Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Information

How can I contact you?

You can send us an email at support@littlebirdtales.com or calling us directly at 415.878.6790.

Pricing

How much does an account cost?

All accounts are free for 7 days and require no credit card to get started. Premium accounts cost $24.95 USD a year and are automatically billed annually if paid via credit card. You may also provide a purchase order. Teachers can purchase additional student accounts for $1.25 USD each.

How much does an MP4 file cost?

An MP4 file costs $3.50 USD. Premium members get 30 free MP4 downloads each year they are a member in good standing.

How much does a PDF file cost?

A PDF file currently costs $2.50 USD. Premium members get PDFs for free.

Premium Teacher Features

Login Problems

What do I enter for school code?

If you are a teacher or non-student user, you login by entering your email address and password. Leave the school code field empty.

If you are a student, you enter your student username, password, and school code. Your teacher will provide you with this information.

What if I forgot my password?

If you need to request a new password, click on the Forgot Password link. An email will be emailed to you containing your new password. Please ensure your school email system allows emails from littlebirdtales.com.

General Questions

What are the system requirements to run littlebirdtales.com?

Generally any computer with Internet access will work. We suggest you upgrade your browser to its most recent version for best performance.

What browsers are supported?

Chrome & Firefox
Others may work but they tend lag behind as far as Internet standards are concerned.

Does your site work with Chromebooks?

Yes.

Do you have an iPad/iPhone app?

Yes. You can find it on Apple's app store.

What personal information do you require for creating an account?

Only a valid email address is required.

I have a problem with your site. How do I contact you?

You can us our Contact Us page to send us an email.

Do you take purchase orders?

Yes. You may send the purchase order via email to support@littlebirdtales.com.
You can also send the purchase order via mail to:
Little Wings
P.O. Box 3003
Glendale, CA 91221

If we pay with a purchase order, how does it work?

We actually trust our customers. It usually works like this:
1. You let us know you will send us a purchase order.
2. You create your teacher accounts as free teacher accounts.
3. Select your school for each teacher account (optional).
4. Send us the list of your teacher emails to support@littlebirdtales.com.
5. We change these free accounts to premium teachers.
6. You send us the check.

Is there a minimum acceptable image resolution?

For the best quality an image should be a minimum size of 640 x 480. Smaller images can be uploaded but the quality may suffer. There is no maximum size requirement.

Is there a page limit for a tale?

The page allowance is only limited by how much storage space you have left. The larger the image and the longer you record, the fewer pages you will be able to create in total.

Is there a maximum recording time?

Each recording on a page can be a maximum of three minutes and as long as you have storage space available.

Why is the application asking for permission to my computer's microphone and camera?

The littlebirdtales.com web site only uses the microphone for recording audio. Use of the microphone is completely optional to the user. Littlebirdtales.com does NOT access your computer's camera.

By selecting allow, you are allowing the application to have access to the microphone until the application ends. You will be asked to grant access to the microphone each time you use the application unless the Remember checkbox is checked.

However, legally, we are required to tell people that it could happen, since we cannot single out access to the mic. The way it all connects in the computer is that they are tied together, so if we are not allowed access to one, we cannot have access to the other. An easy fix, if users are worried about this, is to put a piece of tape over the lens of the camera.

Do you have a way for my child to draw online?

Yes. An alternative to scanning and uploading images/photos is to use our online art pad. When you create or edit a tale you now have the option to either draw or upload an image. If you upload an image, you can click the draw button to draw over it!

Can I rearrange the pages of my tale?

Of course! When editing a tale, all the pages are listed to the right. Click on a page with your mouse and drag it vertically to change the order. When you are finished, click on the Save button.

What is an MP4?

An MP4 is a file format that will play as a movie on any device that supports the MP4 format. Most devices now support MP4s so you can play your tale on your computer or smart phone. You can even create a DVD with your MP4s or host them on other sites.

How do I purchase an MP4?

To purchase an MP4, click on the My Tales tab. Each story has an icon that looks like film. Clicking on that will start the process to purchase an MP4. You will be redirected to PayPal's site where you enter your payment information and will be redirected back when completed. Once your payment has been processed, we will create your MP4. An email will be sent to your with a link to download your MP4 once your MP4 is ready.

PDF Questions

How much does a PDF file cost?

A PDF file currently costs $2.50 USD. Premium members get PDFs for free.

Non Premium Member Notes

Non-premium members are required to purchase a PDF before the PDF will be generated. Once the PDF is generated, you are allowed to generate PDFs for free until the associated tale has been modified. Modification means, changing the content of the tale in any way, changing the title or author. Once the tale has been modified, if you want another PDF, you will be required to purchase a new PDF. Premium members get all PDFs for free.

