With great explicit instruction from Mrs. Neumann and Mrs. Stafford at the Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School, the 4th grade team of students used an app call PuppetPal HD to create digital stories.  All of the students used this app to create a short story using backgrounds, images, and voice recordings.  I heard about their work and wanted to sweeten the pot a little bit, so I donated a $25 iTunes gift card to the student who created the winning video.  The things I looked for when choosing the winner was:

1. Creativity
2. Vocabulary
3. Meaning behind the story
4. Character action & voices

ALL of the videos are AWESOME and I recommend you take a look here –> Mrs. Neumann’s Page

And the winner of the 2013 PuppetPals app contest is…

Farmer Joe by Madison

Congraduations Madison!  I hope you and all of your classmates have a successful school year and thanks for letting me watch your videos. Winning video is embedded below.

Here are my comments for each video–(video comments are in NO order)

• Farmer Joe by Madison: The voice of Farmer Joe was awesome and the vocabulary words you used like exclaimed were a great addition.  I loved your first sentence.  It was funny, creative and I knew exactly what the story was going to be about.  Congrats again!
• The First Man in Space by Mathew: I loved the sound effects of the spaceship and the colorful monster.  Great ending when both characters were laughing and fell on the ground.  Outstanding job!
• Pinkie and the Missing Pig by Emily B.: I like the movement of the indian girl from far away to close up.  You created wonderful character voices and I hope Pinky didn’t get turned into bacon! 🙂
• Farmer Bob by Jaxon: You did a great job at describing the day and time at the beginning.  I loved the addition of the cow at the end, it made me laugh!  Wonderful job!
• Lizzie, Jeffrey and Crow by Joelle: I loved the way you had the crow pick up Jeffrey.  I’m also glad that the characters all became friends in the end of the story.  Great work!
• Two Little Indians by Alison: Your expression was great and you also did an excellent job at using vocabulary words like fled.  You have a great reading voice!  Exceptional story!
• The Prince and Princess by Angie: You have a great voice for telling stories and I like the way you “zapped” the witch away.  Excellent use of the vocabulary word unbelievable. Great story!
• First Sheep in Space by Seth: Your expression and voices made the story come alive.  Great job at showing how the sheep got back to earth.  I loved the ending, “Just call me baaarney!”  Superb work!
• How Grinch Stole the Presents by Emily S.: You used the many backgrounds and did awesome at switching them.  I love the way you made the little girl look around for her presents.  Excellent video!
• The Missing Tractor by Jarrett: You used great expression in your voice to explain the story.  I liked the way you added different backgrounds and the use of the vocabulary word exclaimed.  Terrific job!
• Around the World by Sydney: You did a great job at naming all of your characters at the beginning of the story.  Also, by making the characters bigger than the others added to the story.  Great job!
• A Farmer’s Dream by Jaytan: When the farmer almost forgot his cow I laughed hard!  You also did a great job at the little green monster’s voice.  Excellent work!