There are so many cool tools online for educators and parents. These tools are great for integrating technology into your classroom/home. I am going to talk a bit here about a few of the tools I’ve learned about and explored. All of these tools are new to me within the past week. Yah, I feel like I’ve been living under a rock for a while with respect to technology.
First of all, you must check out StoryBird! This is an online writing tool in which children/adults can choose pictures from a variety of different themes and artists. They illustrations really are phenomenal! Once an artist/theme is chosen, it is simple to make a book of your own. The pictures are just dragged onto the different pages to make the stories. You can choose to place the photo on half of the page, with your writing on the other half, or you can also choose to have an illustration take up an entire 2-page spread. Once you have dropped the picture where you want it, you simply start typing. When you want to add a new page, you just click Add New Page. It’s really easy! When you are all done, you can publish your story. You can publish it online, but you can also choose to download your book for a small fee. You can also have your book published into a book for you as well.
My 6-year-old daughter and I made this StoryBird this morning. I do not know how to embed it, unfortunately, but you can check it out here. Yes, it is about a Snowy Day and it is the middle of summer. What can I say, she’s 6!
Next, my daughter and I also checked out Storyline Online this morning. It is very cool! There are many different books found on this site – all read by different actors/actresses. Very neat! My daughter loves the book, A Bad Case of the Stripes, and loved it even more when read by someone other than myself.
Both of these resources would be great to use at home and in the classroom!
Check the out and let me know what you think!
It's All About Learning 
My Gr 1 class has loved Storybird. The last couple of years I have used it with Grade 1’s and students have been very excited and successful in the process. This year we did the most wonderful Mother’s Day gift book. “Just like me” was the frame we used and then I downloaded and printed them. They were fantastic! It did cost a bit in printer ink, but compared to the other craft projects I have done in other years it wasn’t too bad. You can also write collaborative stories with it as well. I highly recommend Storybird for a primary class.
Oh, what a great idea using Storybird to make a Mother’s Day gift! I’m sure they were just lovely! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!