Each year, after learning about many forms of folktales and researching animals native to the continent of Africa, third grade students in the lower school are asked to create their own "pourquoi" stories, or the reason something came to be. For years students typed their story into Microsoft Word on laptops and teachers edited it using a flashdrive. This method however effective, was clumsy and time consuming.
Teacher, Kathy Wyszomiersky and Assistant teacher, Andrew Dolan wanted to create a physical book as well as a companion digital version. After exploring an iPad app called Book Creator, they settled on Google Drive, an online program which allows users to create and share files as a means to build their digital books. Google Drive keeps track of any changes made to the document and saves it automatically allowing students to see their revision history. Using an iPad app named Sketchbook Express Pro, a graphic design program with responsive touch, students used a stylus to create images related to their story. Once pictures were completed, students imported the pictures and text into Book Creator. In book creator, students chose layout, created background colors and images, and added sound to each picture to make a sound effect, some even making an audiobook of their story. Andrew Dolan reports "It was really an amazing project and the students far exceeded our expectations. They are so intuitive with technology and showed they can multitask easily in many apps."
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