SAY:

DO:

This world was created by an 8 year old.  She was doing a report on Monarch Butterflies and chose to do it in Creator.  All of the writing, art, and sound that you see and hear was done by this 8-year old.

·        Launch Creator

·        Click on “open a world”

·        Go to Curriculum Demos and open 3-5 MonarchButterfly.world

When we open the world we see the cover of a book with the title of the report.

When we start the world running, we hear Katherine’s voice.

·        Click on the green go button.

We click on the blue arrow to go to the first page of the book.

·        Click on the blue arrow at the bottom right.

You’ll notice that there is a picture of a butterfly (yes, she really did do this art!!) and words on the opposite page.  If we click on the little talk button that Katherine made for us, we’ll hear her voice again.

·        Point out the talk button.

·        Click on the talk button and listen to the voice.

She tells us to click on the butterfly.  When we do that, we see the butterfly fly away, leaving her eggs on the leaf.

·        Click on the butterfly.

Let’s go on to the next page. 

·        Click on the blue arrow again.

We can click on the sound button again and hear this page read to us—and then click on the egg and see more animation.

·        Click on the sound button—and then on the egg.

On the next page we see the caterpillar grow.

·        Click on the blue arrow—and then on the caterpillar (you can skip the sound now if appropriate).

We can quickly look through the rest of her report.

·        Click on the arrow and then on the animation in each page.  Go clear through the book if people are interested—or you can stop any time they seem to get the idea.

We thought Katherine had such a good suggestion of how to use Creator, that we made a blank book just like hers and put it in the Teacher’s Guide.

·        Click on the red stop button.

·        Choose “close world” from the Creator menu.

·        Choose open a world from the main menu.

·        Go to Curriculum Demos and choose 3-5 BlankBook.world.

Here we see a book all set up to use for a child’s report.  Let’s see how we would use this blank book.

First we type a title for a book.  We can make this area any size we need.

·        Click on the white box on the front of the book.  (It will highlight.).  Type “Ocean Animals by <your name>”.  If you want to show that the area for text can be increased, click on the edge of the white area until it highlights.  Then grab the lower right corner and stretch it out.

Let’s turn the page.

·        Click on the green go button. 

·        Click on the blue arrow to turn the page.

·        Click on the stop button.

Now we can write our story—and then we can add our drawings, just like Katherine did.

First let’s start our story.

·        Click near the top of the left page (not on the edge).  Type:

·        “Many fish live in the ocean.  My favorite is bright yellow with black stripes.”

Then we can illustrate our story.

·        Click on the “create a character” button and drop a splat on the right hand side of the screen. 

·        Get the paint brush and click on the splat. 

·        Clear the screen and draw a simple fish. 

·        Fill it with yellow and then make some black stripes. 

·        Add an eye and a mouth. 

·        Click done.

We can make several of our fish.

·        Use the rubber stamp tool to make a few more.

·        Put one on the page with the text too.

Let’s go on to the next page.

·        Click on the green go button.

·        Click on the blue arrow.

·        Click on the stop button.

We’ll write some more of our story.

·        Click near the top of the left page.  Type:  “There are big sharks swimming in the ocean too.”

This time let’s use some of the art that is on the Creator CD.  Let’s put a shark on the page.

·        Click on the new character button and drop a splat on the right hand page. 

·        Use the paint brush to enter the picture painter.

·        Click on “clear.”

·        Click on “get”

·        The characters folder will open; click on the Large Characters folder and then on the shark.

·        Click done.

·        Use the rubber stamp to put some more sharks on these pages.

You can bring in art from other places too.

·        Click on the green go button.

·        Click on the blue arrow.

·        Click on the stop button.

This is art that a child drew on paper—and then the art was scanned into the computer.

·        Do the create your own character procedure again, but this time when you click “get”, navigate to the curriculum demo folder and find andrewsfish.gif.  Double click on it.

·        Click done, and readjust the placement so it fits the page nicely.

·        (If you decide to add text to the left hand page, be sure to click near the top of the page.)

We can also bring in art from other art programs.

·        Click on go, turn the page with the arrow, click on stop.

This starfish was drawn in KidPix and then the art was exported as a gif file.  We can use that for art in our electronic book also.

·        Repeat the new character procedure again.  When you click on get, navigate to the curriculum demo folder again and click on starfish.gif

We can also put photos in the book.  Here is a photo of a boy who has just caught a big catfish.  He could add his photo to this book about fish.

·        Repeat the new character procedure again.  When you click on get, navigate to the curriculum demo folder again  and click on catfish.jpg

The child who has learned a little about how to use the rules in Creator can add animated pictures similar to the ones that Katherine made.  In short, students can create interactive books—for themselves or others--that combine text and graphics.  This kind of project can be used in any subject area—by any grade level—using any kind of writing, from reports, to stories, to poetry.