Link things with Thing Link

I came across this awesome Web 2.0 tool that I have to share - Thinglink is what I would call a visual learners dream come true.

Thinglink allows you to take an image and link other information to it. You can use the search box inside of Thinglink to find YouTube or Vimeo clips, SoundCloud or Spotify audio clips, Amazon books, items for sale on Etsy or Ebay, public photos on Flickr or Instagram and Social media like Facebook or Twitter and much more. Click here to see a Slide Share to explain more.  If you know of a great website you can click anywhere on the picture and link it. You can even just include some interesting information in a text box to share.

I can see endless possibilities of how to use this with students. The first thing that came to mind was when I used to collaborate with the art teacher and the students created a report to share information about their environmental issue they airbrushed or artist the interpreted on a birdhouse. With this resource we could take a digital picture of the artwork and students could link information they found on the Internet and even to a Google Doc version of their typed report and tada it is an all digital report to share!

Another idea I had would be for students doing a biography report as we did in 6th grade Language Arts. The students could find a picture of their famous person then link videos of the person giving a speech, an online encyclopedia or magazine article with more information about the person, books about the person, a recipe they like to eat, or even a song they sing or like and a Google Doc of their written report. Another tada for a digital sharing piece!

If you do a million dollar scrapbook in Math you could use a picture collage site like Smilebox,  Photovisi , Fotor, or PiZap to create a collage of all your items then load to Thinglink and create links to online catalogs and websites with prices and descriptions of the items.

I could also see students using it for ecosystem presentations by finding a picture layout of their assigned ecosystem and labeling the different parts with information about why they are important to the life cycle in the system. Or adding videos of animals that live in the ecosystem and websites for environmental websites to protect the area.

Students studying different cultures around the world could find a picture of a celebration in that culture and link to videos or other photos of the celebration, items purchased to celebrate, websites about customs that happen during the celebration, and social media posts from people during the celebration.

Students studying advertising could pick a picture of a product and link to commercials, the products website, information on the history of the product, customer reviews of the product, and stock or price information about the product.

Students reading a book could draw or pose for a picture of the characters in a scene from the book and link to video clips of book trailers (or make their own to link to), other photos that depict happenings in the book, sounds or songs that go with the mood of the book, merchandise the characters might have, or reviews of the book.

Here is an example of the first one I created for a teaching tool to use with the Dewey Decimal System mural in the library.



Before you close the page - share some of your ideas for using Thinglink with your students....

May the Odds Ever be in your Favor - Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games

Unless you were unlucky enough to be reaped into The Hunger Games, I am sure you are aware of the trilogy by Suzanne Collins about a society that places two children from each of the 12 districts in an arena to fight to the death on live television in order to keep the citizens from rebelling against the all powerful Capitol.

For the second time we have decided to bring this book to life for students and the second Hunger Games Competition was held as a joint event with the middle and high school students who chose to take the challenge.

I went to a competition about four years ago at the college I attended and had a blast helping with the first aid station, so I came back and told my fellow high school librarian that we needed to have one too.
After we did one a few years ago when the first movie came out the kids told us as they left we needed another one when the next movie came out, so here we were happy to get them engaged again!

For the first competition we went to work searching the book and many websites to come up with the activities for the games. The announcement and posters hit the hallways and teams were formed. As part of the competition the teams were asked to bring school supplies to donate to our Back to School Fair for an entry fee. We had seven teams sign up and participate in the Cornucopia Challenge followed by these stations -

• Trivia
• Face Painting (Camouflage)
• Poison Berries
• Scholastic Online Hunger Games
• Dark Room
• Obstacle Course 

As we tallied scores to see who won the students decorated cupcakes in honor of Peeta. The winners left with some movie tickets and posters and door prizes were drawn for more posters or books. It was great to hear them talk about all their adventures as they left.

This time we again went to work searching the book and websites to come up with activities. Teams were formed and as part of the competition were asked to bring canned food to donate to the local food pantry as an entry fee. We had fourteen teams sign up and participate in the Cornucopia Challenge followed by these stations -

• On Fire Trivia
• Duct Tape Doll Dresses
• The Human Knot
• Water Drop
• Dark Room Pool
• Paper Airplanes 

The students were treated to a survival mix as points were tallied and winners left with their choice of  movie tickets or a book about the movie and door prizes were drawn for t-shirts, bookmarks, or posters.

Here are some pictures of the students who came through my trivia station and the prizes at the end of the competition -

A digital slideshow by Smilebox

Of course this competition could not have happened without the students interest, the teachers and volunteers who came to help run the stations, and the students who participated as design team leaders to help lead the teams around to the correct station. So we thank all of them for taking the time to help. It is wonderful to see a community of readers excited by their love of the story. We already heard some comments about next time...

If you would like any information about the stations or how they worked feel free to contact me, I am happy to share!

Before your close the page - Does your school have any competitions to help bring books to life? What are they? I would love to hear all the ideas!