A few months ago, my mom emailed to tell me that she had heard about a teacher who gave each of her students a key and asked them to write a story about what that key might open. She then told me that she had plenty of keys (mostly antique) and asked if I would like them. Teachers refuse nothing so of course I jumped at the chance to add to my collection of stuff!

Wanting to have the 4th graders do a writing activity and try out the Book Creator for iPad app’s newest features of emailing a book then combining several to make one class book, I decided to have the students pair up and write a story about a key.

When the students arrived for computer lab at the beginning of the week, I described the assignment:

Choose a key and work with a partner to write a short story. Answer questions such as:

• What could the key open?
  
• What use did it have?
  
• Where might it lead?

Illustrate the story, type it in the Book Creator app, and then record it.  Finally email the book to me so that I would be able to combine all into one class book.

I was amazed at the interest in the keys – students said they’d never seen the various shapes of keys from the past! After much examination, each group finally chose one! Then they went to work brainstorming what to write. The story was typed in Microsoft Word. Illustrations were done either on the computer (Microsoft Paint) or on the iPad (using one of the following apps: Drawing Box, Art Set, or Color Box HD). The students also used the iPad camera to photograph their key which was to be used in some place in the story.

It was interesting to watch the students work; to see the collaboration as they talked about their ideas. Some finished quickly while others weren’t finished after their five days with me. Considering we only had 40 minutes a day, I was amazed at the progress – writing, illustrating, learning the apps. We were not able to spend as much time revising as I had hoped so some of the stories aren’t as “polished” as we would like.

The students really enjoyed writing and recording a “key” story. Some gave up recess to have extra time to work. The app was easy to use and the idea that they will have a finished product that can be read on an iPad or iPhone was extremely appealing!

Link to the class book: To read the ePub book, you must click on the book link below while on an iOS device with the iBooks app (i.e. iPad, iPhone, iTouch). The book will not open on a PC. Downloading instructions are below the book links. We hope you enjoy the students’ work!

Keys: A Collection of Short Stories by Mrs. Malone’s Class

Directions to download to your iOS device:

• You will need the iBooks app installed on your iOS device.
• Click on the book link above.
• Tap on the download button.
• Choose Open in . . . and then choose Open in iBooks
• The book is now in iBooks.

Lessons Learned:

• To get illustrations drawn in Microsoft Paint on the computer to the iPad, I uploaded them to my Picasa Album so the students could go there and save the image to their photos on the iPad.
• When the books are combined, there is an extra page in front of the title. After discovering this with the first two finished books, I asked students to come up with an “About the Author” page. They loved posing for their authors picture!
• It is important to pre-write before getting into the app. That gives students the chance to edit and revise; not the favorite aspect of the writing process but it’s what authors do!