Animoto.com claims to be "The end of sideshows." The site allows users to upload photos and video clips and arrange them but will create the actual slide show. Users can choose from music loaded on the site or upload their own music from MP3's. The slide shows can be sent as links or embedded into web pages or emails.

The classroom applications are virtually limitless. I have used it with students as part of a book report project in which they created "trailers" for the books they read. Other ideas I had included using it for an "All about Me" project and using it to teach Symbolism or other literary terms (but then I am an English teacher so there are lots of ways history, math, and science teachers could use it that I haven't thought of yet.)



The site will allow any user to make a 30 second movie, but if you sign up for a free educator's account you and your students can make shows up to 3 or 4 minutes (lengths are dependent upon how long the song you use takes to play.) The only draw back I have really noticed is that the Educator's account approval takes a few days for the site owners to get back to you and the video's often take a long time to finalize and kids lose patience with that part. The upside to the finalization process is that once it has started the kids don't need to watch over the site and can in fact navigate away from it while the video finishes. The videos will then show up in their account under "My Videos"

Comeeko.com or Pikistrips.com is an interactive comic book building tool. I stumbled upon this site after searching for a comic book clip on Google images. The site allows you to upload your own photos, or photos saved on your computer and add thought and speech bubbles. Photos treatments can also be used to make the photos more like actual drawings, old photographs and add elements like hats, glasses and hair styles to photos.

This tool has many applications in the classroom. Students can use the tool to create comic books based on materials they have read in class, display an understanding of scientific or mathematical theories, and visualize historical events in a new way. Teachers can also use the site to create worksheets or handouts to support student learning.

The first assignment I let my students use the site for was a Romeo and Juliet project. The kids found the site very easy to use and fun as well. Many of my students who rarely turned in work were excited about this project. Some students used clip art or photos they found online like this one, but other students also took photos of themselves and friends to create their projects.