Puppet Pals in the Classroom

Bringing fairy tales to life can be done in many different ways.  If you check out my post, Bringing Fairy Tales to Life, you'll see how easy it is to use Puppet Pals.  Before the school year ended, I gave my students the opportunity to make their stories come to life using the Puppet Pals app.  Once my students had completed their own versions of many popular fairy tales, they planned out each scene, and brought animation to their stories.  The Puppet Pals app allowed my students to choose different characters, backgrounds, and record their voices - the end results were a hit!

If you're looking for a lesson with Puppet Pals to use with your students, check out my lesson here.

Bring Your Stories to Life!

What Is It? Puppet Pals is an app that takes your stories and brings them to life through animations and audio in real time.  It works through simply choosing actors and backdrops, dragging them onto the stage, and recording your story.  During recording time, Puppet Pals allows you to add movements and animations to your characters which can be viewed during playback.  The Puppet Pals app brings out creativity in everyone!  With features such as using customized characters, using your own photo backdrop, and zooming, rotating, and flipping your characters, you are sure to create a story that is appealing to all ages.  With this app, you have the option of downloading the Director's Pass, which allows you access to a wide variety of characters as well as all of the current and future content that becomes available. 

Can It Be Trusted? Much like any other app, Puppet Pals does many great things, but from time to time, may experience a glitch or two.  For the most part, however, you can trust that Puppet Pals will allow you to create, watch, and share your movie.  Puppet Pals is a highly reliable app to use in the classroom.  It can take your students' thoughts and transform them into something magical.  And, with the big shift on the Common Core, integrating technology is huge.  So when your students are able to use Puppet Pals to finalize the final step of the writing process, the possibilities are endless.  

Is It Easy To Use?  If you can click a button, you're good.  Installing Puppet Pals is simple.  As long as your iPad or iPhone is operating on iOS 6.1 or later, you can start creating your shows in no time.  Once the app is downloaded to your device, it doesn't take much to get started.  In fact, give your device to a child, and the finished product will be here quicker than you know.  Best part is, if you're hesitant to try out the app, there's lots of tutorials that will walk you through the program.  But no worries!  If you make a mistake, you can always go back and fix it - just have some fun, and see how easy it is to create an eye appealing, entertaining, and fun movie.  

Do Students Like It? Of course they do.  In fact, students get very excited when they are given the opportunity to bring their stories to life through the use of Puppet Pals.  Allowing students the chance to use Puppet Pals brings out their sense of creativity.  With the many options that students can choose from, the possibilities of what they create are endless.  

And The Teacher? If the teacher is lucky enough to have access to one, or even better - a class set, of iPads, her job is really very simple.  Once the app is downloaded to the iPads, all the teacher has to do is give her students a quick introduction to using the app, and viola - off they go.  Chances are, students have already used this app, or one very similar.  And we all know, kids aren't afraid to try something new, so once they get the chance to start exploring the app, there's no limit to what they will create. 

So...Would I Recommend It? This is one app that I would absolutely recommend to be used in the classroom.  It's easy to find and even easier to use.  The amount of time and effort put into learning how to use the app is very minimal, and once you bring one story to life, it's hard to stop.  Overall, I would rate this app a 9/10.  The only reason for not giving it a perfect score is because it can be hard to go back to correct a mistake - basically your only option is to re-record that part of your story.  But the possibilities are endless. The amount of time that students put into writing a story can very quickly be transformed into a work of art with the Puppet Pals app. 

Getting Your Students Back On Track

I know I've posted about ClassDojo before, but if you haven't checked it out, now is the time! Okay, so you're probably thinking "I already have a million things to worry about, where will I find the time to worry about something else?" Well, fear not, because ClassDojo is super easy to use, and really takes no time at all!  Actually, the most time consuming part of using ClassDojo is setting up the account - and really, all that involves is typing in your students' names. (So, it's really not that bad).  Now, any teacher knows that students learn best when they make the rules, right?  So why not let your students decide what they will be rewarded for?  That's what I did, and guess what...it worked like a charm.  When your students decide what they will earn and lose points for, they are more likely to follow the rules and try to earn as many points as they can.  It's worth they try!  Actually, if you check out ClassDojo, once you create an account, you can try out a demo class and see how it works.  Take a look at this video...it's sure to get you thinking about how your students will benefit from ClassDojo.

Looks good, right?  How about the fact that parents get weekly email updates about their child's behaviors. And like I said, it's really no work at all.  So, take some time this summer and try out ClassDojo - it'll be sure to make a difference in the way your students act! 

What Really Happens At School

Take a look at this Prezi to check out what really happens as a day in the life of one of my students.

Bringing Boring to Life

Okay, okay...I know, we've all sat through those long and sometimes boring presentations, right?  But that era can come to an end.  With PowToons, there's a new way to present by bringing your presentations to life.  Just check out this PowToon and see what I mean.

Whether you go from simple to elaborate, PowToons is a user-friendly tool that can help you bring your words to life!  It's easy to use, appealing to the eye, and is sure to grab your audiences' attention.  So, take a minute, explore PowToons, and see what you create! 

