Pups of Liberty Coloring Contest

Each month izzit.org wants your students to bring the Pups Alive with our monthly Pups of Liberty Coloring Contest. Educators/teachers can go to our kids zone section from izzit.org and download a coloring page, then watch your students creativity come alive. Once coloring pages are completed, they can be submitted to izzit.org via Facebook private message, Twitter direct message or email at: contests@izzit.org between the first of each month and the last day of each month. Educators submitting coloring pages must be a registered member with izzit.org, accounts are easy and FREE to create. One winner will randomly be selected from all entries and announced on the first working day of the next month. That winner will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to reallygoodstuff.com and (1) Pups of Liberty Activity book.

Click here for activities relating to Pups Of Liberty: Dog-claration of Independence

Click here for activities relating to Pups of Liberty: Boston Tea-bone Party"

For full rules, click here.

40% Off Spring Sale

Spring is here....so we need to clear out our warehouse....and make room for next year's goodies!!

So EVERYTHING in our webstore is 40% off.

You can purchase new releases, our Pups of Liberty activity book, and even purchase a Discount Membership - ALL 40% off!!

Click here to learn more and start saving.

Day 8 Code for 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Spectacular

Day 8- Dec. 14!

Remember this code expires at midnight (Eastern Time) and a new code (for Day 9) will be issued shortly after.

To ensure you collect as many DVDs as possible, check back each day, and follow all our social media channels.

To learn more about this special DVD, Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party click here.

Stay connected with us on: 

Facebook

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YouTube

Vimeo

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Google +

BONUS

6 lucky participants will also be randomly selected to get an extra surprise in their "stocking" - a Roku streaming stick! Which will come in handy since izzit.org has a Roku channel, click here for channel information.

*No guarantee titles will arrive before Christmas! Be patient with our elves.

Limit 1 title per household. Limit 1 Roku winner per household. U.S. residents only. No purchase necessary. We cover shipping & handling. For full rules click here.

The Making of Pups of Liberty by Bert and Jennifer Klein

Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party is now in thousands of classrooms, and has become a hit with students and teachers. It's the first teaching unit in the Pups of Liberty series, featuring four (that's the current plan, anyway!) animated films that will tell the story of the American Revolution using animals to represent real-life historical figures. The second unit, The Dog-claration of Independence, is also now available!

Characters like "Bonejamin Franklin" and "Spaniel Adams" introduce kids to the Founding Fathers in a new and fun way. Even though the Pups of Liberty films use a clever spin to attract young people, they always maintain historical accuracy and make it clear in the supplemental materials how the animated characters correspond to the real men and women of history. Future episodes will include: The Ruffolutionary War and Fetching a New Nation (featuring George Woofington). (Working titles - titles may change!) We believe this approach will enable young people to embrace history, and that the characters will  have a lasting impact.

Our goal is to help kids truly understand the ideals and principles of freedom upon which our nation was founded. When a young person sees in our film how the taxes imposed by the cats affect our main character Anne and her business, they can relate to her disappointment and empathize with her frustration that the dogs have no representation. If viewers can relate on an emotional level with our characters, they can begin to understand how these issues could make people angry enough to start a revolution.

When we began the Pups of Liberty series, we wanted to make films like the ones we loved back in school. The teacher would pull out the rickety 16mm film projector and show a movie as a change of pace from the usual routine. The best ones were the animated educational films that were produced by Walt Disney in the 1950s and '60s. They were so well done that they were being shown for decades after they'd been made. A big favorite was Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land,which managed to teach the Pythagorean Theorem with amazing clarity. These films taught in ways that made students want to watch, and so they learned. As filmmakers and parents, we believe that making education fun also makes it more effective.

The animation in Pups of Liberty uses both digital and hand-drawn techniques. We begin with thorough research, staying as close to the source of the historical facts as possible. After we write the script, we design the characters and the draw the "storyboards," which are single-drawing representations of what is happening in each shot. To determine the look of each scene we paint "color keys" and draw a "layout" for each shot prior to animation. Each

second of film requires up to 24 drawings for the characters to come to life and every detail is hand drawn. The highest quality of animation requires specially trained artists to create a character that lives and breathes and convinces the viewer it is real. To use an old phrase, an animator is "an actor with a pencil" - and through thousands of beautiful drawings we give our characters expression and feelings, which resonate with our audience. After the animation is done, it receives a "clean up" line, is then scanned digitally, and colored and composited together with a painted background. Sound mixing and an original music score create the final product.

Another fun aspect of Pups of Liberty is the way we make our historical figures easy to remember - Spaniel Adams in place of Samuel Adams is catchy and will stick in a viewer's mind for years (Just try to forget Paul Ruffere or George Woofington!).

As artists, we have a passion to practice our craft every day, but being able to tell great stories with worthwhile messages makes it even more exciting and rewarding. The lessons learned from history don't have to be exclusively for grownups; kids can understand and apply ideals, principles, and values to their young lives, too. We hope that Pups of Liberty can teach young pups some new tricks!

Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claration of Independence is available for purchase, educators can select it as their Free Annual Video, or anyone can watch it via streaming.













We also have a Pups of Liberty Activity and Coloring Book on sale until the end of September. Click here to purchase.










Take a glimpse behind the scenes of the creation of Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claration of Independence. Meet some of the animation team and learn how the bring the Pups to life in the video below.

After a long wait, it's HERE!

We have been teasing you all like crazy, but the time has come....The new Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claraton of Independence video is finally available. And...you can watch the whole video, right now, via streaming on the izzit.org website!

After the Boston Tea-Bone Party, the Pups of Liberty continue to assert themselves against Catland. But the Royal TomCat refuses their requests for representation in the government and issues orders that make life miserable in the 13 Ameri-canine colonies.

