You can use MovieMaker to create presentations that are linear and uninterrupted - unlike PowerPoint, which uses slides with breaks (transitions) in between. You can use MovieMaker to edit movies but you can also use it quite effectively with still photographs, combining them with voice and music to create simple 'movies'. (This sort of presentation doesn't really move but it can still be very effective.)
To set started you will need to create a new folder for your project (this makes it easier to save on something like a memory pen).
You will also need to choose a topic and locate some suitable resources. Topics might include:
Two places to start finding resources would be either your own collections (scan photographs, record movie clips, acquire music and audio) or the internet. In school you may be limited by time to using the internet so the exercise becomes partly a web search exercise.
Restrictions on web sites and downloading in school mean that you will be better off searching for music clips at home, or you could record your own from CD (a breach of copyright!). You could then transfer the files using a pen memory stick or flash card, etc.
In MovieMaker 5 the first thing you should do is add resources to your presentation using Import Video/Pictures/Audio/Music. These actions place resources in the 'Collection' area. You can get back to the Collections area by using the drop-down list in the toolbar.
To show these tasks on screen click on the 'Tasks' button on the toolbar or choose View/Task Pane.
The second thing you should do is place your images on the storyboard in the order you want. For a complex project you could write a storyboard on paper, with sketches or pictures, but for now you should be able to place things directly into the MovieMaker storyboard.
To place things in the storyboard simply drag them from the Collections area onto the storyboard in the lower part of the screen.
The storyboard area has two modes, storyboard and timeline - use the icon to switch between them. When you drag music or audio the display switches from storyboard to timeline.
Drag the left and right end markers of objects along the timeline to increase and decrease the amount of time they take up. Use the zoom tool in the storyboard toolbar to show more detail and to make fine adjustments.
You can record your own audio over a movie but this is probably best done at home (where it is quieter and you get more time to think). A pen memory stick will be very useful here because of the likely size of your files.
To begin narration choose Tools/Narrate Timeline. Note that you cannot overdub audio in Moviemaker so if you want voice over music you will have to use some other means such as playing the music while you record yourself or using some other mixing software.
You can change the volume level of an audio track. Right click the item in the storyboard/timeline and choose Volume.
Once an image is in the storyboard you can change it in the following ways using the drop-down list in the toolbar (or right-click an image/clip:
You can add captions to the movie or individual slides by choosing Tools/Titles and Credits or Edit Movie/Make Titles and Credits. There are five options for places to add titles. In each case you enter the text and then choose animation styles and text settings - you will find many options within this.
MovieMaker provides a number of options for saving your video, which can be found in Section 3 in the Task Pane, 'Finish Movie'.
Save the project in your user area/hard disk. Choose the same folder as your resource files.
MovieMaker also offers the options of saving directly to email (needs a client like Outlook) and to post a movie to a web server. The problem with the last option is that the movie is automatically saved in a folder on drive C, which is fine if you are at home but not if you are in school where this is inaccessible. The web option saves the movie in WMV format, which you can happily insert into a web page (Insert/Picture/Video in FrontPage).
For details on this see the notes on Audacity.