ThingLink Launches Interactive Image Contest for K-12 with Rosen Digital....Hagan Thinks It Awesome, Your Students Will Too!

            

Students create digital projects with images, music, videos, 
and websites to win an iPad Mini or annual subscription
 to one of Rosen Digital’s online databases.

New York (Feb 26, 2013) -- Help your students harness their creative energies while putting their 21st-century skills to use with a new contest from ThingLink and Rosen Digital. Students grades K–12 can create Interactive ThingLink images, providing the opportunity to explore their interests and passions, connect multiple resources into a cohesive presentation, and share their projects with a large community. Visit ThingLinkContest.com.

ThingLink allows students to connect audio, video, images, websites, and text into one interactive image presentation. Projects deepen learning as students delve into content through research to present knowledge and ideas as they learn while practicing digital literacy skills of image creation and selection,
content curation, tagging, and sharing.

Susan Oxnevad, Instructional Technology Facilitator and educator for 26 years said: "ThingLink is one of my favorite and most frequently used tools because it supports active student participation and requires users to construct knowledge as they create. The tool can be very useful for designing and implementing the types of deep learning experiences required by the Common Core and it is also an effective way to help students develop digital literacy skills. ThingLink is a fun, flexible and intuitive!"

Eligibility: All students K-12 are eligible to enter. Teachers and parents may enter an image on a student’s behalf.

Submission Deadline: Images may be submitted through May 1, 2013. Enter images at ThingLinkContest.com.

Winners will be announced on May 15, 2013.

We had a snow day this afternoon so Hagan was home extra early.  I told him about the ThingLink Contest and he couldn't wait to create a super cool interactive image.  

Being a huge Green Bay Packers fan he wanted to use a picture of his team. Hagan also wanted to create one for the "Sports-Game On!" category.  He went and found one using Google.  Then I helped him upload it into my ThingLink.  I then showed Hagan how to add links and words.  He also loved how he could pick which icon he wanted.
                      
Hagan thinks this Green Bay Packers ThingLink is pretty awesome!  I do too.

Categories: There are 10 categories:

• My Favorite Books or Authors
• Science — Think Like a Scientist!
• Health & Well-being — You, Your Family, Your Friends
• Environment — The World Around Us
• Community — Volunteering & Making a Difference
• Money Smarts — Earning, Saving, Spending
• Art & Music — Express Yourself!
• Sports — Game On!
• History & Social Studies — From Yesterday to Today
• Animals — Furry, Friendly, & Fierce

Students can enter as many images as they like. All entries are viewable at ThingLink.com.

Voting: Friends and family can vote on their favorite images by using “touch” icon on a ThingLink image. The most “touches” counts for a portion of the score. A team of educational advisors will review entries and determine winners.

Prizes: One iPad mini will be awarded to the top winner in each category. The winning school in each category will also receive one Rosen Database subscription for a year (Teen Health and Wellness, Digital Literacy, Financial Literacy or the Power Knowledge Science Suite). Certificates will be awarded to second and third place winners in each category.

For more information: Write to education@thinglink.com. Sign up for a free account at ThingLink.com.

About ThingLink
ThingLink interactive images help students develop 21st century skills and enrich their enthusiasm for learning. Teachers can use ThingLink images as interactive learning modules (ILMs) that activate and inspire students with creative and effective learning experiences. Visit ThingLink.com.

About Rosen Publishing
Founded in 1950, Rosen Publishing has a long history of providing high-quality curriculum-correlated nonfiction for children and young adults. Since the 2007 launch of the award-winning Teen Health & Wellness database, the Rosen Digital division has expanded to produce innovative databases, apps, eBooks, and Interactive eBooks that support 1:1 laptop learning, digital citizenship, STEM, and are ideal for maker spaces and digital media lab programs. Rosen continues to enjoy a strong reputation for recognizing urgent need within our communities and producing sensitive, reassuring, unbiased materials.

Stop. Look. Listen. To The 5th Graders Awesome Digital Book Talks!

