Every person who has ever written a story knows that communication is not always easy. Where do you begin? What goes in the middle? How do you end your story? Giving children those answers and the tools to find them on their own is the mission of Alki Elementary and Kindergarten teachers Terry Kegel, Alexis Boeger and Stevie Kramer who for the third year were the guiding light behind The Alki Kindergarten Film Festival.

Held at the Admiral Theater on Thursday, Feb 9, the festival featured the work of 72 students and the house was packed to capacity for the showing of student written and made short films. Most were 30 seconds, and some were a bit longer but all were assembled by Kegel with titles and music where appropriate.

Each story reflected ideas and experiences the students chose to write about with many featuring their own artwork and all with their own narration. Some were about people they knew, or experiences they had. The films were interspersed with Titles indicating questions asked of the students or sections of the presentation.

The event was made possible by a grant they received from DonorsChoose plus some donations from families and friends. That grant helped them rent the Admiral and then through another grant they are able to get some gear and through the use of a set of iPod Touch handheld devices (they shoot pictures and video too) the teachers were able to let the students produce their own stories. Donors Choose is a website where teachers can post projects they want to pursue and get donations to make them happen.

The first year was just in the classroom, and last year it was held at Chief Sealth but this year they made it to the Admiral.

The projects in the festival were "a combination of the students filming each other," said Kegel, "Throughout the year we've been teaching the kids to use the iPods in different ways and one of those was to film each other reading their writing. Every day they write a little book which is part of a curriculum Writing Workshop. It's not an assignment. It's very open ended. We give them strategies to learn how to write but they come up with the ideas. Every month we publish their work."

"We come up with something that is tied to that unit that's exciting to do. It's a way to publicly finish that piece. In the hallway we have a picture board with their faces. But this event is exciting and open to the community, plus families and friends," Kramer said.

"For me the point the point is connecting writing to readers," Kegel explained, "These kids are just discovering the skill of writing. At first they were scribbling, then learning letters, but connecting to an audience, if we can get kids to feel that they they are going to be inspired and empowered as writers. That's really cool. Once that clicks then they take off.

The final assembled videos, through the generous donation of a parent will be transferred to a DVD.