Monday, May 5, 2014

Creating Digital Fairy Tales using Puppet Pals/ Sketchbook Pro/ iMovie


We loved the idea of using iPads to help guide students through the process of learning. When Google Drive was placed on the iPads at our school we knew this would be a way for us to transfer student work off devices and eagerly planned a project to utilize the technology. 

We asked the Students in our Grade 3/4 classes to make their own original digital fairy tale. Using a hook, relating to the Calgary flood of 2013, students wrote a fairy tale for a character displaced by the flood. Students were guided through a variety of writing lessons, based on Barbara Mariconda’s work, students worked in groups of two to write, illustrate and produce an original fairy tale iMovie.

Drawing Characters and Scenes
Sketchbook Pro
When students completed the writing process they sketched the characters and setting using the app Sketchbook Pro. The app was very easy to use and provided students with a variety of tools to draw with. We highly recommend this app! The app is easy for students and provides a variety of drawing options. The app is available in the iTunes store for $4.99.

Storytelling
Puppet Pals HD
Next, students imported their images into Puppet Pals. They had so much fun using this app! It was easy to use and allowed students the ability to move their characters and change scenes in one recording. The free app includes a wild west background and some characters. If you purchase the director’s pass a variety of themes and characters are available. The students were able to add characters half-way through a scene by placing them off the stage and moving the character into the frame when needed. One handy bit of information we discovered once the projects were completed, is that the Puppet Pals logo, which shows up for a few seconds at the end of each scene, could have been turned off in settings. The Puppet Pals HD Director’s pass is available for $2.99 in the iTunes store.

iMovie
Finally, students imported the scene segments from Puppet Pals into iMovie to add details and complete their final project. When done, they uploaded the movies onto Google Drive so final projects could be shared and saved for future use.

Students learned so much during the project! They were engaged, eager to start working on the project and they gave and received feedback in order to make their stories and projects better. 

Thank you for inviting us to share.


Rahimay and Nadine