Recently in our classroom I've enjoyed using a wonderful online tool called Capzles. Very basically, it's an online tool that allows me to create a timeline or power-point type presentation with lots of layers and bells and whistles;) Here is an example of a Capzle that I use in my classroom to support our lessons about the life cycle (please forgive the gaps in info in this capzle. The website has had some recent issues.)
Where Power Point has slides, Capzle has what they call "stacks". I like to think of them more like file folders. So instead of clicking through slide after slide of information, I (or my students) can click on a stack (file folder) and view many pictures, videos, documents, or other interactive materials that pertain to that bit of information. Capzles works especially well for projects like timelines or presentations that have stages (like life cycles!) because it allows you to really expand on specific ideas while staying on track.
Something I've thought about doing with my younger students is creating a poster-board Capzle. Perhaps group up the students and give each group a stage of the life cycle or year on a timeline. Each group could create a "stack" on their poster-board and in the end we could put them all together as a "capzle." Older students who are most experienced with research and online tools would absolutely be able to build a Capzle online and not have to use poster-board;)
Have you used Capzles before? Are there other topics you think would go well with this software?
Another online tool I really enjoy is called Powtoons. I LOVE to use this tool to create little cartoons to introduce new topics:) The graphics and colors are quite catchy and work great as attention-getters:) After I've used the 'toon to introduce a new topic, I'll play the video over again as the kids are coming in from recess or transitioning activities in the classroom. This really seems to help those kids that struggle transitioning their little brains to new topics. In another post on another day, I'll share some of my own powtoons, but unfortunately I've lost them at the moment.....:-/
Do you have an attention-getter that works well? For what else could we use Powtoon in our classrooms?
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