How to make a Classroom Slideshow - Part Three

Just in case you missed a step:

Part One - Getting Everything
Part Two - Adding Pictures to iMovie

Part 3 - Adding Text and Transitions

This is one of my favorite parts of making a slideshow.  Adding text and transitions to the picture slides helps everything start to come together.

Step 1 – Adding a Title

First you need to open up your iMovie project.  iMovie does not require you to save your work, I have no idea why, so your last project should automatically come up when you open the program.

Click the Text button – (look at the picture on the left for the exact location)

Once you click the Text button, you will see all the different text choices.  Some of the text choices have animation; so make sure you hover your mouse over each one to see what they look like. 

I definitely have some favorite text choices.  I’m sure you will too after you try a few of them out.  My favorite for typing my students names on their individual pictures is “Echo.” 

I like to start my slideshows off with the title of my slideshow on a blank background.   

If I’m working on my classroom’s slideshow it will say “Miss Kriss’s Class 2013-2014.”  If I’m working on our grade level slideshow I usually put our school’s name, kindergarten, and the year. (I really like to use the animated text styles for my slideshow titles)

 

To create a title on a blank background: choose the text style you want, then click, drag, and drop the text in front of your first picture.  (A small green line will appear to show you where you are dropping your text)

I will also put a blank message at the end of my slideshow, but we’ll get to that part later.

When you drag text to a space without a picture, you will get to choose a background.  (I like to go with the stars) 

After you choose a background for your text, that background and text will appear on the right side of your dashboard.  You can then type in your title.

You will also notice that the text slide, with the background you chose, is now at the beginning of your slideshow.  

 Above the text slide will be a blue rectangle that shows how many seconds your text will be displayed and what the text says.

If you’re happy with your title, click Done; if not, keep reading to see how to change font, size, style, and color of your title.

To change the appearance of your title, click the “Show Fonts” button on the top left of your display screen.  A pop up menu will appear. 

This is where you can change your font, text size, text style, and text color.

To change text color: click the button that is second from the right on your pop up menu.  It will have a T for text and a box with color.  When you click the colored box, the color choices will appear.

Step 2 – Adding Text to a Picture

Adding text to a picture is very easy.

Choose the text style you want; then click, drag, and drop the text onto the picture where you want it appear.   

If the entire picture is highlighted blue, just before you drop the text, then your text will appear for the duration of the picture.  If only part of the picture thumbnail is highlighted blue, the text will only appear for that part of the picture

After you add a text box to a picture, you will be able to type your own text in.  And once again, you can change the size, color, font, etc. of your text.

Miss Kriss’s Tip – When do I add text to my slideshow?

Classroom Slideshow

·      Beginning slide – the title of my slideshow – My name, Grade, Year

·      Student names on individual pictures, at the beginning only

·      Events – I keep my classroom slideshow organized into events, chronologically.  So I add text to the first picture of each new event.  Example: Easter Party, Thanksgiving Feast, Grandparents Day, etc.

·      Ending slide – sometimes I do just a quick thank you to my kids and parents, a quote, or a message to my kids. (I like to use the scrolling text style to write messages)

Grade Level Slideshow

·      Beginning slide – the title of my slideshow – School, Grade, Year

·      Teacher names on classroom pictures at the beginning only.  I always start our grade level slideshow off with a group picture of the entire kindergarten, then I show each classroom with their teachers.  On the classroom pictures I will add the teachers name. Example: “Miss Smith’s Class”

·      Blank Slide – Introducing the grade level teachers – usually a picture of all the grade level teachers and assistants (This is after all the grade level picture slides)

·      Teacher pictures – this is something new I added last year.  I took a picture of each teacher in their field trip shirt. (My grade level uses the same image on all of our field trip shirts but each teacher/classroom has their own color.  This helps us keep up with our kids when we are away from school)  Then I added their name to their slide.

·      Ending slide – I keep it simple with “Have a great summer” – favorite text for this is “Pixie Dust”

Step 3 – Adding Text to the End of your Slideshow

To add text to the end of your slide show, you will once again decide on the text style you want.  Then click, drag, and drop the text behind your very last picture.   

The green line will appear to show you where you are dropping the text.

You will need to choose a background and will have the option to change fonts.

Tip – Some text styles do not allow you to change font size, style, color, etc.  

Pixie Dust does not allow anything to be changed except the words you type.

After you add your ending slide, you will see a text slide appear after your last picture.

Step 4 – Adding Transitions

Click on the transitions button.  (Use the photo to help find it)

I love transitions and there are lots to choose from.  All transitions are animated, so spend some time letting your mouse hover over each one so you can find the ones you like best.

Once you have decided on a transition- click, drag, and drop your transition in between the 2 pictures where you want it to go.

Transitions are super fun, but don’t get carried away.  I do not use a transition between every picture.

Miss Kriss’s Tip – When to use transitions?

Classroom Slideshow

·      Between title slide and the first picture slide.

·      Between individual student pictures (only the ones with their names at the beginning of the slideshow)

·      Between each event – this helps (along with the title of the event) to show the differentiation between events.

·      Before ending slide

Grade Level Slideshow

·      Between title slide and group picture slide

·      Between classroom photo slides (the ones with the teachers name and the photo of the class)

·      Before ending slide

Once you add your transitions, you should be able to see the tiny transition images between pictures. 

If you change your mind and want to change or delete a transition: just click on it and hit the delete key on your keyboard.  

 This goes for text too.  To delete text, just click the blue text box above the slide and hit the delete key.  To modify text, click the text box above the slide and you should be able to modify it in the display screen on the right side of your dashboard.

Check out all the parts of this step by step guide to making your own classroom slideshow:

Part One - Getting Everything
Part Two - Adding Pictures to iMovie
Part Three - Adding Text & Transitions
Part Four - Adding Music & Finalizing your Slideshow
Part Five - Exporting iMovie and Creating the iDVD Menu
Part Six - Burning DVDs and Putting on the Finishing Touches

Up next is my absolute favorite part of making a slideshow...

Part 4 – Adding Music & Finalizing your Slideshow