You will witness Paul Ruffere’s famous midnight run to warn the MinuteMutts at Lexington and Concord. Join Anne Kennel and Bonejamin Franklin in Philadelphia. Be there as Thomas Jefferhound writes, and the Continental Congress votes on, the Dog-claration of Independence, starting the Revolutionary War and putting America on the path to freedom.

Click here to choose as a FAV (or to watch via streaming!)

Click here to purchase

We also have an activity book that contains 48 pages of activities centered on the adventures of our Pups.

The activity book has a special introductory offer of$4.95. Sale ends September 30th! A perfect addition to the Pups of Liberty: Dog-claration of IndependenceDVD!

Click here to purchase this activity book.

Coming Soon

We've been working hard on new membership options which will be coming this fall.

Make sure you leave feedback so you can get your next free DVD. We value your opinions and do our  best to customize each program for all classrooms. In the past, we've actually redone a program based on teacher feedback, so know that your comments are read and carefully considered.

Along with that, we also have several upcoming new releases that you can look forward to selecting as your Free Annual Video. Stay tuned!

On our social media, we've been sharing clips of our new program, "Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claration of Independence." 

Here's the clip in case you missed it:

Boston Time Capsule! Paul Revere & Pups of Liberty

As a history buff, I'm totally geeked about the time capsule they just opened in Boston. Originally sealed up on July 4, 1795, it contained silver coins smithed by Paul Revere, and then-Gov. Samuel Adams helped seal it up. There's also an engraved silver plate that reportedly still shows fingerprints.

How cool to think those might be Paul Revere's fingerprints!

There are two newspapers from the time period as well!

What a great current events tie-in to our Pups of Liberty:The Boston Tea-Bone Party DVD!  If you haven't seen this one, you're missing out on a really fun way to help your students learn American History. (You can get your copy from www.izzit.org.)

Boston is an amazing place, rich with history, and this time capsule is a great reminder of that.

We'll be releasing another Pups DVD in the fall of 2015. The Dogclaration of Independence is sure to be a hit as well. Stay tuned so you don't miss it.

To read more about the Boston time capsule, read this article: MFA Opens the Paul Revere, Sam Adams Time Capsule. There's a video of the process as well.

Pups of Liberty Producers/Animators Visit Us!

Jennifer & Bert Klein, producers/directors/lead animators of our "Pups of Liberty: Boston Tea-Bone Party" DVD, are in town today, visiting our offices. This morning they spoke to a group of 5th graders at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in Erie, PA. Here are some pictures of them from the trip. The kids were spellbound by Pups, and they were treated to a sneak-peek at the next Pups of Liberty, which we're working on now. "Pups of Liberty: The Dogclaration of Independence" should be released next fall! The Kleins also taught the students the basics of animation.

This is the Kleins before the presentation.

This is just after the students finished viewing Pups of Liberty. They were absolutely spellbound by the video!

We gave away several copies of the video to students. Jen & Bert autographed them for the kids.

It was a fantastic opportunity for us, and we're very thankful to Grover Cleveland Elementary school, and all of the 5th grade teachers, especially Ms. Conrad! 

Pups of Liberty Contest!

We're having a Pups of Liberty Contest!

Your class can name a new Pups of Liberty character for our upcoming sequel!

 Visit www.izzit.org and click on CONTESTS in the left menu to learn more.

There's a prize for the winning teacher (a Kindle Fire) as well as a prize for the winning class (Teacher's Choice - a class pizza party or a book for each student.) The contest runs all of February and March, so if you don't already have Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party, you have time to get a copy and use it in your classroom.

You must be logged in to your izzit.org account in order to enter. (An izzit.org account is free!)

Our animation team is already hard at work on the next Pups film, which will center around the "Doglaration of Independence." It will be another fun way to teach (or review) American History.

Pups of Liberty - izzitKIDS

So far Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party has been a hit!  We just wanted to remind all of those who have ordered the DVD that we also have a special section on our website that has lots of content for teachers and students.  It's in our izzitKIDS section and includes an interactive map and timeline, information about the characters, and behind the scenes information and artwork.  

Also, don't forget to tell all your colleagues that they can order their free copy too at www.izzit.org.  And for your non-teacher friends, they can purchase the DVD at a special introductory price of $15.00 here.  

For those of you haven't yet ordered Pups of Liberty, what are you waiting for?  Here's another short clip so you can see what you're missing:

Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party

We've just released our newest DVD, Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party.

This is our first DVD specifically designed for grades K-6.  It is an animated film which introduces students to the people, places, ideas, and events that led to the founding of the United States of America.  The Boston Tea-Bone Party tells the story of the founding of the Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party, but with the real people of history portrayed by cats and dogs.

Here's a clip:

Along with this release, we've also created a new section for our website called izzitKIDS.  Within this section are interactive features for students to learn more about the story and how the film was made.  Check it out here.

And don't forget to go order your copy of Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party!

Coming Soon - Pups of Liberty

We've had a number of teachers contact us recently looking for DVDs that are appropriate for elementary students in grades K-4.  Until now we've mainly focused on producing videos for middle and high school students.  That's about to change.

In December we will be releasing our first DVD produced specifically for the lower grades.  It is called Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party.  This short animated film tells the story of the Boston Tea Party, but with the real people of history portrayed by cats and dogs.  It's a great way to teach young students about the ideas and events that led to the founding of the United States.  Along with the DVD we'll also have a new section on our website called izzitKIDS which will include interactive features for students.

After this initial release, if there is a good response, we're hoping to begin producing more videos like this one.  So make sure to tell all your friends and colleagues who teach in elementary schools to check out izzit.org in December!