www.kerpoof.com
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Kerpoof is an image editing application that can be used for children to have great fun online. It is a friendly, educational site that can be used with primary and post primary age groups. There are six main elements to the programme: Make a Story, Make a Card, Make a Movie, Make a picture, Spell a Picture and Doodlepad. Kerpoof's multimedia software is used by students worldwide to create original - artwork, animated movies, stories, greeting cards and more.
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Why the site was chosen as a site of the week?
- Use of the program is free but to use it you need to register online with an email address.
- It’s bright and colourful.
- It’s easy to navigate.
- The “Storybook”: can be used to incorporate any of the Junior Cycle or Senior Cycle themes in French or other languages.
- The site can could be used in many subject areas.
- Work created can be saved and recalled at a later date.
- The interface is extremely user friendly. The sidebar has thumbnails of each page that students have created, making it easy to see their progress.
- Students can save their finished Story Books on their Kerpoof account to share with other students, download the finished Story Book to their computers, or print out their completed stories.
- Kerpoof offers the freedom of creativity. Students are only limited by their own imaginations.
- There are tutorials to help you use the different aspects of the site.
- The design is kept very simple with plenty of animation to keep students interested. There is also the option to vote on the art work so that you can choose work that you like. This encourages the community and makes it a much more vibrant place to hang out.
Relevance to the curriculumDownload free lesson plans for a variety of disciplines, from foreign languages to social studies, to Maths and Science. The story of “ Le petit chaperon rouge” and “Les fees” are available to download for French lessons. Make a storybook” is especially useful for teachers who may wish to create a book which can be used effectively by children of a young age to help them progress their reading skills.
Kerpoof is a vital tool for enhancing the students’ literary and linguistic skills. Since it is a content-free package, it can be applied to many areas of the curriculum, particularly literacy.
How could it be used in class?- Set up your classroom computers as a publishing centtre where students can create a finished, published piece of work. Create collaborative class stories using 'Make a StoryBook' on an interactive whiteboard or projector. For example students could write an animated story about going shopping in French. Print out finished stories and add them to your classroom library for other students to “check out” and read.
- In tThe "Make a Card" section of Kerproof.com, you build your own birthday cards, grreeting cards, thank-you-cards, get-well-soon-cards, Mother's day cards and Father's day cards in French. The cards can then be emailed to their recipients.
- In the "Make a Movie" activity in Kerpoof Studio, children can create their own animminated movies. The digital storytelling interface is very well designed and intuitive. The theme could follow the current topic being studied in class.
- Run class competitions using the Make a Poster facility.