Gallery Questions

What features are provided by the Gallery?

Each user has a the ability to create multiple galleries to organize their images.
Upload multiple images simultaneously.
Image crop.
Image duplication.
When working on a story, you now have the ability to select an image from your gallery to be displayed on a page.

If I delete an image from the Gallery, does it affect any story where the image is already used?

If I delete an image from a story, does it delete the image from my Gallery?

If I select an image from the Gallery to be used in a story, then modify it using the art pad, does it affect the Gallery image?

No. Images used in your Gallery and not tied to your stories. You can delete or modify images in your Gallery or stories without one affecting the other.

How do I crop an image?

1. Go into your Gallery and click on the image.
2. Click on the image to go into edit mode.
3. Click on the Crop button to the right of the image.
4. Now you are in crop mode. To crop the image, click on the image and drag to outline the area you want to crop.
5. When satisfied, click Save.

When I crop an image, does it destroy the original image?

No. We create a copy of the original image so you never lose the original.

How do I make a duplicate of an image?

There are serveral ways to duplicate an image.
1. Go into your Gallery and click on the image.
2. Click on the image to go into edit mode.
3. Click on the Duplicate button to the right of the image.
4. The image will be copied and the duplicate image will be displayed.

1. In edit mode, you can click on any image and drag it to a gallery name listed on the left side.
2. When the dragged image is over a gallery name, you will see the look of the name change to indicate that you can drop the image on it.
3. The dropped image will be duplicated in the gallery it was dropped on.

How do I select an image from the Gallery to be used in my stories?

1. When creating or editing a story, you have a new option for images called Galleries.
2. When clicked, the Gallery window opens and displays all galleries that contain images.
3. Find the image you want to add and click on it.
4. The image will be added to the page.

Do images I upload or create with the art pad get saved in the Gallery?

Yes.

Gallery Sharing Questions

What is Gallery Sharing?

Gallery sharing is a premium feature that allows teachers to share a gallery with other teachers, students, and classes in their school. Recipients of a shared gallery can then use those images to create tales or to complete assignments.

Students are not able to modify the contents of the shared gallery.

Can I make changes to a shared gallery?

All changes made in the original gallery by the gallery owner are visible in all the shared galleries. Any changes a student makes to an image from the shared gallery will only change the image for that student and will not modify the original image for the owner or other members of the shared gallery If the owner of a shared gallery adds or deletes an image to a shared gallery, all recipients of the shared gallery will see the change. If a student uses an image from a shared gallery, the image will be copied to the student tale and will not be affected by any changes in the original gallery. However, if the image was deleted or changed in the original gallery, the student will see the new image when they view their shared gallery.

How can recipients of my shared gallery see the shared gallery?

When they open their galleries, there is a new section for shared galleries below the user's own galleries, called Shared Galleries.

Users access shared galleries like any other gallery. By clicking on the shared gallery name, they will be able to see the images in the shared gallery. These images can be used when creating tales or working on assignments.

Shared galleries will state the name of the gallery owner. To view all the recipients of a shared gallery, click on the gallery name and then on the Share button. The page that displays allows you to share the gallery. In the upper right corner of that page is the link "Shared With." Clicking this link will display all those who have access to this gallery.

How will I know which galleries I shared?

When you click on My Galleries, shared galleries will have their name in a bold font which is also larger than non-shared galleries. To view who the gallery was shared with, click on the gallery name and then on the Share button. A page will be displayed that allows you to share the gallery. In the upper right corner is a link titled 'Shared With'. Click on this link to see who this gallery is shared with.

How do I remove sharing?

1. Click the Share button.
2. Click the 'Shared With' link in the upper right corner.
3. Select who you want to remove from further accessing your gallery by checking their checkbox. To save your changes click the Remove link above all the checkboxes.

How does sharing a gallery with a class work?

When a gallery is shared with a class, any student within that class will see the gallery in their list of shared galleries. Any students who are added or removed from the class will automatically have permission granted or revoked.

Lesson Questions

How is a lesson different from a Tale?

  • Can only created by teachers.
  • Settings control which page elements can be modified by students when taking lesson.
  • Can be assigned to multiple students.
  • Can be shared with other teachers.
  • Has a teacher and student audio track.
  • Lessons can be used to help satisfy common core standards.

What can I do with a lesson that I cannot do with a tale?

1. Teachers can use lessons to create templates for their courses as reusable teaching components.
2. Teachers can share these templates with other teachers.
3. We are already working on new features to make lessons a more powerful tool for teachers.
4. Teachers can specify on a page per page basis what the students can change.

