Using Storybird to Write Stories

Do your students love to write stories, but hate to draw?  Do you teach little ones who can dictate a story to you, but have a hard time "writing" a story?  Are you a "non-artist?"  Then Storybird is for you!

This wonderful site can be used by all grade & age levels to write stories using beautiful illustrations.   

Early Childhood:  The class can choose an illustrator that appeals to them and use the pictures to dictate a story to an adult.

Elementary and higher:  At this age level, the individual students could choose their illustrations and write their own stories.  The program also has a feature where you can use your own illustrations.

 

The site is extremely user friendly.  The user can just drag and click the illustrations of their choice.  They can then type their words into the text boxes.  


Teachers:  This can be used to add your students' names to a class and the teacher can then add assignments that follow a theme that the students will create stories for.  There is even a fundraising component where the students' stories could be used to raise money for the school.


If you're anything like me, then you aren't the best artist.  Storybird is the site for budding writers without artistic abilities.

Have you ever tried Storybird?  How would you use it in your classroom or your home?


Alexis

Word Play Is The Way

Being a teacher of first graders, my number one goal is to help all children learn how to read.  

I'm a true believer in systematic and explicit phonics instruction and I implement this into my classroom every day.  One way that we do this is through oral language play.

Here are some ways that you can teach through oral language:


1)  Rhyme Time:
I say a word and my students say a word that rhymes.  Simple as that.


2)  Clapping Syllables:
Oh yes.  Tried and true.


3)  Body Letters:
Once I introduce a sound for the week, I have the students show me how "write" the sound with their bodies.  Then I say words and if they hear the sound, they "write" it with their bodies.  If they don't hear it, I have them roll into a ball.  This not only has them focusing on hearing sounds, but also gets my more kinesthetic learners moving while learning.


4) Segmenting Sentences and Words:
I say sentences (short at first) and the students need to clap, snap, or just count the words that they hear.  Once this skill is mastered, I can move into words.  This helps the students to hear individual words and sounds which will aid in reading and writing.

6)  Stretching words:
If you walked into my classroom on any given day, you would hear the students and teacher alike "stretching" words.  We pull words apart and emphasize each individual sound.  I'm sure strangers think we are creating our own alien language, but educators know that we are learning to read and spell.  

These small games would be useful and fun in both a classroom and home setting.  Let's make learning fun!


Alexis

Happy Birthday, David Shannon!

It's internationally acclaimed picture book creator, David Shannon's birthday today!

David Shannon has always been an artist, even at the age of five!  That is when he drew pictures of himself doing all the things he wasn’t supposed to be doing.  Those pictures became the very basis for his Caldecott Honor book No David!. 

This wonderfully illustrated story is a favorite of my boys.  They love screaming "No, David!" as David continues to be naughty throughout all of the pages.  (Telling someone else "no" is something they don't get to do very often!) 


Check out these other books by David Shannon:

-Alexis