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Marcia/CA - Computers and software, my favorite subject..
Marcia/Ca - I can take questions or comments or I can talk about Kids Pix or other software.
Linda/2/CA - Tell us what Kid Pix does and how it works
Marcia/Ca - Kids Pix is the perfect software for the younger students. It is much like a drawing program, but it has very unique features that allows even the novice to do great projects.
B - It's great for older kids too! (upper elem.) It takes a lot of "exploration" time to really know what Kid Pix is all about. I'm teaching a workshop on it now for our Intermediate School District.
Marcia/Ca - One of the best parts of Kids Pix deluxe is that the children can write a story and record their voice reading it. So grand.!
Linda/2/CA - Marcia--I just got my Kid Pix--haven't even gotten it out of the box--what is the first thing I need to know about using it (once it is installed)?
Sandy/K/MO - What are the different projects you can do? Does it have a creative writing part?
Marcia/Ca - I had a class write a story about their favorite Rain forest animal and they made a slide show. They each wrote two sentences about their animal and recorded their voices. (first grade)
B - I have teachers now creating presentations for their classrooms using Kid Pix.
Laurie/MI - I'm interested in ideas about types of software to use in the classroom and ideas about how to use them
Marcia/Ca - There are some great writing programs, other programs that can do slide shows. Kids Works is one of the first choices here in the schools. It is primarily a writing program, but it does some graphics.
Sandy/K/MO - Have you tried the creepy crawlies kid pix?
Lynn/1/OR - What is the creepy crawlies Kid Pix??
Sandy/K/MO - has all different kinds of insects...insert and write stories....
Mary K&1 - Can the files saved in Kid Pix be opened in any other programs?
Marcia/Ca - Kids Pix is either a bmp or a pict. Both MAC and PC. You can import any graphic in these two formats
B - Kid Pix can save in bmp, jpeg, or gif - there are a couple of other file extensions used for the digital/movie components too
Linda/2/CA - Can you export the graphics to another program?
Marcia/Ca - Yes, easy to export as it is to import. save as and then go after it.
Genie/GA/k - I am not at all familiar w/ KidPix...Can it be networked for an entire school?
Mel - Genie we have it networked in our school
B - presentations can be done on the computer - in the slideshow option
Marcia/Ca - Slide shows can be saved to disc and used on any computer w/o the software.
Marcia/Ca - the deluxe model has about 15 different groups of stamps to choose from. each has about 30 stamps in them.
Pogo/MS - Does anyone have sites to post with Kidpix lesson plans? Some of mine are on this page. http://www.mississippi.net/~lamarelm/technolo.htm
B - I know when you import a picture you can choose gif
Marcia/Ca - Here is a web site I created to give you all a head start. Millions of examples - http://members.aol.com/MrsGoudie/kidspix.html - I searched the web for any examples I could find.. pogo yours are probably there..
Marcia/Ca - Sam's club has it now for $29. in a metal lunch box.
Linda/2/CA - Of course there is always the book "Kid Pix Simple Projects" comes both primary and intermediate
Marcia/Ca - Teacher Created Materials has a whole line of teacher books for kids pix including cd with specific lesson ideas.
rainyd-FL-K - check out http://tlc.com -- they had it for $19
B - broderbund.com has it for $19 too
Pogo/MS - Have any of you bought any software or books from Teacher Created on Kidpix? If so, which ones?
Marcia/Ca - I have the primary one. Kids Pix for the terrified teacher...Great...
Flash - I think I have "Kid Pix Simple Projects" in my collection too.
Pogo/MS - Marcia, I received a booklet the other day. Which is the best overall, I teach computer.
B - I have "Fat Crayon Multimedia"
Marcia/Ca - It is borderbund software.
Marcia/Ca - For what ages. Primary?
tootle - Do any of you have mPower?
Flash - I've used mPower, but it's not as good as Powerpoint.
Marcia/Ca - Power point is meant for grades 4 and up. Too difficut for primary.
