Final Presentations!

Thank you very much to all the parents who attended yesterday's presentations at the Vienna Community Center! The children were really looking forward to sharing their work with each other; I am really happy that the parents were also able to participate in our audience!

It has been an amazing class! I am really going to miss all of the kids! Please do consider enrolling your children in one of our upcoming classes or camps.  Please follow us on Facebook for upcoming information on our schedule.

Have a great rest of the school year! Stay in touch!

Digital Animation

During the last class, the students used two favorite applications to create cartoons.




They first used ABCya Animate to create animation through their drawings.  Check out the tutorial here to practice more at home.

Next, the students used Toontastic (recently purchased by Google!) to produce cartoon videos.  This app is very easy to use because it guides children through the steps of a fictional story.  Starting with the setting and characters, the story increases in problems through the climate, conflict, and climax - and then, finally, a resolution.

iMovie and More!

We started yesterday's class learning about filming, adding transitions, using the tools, and editing movies using the app, iMovie for the iPad.

Check out this adorable movie produced by Caitlynn, Teagan, Spencer and Kathryn:

As you see, some of the students dressed up and created full length features.  However, others decided to continue making trailers, stop motion, or animated movies.  Either way, LOTS of creative energy was circulating in our room - which I love to see!

As we approach the end of our class, it is wonderful to see how comfortable and independent students have clearly become in using the different educational apps on the iPads. It is fantastic to see them pick up an iPad and innovate (and choose NOT to play games!), without any direction from me at all!

iMovie Trailers and the Four Cs of the 21st Century

The iMovie App for the iPad is a wonderful, multi-media app.  It allows students to tap into the imperative 'Four  Cs' of a 21st Century education - collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication.   

Students were given flexibility to choose any type of trailer.  

They worked together to plan, add text, act, and record. Such vibrant creativity and enthusiasm on display in class! Check out the pics from today:

Collaboration is a critical 21st Century skill! 

Joshua, Caitlynn, Spencer, and Teagan work together and provide feedback.

Chance is focused on developing his trailer.  He is using Legos to star in his film.  How creative!

Happy birthday, Teagan!

Teagan is working on her SCARY trailer.

3….2…..1…...

 Action!

Utilizing their critical thinking skills, this group is working on editing their trailer.

Thomas is very focused on his movie trailer!

Thomas, Chance, and Matthew brought their own 'actors' and 'props' to class.  

What a great way to integrate home resources positively with technology!

Sophia and Alex are using modeling clay to be super innovative with their movie trailers!

Joshua and Caitlynn use communication to help each other prepare.

Ready for their debut!

A movie star and his director!

Not all students finished filming today in class, so we will continue during next Wednesday's class.  Here are a few completed trailers to watch in the meantime (more to follow!): 

The 10-Year-Old-Spy

The Princess Tales

Paradise Party

Next week, we will move on to full-length movie features, as well.  To ensure we have enough production time in class, I encourage you to have your children write a script ahead of time and bring with you next Wednesday.  

Don't forget costumes and props, too!

Stop Motion with Clay and Legos

Amazing class tonight! Using only the iPad app, iStopMotion, students learned to create comprehensive stop motion videos.  We used this one-stop application (which combines a camera, sound, animation and speed variables) to produce a video. This stop motion animation technique - which once was a very difficult and time consuming process - now takes only minutes to see the results …. and is great fun!  Check out a few samples from our class below!

iStopMotion is a wonderful app to use for school projects.  I highly recommend its use as a visual alternative to book reports, biographies, demonstrating science experiments, and portraying historical events.  Technology, when used appropriately, can be a wonderful tool to be innovative!  I encourage you to urge your child(ren) to engage in this type of creativity and critical thinking when they are given the opportunity to demonstrate learning!

Digital Writing: Creating an eBook with the iPad

What great authors and illustrators we have in this class! I loved reading all the wonderful fiction and non-fiction books that our students designed during the hour.  We had such a wide variety of topics - from Valentine's Day books for family members to silly martian stories. Regardless of which topic ended up being chosen, each child used their imagination and creativity skills to produce a beautiful digital book full of text, pictures, and their own voice reading each page!  Digital writing is always one of my favorite days  of a session; I only wish there was more time to complete the book!

If your child would like to continue publishing these books at home,  I recommend the apps, My Story or Book Creator (there are also lots of other book creation apps in the app store - these just happen to be my favorite).

In the app, My Story, students first set up 'author' pages to store their own books.  After, they proceed to the blank pages, adding more as needed.  They have all sorts of digital art tools at their disposal built within the app; however, for those  children who do not enjoy drawing - personal photos, stock photos, internet pictures, stamps, and stickers are easily accessible.  Additionally, students can access different type fonts to include text on each page.  Finally - my favorite part! - the children can read and record their voice for each page!  What a personal touch when you share these stories with family and friends!  Check out this great story created in class this week!

For older children (and adults!) I definitely recommend the app, Book Creator.  It is somewhat pricey at $4.99; however, I find it very easy to use and has all the functionality you will ever need to publish a professional-looking book.  It is also fairly simple to transfer your completed book to the iBooks app on your device or share with a friend.

Presenting Information: No Poster Boards Allowed Here!

Even though yesterday's class was plagued with poor wi-fi issues, the students still put forth a remarkable effort to be creative!  We switched from apps that rely on internet, to programs that run local to the iPads.  We had lots of fun using ChatterPix, Art Maker, and Tellagami to present information.

ChatterPix Kids is a free app that allows children to upload or draw a picture and then record sound.

The directions were simple - choose a background, draw a line for a moving mouth, and start speaking! The kids quickly took to the assignment and before we knew it, we had a classroom filled with silly talking iPads!  Although our objective was to have fun, an app like chatterbox could easily be used for book reports, history presentations, and many more academic projects!

Click play to check out some of our creative videos:

Art Maker is another favorite for kids of all ages!

Creativity is unlimited when using this app! You can design movies, pictures, books - all with a set of movable props, setting options, and, of course, a microphone.  Students were so engaged in using this app that it was challenging to move on to the next! What a great way to turn a super fun activity into educational lesson! Have your child recreate their favorite book using this app!

Check out some of the fantastic screen shots below from the students' videos:

Finally, Tellagami is another simple app that the students used during class.  

The logistics of the app are basic - customize your character, design a background, and add dialogue.  What a modern and innovative way to share information!

Here are some sample shots:

There are so many first rate presentation apps in the digital world,  I just wish we had time in class to explore them all!!!  If you have a digital device at home, I would encourage you to purchase the following apps and let your children push their creative limits at home:  

Prezi.com

ABCYaAnimate.com

Animoto.com

Toontastic.com

HaikuDeck.com