iPad Adventure Class - Week 5

The final week of the afterschool adventure class is here!  We decided to create a summary movie of the apps that we used over the course of the class.  We used iMovie to edit the movie!  Unfortunately - we did not have enough time - we weren't able to practice or edit as much as we would have liked.  We also typed up our scripts using an app called on air. The On Air app allows your words to move across the screen much like a teleprompter.  I think the students enjoyed this activity.  I'm including the link to the movie - I saved it in lower resolution, but it still takes a few minutes to load. 

http://db.tt/rdkjW4xQ

iMovie by apple - ($4.99) - This app is more expensive than most apps we use - but I have used iMovie on my mac at home and I didn't want to play around with trying out all the other apps.  iMovie is easy to use and very easy to export when finished.  It comes with some base themes and music that can make your movie even sharper.  
You can read more about it here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8

On Air by Mark Richardson (Free) - This app is a basic teleprompter app.  This app was simple to use and provided us what we needed quite well.  I will say that this app seems to crash often when used in landscape mode.  If I were going to use a teleprompter on a larger scale I would probably look to other apps.  The price was right for what we needed!
You can read more about it here: http://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/on-air/id398208944?mt=8

Powerschool

Now that my child is in second grade - we have the ability to montior his grades with powerschool.  I just realized that there is an app for that too!  (there is an app for everything - I am pretty sure)... So, of course, I installed it and now I monitor his grades through the app.  I think it works great.  I like that you  see their picture next to their grade - which will be handy when both my kids are on powerschool.  Anyway, your school has to be using powerschool to have it be of any use to you.  So, if your child is on powerschool and you have an iphone, ipad, or ipod - it's a free app - check it out!
PowerSchool for Parents by Pearson School Systems (free) - Check and monitor your childrens grades!  You can read more about it here  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powerschool-for-parents/id444983648?mt=8

Thanks!

iPad Adventure Class - Week 4

Hi everyone!  Sorry it has taken me so long to update this blog.  Seems like life is super busy!  Anyway, last week we used the Puppet Pals app to create some cartoon movies.  The kids had a blast!  We were running a little short on time - so I'm sure these aren't as polished as the students would like.  The links are available temporarily as they are associated with a dropbox account for the afterschool class.  I will remove these links by the end of the school year. 

Puppet Pals HD by Polished Play, LLC ($2.99) - The $2.99 version is the "directors pass" which includes numerous characters and backgrounds.  There is also a free version that has limited characters and backgrounds.  I highly suggest trying the free version out to see what you like.  You can also create your own characters and backgrounds - using either the camera or any drawing app.  The final movie is saved to your camera allowing this to be easily shared via email.  You can read more about Puppet Pals here http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppet-pals-hd/id342076546?mt=8

I am also a big fan of Toontastic.

Toontastic by Launchpad toys (free - $10) - The free version has limited play sets.  Toontastic has a more formal approach to the story telling - It walks you through the story arc - Setup, Conflict, Climax, Challenge, and Resolution.  You create different scenes for each portion and can have music to accompany it.  There is a lot of wonderful material on their website www.launchpadtoys.com that will help you learn how to use this app.  I did not use this for the afterschool class because I didn't think we would have enough time to use it appropriately.  Also, the output format is to the "toontube" - so it's not as portable as the Puppet Pals app. You can read more about toontastic here http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic/id404693282?mt=8

Thanks for reading!

iPad Adventure Class - Week 2

I am slightly out of order - and I'm sure everyone is wondering "What happened during week 2"?  I am just a little behind this past week!  We used two apps this week to make a radio broadcast of a pretend news report for the Pumpkin Festival.  

Big Sounds by Dragosaurus ($0.99) - This app contains 117 different sound effects!  There are all sorts of animals, cartoon sounds, everyday sounds and much more.  I also really liked how you could turn off certain sounds!  I really liked a lot of the sounds - but there were some that I would rather my children not use!  You can also rearrange the buttons on the app so that all the sounds that you want are in one section. 

Audio Memos by Imesart ($0.99) - or free.  There is a free version of this app that has limited features which is probably adequate for most needs.  This app is a very simple audio recorded.  I have used this to record my son playing the piano or reading.  It's nice to play back and have him listen to himself.  

We also used a iRig microphone for this exercise.  I was very happy with how easy the microphone was to use and how well the sound was.  I highly recommend this microphone if you are going to be doing a lot of recording  It was a little pricey at $49.99.

Here is an example of our radio broadcast!

iPad Adventure Class - Week 3

The class had a ball today working with the Stop Motion Studios app.  We took a series of still photographs and put them together to create a stop motion animated movie.  Below is an example and here are links to all the movies on YouTube
Group1
Group2
Group3
Group4
Group5
Group6

The Stop Motion Studios app costs $0.99 and is fairly easy to use.  You can take the pictures and then remove or replace them.  You can adjust the frames per second and you can add sound and music.  Overall it's a really fun app to play with!  You can read more about it here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stop-motion-studio/id441651297?mt=8

iPad Adventure Class - Week 1

This week I started an iPad afterschool adventure.  We will meet weekly for an hour for 5 weeks.  This week we used the Comic Strip App to create a comic strip that showed a character trait from the schools "Caught Ya Being Good" program.   Here's an example of one comic which demonstrates caring.

 ComicStrip CS by Sketch and Skotch ($0.99) -This app allows you to make your own comic strips or story boards.  You can add pictures from your photo library or take the pictures through the app.  You can read more about it at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comicstrip-cs/id392197108?mt=8


Some of the students choose to use an existing app to find their images for their comic strip.  One app that has great graphics and is a lot of fun is My Playhome.  My son created this comic strip using images from that app.  Here the boy is learning to clean up after his breakfast!

My Playhome by Shimon Young ($2.99) - There is a free version for this app which contains two rooms (living room and kitchen).  Warning though - if you download the free version you will probably buy the full version shortly after!  The full version adds a bathroom, bedroom, and backyard!  This app is fun!  It's an interactive doll house where you can take family characters and have them eat apples, do laundry, listen to records, and much much more.  My daughter has a lot of fun playing with the characters.  It also has significant learning potential.  You can use this app to have the child follow a series of directions, labeling objects and actions, prepositions (put objects in front of, behind, on top of), and much more.  You can read lots of reviews of Playhome on the internet or here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-playhome/id439628153?mt=8