[K12OSN] Tux Paint - OO Writer Code to link them needed.

[David Trask]

First....my intent is not to jump down anyone's throat, but this is
precisely what we as geeks need to avoid.  This is a typical
consultant/geek answer.  The question was asked by a grade school teacher
working with the very low grades....like kindergarten and first-grade. 
Granted, Scribus will output great files....etc.  But a program like
EasyBook is designed with small children in mind....much like TuxPaint. 
Kids need to be able to drag pre-determined clip art (like Tux paint
stamps) onto a page to make a story background.  Then they need to be able
to type in some simple text in a predetermined "box" for their story.  The
incredible participation by classroom teachers at NELS this year
(http://www.nelinux.net) and the great increase in teacher registrations
over the past week for the upcoming NELS at UNH....is a prime indicator
that at least here in the Northeast (USA)....that the teachers have begun
to "arrive".  As I've mentioned before....we need to be ready to
help....in a realistic non-geeky manner.  I'm not a programmer....I wish I
was.....but my opinion as a Linux ambassador, classroom teacher, network
geek...etc....is that probably TuxPaint or TuxPrint would be the perfect
"starting point" for something like this....what we need are programmers. 
Anyone?

Also...I don't ever want to discourage anyone from making
suggestions...etc. like this one....I simply want to remind everyone that
we need to bear in mind who the "customer" is....in this case they are 5,
6, or 7 years old.  


"Support list for opensource software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com> on
Mon Jul  3 2006 at 18:18 +0000 wrote:
>I believe the desktop publishing tool called Scribus is what you are
>looking for. It is a full-featured desktop publishing tool similar to
>Quark Express. Once a page layout template is made, one simply copies in
>text and pictures. It does not generate HTML, however. It is designed to
>submit for real paper printing. So the PDF output is very good.


David N. Trask
Technology Teacher/Director
Vassalboro Community School
dtrask at vcsvikings.org
(207)923-3100