Do I need special equipment to make a lesson?

No special equipment is needed for lessons. If your computer does not have built in microphone
and you wish to record your voice, an external microphone is required.

What if a student doesn't have a microphone built into their computer?

If the student cannot acquire an external microphone the student will be unable to record audio but may continue working on other aspects of the lesson.

Do I need to download anything to create lessons?

Nope. All work for our site is performed online.

What do the lock icons mean?

When editing or creating a lesson, a teacher will see pages that are similar to tale editing/creation. However, these new icons (green lock/red lock) represent page elements that are accessible to students to modify.
A green lock means the student can modify that page data.
A red lock mean the student will not be able to change the data.
A teacher can toggle this lock by clicking on it. The lock representation does not affect the teacher's ability in editing/creating the lesson.

Can I change a lesson after it has been assigned?

It depends on what is changed. If you toggle a page lock, then these changes are seen by assignees immediately when the lesson page is saved. If you change page data like edit text or upload an image, then this data will not be persisted to all assignees.
One work around is copy the lesson, make your changes there, then reassign the same assignees the updated lesson, then delete the previous lesson.

Can I make a copy of a lesson?

Only teachers are allowed to make copies of their lessons.
To make a copy:
1. Click on the My Assignments tab.
2. Select the option "Make a Copy" under the "Options" pull down menu.

Why would I want to make a copy of a lesson?

Making a copy of a lesson provides you the freedom to experiment and modify your lessons without affecting students who have already been assigned the lesson.
By making a copy, you can modify the lesson content for a different student audience.

Can I delete a lesson?

Yes. When you delete a lesson, it is deleted from all assignees and from your account. If you shared the lesson with another teacher, that teacher owns their iteration of the lesson and it will not be deleted. Likewise if you had previously made a copy of the lesson, that copy would remain Yes. Only teachers can delete a lesson. The delete option is not available to students.
To delete a lesson:
1. Click on the My Assignments tab.
2. Click on the trash can icon for the appropriate lesson.
3. When asked 'Are you sure you want to delete this lesson?', click OK.

This will delete the lessons that have been assigned to all assignees. This will also delete all data related to the lesson from your account.

Does deleting a lesson affect assignees?

Yes! When you delete a lesson, it is deleted from all assignees and from your account. If you shared the lesson with another teacher, that teacher owns their instance of the lesson and will not be affected. If you made a copy of the lesson, that instance will not be affected either.

How do I delete a lesson from a specific student?

To delete a lesson from a specific student:
1. Find the student in the View Assignees page. To get to the View Assignees page:
  1.1 Click on the My Assignments tab.
  1.2 Select the option 'View Assignees' under the 'Options' pull down menu.
2. Click on the Remove link for the appropriate student.
3. Click the OK button in the confirmation dialog. This will delete the lesson from that student's account. The student will no longer see the lesson in their My Assignments page.

Can you create lessons using the Little Bird Tales iPad and iPhone app?

Not at this time.

Can students take lessons using the Little Bird Tales iPad and iPhone app?

Not at this time.

How do I review lessons?

1. Find the student in the View Assignees page. To get to the View Assignees page:
  1.1 Click on the My Assignments tab.
  1.2 Select the option 'View Assignees' under the 'Options' pull down menu.
2. Click on the Review link for the appropriate student.
3. You will see a page with options to access that student's lesson data. Clicking the 'Play' icon will play the lesson for review. Clicking on the 'Edit' icon will let you edit the lesson.

Another way is to access the student data from the Class Details page.
1. Click on the Manage Classes button on your home page:
2. Click on the appropriate class name to see the students in that class.
3. Click the Review link on the appropriate student.
4. The next page will allow you to toggle between reviewing the student's tales and their lessons.

Teacher Instruction Questions

What are Teacher Instructions?

We added a new text area to the assignment pages called Teacher Instructions. Use the Teacher Instruction box to write your instructions for completing assignments without using any of the original text space allotted for students. Teacher Instructions are locked, so students cannot change the instructions.
This is a premium feature.

How do I use it?

When creating an assignment, just click inside the Teacher Instruction box and start typing your instructions for that page! Hit the "save" button at the top of the page to save.

How much information can I add per page?

There is currently no limit to the number of words that can be put in the Teacher Instructions box. A scroll bar will appear if you go over the size parameters for the box.

Do my students see the Teacher Instructions?

Yes, when they are sent an assignment, the Teacher Instructions will appear under the record buttons so they can easily see their instructions. If the text is long, they can scroll down to read all of it. However, Teacher Instructions are not visible in playback (slide show).

