Tried It Tuesday: Animoto

I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried-It Tuesday!  My "tried it" for this week isn't really new, but it is a tool I haven't used yet this year.  At the end of the first year I was back in the regular classroom, I was in a major panic trying to create a slide show for our EOY celebration. I had never used Photostory or any other program like it.  Of course,  I was so stressed that nothing worked for me so I ended up using Power Point.  Not bad, but very time consuming.  (The worst part was burning 22 copies so the parents could have a DVD of the show.)  I swore I would never go through that again!
Last year I discovered Animoto when doing another project with my class and decided to use that instead for my EOY presentation.  Animoto allows you to use photos, images, text, sound and video clips to create a video that can be shared via email, embedded into a blog or website or downloaded to your computer.  Instead of burning all those DVDs I just gave my parents a link to the video.
Basic Animoto only allows you to make 30 second videos, but with a free Educator account you can make videos up to 10 minutes long.  The only snag I encountered is that I had 3 songs I wanted to use, but Animoto only allows one.  (There is an paid upgrade that allows you to do more.)  I solved this dilemma by splicing my 3 songs together on one track using Audacity.  I loved the fact that once my photos and music were uploaded, Animoto did the rest!
I used Animoto again this weekend to create my show for Friday's Celebration of Learning.  I kept the same music as last year, so all I had to do was choose which photos to use.  An hour or so of work on Saturday and the presentation is complete except for adding some end of the year close-ups of each student.  (I like to display these along with the first day photos. My little firsties have grown so much this year!)
Here is the presentation my class  created last year to highlight a project we did.  Wish I would have done this project again this year, but our money unit was during the student teacher disaster and so coin research never happened. :(




Check out Animoto for an easy way to make a slideshow!

Another "Tried It" for me this week-I started my first linky!  I would love for you to share how you teach writing in your classroom.  Do you have tips, strategies, or resources that work for you?  What professional reading do you recommend?  Head to this POST and link up and share!