Good morning everyone,

Hope you all had a great Mother’s Day weekend and are excited about heading back to school! Yay! It’s Monday! (Yes, I am serious!)

Over the weekend I came across a tweet by Lucy Gray about a site called “Kerpoof” and checked it out. I am *SO* using this with my classes next week! (Plans for this week are done!)

Think of Kerpoof like KidPix but web-based, collaborative, without all the bugs, and FREE. This is a full-featured multimedia authoring suite ideal for students of nearly all ages. I’d be a little reluctant to show it to Kindergarteners, but kids as young as first graders, particularly those who have good reading skills, will be able to figure this site out on their own with no problems!

Kerpoof is great because you can get going right away with just a few mouse clicks. The software is very intuitive. Shown below is the movie scene generator. The icons on the left are actions, the ones on the right are characters you just drag and drop in. Beautifully simple!

You can make pictures (with backgrounds), movies, drawings (like MS-Paint), cards and even complete stories with animation and text effects, and you can do it all without creating an account.

Those that wish to however can create an account complete with a cool avatar that is totally customizable. Having an account allows you to save your work for later and share it with others, as well as vote on creations you like. Most importantly, accounts let you accumulate coins which you can use to buy things in the Kerpoof store. While you can purchase a membership it’s clearly NOT needed to enjoy the full breadth and power of the site. In fact, kids earn coins just for using the site!

Kerpoof’s Teacher section is loaded with ideas, ready-to-use lesson plans, coloring sheets (ready for duplication), FAQs and more. There’s even a teacher flyer perfect for sharing with colleagues.

This site has been around since last summer, but yet again, my Twitter network comes through with a pointer to a terrific resource bound to change at least a few lessons in my computer lab! I love my network!

Hope this helps,

-kj-