For those adults that have trouble with computer programs like PowerPoint, Excel or Word, help might be as close as the nearest kindergarten class.

Well, not exactly.

Thanks to a state grant, Concordia Parish kindergarten through-third-grade classes now have received “kid-friendly” versions of some of today’s most popular adult computer applications.

The program was started last year at Monterey School and Ferriday Lower Elementary. Due to its success, the district established the program district-wide.

Monday morning, Vidalia Lower Elementary teachers were busy learning the new programs in order to use them in the classroom.

In a few weeks, lower elementary students across the parish will be using spreadsheets in Excel, creating slide shows and flow charts in PowerPoint and Kidspiration and typing their own stories in Word.

“Those are obviously fabulous programs in the adult world,” school district technology coordinator Paula Paul said Monday. “We use them in our sixth-grade and higher classes.”

Unlike the more adult versions, the new software is adapted to a beginner level using bright colors, big numbers and letters and colorful pictures.

Max Show, the kid-friendly version of PowerPoint, allows students to create slide shows about their favorite animal.

Max Write gives students the opportunity to write their own short stories.

“These programs will give (lower elementary students) the tools to create,” Paul said. “It is using technology as a tool to enhance their learning.”

First-grade teacher Tori Webber said that her students will definitely use the programs because they offer an outlet for creativity.

“My students will feel like they are so big and so mature doing this thing,” Webber said. “It’s not like a game. It’s their own creation.”

Second-grade teacher Ariane Asmore said she thinks the new software will be a great addition to her classroom.

“It’s a different way of doing the same things we do with pencil and paper,” Asmore said. “The graphics will keep their attention and when they are finished they can print out their work.”

“They will definitely get into it,” Asmore said.

Other software bought using the grant is Kidspiration, a program that helps students make flow charts and outlines and, Thinkin’ Things, a program that teaches about pattern.