Skip to main content

Time to "Spark" some creativity!

By Jessica Winstanley
With only 8 and a half days left in the school year, we are all looking for ways to keep out students
engaged in the learning process while we wrap up the remainder of the curriculum for the year.  I may have found just the tool to help you with that very goal!

Adobe Spark allows you to "turn your ideas into impactful social graphics, web stories and animated videos—in minutes."  This free tool is super simple to use, works on Chromebooks, iOS devices, desktops, or laptops, and allows even our youngest users to create a professional looking project in minutes.



There are three tools in Spark.  The first, Post, allows users to create a graphic, like a twitter banner or poster, to share a message.  I had my second and third graders create their own faux twitter banners.  They loved trying to share a message with simply a picture and a quote.  Here is a project created by Teah.  She chose this quote because it is what her family says every night before bed.

The next tool is called Spark Page.  This program allows students to create magazine-style web stories.  I am having my students create "All About Me" and "What I Learned" projects with this tool.  They love the way they can combine pictures, icons, videos, and text to tell a story.  It has a different feel than a typical presentation.  I would love to see students creating these to present research or to share about a current or historical event.  Here is Brooklyn's presentation on what she learned in computer class.  She was able to create this is about 30 minutes even though it was the first time she had used the tool.

The final tool in the Spark suite is Spark Video.  This tool lets students create videos by combining pictures/icons, text, and their own voices.  I have used this with students as young as kindergarten and 1st grade!  They love hearing their voices.  It is like Photostory, but MUCH better!  Here is my kindergarten friend, Madison, reading her favorite octopus book.


Students can login to Spark using their Google logins, so there are no new passwords to remember.  They also can search for photos and images directly from the program.

Go to spark.adobe.com and spark some creativity in your students today!  How might you use Spark in your classroom?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Mrs. WalkerMay 31, 2016 at 1:22 PM

    Love it - Kathy Mirakovits and I are considering using it as a final reflection piece for Forensic Science II.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Google Docs: Fonts for Early Elementary

By Jessica Winstanley
Sample of search results from fonts.google.com A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a training with a bunch of my favorite lower elementary teacher friends, and several of them were lamenting the fact that it is hard to find "good" Google fonts for the little people they work with on a daily basis.  Specifically, it is a challenge to find the single story lower case a and the open 4 .  This conversation, of course, sent me out on a mission to remedy this for these fantastic people.  So, the next day I put on my headphones, turned up the tunes on Spotify, and dived into the website fonts.google.com .  This website lists all the Google fonts available.  It also allows you to type in your own letters and numbers and see them in all the various fonts.  For my purpose, I typed in "abckgy 1234 This is the font."  From here I could see all 877 fonts, and look specifically for the a   and the 4.  It was quite an adventure, and I came across...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's time to change your password!

By Jessica Winstanley
There are several times a year when it is important to change your password.  Your password will expire every 90 days. When your windows computer informs you that your password will be expiring soon, CHANGE IT THEN! It is also always a good idea to change your password before going on break so that you do not get locked out of your computer, email or gradebook.  Here is how you change your password from the school windows computers. On your Windows desktop/TEC computer , press the Alt, Ctrl and Delete buttons at the same time. Click on "Change a Password" on the menu below: Enter your username, if needed, and follow the directions on screen. If you are off site or working solely on a Chromebook , you can use the VDI (Virtual Desktop) to change your password.   Simply go to vdi.portageps.org.  Click "VMware Horizon HTML Access."  Click "Accept."  Login with your portage username (leave off the @portageps.org) and password.  Click "Login." ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Skyward Tech Tip: Student Birthday List

By Jessica Winstanley
Would you like to get a list of your students' birthdays from Skyward? This can be done in just a few clicks. Step 1: Login to Skyward and select the blue gradebook for the class you want to print usernames and passwords for - elementary staff, you can just select any of your gradebooks. Step 2: Go to the reports menu at the top of the screen and select Class Roster. Step 3: Choose Student Name & Student Info, then select Clone Template. Step 4: Give your new template a name, such as Birthdays. Click Save. Step 5: Select how you want the Names to Display, then UNCHECK all the boxes. Now only check Birth Date. Click Save. Step 6: Now you can select the template you just created. Click Print. Step 7: A PDF preview will open. From here you can choose to save or print. You do this by placing your curser in the bottom right corner of the screen and clicking on the picture of the disc (save) or the printer (print). This is what the report would look like:...
Read more