Class Page Questions

Class Page

The class page makes it easy for teachers to show off tales created by a class without having to modify an external web page. Teachers can set permissions restricting who can view the tales as well.

How do I use it?

Tales shown in the "Available Tales" list are not displayed on the "Class Page" when viewed. These can be dragged to and dropped on the class page. Tales on the "Class Page" can be removed by dragging them to and dropped on the "Available Tales" list. Click Save to keep any changes you made.

How do I organize tales?

Tales on the "Class Page(s)" can be moved to change the order they are displayed in. Click on a tale and move it to the spot on the "Class Page" you would like it. Click Save to keep any changes you made.

How do I set permissions?

Class page permissions can be set on the Class Manager or Class Details page. Permissions to view the class page are:

  • Only I can
  • My students and I
  • Everyone

What is Play All?

Play All will play all selected tales in a continuous loop. This is useful to easily showcase your student's tales during an open house for example.

Free MP4 Downloads

How many free MP4s do I get?

Premium teacher accounts get unlimited free MP4s. Non-premium members can purchase an MP4 file of a tale for $3.50 USD each.

Do my students get free MP4 downloads?

No.

Manage Students

What can I do on the Manage Students page?

This page consolidates a number of existing features on a single page to view relavant student data on a single page. You can edit student's login information, move them to another class and print out their student login card.

If you have a premium membership you have access to these features:
  • Manage students that currently do not belong to a class.
  • View student activity over the last 3 months.
  • View tales modified on a specific date within the last 3 months without leaving the page.

Can I change the student activity period?

Can I generate more specific reports with multiple students?

Can I have nightly activity reports emailed to me?

Not yet. Email us if you would like this feature.

Why can't I perform a specific action on tales like elsewhere in your site?

We will be adding more features to the Manage Students page like editing a tale, sharing, etc. However, we want to ensure a uniform user experience without moving off of this page. We will add those features to this page when they can be performed on the same page.

Deleting Lessons

How do I delete lessons I created?

To delete a lesson, select the Delete option from the Options menu found on My Lessons or your home page under Recent Lessons.

When you select Delete, a window is displayed with some options. If your lesson has not been assigned to students, your options are to cancel the delete or delete the lesson. If you assigned your lesson to at least one student, your options are as follows:

1. Cancel the delete.
2. Delete just my copy of the lesson.

This allows you to free up space in your account if you no longer need this lesson. This also allows your student's work for the lesson to remain unaffected. A side affect is that once the teacher deletes their lesson, the student now has the option to delete the lesson from their own account.

3. Delete the student's lesson.

This will delete the lesson from all assigned student accounts.

4. Delete both your copy and the student's lesson.

Deletes all resources related to the lesson from your account and all assigned student accounts.

Audio Problems

I cannot record!

We recommend using either Chrome of Firefox browsers for best results. Chrome and Firefox support input from your built in or external microphone.
You will be asked by the browser to allow our web site to access your microphone.
You need to allow the microphone to be accessed in order to record.

I still cannot record!

If you still cannot record try these:
1. Quit and restart your browser.
2. Use a different browser.
3. Use another web site or application to verify your audio input works.
4. Play a tale found in our Public Tales list to test your audio.
5. If you are using an external microphone, verify the correct input device is selected.

Transfer Student Data to Premium Family Account

Transfer User Data

Why do I want to transfer student data to a premium family account?

This allows you to free up space on your teacher account and to get ready for a new school year. Parents would get their own copy of the student's work.

What is a premium family account?

A premium family account is similar to a teacher account but made specifically for families.

How do I know who has a premium family account?

Unless you communicate with the parents it is impossible to know who already has an account. However, it is possible to create an account automatically. Once the trial period ends, if it remains unpaid for, it will eventually be deleted.

What happens when I transfer a student's data to a premium family account?

All work in the student's account will be copied to their premium family account. If the students shared a single account, there is currently no way to select which data to transfer.

How do I let parents of a student know that I transferred data to their premium family account?

If a premium family account has been created for them, an email will be sent to them. If they choose to ignore the account, it will eventually be deleted.

What if the student's parents do not pay for a premium family account?

Once the trial period ends, the account will eventually be deleted along will its data.

How do I see which email address is used as a student's secondary/parent email address?

On the transfer student page, select a student. The secondary email address will be displayed and you will be able to change it.

How do I change the email address that is used as a student's secondary/parent email address?

On the transfer student page, select a student. The secondary email address will be displayed and you will be able to change it. If you edit this data, it will be saved in the student's profile.