KidPix-Writing            

Brief Overview

KidPix is an interactive drawing program aimed for children. It was originally created by Craig Hickman and was first released for the Macintosh in 1989. More recent additions have been published by Broderbund. Hickman was inspired to create KidPix after watching his son struggle with writing and drawing. The main objective was to create a drawing program that would be very simple  to use. The features of KidPix include the canvas, which occupies most of the screen, and the entire canvas is visible at all times. The drawing tools available to the user are placed in a column of buttons down the left side of the screen. Instead of using menus to access the different options that each tool has, they are displayed in a row of icons along the bottom of the screen. Selecting a new tool presents a new set of options such as different styles for the Wacky Brush. A list of color choices is situated below the list of tools and consists of a collection of colored squares for each of the available colors. The basic drawing tools of KidPix include: Pencil Tool, Line Tool, Paint Bucket, Square Tool, and Circle Tool. Special drawing tools include: Wacky Brush, Mixer Tool, and Rubber Stamps. Other cool features of KidPix include: Sound Tool, Undo Guy, Pick a Draw Me, Slideshow and Movie, Moopies, Stampimator, digital puppets, and Wacky TV.  

How to Use Kid Pix

Kid Pix is a child friendly program where kids can draw, paint, design, record sounds, make pictures move, stamp, draw shapes, add text, and write. 

There is so much that a student can do with Kid Pix.  The first step however, is getting to know the program and its many applications.  To familiarize yourself with Kid Pix and all of the amazing things that it has to offer explore the following links:

To learn about the tools of Kid Pix and all the different applications of the tools, view the following powerpoint presentation that was accessed at

http://www2.visalia.k12.ca.us/techcoach/2nd2004/kid_pix.htm:  Kid Pix Tutorial

To view short videos on how to use the Kid Pix tools go to http://www.learningelectric.com/kidpix.htm.  

 Application to Future Teaching

Lesson Plans

Creating and Presenting Haiku with Kid Pix

Grades

3-5

Brief Description

Students learn about the history and characteristics of haiku poetry and use Kid Pix to present original haiku.

Objectives

 Students

• learn about the history and characteristics of haiku.
• correctly answer questions about haiku.
• view samples of haiku.
• create an original haiku using general haiku characteristic guidelines.
• use Kid Pix to type and illustrate their haiku.  

Keywords

haiku, Kid Pix, Japan, poem, poetry

Materials Needed

• computer with Internet access (optional)
• Kid Pix and Kid Pix slide show software
• Cool Melons -- Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa by Matthew Gollub
• information about haiku history and characteristics (see below)
• haiku samples
• Internet Resources

  Among the Internet resources you might use for this activity are the following:

• Haiku This Web site includes information about haiku history and characteristics.
• Create Your Own Haiku Poetry
• Japanese Haiku This Web site includes student haiku samples.
• Kid Pix Slideshow Here you will find helpful tips for making a Kid Pix slide show.

Lesson Plan

Lesson One

• Read aloud the book Cool Melons -- Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa, by Matthew Gollub.
• Have students reread some of the 33 haiku from the book. Ask students to look for similarities and differences among the poems. Have them compare their observations of haiku to traditional poetry.
• Discuss history and characteristics of haiku.  

Next, have students close their eyes and imagine themselves walking through the woods, lying in the grass, walking through a field, etc. Create on the board a list of how words and expressions the students are feeling about the nature that surrounds them.

Show students examples of haiku and use a computer projector to demonstrate writing haiku, using the Create Your Own Haiku Web resource (see Internet Resources above).

Finally, have students write their own haiku.

Lesson Two

• Have students type and illustrate their haiku on the computer, using Kid Pix.
• After the students create their haiku illustrations in Kid Pix, the teacher can combine the slides into one class haiku presentation, using a Kid Pix slide show. You can find instructions at http://www.educationworld.com/pontiflex3.shtml?redirectUrl=http://www.schools.ash.org.au/revesby/kpss.html
• Show presentation to students. Run the presentation for parents at an open house or other school event.

 Extension Activity: Print the Kid Pix presentation, and make a class book of haiku for everyone to enjoy. The class book could be sent home with a different child each day to share with his or her family.

Assessment 

Grade students on class participation and appropriate application of haiku guidelines.

Similes with Kid Pix

grade level: k-2

Objective: Students will write and illustrate similes.

Before using the computer: Students know what similes are and students know how to use the tools in Kid Pix.

On the Computer: Students will type their simile on the computer screen and students will illustrate their simile. (see the example above)

Assessment: Assess this lesson by the students' simile picture and by participation and staying on task during the lesson.

Group Projects

Grade level k-1: Assign each group a letter or word and have the students design a page on KidPix using pictures, words, stamps etc. of that letter or word. For example, for the letter A, the group might draw pictures of ants, apples, acorns, adding, angry, America, Acting, Antelope....

Grade level 2-3: Animal Research and Habitat: Groups choose an animal to research, then write and illustrate a sentence to fit each bob using KidPix.

Grade Level 4-6: Groups are assigned an historical figure and must create a slideshow using sound and the movie maker on the historic person.

Grade level 7-12: Assign each group a picture of a person (can either be a famous portrait or a picture out of the year book). Have the students design their own interpretation of the picture using Kid Pix.

Resources for Teachers

In Kid Pix you can write, draw, design not just on one page, but on a whole progression of pages.  This program is very easy for children to navigate through and so the possibilities are endless. 

To see many ideas for short readable stories that children can write in the primary grades by using Kid Pix, visit Marilee's Kid Works and Kid Pix Page for ideas. 

For a plethora of ideas on how to use Kid Pix in all the different subject areas as well as some more information about Kid Pix, visit Kid Pix Studio Deluxe in the Classroom.

For ideas on how to integrate Kid Pix into different subject in different grades, visit Wacona Elementary School's Kidpix! page. 

To upload Kid Pix to your computer, visit Kid Pix upload. 

To see how to save your Kid Pix slideshow into a Quiktime video so that you can view it from any computer (with or without Kid Pix), view the Turn Your Kid Pix Slide Show into .mov File youtube video

Just for fun, to see the undo Kid Pix tool and all of the things that he says view the youtube video The Undo Guy.