Hue Animation Camera Review

In March, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the 2016 French Lick Teacher Blogger Retreat in French Lick, Indiana! What an amazing experience. Click here to read my previous blog post about this retreat!!!

Any ways, One of the amazing sponsors was Hue Cameras! They had an opportunity for teachers who attended the retreat to get a free +HUE animation camera, use it in the classroom and write a review!

This camera is amazing! It comes with a great book to read and become familiar with your camera as well as the process!

Here is what you will get in your box!!!!!!

After I read the book and I suggest reading the book beforehand because it is a great resource, I searched youtube to see what others have done just to get an idea and to make sure I truly understand the process myself. Then I made a smart board presentation to share with my kids! This is a great tool to teach adults as well. My student teacher used this as a guide for her project!

The smart board and the power point presentation  (in case you do not have a smart board) are below! Just click on the pics below for the presentation to download and use in your class room!

                              

                        smart board presentation

       

Power Point Presentation

Here is how I ran my lesson:

1. I went through the smart board presentation! We reviewed all the parts of the camera,  the different roles that they would have , all expectations of behavior and how to properly treat the camera, and we watched a video (included in the presentation) on how to take pictures.

2. After we went over the presentation and reviewed all the different roles they will have, my kiddos split into production teams and began their journey into making a movie about their rainforest animal! They were given information sheets about their animals and note taking materials. They then researched, wrote the facts down and created their pictures. They also created their animal, laminated it and glued it to popsicle sticks so it will be able to move in the beginning of their movie!

3. Then they took all their materials (notes, pictures, headings, etc) and put it in the order they wanted their movie to be in. Now I have first graders and they just loved this activity!!!!

4. Once they had everything the way they wanted it, the movie production began. They set up the camera and had the view they liked. They took the pictures and they did the narrating. All we did was assist when they asked for help and made sure things ran smoothly!

5. When we have our movie completed and we have exported it, we have three choices:  Creatubbles, YouTube and QuickTime.

Creatubbles is an awesome new site that have partnered with HUE. It allows us to upload our Hue Animation Movies to a site that is safe for our kids to use and upload their creations to. It will give their creation a link to share with their friends and family so they can all enjoy their creations!

Here are just a few things we found to be helpful when making the movies:

- take several pictures of the different objects or drawings- this will give you a good amount of space to add narration. We found that it is best to take about 11 different pictures and set them at 1.00. 

- make sure it is really quiet around the camera and computer. It does pick up other noises.

- save it as you go along.

- If they are going to use illustrations, we found that the brighter the pictures the more vibrant their movie is! My kiddos used Kwik Stix paint sticks!

Here is a video of day one of my teaching my class about this awesome camera!

Here are two of their movies they made! I just love them and they did an amazing job!!!!!!!

This camera is amazing! It is easy to use! It makes research projects more enjoyable! It creates lasting memories! 

Please visit my blog soon because I will have one of these to giveaway soon!!!!

Earth Day!

I love teaching my kiddos about Earth Day! I love teaching them about how they can make the world a better place! One of my favorite books to read is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss!

Our day was centered on the Lorax! We made mustache props to keep! We made paper Loraxes and wrote about him! We got our picture taken with the Lorax!

We made truffula trees out of marshmallows, frosting and sprinkles for a snack! 

But the best activity of all was making our Lorax planter in which we planted our truffula seed!

Not only did we do these activities but we also listened to my absolute favorite earth day songs! They are inserted below:

Famous American Presentations

This summer, I attended the Teach Forward program at the Smithsonian Museum of American History! I loved it! It was free, we got 26 clock hours, we received awesome materials, and awesome ideas. But we also got to collaborate with each other!

I love history. So I jumped at this opportunity and I am so glad I did. 

One of the expectations placed upon us was to create a lesson, teach it in our classroom and send it to the smithsonian! 

I decided I was going to use the idea of symbols and their importance! So I used my favorite president of all time, Abraham Lincoln, to introduce what we were going to do! 

We learned about Abraham Lincoln and talked about what his symbol could be! I already planned on using his hat but I wanted to hear what my kiddos came up with! Many said his hat! I used the book,I am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Metzer as my mentor text. Awesome book! You can access the link for this book by clicking on the picture of the book below!

Now of course, I had to buy his hat when I was at the Smithsonian because every teacher should own Abraham Lincoln's hat!! Lol!

Then they were to choose their person who they wanted to research and dress as! Yes, they had to dress as their person when they presented to the class! 

The number of standards that this covered was unreal- listening, speaking, personal narrative, research, facts versus opinions, point of view, social studies, editing, and the list goes on!

So with unit I created which is in my tpt store just click on Abraham Lincoln to see it, my kiddos chose their people and began to research and write their biographies!

Can I just say they were amazing!!!! Please look at the pictures below and check out the video!

Alexander Graham Bell

Paul Revere

 Christa McAuliffe

Thomas Jefferson

Princess Diana

I know she is from England but she wanted to research her so bad! 

George Washington

JFK

This is my ELL student who speaks very little English but he did his research and repeated what I said! He was so proud of himself and so was I!

Amelia Earhart

Neil Armstrong

FDR

I love how he came in a wheelchair!!!!!

View on Flipagram

I loved this project so much that this will be a yearly project for my firsties!!!

And the winner is..................

My giveaway for the Kwik Stix paint sticks is over and the winner is.........

Pinterest Pick 3 for April

Oh my!!! I can not believe that I missed this month's Pinterest Pick 3. That just goes to show you that my month has been crazy!!!!!!

So as usual I am linking up with the Inspired Owl for the monthly Linky of Pinterest Pick 3. I guess it is better to be late than never!!!!

So here are my three picks for April!!!!!

OMG!!!! I love these pledges!!! Wait until you see the link for this awesome project!!!!

So I love the Hungry Caterpillar!! here are some awesome ideas for the classroom!

I love Peeps! Here is an awesome science activity for Peeps!!

So there are my 3 picks for April, please check out the picks of some of these other awesome educators!!!

Happy Pinning!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Kwik Stix- Amazing Paint Sticks!!'

I love art supplies! I love anything that brings out the creativity of my kiddos! So, I have to tell you about these awesome paint sticks from The Pencil Grip! When I went to the French Lick Teacher Blogger Retreat in March, every teacher received these awesome paints! So not only does this company create products that bring out my kiddos creativity but they also support teachers! yay!!!

These paint sticks are amazing! We had indoor recess and my kiddos wanted to paint! You all think you know what I was thinking don't you? You think I was thinking we only have 15 minutes, that's a lot of mess to have to pick up  and where am I going to put them to dry! Well, nope I wasn't thinking any of those because these paint sticks are mess free! Yes I said mess free! No water needed! No bridges needed and they dry within 90 seconds! Yes, you read it correctly 90 seconds! 

 On top of it all, they are so vibrant! I love how they make my kiddos work come alive!!!!!

Another great thing about these is the fact they last a long time! My whole class of 23 used them during recess. They all painted at least 3 pictures a piece and there is still enough left for I would guess 6 more indoor recesses like today if not more!

Here are some more photos of their masterpieces!!!

 So you have seen and read about how amazing these are! Now is your chance to win a set! Just enter the rafflecopter below to win your own set of Kwik Stix from the pencil grip company!!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway