Recently I watched a very clever stop-motion animation using Post It Notes. Hoping to capitalize on the enthusiasm that kids seem to have for stop motion animation, I thought I'd give it a try myself. My goal is to eventually try this technique in my classroom. A recent tweet by RusselTarr, (@russeltarr Poem generator - could be fun to use in class - http://tinyurl.com/pl9vk2.) gave me the impetus to try a stop motion post-it project with a poetry flavor.
Materials:
Digital camera
Tripod
Clear wall space (I used my refrigerator door)
One packet of post-it notes
One black marker
Glue stick
1 G Memory card
Software:
Windows Movie Maker
Audacity
Websites:
Great for sound effects.
http://www.ilovewavs.com/
Shorts clips, can be looped. Great for background music.
http://www.accelerated-ideas.com/FreeMusicTracks/aiSearchTracks.aspx?style=Arts
My video:
As you can tell from the video, this was VERY experimental. My objective was to see how difficult a project this would be. I didn’t storyboard the concept, I basically just experimented as I went along. I nudged each post-it about 1 centimeter per photo and as the adhesive on the post-it began to wear off, I found that the glue stick came in VERY useful. Believe it or not, I managed to get by with a total of 11 post-it notes. At the final tally, I took approximately 225 photos to achieve this 55 second clip.
The toughest part was locating suitable music and timing it to the pictures in MovieMaker. I used Audacity and compared the track to the timing in Moviemaker as I went along and noted the timeframe at which my sounds would come along.
Do I think this project is feasible in the classroom—ABSOLUTELY. Not only that, my own children were very enthusiastic and curious about the process and proceeded to make their own stop-motion videos after I finished.
A Baker’s Dozen -- Ideas for Stop Motion Use in English Language Arts
1. Focus on the ROOT (Greek, Latin or other) of a word and the words that can be derived from it. Write words on post it notes and add or subtract words that are come from a similar root.
2. Use post-it notes to show how adding prefixes and suffixes to words changes them.
3. Create an alphabet story.
4. Pick a word to create other words from.
5. Pick a word and show how that word can create an entire SENTENCE from one main word. **bonus if that main word is the subject of the sentence!.
6. Create rebuseswith words and symbols that make up another word.
7. Focus on Compound words. Show one word on a post-it note, add another word and then show they blend to create a new word.
8. Use storyboarding and pictures to create a story. Have students use the interactive: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/plot-diagram/ to show the plot curve.
9. Have students create Word Operations as featured in WordsTheirWay For example: ANIMAL – L + ATE = ANIMATE
10. Have students demonstrate a spelling word sort through stop motion.
11. Practice spelling words written on post-its via short stop motion animations – show and share with one another.
12. Practice sentence structure (or sentence stretchers) by writing a short sentence and then expanding it. Use the post-it notes like magnetic poetry (or use magnetic poetry instead!)