Flash - Belonging to a teacher book club can save you a lot of money on technolgy.
tootle - What grade level Flash - Going to be using mPower ver. 3 with 8th graders
Linda/2/CA - Pogo--if you are looking for software reviews or ratings--go to http://clearinghouse.k12.ca.us
Marcia/Ca - another great place to look is http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/home
Linda/2/CA - You can search clearinghouse by standard
Dorothy - How does KidPix compare to HyperStudio?
Lynn/1/OR - Kid Pix is MUCH easier!
B - Kid Pix is more linear, HyperStudio can go in all directions with being able to add buttons.
Linda/2/CA - And much less expensive!!!
Rainyd/FL/K - KP for primary, HS for intermediate up
Marcia/Ca - Hyperstudio is a little more diffuclt to learn. I guess it would be the mid ground between kidspix and powerpoint.
Pogo/MS - Can you put a slideshow in Kidpix on Internet?
Flash - I've used both Kid Pix and Hyperstudio. Hyperstudio allows for more tech stuff.
Marcia/Ca - Yes, but the students need to be older.
Linda/2/CA - Yes--I saw some Kid Pix slideshows on one of the sites
Marcia/Ca - Yes, there are examples of online slideshows on my page.
Pogo/MS - Hyperstudio doesn't go on PC, correct??? Just Mac???
Flash - Once students learn any of these they're great additions to curriculum.
Linda/2/CA - I think there is a PC version of HS
B - HS can be used on both PC/MAC
Flash - Hyperstudio works on both platforms.
Dorothy - I've used HyperStudio with my 3rd-6th graders just fine.
Lynn/1/OR - I saw HS for $70 in the software orders last year
Dorothy - Some Compaq software bundles include HS. I bought 2 copies @ 99 ea. You need to buy 10 to get a site license, then they're under 50. My first 2 don't count towards the 10 ($500-750)
Rusty - Lynn, you can get it free with bonus points
Lynn/1/OR - Free--even better :)
Pogo/MS - Rusty, bonus pts?
Rusty - Pogo, when you order books from Scholastic, they give you bonus points.
Rusty - You can use them like money to purchase software.
Pogo/MS - OK, we have Scholastic Book fairs, does that count? Should I look into it?
tootle - Love those bonus points and they carry over
Rusty - You don't get their catalogs every month at school?
Linda/2/CA - My budget was the BEST--$500 of FREE software of my choice--Marcia helped me pick it out
Flash - Where did you get the $500 of FREE?
Linda/2/CA - Won a certificate to Learning Services at NECC in San Diego last year
Marcia/Ca - other nice features of kids pix are the amount of templates in the program. There are maps of every state and country.
tootle - Going to teach multimedia class for first time to students, any suggestions
B - For 1st grade I start with letting the kids explore all the tools for quite awhile. Then I ask 1st graders to create a "doodle art" (any kind of picture using the tools in Kid Pix) and they have to put their name on it. I display all the "doodle art" pics for all students to see the endless possibilities.
Rusty - tootle, I'd start with their autobiographies - All About Me!
tootle - Thanks, I had that in my plans-will actually teach it for 18 weeks
Flash - When teaching multimedia, go slow, don't try to many things at once.
Flash - For those with very few computers, have students each do a slide, then put it all together.
Marcia/Ca - One of the features allows the students to write a poem and draw a design and the poem is the line...
Linda/2/CA - We did a project where the kids were given an artifact and they had to make up a multimedia presentation about it--including slideshow and newspaper article
Marcia/Ca - I think having students work in pairs works nice with kids pix. What one doesn't know the other can teach. You will find out fast who can be the leader in the group.
pez - My kindergartners are paired with older students our first few visits to our Lab. The older kids enjoying showing them the 'ropes'
Flash - If you want a simple,quick and easy slideshow, try ClarisWorks.
Lynn/1/OR - KP is easier than Claris Works, in my opinion
Marcia/Ca - There are many ideas to create slide shows with all the software. Each child created their own page and all can be asssembled for a great show. Pick a theme and start.
Pogo/MS - I thought about having kids sit a puter, and give them a topic....let one apply something, then have them rotate around lab and add to each puter. See what they have in the end.
pez - Are you able to create a slide show with Kid Pix?
