Green Screen App by DoInk is Divergent!

This week and maybe next week too my students will be creating video book reviews of one of the books they read this school year. I found this wonderful new video creation app for the iPad called Green Screen by DoInk. It just the app I have been looking for for my library. I have several green shower curtains hung on my magnetic white boards with bulldog clips and have been waiting to use the screens all year. Now, thanks to DoInk we will be making green screen videos in the library. Since I was not sure how to use the app, I had to practice. This is my first feeble attempt but now when the kids ask questions I may have an answer!


 
Here is the video that comes with the app and I will have students play with this to get a feel for the app but not for too long because I only have the iPad cart signed out for 2 cycles and since I only see my students once a cycle this may be cutting it close! Enjoy.

Chicago River Being Turned Green for St. Patrick's Day

I am sitting here wearing my Divergent T-Shirt (the Divergent series takes place in the city of Chicago) when my friend posts the video below on YouTube. She and her son went down to the Chicago River this morning to watch it being turned green for St. Patrick's Day! Some day I will get there to see it but for those of you who like me want to see it now, live vicariously through my Plurk buddy Kim...

A Teacher's Life for Me: A Few More PAEMST Pictures

Check out these pictures from the White House! And check out the link to the White House Press release. I am so proud of PA teacher Michael Soskil and I am proud to say he is part of my (as he describes us) tribe. This is a link to one of his blog posts about his recent experience in Washington, DC, getting to meet the president as part of his being selected as one of the winners of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).   A Teacher's Life for Me: A Few More PAEMST Pictures.

Divergent

I spent the last week nursing the last book in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, Allegiant.  I kept going back and re-reading not because I could not understand the book but because I didn't want the series to end. I have not been this invested in a series since I read Emily Rodda's Rowan of Rin series or Suzanne Collins' Underland Chronicles.  Most people would include Collins' Hunger Games series but in my opinion the Divergent series is hands down better than the Hunger Games. Better moral dilemmas, more plausable futuristic society, and a more realistic and stronger female heroine. And, I am so looking forward to March 27's Divergent movie release! Every time I think of Tess and Tobias (the main characters) I think of this song by Sarah Bareille... Brave.
 And I can't wait to see the movie! Now the question is how many of my students can I get to read the book before they see the movie!

3D Printing ABS vs PLA... which is better to use?

http://uncrate.com/stuff/3doodler/

I know it may be a very long time before I can afford an actual 3D printer in my library. However, ever since I attended Engadget Expand I have been excited about a product I saw there called the 3Doodler which extrudes a single strand of plastic and we can actually draw with it. I have been following the progress of the 3Doodler which is expected to ship in April and may be a good low cost option to get 3D Printing off the ground in the library. But I have not order one because I am so confused as to which type of plastic I should be using. I may only get one chance to make a choice and this video goes a long way to help in my decision.