iCreate launches Edmodo Community
One of the initiatives we have at iCreate is figuring out how we can better facilitate teachers sharing the creative lessons and resources they have implemented. While at iCreate we are focused specifically on how teachers use stop-motion animation in their classrooms and ways we can share that with other ...
What You Like in The Guardian Weekend Magazine
Thanks to a lovely reader, we have been mentioned in the What You Like section in The Guardian Weekend Magazine. It's great to see people talking about HUE Animation Studio and I hope this inspires some young animators out there. You can see the full article here. "From a stop-motion ...
Tech in Ed – what does it really mean?
There have been several debates stemming (even more so than usual) over the last several weeks around bringing technology into the classroom, mostly ignited by a New York Times article released earlier this month regarding stagnant test scores at an Arizona School District after millions were invested in technology. And ...
TES Special Needs London 2011
HUE Animation will be at TES Special Needs London on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th October at the Business Design Centre, London. Please come and visit our stand! ...
HUE Animation – Is it Any Good For Your Kids?
I found this great in-depth review about HUE Animation from a blog that knows its stuff when talking young animators: Animation Software For Kids. The best bits: "Overall, we feel that the HUE Animation Studio is one of the best stop motion animation softwares for kids available on the market, ...
The World’s Smallest Stop Motion Animation
An Aardman animation has made the Guinness Book of Records for having the smallest character ever in a stop motion animation. The film features a tiny girl called Dot who is 9mm tall, on a mini journey running over things such as the top of pins, 2p coins and the ...
Top Christmas Gift for Kids!
You might be thinking it is far too early to talk about Christmas but with there being only 100 days to go and seeing that Hamley's announced its predictions for top toys for Christmas in June, I don't think it does any harm to start thinking about what presents you ...
Invention Kitchen – the beginnings of iCreate
People have often asked me "why did you start iCreate" or "how did you get this idea?" or "you're not a teacher, you're an engineer, where's the connection?" To be honest, I can answer all of those questions with 2 words: Invention Kitchen The picture is a scaled model of ...
Rugby World Cup 2011
Rugby World Cup 2011 in Lego! I have found a brilliant stop animation film to celebrate the first day of the Rugby World Cup 2011. A 17 year old student from Scotland called Graham Love has used stop animation to make a film featuring Lego characters performing tackles, scrums and ...
Establishing a baseline of student understanding with SAM
As we launch into a new school year, one of the biggest challenges that educators may face is establishing a baseline of what students know and remember. What is already generally understood, which student(s) need a bit more support, and what are the major misconceptions to be addressed right away? ...
Hold on just one second. I’m explaining the unexplainable!
(by Anne McTighe)After trying SAM Animation, I am completely hooked. I started learning about iCreate to Educate and SAM Animation about a year and a half ago. As I played with the program, I was blown away by how much fun I could have making a silly little Happy Birthday ...
An iCreate Summer
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. Working with Melissa Pickering and iCreate to Educate for the past two months has brought that idiom to life. For the past eight weeks, there has never been a dull moment, which has made it an extremely exciting work environment ...
Polaris at Ebert students in action with stop-motion
We were recently contacted by the Polaris at Ebert school in Denver, CO who has been using stop-motion animation in their classrooms for a few years, and just last year began using SAM Animation. They spent an incredible amount of time pulling together a video that captures the students in ...
SAM Animation without SAM Animation
Have you ever wanted your students to try out an idea for an animation without taking pictures? Without the computer? A practice run of sorts? I have had this idea before but I have never tried it with students until this week. I wanted to have them practice using the ...
SAM at the Singapore Science Centre
Melissa and I are at the Science Centre in Singapore doing SAM Animation workshops with staff members and teachers from primary and secondary schools here in Singapore. Yesterday was the first day of sessions, and both Centre staff and teachers made movies of processes and cycles. Here is a movie ...
Time Lapse with SAM Animation Inspires Inquiry
One of the unique features of SAM Animation is the ability to perform time lapse. While this is not stop-motion in the literal sense, it's a useful feature for students to ask questions and have discussions about changes that occur over long periods of time. Below is a time lapse ...
Students create inaccurate models – but is that bad?
I had the opportunity to observe 2 senior physics classes using SAM Animation as a modeling tool at Portsmouth High School, NH earlier this week, and it was fascinating to see the students create models that were fundamentally wrong -- but, that's not actually a bad thing...The seniors were just ...
Educators’ Tips on Landing that Grant
Our very own Brian Gravel sat down with Morgan Hynes, Research Professor at Tufts and pulled together a comprehensive guide to help teachers apply to small grants, and win!Small grants designed specifically for teachers to try new initiatives, gather new materials and resources, or gain access to professional development services ...
Afternoon Animation!
Good afternoon, everyone. I wanted to show you something very cool for today's afternoon animation. In spirit of @changeequation's reminder that Engineering Week is coming up (Feb 20-26!), we decided to feature a SAM Animation developed by freshmen students at Tufts University in their Musical Engineering class. Have you ever ...
Props or no Props, Open ended or Guided
As a high school science teacher that uses SAM, this is a topic I think about often. When I am designing an activity or even planning to implement an activity that I have done in the past, I ask myself: Should I use props or not? In other words, should ...