B - yes pez
Marcia/Ca - yes, kids pix slide shows are easy to do, and then they can go home on a disc with the students . They don't need the software to show the slide show...(can't be modified)
Laurie/MI - I'm interested in ideas about types of software to use in the classroom and ideas about how to use them
Linda/2/CA - Laurie--go to clearinghouse.k12.ca.us You can find ratings of software here and it also tells you how to use in the class, including extension activities--it will also tell what the standards are for that program
scooter - It is my first year teaching computers, I'm looking for software that will allow me to do many things
Marcia/Ca - Kids pix is for primary students and :0) beginning teachers. :0)
Lynn/1/OR - Kid Pix is a must-have piece of software for primary students
B - I used Kid Pix with my first and their 4th grade buddies
Pogo/MS - I wish Kidpix wasn't in 256 color though...drawback...from 16 mil.
Marcia/Ca - But that makes it work good on old computers.
Doug - Marcia- i teach kindergarten and I like Kid Pix. To teach mouse handling, we start with the hidden picture (eraser and question mark tools), any other good starting places for k? Today, I taught them to use the pencil tool....I tend to wait to show the paintbrush any recommendations?
Marcia/Ca - There are three different sizes for the stamps. The students need to learn how to use shift/control and more to make them different sizes. The paintbrush goes pretty fast. takes allot of control. I haven't used it allot with the students.
B - I have a question Marcia-how do you incorporate the "Moopies", "Stampimator", and "Digital Puppets" options?
Marcia/Ca - I haven't found anything educational in those parts of the program... Yet! but they are good for the children to learn mouse control and shift/alt options.
Flash - I just taught a multimedia workshop and the biggest problem in Kid Pix was with sounds outside the program. We recorded some sounds from a CD, then had to edit them, then had problems getting KP to save them. But it eventually did. The group did a Texas unit with KP, and it was wonderful!
Pogo/MS - Before SAT's I use it to listen to directions. Create pictures and use moving van....Give specific directions where to put something and see if they are able to do it correctly.
B - I have used Kid Pix with my Read It, Draw It, Solve It problem solving book. I type in the text, kids can see it on my large classroom monitor, special student gets to illustrate it on computer while others solve/illustrate their own at their desks. I have it on the monitor when they enter the room in the morning, it's part of their "morning work."
Linda/2/CA - hey B--that sounds like a terrific idea--much better than copying off the pages
Marcia/Ca - LCD is the way to go if the school has one. I just saw them in a catalog. $3500
Linda/2/CA - My ignorance shows--what is LCD?
Marcia/Ca - the monitor that projects the computer screen on the wall.
Pogo/MS - I use a 25" tv
Doug - marcia- isn't it cheaper to run a line from the computer to the VCR and then to the TV?
Marcia/Ca - I am still learning ,,, does that work.too .?
Linda/2/CA - Pogo--can you use any TV or do you have to use a presentation TV?
Flash - It is cheaper to use the computer directly to the tv if the computer already has a video card.
B - I use a large TV monitor too, we don't have the kind of money needed for an LCD panel.
Pogo/MS - No it's a Sharp TV Linda. I have TV? Silver to hook to it. Can't think of the name. It hooks to back of computer and to TV. TVviewSilver I think is the name of the gizzmo.
Flash - Try Radio Shack for great ideas for hook ups.
B - I have a converter called AverKey hooked between lg. monitor and computer
Pogo/MS - http://www.mesa.k12.az.us/it/resource_bank/rsclesson.shtml another great page for Kidpix and Clarisworks.
Doug - Marcia- we had a debate a while back at my school. With K's they hunt and peck. Does this make for bad habits when they formally learn keyboarding in 4th grade?
Linda/2/CA - You wait until 4th to do keyboarding? My 2nds learn correct keyboarding
Marcia/Ca - I am not sure. I believe the kids need to learn where the letters are on the keyboard, Some don't have the dexterity to use both hands.
Pogo/MS - We don't do keyboarding until middle school here.
Pogo/MS - Kids only come once a week for 30 minutes, hardly time to learn keyboarding.
Doug - and so the debate continues....:)
Joanne - I had a large floor mat of a keyboard. The kids hopped from one letter to the next as I called them out.