Big Huge Labs, So Many Possibilities

Okay, so who doesn't love a new way to present a picture?  How great would it be to see your child's picture on a magazine cover?  Or how about taking a family portrait and creating a jigsaw puzzle?  Big Huge Labs is the place to go! There's literally a million different ways to create fun and exciting projects (well, okay, maybe not a million, but close enough).  You can create everything from magazine covers, to pop art posters, to mosaic makers to badges - all with your own photos!  After exploring the site for a bit, check out what I created.

Okay, so maybe I took it a step further added the text (after saving the image and adding the text in Microsoft Word), but you get the idea.  There's a lot of great gifts that can be made - so go!  Start exploring!  The possibilities are endless! 

Where Would You Like to Go?

Let's face it...we've all seen at least one (or more like one thousand) movies, television shows, music videos, or you name it in our lifetimes, right?  And yes, we've all wondered how the characters jump from one building to the next, or zig-zag through cars without flinching.  But with today's technologies, it's simple.  A new tool that I tried out for the first time not too long ago is green screen.  And although you may think that a lot of work goes into creating a green screen image, you're wrong.  Actually, it's really very simple.  Check out this image that I created.

Now, I know that my image isn't a top of the line image, but it's not too bad for my first try.  Literally, if you have twenty minutes, you're set to create a whole album of green screened images :)

The first step to creating a green screen image is to find a good program and download it.  I used paintnet.com.  Next, I got my picture taken in front of a green screen.  Why a green screen you ask?  Really, whether it's green or blue, it doesn't really matter.  The only real reason is because green is the least worn color, so it just makes it easier.  After uploading my picture, I found my background, layered my photos, and viola!  

So next time you're bored or looking for something fun to do, try out some green screen images!

Looking for a New Way to Present?

In today's day and age, there seems to be a million great apps and websites out there.  But how do you choose just one?  With so many options, it's important to know just what you're looking for.  Next, you have to find a program that will suit your needs.  Once you've done some research and read some reviews, choose the site or app that might work best for you, create an account, and get started!

The first website that I chose to review is PowToon.  PowToon is a great tool that can be used to create animated videos and presentations.  To date, almost four million videos have been created using this new and exciting tool.  Wondering how I knew that statistic?  Simple.  It's right on the colorful, vibrant, and eye catching homepage of powtoon.com.

Getting started is pretty simple.  After you go through a few steps and create a free account, you're good to go.  No need to install or download anything - simply go to the site and get started.  I know, I know.  So many accounts and passwords to remember.  But trust me - creating a PowToon account is worth it for what you're going to get.  Just think about this.  Instead of settling for a plain Jane greeting card, resume, event poster, schedule, product launch, tutorial, special offer, whatever else you might want or need to present, think about having your work come to life with a PowToon.

Depending on your comfort level, you can choose to edit an already existing PowToon, OR...if you're feeling adventurous, you can start from scratch and create your own!  Either way, there's nothing to worry about because using the website is pretty easy, if you're not afraid to take a risk.  Good thing is, there's a ton of templates to choose from, so you're bound to find just the right one.  PLEASE: don't get overwhelmed when you open your PowToon and prepare to get started.  Although it might look like there's a lot going on - it's really all okay.

Now think of this.  If you have to sit through a presentation that seems to drag on and on and on - you get bored pretty quickly, right?  But imagine your students sitting through the same thing.  How fast are your students going to fade out if there's nothing to catch their eye?  PowToon is the perfect way to deliver your material to not only your students, but to your parents, faculty, and basically, anyone that you will ever need to present to.

Take a look at a few of the different parts of PowToon that I review below.  I'll let you know right now that out of a total 10 star rating, I would rate PowToon a 9/10.  Keep reading to find out why.

What you're getting: 
With PowToon, what you're really getting is a great new way to create animated videos or presentations that are appealing to the eye, at any age!  In your video, you can include everything from different characters, backgrounds, text, sounds, and so much more - all to help you bring your presentation to life and make it that much better.  If you're familiar with Microsoft Powerpoint or any other slide presentation tool, you're already a step ahead of the crowd.  As you begin using PowToon, keep in mind that you will be creating your presentation in a similar manner.  Phew.  One less thing to worry about, right?

Is it reliable? 
As with any piece of technology, whether it be a website, an app, or even new software, there's always little glitches that we might come across.  Overall, PowToon is a pretty reliable website that provides the user with ease and comfort while creating a presentation.

Can students use it? 
Of course!  Especially if your students are already familiar with creating a presentation using similar software (Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Presentation).  Additionally, the variation in characters, animations, sounds, effects, etc. that students can choose from make it that more appealing.  As many teachers sometimes find, there's always a student or two who may be a reluctant writer.  Great news is that when most students are given a new platform to work with, work usually gets done.

Overall, if you're looking for a new type of technology to present your information, introduce to your students, or just play around with, PowToon is the site for you.  So go ahead.  Don't be scared.  Be the teacher who wants to bring her presentations to life with PowToon.