Thursday, March 13, 2014

Toontastic! Ipad App Review

Guest post by Ms. Neumeyer, our online student teacher from Canada (Dean Shareski's class) Today Ms. Neumeyer continues her series of iPad app reviews. 
Other Review: Virtual Manipulatives 






Toontastic is a great app which teaches and improves storytelling, by allowing users to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons. 
Characters and settings for the cartoons can either be chosen from templates or drawn from scratch. 



Toontastic is very easy to use: after picking out setting and characters, a user just needs to press the record button, move their characters onscreen, and record their story by speaking out loud and using the iPad's built-in microphone. 



Users also have the option of including music to their story by picking an emotion which best suits the story.  Toontasic also has a global storytelling network for kids, called ToonTube, where they can share their stories. Toontastic is a fun tool that skilfully explains the essential aspects of storytelling (character, setting, story arc, etc.), and gives students a great way to practice the storytelling process.  



*     *     *     *     *
Let me share the making of my Toontasic video with you!

First, the app shows the opening screen which shows the arc of a story. Then I picked the setting. Next, I selected the characters or toys. After that, I recorded my voice reciting a poem while the characters appear to be talking! Lastly, I picked music to go with my poem. 

Below is my Toontasic video of one of my favourite childhood poems,  "My Robot" by Shel Silverstein.  

Take a look!




  )


What did you think of my video?  

How could you use this Toontastic app?

What is the arc of a story? 

2 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs. Neumeyer,

    I also have a poem to share with you, which I really like because it makes me laugh just like my grandpa does when he tells me his silly stories, it is called Surprise!

    My grandpa went to Myrtle beach and sent us back a turtle each. Then he went to Katmandu and sent us a real live Cockatoo. From Rio an iguana came, a smelly goat arrived from Spain. Now he is in India, you see my grandpa always thinks of me.

    By Shel Silverstein


    Cheers,
    @lec

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Neumeyer,

    My students will begin studying poetry next week and I have been looking for some extension activities. This app will be awesome for my students to create a Toontastic video for a poem they enjoy, or maybe even a poem that they write themselves!

    Thanks,

    Miss Byron

    ReplyDelete

* * *
Getting feedback is important to our writers. Let us know what you liked or what you learned.

Steps to Comment:

1. Write your comment in the box below. Be sure that you have proofread it for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Students should have a parent check it!

2. Choose an identity. (If you have a gmail account, use it. If not, choose name/url. You can leave the url blank if you do not have a blog.)

3. Click "Publish your Comment". You may preview your comment before publishing if you'd like.


Important: All comments MUST be approved by me.
:-) Mrs. Yollis