Enjoy your day!

This week, I thought I would highlight the site Letterpop. This is a really neat site to help with creating newsletters that are eye-appealing and fun. It is a simple tool to use with easy step by step directions. There are numerous templates to choose from and the creators are constantly adding new ones. Editing is somewhat limited but you can move text boxes around to create a better placement of images and text. It is also easy to add new pages. When you are done, you can either print it off or display it publicly on the site for everyone to see.

This is no Microsoft Publisher, Pages or other desktop application that creates newsletters. You are limited in your editing capabilities. When I have gone to create a newsletter, I have had some difficulties getting the edges of the page to align with what the printed version is supposed to look like. Also, there were some small issues with the ability to change sizes and types of text. You are also limited in the types of pictures you can use. It does have a supply of clip art like Microsoft does. You are using pictures that you have downloaded yourself or images from Flickr. I used yotophoto which worked nicely but it also means more time looking for an effective picture that fits with what you want.

This site is still in Beta so these kinks are to be expected. However, I am not sure I would use this yet for full newsletters. I have used it mostly as reminders or requests for help; a quick note to send home to parents. I visited the site today and saw that they are going to be making some improvements soon so hopefully some of these issues have been dealt with. I myself would like a little more flexibility with the text option. However, the site is easy to use and fun and I don’t mind using photos as I think itgives your newsletter a sharper presentation and more professional look to your newsletters.

Tell me what you think of it and how you have used it!!! Let’s start a conversation!

Anyway, today’s site is a great one that combines web 2.0 with art. It’s called Mr.Picassohead (http://www.mrpicassohead.com/). You probably remember Mr. Potatohead, that venerable potato that quite often had facial issues. You put the pieces of the face on the potato to create any variety of face you wanted.

Like Mr. Potatohead, Mr. Picassohead allows you to create faces using a variety of pre-designed facial features. You simply drag the features onto the palette and arrange the pieces into a face. The editing features allow you to colour the lines (not the rest of the picture though), make the lines bigger or smaller, move objects and rotate as well as erase any features you don’t like.

While creating faces is great fun, the really neat thing is to have your students use the facial features to create other kinds of pictures. I have had students create boats on water, volcanoes exploding and other things. Usuall, what I do in my class is have the students start out with making faces and exploring the process of creating faces. Then I have them create a picture of someone who is a hero to them. After the students have done that, I challenge them to create a picture that is not a face. I usually show them an example of something I have done to help get them started as well as brainstorming what each facial feature could represent.

There is one thing to be careful of and a caveat. The caveat is that there is no option to print the image within the site. It can be printed through the file -> print option. However, you get the whole page with all the editing and such. I usually print them off, get the students to cut out the picture and glue them on a piece of construction paper with a black frame around it. There is also a gallery of portraits done by others in the gallery part of the site. While there are some neat pictures in there, some can be inappropriate. I don’t allow my students into the gallery area and so we have not had a problem with that.

Anyway, enjoy the site!!! Why don’t you let us know what you have used it for in your class!