Bwms 8th grade made tutorials to weave plarn with plastic bags and student gallery #artsed #horry #crafts

8th grade bwms art students were challenged by weaving crafts using only recycled goods. Due to the fact there is an abundance of plastic bags in our refills, I heard of these great craft of using plarn, which is basically links of plastic bags woven together to make yarn that can be woven with.

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The first time I saw this done, it was on a YouTube video uploaded by Make Magazine. This lady in the video demonstrates the possibilities what can be made by plarn, and also a brief insight into how much garbage is created by these bags

In the past, I used to do the plarn project on a coil basket, where the students would wrap the plarn around a coiled plastic bag. But when I attended a recent arts/crafts festival, one of the local artists was working on a loom and she told me how easy it was for elementary kids to make one on cardboard.  SO I was able to find this great resource on Craft Stylish: How to Weave on a Cardboard Loom.

And since I recently got my IPad2, I wanted to check out the photo/video sharing capabilities. I was able to record a few of the students to explain the project, and to  possibly use their videos as future tutorials for other classes.

Check out the student tutorials below to make your own plarn work:

p1005.mov Watch on Posterous

 

Plarn bag demo 1:Little British boy demonstrates how to cut plastic bag

One of my bwms students leads a demo on how to take a plastic bag and cut it into loops prior to turning into plarn

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Plarn bag demo 2: Little British boy opens bag strips to show loops

My bwms student shows how to take the strips and they open up as loops

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Plarn bag demo 3: Turn your loops into a plarn chain

My bwms student shows you how to connect the cut out loops from the plastic bag and start 

linking them together into a plarn chain

 

p1008.mov Watch on Posterous

 

Plarn bag demo 4: Wrap plarn around the cardboard loom

 

 

One of my bwms art students demonstrates how to take a plarn chain and wrap it around a pre- cut cardboard loom

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Plarn bag 5 demo: complete loom and do the first weave

My bwms student demonstrates how to complete the wrapping on the cardboard loom and then start the weaving process with the remaining plarn

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Plarn bag demo 6: more detailed weaving

My bwms student gives more detailed instruction on what to do after weaving your first row of plarn and to continue the process through your loom

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Plarn bag demo 7: remove woven plarn square from loom

My bwms student shows off a completed woven plarn piece and how to remove it off of the cardboard loom

 

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Plarn bag demo 8: complete the woven plarn square

My bwms student shows how to take the woven work off of the loom and tie the ends so the wont become undone. Our plan next is to take all of the squares and combine them into a much larger bag or possibly a hat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vid #Tutorials: How to make an online presentation with 280 Slides or Empressr #edtech #artsed #web2.0

If you would like to use the site 280 Slides you can make an online presentation and turn it into an embeddable piece of work on your favorite web site. The site is really easy to use, all you need to do is plug in an email (won't have to check it) and you can make a simple presentation that can be embedded into a site or downloaded as a Powerpoint/PDF file.   (No audio allowed though).

Watch my video tutorial below to find out how:

280_slides_tutorial_-_create_account,_add_slides,_pics,_text_and_embed_to_Edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

You can watch this video to find out how to login/register for a new account, upload your pictures, create new slides, type out your info and then embed it into your favorite web site such as Edmodo

 

Empressr is also a great online presentation site. It is also free, but just takes a bit more info when you start to register. What I like about it better is that you can animate your slideshow and create narrations that can automatically go through the whole presentation. Afterwards, you can embed the slideshow into your favorite site, but it is a bit trickier (watch video #3 to understand why)

 

Empressr_Tutorial_-_create_account,_add_slides,_pics,_text_and_record_w_web_cam.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 1 - You can view this tutorial to find out how to create/register for an account. Afterwards, it is simple on how to upload your pictures, create new slides and even use your web cam for narrations or take pics/video of you.

Empressr_tutorial_2_-_insert_narrations,_customize_your_movie_and_embed_into_edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 2- After you make your voice narrations, you need to know how to edit and insert them. I also provide some tips on how you can get your slideshow to automatically play with the narrations like a smooth movie. Finally, at the end, I show you how to save, but don't worry about the embed code part.....

Empressr_Tutorial_3-_The_CORRECT_way_to_embed_into_Edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 3 - Turns out there are issues when just "embedding" your presentation from Empressr when you are all done. There is a trick that you got to do in order to use the embed code from your main "my empressrs" page. View this video to find out how to publish your video to Edmodo

@Edmodo video tutorials for the #edtech teacher

Feel free to utlize any of the videos below when you are first setting up your class, managing student accounts or contacting your students. You can download the actual videos below, or you can watch them in a streaming fashion through the Embedr playlist.

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

 

edmodo tutorial-create and manage student accounts 

 Use this video in order to first create your student accounts on Edmodo, or in case you need to manage them if a student loses their login information

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_create_and_manage_student_accounts.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial-how to add an rss feed to your class 

Use this tutorial if you would like to add an RSS feed to your class such as from a blog, educational site or video channel so that you don't have to do too much work to inform your students 

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_add_an_rss_feed_to_your_class.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial - how to adjust your profile settings and receive notifications 

Use this edmodo tutorial if you want to adjust your profile image (avatar) along with how do you want you and your students to receive notifications: through email or on their cell phone (NOTE ONLY USE THAT OPTION IF YOUR STUDENTS HAVE UNLIMITED TEXTING) You can also adjust/create a public profile to communicate with other teachers

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_adjust_your_profile_settings_and_receive_notifications.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial - how to create and grade assignments 

Use this edmodo tutorial to help you create your first assignment or learn how to load one from your library if you made a previous assignment. I also guide you through the process of how your student completes the assignment and how easy it is for you to grade it and store their grades

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_create_and_grade_assignments.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial - how to navigate through your site 

Use this edmodo tutorial if you are getting lost with all of the features and images on your home page. I show you which links to click on to help you sort through all of the posts and how you can update your public profile 

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_navigate_through_your_site.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial - how to send files and links 

Use this edmodo tutorial so that you can send files such as images, Office documents or audio files to your students. I also show how to send a link to a web site, and the differences between sending video url/embed codes from You Tube and School Tube

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_send_files_and_links.mp4 Watch on Posterous

 

edmodo tutorial - how to send notes, alerts and polls 

Use this edmodo tutorial to utilize some of the easiest ways to connect and get feedback from your student. The three most common used features are note (send a message to a student/class); alert (an immediate notification) or a poll to conduct quick and easy assessment

 

edmodo_tutorial_-_how_to_send_notes,_alerts_and_polls.mp4 Watch on Posterous

For more Teacher Resources, you can check out the official page on Edmodo for Teachers

 

If you really liked Edmodo, be sure to check out the lens that I created on technology writing  on Squidoo and other web 2.0 and open source software programs that you can use in your classroom to connect with your students through distance learning.