These lessons will demonstrate how you can use iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband to develop contextual based lessons for you classroom.

Simple slide shows can be created with iPhoto to enhance your lessons. With iPhoto you can also create story books with the students to supplement the classroom instruction. Some of the many projects you can create with iPhoto and books is to create story books, alphabet books, show and tell books, and picture project books for science.

Apple's iMovie in conjunction with iPhoto, and your iSight camera can help you develop instructional videos. You can develop more sophisticated slide shows in iMovie which include narration. If you do not have a digital video camera you can use your iSight camera to take basic videos and edit it with iMovie.

Apple's Garageband allows you to develop audio instruction with some enhancements. Garageband is a very good audio recorder and editor. Like iMovie you can use pictures with video and narration to develop instructional content. Garageband permits additional enhancements to your product like chapter markers, which permits your listeners and viewers to jump to a specific section. Garageband also permits links to web sites so that users can click on these links while they are listening and they will be taken to the relevant web page.

Pictures from Europe   Pictures from the Gila  Pictures of cities   Sample audio from FreePlayMusic.com

• Go onto the Internet or choose images from your own personal libary as this can be used very well with pictures taken from the area like around the city, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Hueco Tanks and other locations. It's best to use your own pictures because then you will not have to worry about copyright issues. For this lesson you will download the file of images supplied through this link which contains pictures taken by me.
• Once you have downloaded the images import them into iPhoto. Start iPhoto then open the folder with the pictures. Select all the pictures then drag and drop them into the iPhoto library.
• Select all the pictures you just imported and go to the file menu and select File->New Album From Selection.... This will create a new album with the pictures you selected. Make sure to give teh album a descriptive name.
• Select the album you just created by clicking on it once.
• At the bottom of the window you will see the slide show icon. Click on this icon once.
• In the slide show window you will see the pictures from your album at the top.
  
• At this point you can still move the pictures around so they are in the order you prefer.
• On the bottom of the window are controls you can use to play or preview the slide show.
• You can give your slide a default tranisition. This could be just one type of transition or a series of random transitions.
• You can choose to apply the Ken Burns effect to all the images.
• If you choose the adjust panel then you can apply a transition effect and timing to each image on the slide. You can choose the transition and its duration.
• If you select the Music button you can select a song to be played throughout the slide show or a series of songs from a playlist to be played during the show. This music is directly integrated with the music in your iTunes library.
• Preview your slide show to make sure it is the way you like.
  
• All that remains is to share your slide show with everyone.
  
• To share, click File on the menu bar then select Export.
• From the export panel give your slide show a name.
• From the movie size selector choose medium 320X240.
• Your side show will be encoded into a quicktime video that you can now place onto your web page.

There is great free music you can use in your slide shows and movies.

A few suggestions are Creative Commons, GarageBand.com, and FreePlayMusic.com

Developing a video with iMovie and your iPhoto pictures or your iSight camera.

• This project will use the same pictures from the previous exercise.
• Start iMovie to create a new project.
• Give your project a descriptive name
• On the lower right under the clips pane click once on the Media button.
• At the top of that pane click once on the Photo button.
• This will show you the pictures that are available in your iPhoto library and you should see the pictures from the previous lesson.
• Click once on a picture. A photo settings pane will appear.
• This pane allows you to set the Ken Burns effect or to remove the effect from the photo.
• Place a check mark on the Ken Burns effect to activate this effect.
• Move the slider to the Start and then move the zoom slider to choose the desired zoom. Click and drag on the photo to change its position.
• Move the slider to the End position for the Ken Burns effect. Move the zoom slider to the desired zoom level and drag the image to position it where you like.
• Move the duration slider to set the time for the Ken Burns effect.
• Click on the picture again to preview the effects. Change the effects to your liking.
• Once the settings are to our liking click the apply button in the Ken Burns pane.
• You can keep doing this to the rest of the pictures you would like to place in the video.
• If you choose not to have the Ken Burns effect all you have to do is remove the check mark from the Ken Burns Effect.
  
• You can use the Zoom slider to zoom in or out of a piture without using the Ken Burns effect.
  
