Creating an Avatar in Voki was just plain fun. Running 8 or more newscasts each week I try to stay on the other side of the camera (I prefer that the students get their 15 minutes of fame). The avatar allows me to stay camera shy, yet get the message across. It was easy to create, but the choices are limited for the free version of Voki. I placed it on the 5th grade page of my Weebly. I used it to challenge the students to do work beyond the classroom with their GoAnimate account. I will also embed it in their Edmodo page, which seems to get a lot of participation.
Shutterfly
I loaded some pictures I had taken into a folder called The Henry Ford on my new Shutterfly account. I love to go to Greenfield Village and the museum and take pictures. I use these pictures for chromakey background. This is a great opportunity to share these pictures for others who may want to use them for social studies resources. The picture above on this page of the counter at the Diner was taken there as well. I am very nostalgic and feel it is important to share our past with the young students.
Photo Peach Slide Show
I had dabbled in Photo Peach in the past, but It was really the most enlightening piece of T13. I was awed by the quiz, a feature that I wish was incorporated like this in more tools. The quiz will increase engagement with my students. I found Fotoflexer to be useful as a basic tool to prepare photos. I am often looking to find a quick way to crop a photo or enhance it, and this is a nice tool with no logging in required.