Image Chef

http://www.imagechef.com/

Image Chef allows you to use your own writing and  images to create all kinds of different projects using their provided templates like Word Mosaic,  Poetry Blender and more.  Your creations can be e-mailed, embedded or downloaded.

Artsonia

ARTSONIA

Teachers are always looking for ways to make assignments authentic and relevant to their students. At Artsonia, students and teachers can upload and share student artwork and digital pictures to be seen internationally in this online art museum…and perhaps do some fund-raising at the same time!

Get a free account, share the web address with parents, and they can not only view their students’ creations online, but they can also order items through the Artsonia gift shop made with their students’ artwork. Schools earn 15% when parents purchase custom keepsakes with their child’s artwork. Products range from note cards to shirts, cutting boards to mousepads and bumper stickers to key chains….all made from the uploaded student work.

The site also offers lesson plans organized by grade level, media type, and subject areas across the curriculum.

Photofunia

http://www.photofunia.com

Select an effect, upload a photo, and create a graphic to use in a presentation or project.

Here’s an example:

There’s also a “send as postcard” feature that you can use.

Tag Galaxy

http://taggalaxy.de

This German search site for pictures is very unique! Type in a topic and a collection of “planets” labeled with your topic and related sub-topics appears in a mapping format. Make a choice, and a collection of related pictures appear and form a globe that can be rotated to find a picture that you want to use.

Here’s an example of the collection I got with the tag “Obama”…

DrPic

http://www.drpic.com/

DrPic is an easy-to-use free picture editor with special effects.

This is the Polaroid effect:

DrPic doesn’t require any signup…just upload your picture, edit it, choose the file format you want and save the new version back to your computer. Easy to use!

Artpad

http://artpad.art.com

With Artpad, you can create a drawing and then either e-mail to someone directly from the site or grab the web address of your creation to share. When your artwork “plays”, all of your movements from start to finish are displayed.

Click here for a site with some classroom use ideas and instructions for using Artpad.

I like the text tool that’s available. That adds another dimension to what you can create with Artpad. Click here for an example:

http://artpad.art.com/?kfrerjfu2rg

Using a graphics tablet with this site provides the user with a little more detail control.

Pic-Lits

http://www.piclits.com

Pic-Lits is “inspired picture writing”…

“PicLits.com is a creative writing site that matches beautiful images with carefully selected keywords in order to inspire you. The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture.”

Pic-Lits gives the user a choice to either drag and drop words (categorized by parts of speech) that relate to the picture or to go to the “free style” tab and add writing to the Pic-Lit on their own. Then, they can save, blog/share or e-mail their creation.

Here’s a quick Pic-Lit I created using the free style format.

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

The site includes a “Learn It” section where writing suggestions are given.

How would this site inspire the writers in your classroom?

PhotoPeach

http://photopeach.com

Photos or picture files uploaded into PhotoPeach can be turned into video presentations with background music and captions. I used the IMAGERY site to collect mine for this:

Example from Photo Peach

Great way to tell an illustrated story!

Imagery

http://elzr.com/imagery/

This site claims to be a place for “better image searching”…and it is pretty cool! Just type in a keyword and boom! You have lots of images to choose from! They’re displayed as thumbnails in a web album format, and if you click on a thumbnail, the full image is displayed below the the gallery.

Students can download the images to use in projects (be sure they know to cite their source), or images can just be projected from the computer. As you choose pictures to display below the gallery, you can change topics and just add to your collection. Each search is kept in a separate tab if you want to return to it during your session.

Easy to use, and a great resource!

Check out this search for Abraham Lincoln images.

Tell us about how you use IMAGERY with students.

Make Beliefs Comix

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Easy to use comics maker for all ages. Foreign language students and English Learners can benefit from using this tool.