• You can use the Photo Settings pane to adjust the time that each picture plays.
• Anytime during this process you can rewind and preview your work in progress.
• When you are done you can share your project with others on School Center.
• To share your video with others select Share from the iMovie menu and choose Quicktime. In the Quicktime pane select Compress Movie for Web Streaming.
• Click the share button and give your movie a short name before you save.

There is great free music you can use in your slide shows and movies.

A few suggestions are Creative Commons, GarageBand.com, and FreePlayMusic.com

• This project will use the same pictures from the previous two projects.
• Start Garageband and choose Create New Podcast
• Plug in your headphone and microphone.
• When you are asked if you would like to use the new microphone choose Yes.
• Click on the audio track either Male or Female.
• Click on the record button or press the R key to begin recording.
• Press the stop button or the space bar to stop recording.
• Listen to the audio you just recorded and make sure it is to your liking.
• Rewind and play the audio until you get to the point where you would like the first picture to appear. Press the space bar to stop the play head.
  
• Make sure the media pane is open by clicking once on the media button.
  
• Click on the photos button at the top of the pane if it is not already selected.
• Drag and drop the first image into the location where the play head has stopped on the podcast track.
• Press the space bar to begin the playback and then press the space bar again where you would like the next picture to appear.
• Drag and drop the next picture into place at the play head. Adjust he images so that there is no space between them.
• Continue to do this until you have added all the pictures.
• Rewind the playhead and review your project.
• When you are done you can share your project with others by saving it to the disk or sending it to your iTunes player.
• To save the projet to the disk select Share from the menu and then select Export podcast to disk.
• To send and save the project to your iTunes player select Share then select Send Podcast to iTunes.

Reading This month, our children will be focusing on TEK 4.12: Recognizing and analyzing plot, setting and problem resolution.  This first week, our class is focusing on setting.  Setting is usually defined as where and when a story takes place.  But in 4th grade, they will not only identify the time and place of a story, but will be expected to explain and understand how it contributes to the meaning of the story. For example, if a story takes place in a forested area, the reader would need to be able to explain how the story is affected by the forest and how (and if) it might change if the story took place in a different environment. Once the students have learned about setting this week, look for questions about setting in their homework center next week. 

Language Arts Language Arts is divided into two main components: editing and composition.  This week and for the next couple of weeks in editing, we will be focusing on TEK 4.16, capitalization, punctuation and penmanship.  In particular this week, the use of commas.  There are nine times when commas are used in the English language.  1.)  To separate items in a list, 2.) to separate city and state, 3.) to separate date and year, 4.) after the salutation of a letter, 5.) the closing of a letter, 6.) to separate two complete sentences connected by a conjunction, 7.) to separate a quote from the rest of the sentence, 8.) after directly addressing a specific person in a sentence, and 9.) when using an appositive (Mrs. Rubert, a teacher at Desertaire Elementary, had very high standards for her children).

Spelling skill for this week:  "i before e except after c" and "ei" making the long a sound.  Words:  receipt, believe, conceit, siege, neighbor, reign.

  In composition, we are studying TEK 4.15C, using language to describe (figurative language).  In particular this week, we are learning about similes.  When a person uses a simile, they compare two unlike things using the words "like" or "as".  For example, your child might be described as being "as sweet as honey".  During this week and into next week, our children will be exploring the effectiveness of the similes they choose.  Our children learn not to "force" similes into their work, but to have them flow smoothly into the language where it contributes to the overall meaning they are trying to convey.

Math  This week, we have been studying number concepts, TEK 4.1, using place value to read, write, compare and order whole numbers through the millions place.  In particular this week, our children will be expected to place 7 digit whole numbers into ascending and descending order.  Our children will be given a list of four numbers that they will have to put in order, greatest to least and vice versa using a place value chart. 

Science TEK 4.1A, demonstrating safe practices during field and laboratory investigations is our focus for this week.  We will begin by identifying scientific tools, such as graduated cylinders, goggles, thermometers, etc. and how to safely handle them.  Ask your child for their list of tools (a page with pictures of tools and their use), or see the "You gotta have this" section of this web page for an uploaded version that you can keep for yourself.