Monday, October 3, 2011

BP3_storybird


Web 2.0 applications are kind of like a massive box of chocolates waiting to be tasted. I nibbled quite a few before I chose one to blog about and brag about. I am in love with storybird.com and I’m not the only one! Storybird allows teachers, students, and writers of all ages to access amazing illustrations for free. The concept behind Storybird is to allow the illustrations to inspire your imagination and get your story wheel turning. There are so many sites that help kids get excited about reading yet so few that inspire authors. This is a real treasure. The site is so easy to use, all you really have to do is log on and create. Once you are logged on, you can write a book and share it with you friends or you can write a few pages and send it to a friend that you would like to collaborate with. You can collaborate with as many or as few authors as you like and the end product is amazing. Teachers have free, unlimited access to Storybird. The designers have made it extremely easy for you to add your students and create class lists. You can easily use the application to track writing projects as a classroom tool. Today, I piloted the application in my classroom. Many of my students who do not enjoy the writing process were chomping at the bit to get their turn to collaborate. Some of the illustrations might be scary or slightly mature for a younger audience but you can set your preferences to your favorite illustrators and avoid that issue.  My students were very proud of their creations and were chirping away at the wonders of Storybird. 


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