Animated Earth Processes

"One of the best things about being a teacher is that I get to be a lifelong learner. I just attended an educational technology conference where I learned how to create clay animation stop motion movies! I am so excited to use this technique with my fifth graders to make abstract concepts come to lif..." more»

"One of the best things about being a teacher is that I get to be a lifelong learner. I just attended an educational technology conference where I learned how to create clay animation stop motion movies! I am so excited to use this technique with my fifth graders to make abstract concepts come to life!!

My students will create clay animation movies on constructive and destructive processes (earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, erosion, and weathering). I cannot make a volcano erupt in my classroom, but my students can plan an eruption for their movie. They can create an earthquake and even make it flood!

At the technology conference I learned that there is free software on the internet that I can use to create the movies … free is good! However, there are supplies that are needed to create these movies. A webcam is used to film the images and the headphones with a microphone will allow students to put their own voices in the movie. The craft supplies will be used to create the props and figures to be animated in the movies. Using the free software we will also be able to post our movies to our class website. This will allow the students to share the movies with their families and to download the movies as podcasts. Another benefit is that other students can download our movies as podcasts to learn about destructive and constructive processes!

If I were Mrs. Frizzle with a magic school bus, it would be much easier to teach students about these earth processes. We could visit a volcano, travel to an earthquake zone, and flow through a flood. But I am not Mrs. Frizzle, so my magic bus will be creating clay animation stop motion movies with my students! You will make it possible for my students to watch a volcano erupt, explore an earthquake and feel the fury of a flood. hide»