Funny Thanksgiving Food for iPad and/or print
Some time ago I made a worksheet called Funny Thanksgiving Food, and recently I drew a version to use on the iPad or Android, and it is also a printable. This worksheet is a review of the notes around middle C. Click on the link above for this colorful version that looks good on a mobile device. However, since it is a PDF so it can be printed, laminated, and used with dry erase markers.
I also significantly updated the print-friendly version below, which has keys instead of notes on the staff. Funny Thanksgiving Food has been a very popular coloring printable over the years, but I think I draw better now. The coloring version is good to use with younger children at a group lesson while waiting for everyone to show up. What child can resist coloring food all the wrong colors! (I also have a version where the pilgrim has to be colored, which might be useful for parents or a group class. Email me and I’ll send it to you.)
The mention of the iPad brings up the subject of Skitch, my (used-to-be) favorite app to use with worksheets. Imagine my disappointment a few weeks ago when I discovered the company that bought Skitch, Evernote, has totally revamped the app in version Skitch 2.0, so that it is no longer useful with my students! As a matter of fact, it has created a lot of resentment and angst among long time Skitch users. You can do a search on the web to read about it. If you have the first version of Skitch, I advise you to keep using it and DO NOT update it! Once you update it, you cannot get the old version back.
I am looking for a replacement app for Skitch that will work in my piano lessons, and when I find one that is as easy as the first version of Skitch, I’ll let you know. So far I have tried many apps, and none are simple and easy enough for my needs.
All I want is an app to import and open PDF’s from the web, with some easy tools to draw lines and circles on the PDF. It should have an eraser without erasing the PDF, and/or an un-do button. There should be a way to clear the screen to start over. It needs to be so easy that even *I* can quickly figure out how to use it. Please leave a comment or email me if you know of one! I’ve tried various PDF reader apps that can be marked with annotations, but none are simple enough for what I am looking for. I’ve also tried various whiteboard apps and drawing apps. I’m still looking!
I wrote Evernote very politely asking if they could put the first version back in the app store for those of us who use it for education, but they never bothered to reply.
Susan,
I updated to 2.0. I have an undo button. There isn’t an eraser, but undo works for that purpose. I can still draw a circle or oval to use as a note on a staff. To clear a sheet, I just exit from it and then reopen it.
I’m not seeing what makes 2.0 unusable. But perhaps, I wasn’t using it to the fullest potential???
Christy
There is a way to restore your old version of Skitch after you have upgraded to the new one. You can restore a previous backup of your iPad from iTunes. You will lose any changes and data you have made since the backup, but you will be able to start over from a point before you made the upgrade. Then just choose not to upgrade this time. Losing recent data may not be ideal, but it sounds like it might be worth it for you.
If you and your readers need step-by-step instructions on how to restore from a backup, I can post them here.
Thank you, Joan. That is kind of you to offer to help.
However, I don’t back things up in iTunes nor do many of my friends. In fact, I never use iTunes. I haven’t even looked at it in quite a while. It was too time consuming and way too much trouble. Now I do everything on my device and back up to the Apple cloud service. I use a blue tooth or a wireless connection to transfer video from one device to another. I doubt if Skitch is worth most teachers losing all their data since their last backup, especially since I have been getting suggestion for other apps that do the same thing. I used to use it to import my compositions from Finale, but not I use the Finale app for that.
From what I read, Apple did some research and found out the majority of iPad and iPhone users don’t use iTunes.
Actually I don’t have the problem with the new Skitch update, since I never updated to Skitch 2.0. I still have 1.0 on my iPad. I should have made that clear in my post, but I was trying in my post to warn people not to update. But I don’t want to recommend it to teachers any more since the first version is not available for the iPad.
I did download Skitch 2.0 on a friend’s iPad and tried it out to make sure it was as bad as everyone says, and it is. I always read up on an app before I update it. I advise everyone to do that.
Thanks again for offering you help.
I am glad that you are still able to use Skitch 1.0. That is very good advice to research before upgrading.
In case it will help any of your readers (maybe someone recently made the upgrade and would like to go back), there is a way to return to a previous backup using iCloud, too. Here is the Apple article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
You will not lose all your data, only anything that has changed since your last backup. You can choose from the three most recent backups.
I hope that will be of use to some of your readers, and I look forward to seeing if a viable replacement for Skitch is found.
Have you tried Pdf-Notes?
Susan,
My son’s girlfriend did a little investigative work and this is her response:
” I’ve never used Skitch, but TechCrunch did an article complaining about it: http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/19/when-updates-make-things-worse-evernotes-skitch-2-0/
After skimming the comments, it looks to me like a promising option would be to download the old version here: You can download the old version at http://get.skitch.com/Skitch-1.0.12.zip
Otherwise, there’s a cloud-based Skitch 1.0 service at http://www.pinkhearted.com/ . It’s not free, but you only pay for Amazon S3 usage, and it does just let you use Skitch 1.0.
Here’s a list of other services I found in the comments:
http://www.techsmith.com/download/jing/
http://www.globaldelight.com/voila/mac-screen-capture-overview.html”
I hope this helps! You do awesome work and I appreciate your creative talent!
Pat
Pat, thanks for the information and for taking the time to do all the research!
As far as I can figure out, the 1.0 version is not for mobile devices, but for the Apple (OS) operating system. If I find out differently, I’ll update this comment.
Have you tried Notability? I save my PDFs to Dropbox, and there’s a direct link in Notability to open whatever you have in Dropbox. They have a great User Guide, and I find it simple to work with.
Anna, thank you so much for the suggestion. I have Notability, but I really don’t like it for use with my young students. I’m looking for something easier and more child friendly, like the original Skitch. I want something a 4 year old can easily use! Also, a lot of my readers don’t want to go to all the trouble to use Drop Box.
Love your work Susan, I think you might find what you are looking for with the Paperport Notes app, it’s free too!
Thank you for suggestion, Wendy, and I hope some teachers will find Paperport Notes useful. I spent 30 minutes trying to download a PDF from my site, and I could never get it to work. If I can’t learn an app in 5 or 10 minutes, I give up in frustration.
Hi Susan,
I was able to download your pdf directly from your website at susanparadis.com through the “web browser” option, sorry it didn’t work out for you. There were a few times the app shut down upon completing the download but when I reopen the documents are there. Perhaps a bug but hope this works out for you.
Wendy, I will give it another try! I can’t easily find the selection page for opening PDF’s. It keeps hiding from me. Is there an easy way to find it? And when I have a student waiting and I have trouble finding something, my brain just shuts down and I give up. I’m sure other teachers are the same way.
Wendy,
Thanks so much for emailing me the easy way to open an PDF! The program does seem to keep closing on me, but you are right, when I open it again, the PDF is there. And yes, it is easy to draw on it for worksheets. So thank you very much!
Susan,
Try Multitouch Whiteboard – I have used it and it works great – very easy.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/multitouch-whiteboard/id390812668?mt=8
Faye S.
Faye,
Thank you for the suggestion. However, I already have that app. It is old and has not been updated since 2010. It is not longer being supported.
Also, you cannot download PDF’s from the web, which is why Skitch was so useful.
I agree with you that is it easy, however.
Susan