggle! We've all been there - cups of tea, sandwiches, probably the worst I've seen on my travels was a display on 'How to tidy the classroom'! Why not get them to create instructions about something they are experts on. 

The first thing we had to do was read some instructions to identify some features to help us with our writing. The Mat Sullivan and Alan Peat book - Ultimate Guide to Non-Fiction - is one of the best resources for support with Non-Fiction. The wealth of examples, sentence types and structure support gave children a real depth of understanding to this text type. 

What I absolutely loved about this challenge was how hard it was for children to break down the dance move into its different, individual parts. Yes, they have all perfected the dance as they show every minute of the day but actually create a series of clear instructions was another thing. It turned into a great computational thinking activity. With all the work I do with Dr Chips, I am well aware of all the brilliant resources from Barefoot Computing. Some of the unplugged activities to support computational thinking are brilliant and this linked well:

So with this task, children are touching upon a lot of the concepts here: algorithms, decomposition and abstraction.

As if I couldn't engage the children more, the writing they produced wasn't the end product. Not when we can transform it through technology into a more engaging form of media to them. Once they had finished their writing, the final challenge was to use their writing to create their own video tutorial video. They also knew if these were done well, they would be shared through our school social media channels.

The app we decided to use was Apple Clips. 

This app is quickly becoming one of my favourites in the classroom. The only downside is that it needs iOS 10 to run. A lot of schools I work in still use slightly older iPads where it isn't compatible. As an Apple app, it is almost like a condensed version of iMovie. It is a fantastic way to create visual content and allows you to add subtitles, different effects and filters, stickers, labels and it very easy and straightforward to use. 

To let you into a little secret, it is the app I use when creating a lot of content for my social media channels. 

I want to share a couple of finished videos from my pupils. As you can see, they have explored a lot of the creative options within the app to transform their writing. Unfortunately, due to time constraints they didn't have as much time with the performing element as I would have liked.

They would love to know what you think and even better if it has helped you learn this dance. Let us know in the comments. 

Figment AR to Inspire Writing

Today I worked with one of our Year 3 classes and I eventually had the chance to try out a new app I've been desperate to use - Figment AR.

I first heard of this app after reading a blog post from the brilliant @ICTEvangelist. You can read his blog post here:

Figment AR For Story Telling And Re-Living Field Trips In IOS 

The feature in the app which I was immediately drawn to was the portals feature. This allows you to place a portal within your world. This portal allows you to travel to any 360° image. There are a couple of pictures included but you can also add your own. Straight away I knew this would be something that would inspire some amazing writing in my class and today I finally got the chance to have a go with our brilliant Year 3 pupils. But as I always discuss on my CPD and INSET the big hook was what they were going to do with their writing which was to bring it to life and create their own movie!

As their topic is linked to space, we decided to use a 360° image of space. The pupils had a go with the app and stepping through the portal and exploring outer space. The look of awe and wonder and that sound of the collective 'wow' was one of those special moments. After that, we worked on writing a story. The idea would be that the children would write in first person about finding the portal in class and stepping into it. We discussed different techniques to make our story interesting, these included:

• An effective opening sentence to hook and intrigue our reader.
• Describing the weather to set the mood.
• Describing the silence when realising they were all alone. 
• Finding the portal and describing our reaction
• Multisensory description after stepping in the portal.
• A cliff hanger ending.

The effort from the students was brilliant and we got some really good writing from them, here are a few examples:

Once the children had finished their writing, they could transform it into their own movie. Using the app iMovie, the children narrated their writing over a video of the Figment app in action. Within iMovie, they could change the pace of the video to match their narration, add sound effects, filters and as an extension use Garageband to create a soundtrack. It was a brilliant afternoon and the pupils worked exceptionally hard knowing that their hard work would be shared with you! So please make their day by leaving them a comment! 

Here are some of their examples:

Just to make you aware, Figment AR will only work on newer devices running on iOS 11.