In the hallways at Van Meter we have put up a little fun!  

Our students can STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. to wonderful book talks created by our 5th graders.

In the post Talking Book Talks In Our Hallways and Library Books! you can read all about the project and how the classroom teachers and I collaborated throughout this new adventure of creating interactive book talks.   

A very important part of this project was also creating eye-catching displays in the hallways to engage our students, teachers, and school community.  

We all worked together to create these fun displays.  The Book Talk Bubbles were created in the library, Mrs. Thompson and I took the students pictures, and my cadet Olivia and I created the QR codes from the EduVision/Camtasia Relay URL's of the book talks.  Mrs. Thompson and her cadet Lacey put up the display in their hallway. We even had help from our friend Kimberly and a few students too.

My son Hagan was in charge of trying these out when we were putting the displays up in the hallways, but tomorrow all of our students will have a chance to scan the codes with the iTouches, iPads, or a device of their own.  

You can scan the QR codes below and watch these book talks yourself too.  

Colby’s Book Talk...Diary of a Wimpy Kid 7

Sam’s Book Talk... “Hatchet”

Abbey's Book Talk..Crispin by Avi

Olivia's Book Talk...The Leanin' Dog

Maddie's Book Talk-Diary of a Wimpy Kid 7

Clair's Book Talk..A Room With A Zoo

Natalie's Book Talk Because of Winn-Dixie

Emma's Book Talk..Marley and Me

Peyton's Book Talk....Starlight Animal Rescue Mad Dog

Mitchell's Book Talk.A Series of Unfortunate Events 13

Taylor's Book Talk...Reality Bites

Hunter's Book Talk..Summer Ball

Bryce's Book Talk..Football Genius

Raven's Book Talk..The Red Kayak

Breana's Book Talk.The Report Card

Cody's Book Talk.The 39 Clues

Audrey's Book Talk.Meet Julie

Eldon's Book Fall of the Templar

Sara's Book Talk..Misty of Chicoteague

Alex's Book Talk The Face On The Milk Carton

Patrick's Book Talk.London Bridges

Cari's Book Talk.War Horse

Kolby's Book Talk No More Dead Dogs

Anthony's Book Talk Adventure's Wanted Slathbog's Gold

Alexis's Book Talk..Swindle

Shannnah's Book Talk.The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Taylor's Book Talk.A Dog's Way Home

Regan's Book Talk.Runaway Twin

Collaborative Poetry Gallery Walk Project....4th Grade Classroom, Music, Art, Library, and Technology Come Together

At the end of January, the fourth grader teachers, related arts teachers, and myself kicked off a "Collaborative Poetry Gallery Walk Project".  We focused around all of our curricular areas and collaborated together to make this a wonderful project where the students could show their own creative talents and passions.  

This is the brainstorming and ideas that we worked through together within a collaborative Google Doc. 

We did a big part of it during Digital Learning Day on February 6th and had a lot of fun showing off their ideas.

After writing their Acrostic Poems with their classroom teachers, the 4th graders brought their poetry books and posted them onto the Van Meter 4th Graders KidBlogs.  

They have loved receiving comments from others around the world.  I shared them on Twitter using #Comments4Kids and with others on our blog roll within KidBlog. 

The 4th graders then had a choice in what they created from using one of their poems.  They could use technology, art, and music in any combination they wanted to created something to share in the "Poetry Gallery Walk."  

The projects are starting to come in and I just had to share a few of them. 

Several of the students created beautiful art projects from their poetry within the art room.  We are displaying them in the library. 

                          
                          
                           
There are also a few of the students who are using Animoto to represent their poetry.  I love seeing what images they choose to put with their words.

During music time, they have also created raps and will record these to play during their "Poetry Gallery Walk" too.

This was one of my favorite projects of the year to work on with other teachers because we all worked together to make this an exciting and connected project for the students.

The poetry event is planned for the first week of March.  I can't wait to see how the students bring these things together to showcase on special day.