Marcia/Ca - a great shower curtain idea!!!
Cass/1/Md - Joanne, what grade level did you use the floor mat?
Marcia/Ca - I bet the 1st could use this idea. Start off spelling simple words. Great fun idea...
Joanne - Kdg, !st and 2nd.
Pogo/MS - Start w/ Kindergarten, typing A,B,C's....then we move on to names numbers etc
B - I teach the kids how to plan their project using a storyboard before they do it on the computer.
Flash - Another fun idea in keyboarding with younger ones is simply their names. Also do the spellcheck. They love seeing what the computer suggests.
Linda/2/CA - Marcia--that also improves their speilling skills--I listen to them saying s-a-t as they hunt for the letters
gabby - I start my kids doing their names..they take their name cards to the computer with them. Then we go into making a year long ABC book. I teach them where certain tools are like the shapes, pencil and paint bucket and they draw something that starts with the letter we are working on.
Marcia/Ca - Start off the year making a slide show about me!Have the students first do the project on paper. Then as teams create their slide. Make sure they know they have a time limit. say 20 min.
Mel - I missed some of the talk but at the workshop I went to yesterday on Kid Pix they suggested doing a class diary for 100's days
Pogo/MS - Marcia, is bingo on your page? I have a link for it, and it was cute!!! Think it came off the Mesa page I put up a minute ago.
Marcia/Ca - I am not sure.. there are so many....I love the social studies ones...
Mel - Marcia what are the Social Studies one?
Marcia/Ca - look on http://members.aol.com/MrsGoudie/kidspix.html and then go to the template page. Tons of things on Greece, France , Rome and the different U.S. states.
B - Cass, then I rotate the kids through the computer center during center time where they work on their Kid Pix project
Cass/1/Md - In kidpix it takes awhile to generate a picture. Has any found a way around the amount of time?
Pogo/MS - Do you mean print Cass?
Cass/1/Md - Pogo, no I mean just making a picture.
Cass/1/Md - B.. I thought about scanning in their drawings.
B - Cass, that works too!
Marcia/Ca - After they learn the basic operations give them 20 min. tell them what they have at the end of the time...is it... Most wil start erasing and doing it over until they learn they have to finish within the time frame.
B - I found that it DOES take a lot of time creating pictures. I have just come to accept that it does take a lot of time to create pics.
Pogo/MS - Give them a time limit perhaps Cass. We have 30 minutes in my class....some of them rush through it too fast.
Pogo/MS - We also draw weather pictures for our paper and ABC TV station....kids love to see themselves on TV and paper.
Doug - Marcia- did you know Kid Pix has a dot to dot thing under the paintbrush?
4th Grader - Marcia, Do you have a suggestion what is better for my grade hyperstudio or powerpoint developmentally?
Pogo/MS - From what everyone says hyperstudio is easier 4th....I like Powerpoint though.
M&M - Has anyone used the books by Evan-Moor called Alphabet Activities on the Computer? I got it because it had the directions written out for the kids and I don't have to rewrite. Says use Kids Pix or KidsWorks.
Pogo/MS - Not me MM. I do however have both Kidpix and Kidworks.
Rainyd/FL/K - M&M -= just got the books, can't wait to try the activities
Jan/IL - Is Kidpix too easy for 4th grade?
B - Jan, I don't think it is at all.
Marcia/Ca - no, not really, but you should expect more from that age. To be indep.
B - I had 4th graders doing state projects with it. They had requirements they had to meet.
4th Grader - Hyperstudio seems to have too many choices where powerpoint is a little too sophisticated?
Marcia/Ca - Kids Works is great for writing skills, language and connecting literature to what they have learned.
Jan/IL - I tried kids having their own disk and using different computers, but that didn't work in Hyperstudio. They lost data going to different computers. I don't know why?
Jean/OH - what do you recommend for a lab---having the children each have a disk and the teacher storing them??
Pogo/MS - My 3-5 are responsible for their diskettes. That is the first thing they learn to do in my lab. Save as to their diskettes.
Marcia/Ca - Thank you all for coming.
