A Busy Week for Kindergarten

    Last week was an extremely busy week for Kindergarten.  Mrs. Frederick's class worked with Puppet Pals and Doodlecast.  Puppet Pals was easier to navigate than Toontastic, but it was very limited in what the children could do.  There were a few different backgrounds and characters to choose from, but the children were limited because Puppet Pals requires you to buy any extra characters and backgrounds.  The children made one major scene for Puppet Pals, and it allowed the children to develop the characters.  It was very funny to see some of the voices that the children came up with.  The characters were those of a fairy tale, so children were limited in the type of story they drew.  They enjoyed the app, but they were more interested in getting done with Puppet Pals to work with Toontastic.  The children also worked with Doodlecast.  We showed more examples of how to work Doodlecast, and the children were set free to create their own.  The more they played with the program, the better their stories got.  I was amazed at some of the products.  The products show just how creative the children are.  Coleen even used comparisons in her Doodlecast.  The outcomes were fantastic, and the more that the children get to play with the apps, the more their stories will develop.  February was all about creating stories in literacy centers, and students excelled at creating stories beyond my original expectations.  At the end of the week, students got to hear an interactive story telling group.  The presentation went right along with our focus of creating stories.  We will continue with the focus of developing stories to see how the children respond to apps as they get better acquainted with the iPads and software.