Day 5: Movie Party and Student Presentations!

Fun day in camp today! We watched (and ate popcorn with….) the 1993 movie The Nightmare Before Christmas - one of the pioneering movies for modern day stopmotion movies. The technology used to produce this movie was new and advanced for the time and took over 3 years to complete!

 

After break we prepared to share our work! Thank you very much to all the friends and family who attended today's camp presentation!! The children did a very nice job sharing their digital pieces with each other! If you were unable to make it today, and would like copies of the students' work, please let me know and I am happy to email them to you.

It has been an amazing camp! I am really going to miss all of the kids! I encourage you to please continue checking our website and facebook page for information on our upcoming schedule.

Have a great rest of your summer! Please stay in touch!

Day 4: iMovie

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! Briant, Alex, Mikael, Thomas, and Aaron work together to produce their scary movie!

Neil is focused on developing his trailer.  He used items around the school for his film.  How creative!

 Trevor and DJ collaborated, as well, on their movie trailer! It turned out SO GOOD!

Nick, Ben, and Griffin work communicate together and provide feedback.

The students were so imaginative in their costumes!

3….2…..1…… Action!

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

Liam and Neil are very focused on their movie trailer!

After the break, 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!

We will premier the trailers in class tomorrow! Will post the final videos after!

As we approach the end of our camp, 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!

Day 3: Digital Storytelling with Animation Apps

Today in camp we focused on iPad apps that used digital animation to tell a story.  We used the apps Puppet Pals, Art Maker, Toontastic, ABCya Animate, Tellagami, Puppet Pals.  

Puppet Pals is one of my favorite Apps! In Puppet Pals, children can create simple animated movies with a choice of characters and settings.  Students use their own voice to record the conversations between characters.  Because of its versatile nature, children can use this app for pure fun and enjoyment, as well as a great educational tool for school.

The App itself is free; however, in order to purchase more stock characters, customized characters, and additional settings you would need to purchase the 'Director's Pass' for $4.99.  I think it is well worth the price!

Your children are so creative and imaginative! We love watching their videos! Here are a few:

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!

Tellagami is another simple app that the students used during camp today.  Here is one that a student created:

https://tellagami.com/gami/34EZHM/

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:

ABCya Animate allows users to create animation through drawings and images.  Check out the tutorial here to practice more at home.

The students also 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. 

There are so many first rate storytelling apps in the digital world,  I just wish we had time in camp to explore them all!!! 

 Some favorite apps that I highly recommend that we did not have time for are:

Sock Puppets

Art Maker

My Story

Show Me

ThingLink

If you have a digital device at home, I would encourage you to purchase these apps and let your children push their creative limits at home!