Quick Publishing Idea

I was working with a Year 0/1 teacher who has iPads and uses them in her class for reading and maths but not for writing yet.
I suggested that she download Book Creator and use it as a quick publishing tool.

I asked her to get one child's writing book. I opened up Book Creator, tapped on the + button, selected camera and took a  photo of the child's drawing.

I then tapped on the + and selected text and typed in the student's story. We then called over the student and got her to read her story to us while I recorded it in Book Creator by tapping on + and selecting Add Sound.

This is something that can be done quite quickly when conferencing with the student.
Once you have recorded all the pages you want, this can then be shared and opened with iBooks.

• this can then become an independent reading activity within iBooks
• or a shared book mirrored to a tv, IWB or projector where you can annotate
• full stops 
• capital letters
• features of text
•  presented via projector to syndicate or school assembly
• if students have a book each, it will show the progress of writing and drawings over a year, it can be a great assessment tool and can be shared as an ePub file to parents who can open and view if they have a smart phone/iPad/tablet or software on their computers that open ePub files
• a next step is to video the child reading their story and adding the video to the page as well

It's all about finding the right tool #1

I have had a lot of teachers asking me recently how can they use their iPads more creatively with the children. This will be the first of many posts, as teachers ask I will post the ideas I have had. My first question is what topic are you doing?

Topic?
Aboriginal Art
What apps are on your iPad?

How can you use these apps?

Use Drawing Pad to create your own Aboriginal Art. Choose the black paper and the Felt tip to create patterns.

Share back to your photo album and insert into
Keynote, Comic Life, Pages or Book Creator - make a presentation of your own art, some examples of Aboriginal art you have found, information about the art,
Safari - Find images via Google, tap and hold on an image to either copy or save to Camera Roll. Don't forget to reference where the images came from.

Comic Life: choose the blank template then choose Collection under the Layout tab and tap on Maps layout, choose Australia and tap the photo icon in the centre of the map to insert your your own art work. Use Text boxes and picture boxes to cover up the parts of the map that shows other countries.

Create a multimedia book with Book Creator

Book Creator for iPad ($6.49 for iPad)
Insert photos, graphics, movies, record voice, music,  and text
Share as ePub file to iBooks, email, Dropbox
Share as a PDF to email and iTunes

Art Maker ($1.29 for iPad)
Create pictures with Play School characters and graphics

Felt Board ($4.19 for iPad)
Create pictures with 'felt' characters and graphics




Book Creator is my most favourite book creating app for all ages. It is simple enough for a young child to make a basic book and has many great advanced features for older students to make interactive books such as

• hyperlink words and pictures to websites or other pages in the book
• combine books together
• add movies
• resize and move pictures and text
• wide variety of fonts and sizes and other formatting tools
• record your voice or add music to your story

Apart from using it to upload photos and writing text to go with those photos, consider using other apps with Book Creator.
Felt Board is another favourite of mine which can be used by all ages. It is pricey at $4.19 but it does have a large amount of backgrounds and objects that could be used to create scenes or picture stories.

Felt board stories from Jacqui Sharp

ArtMaker is another felt type app. It is based on Play School characters. It has limited backgrounds and objects but you can make animations with it.

Big Ted in Space from Jacqui Sharp

Use these apps to create story scenes and then add to Book Creator and finish off with text and voice recordings.
The book can be shared to iBooks or you can share it to Dropbox as an ePub and install on other iPads or iPod Touches in iBooks.

Other apps that can be used with Book Creator are
Puppet Pals: Make animations and export as a movie to insert into Book Creator

Puppet Pals HD Free for iPad
Has in-app purchases for more characters and backgrounds
Puppet Pals HD Director's Pass $4.19 for iPad
Full version with all characters and backgrounds

Puppet Pals Pocket Free for iPhone/iPod Touch
Has in-app purchases for more characters and backgrounds
Puppet Pals Pocket Director's Pass $2.59 for iPhone/iPod Touch

 Feltz Lite: Free for iPhone/iPod Touch; Free for iPad
Create pictures with 'felt' images