Tech Tool Tuesday - Writing

To continue with the writing theme for October, I have found a great app for student blogging. I have always loved kidblog.org but unfortunately Kidblog has decided to make money off their website so now it is no longer free. Boo! A free and reliable replacement is SeeSaw. The site is technically for student digital portfolios, but there is also a blogging area. You can find more information at http://web.seesaw.me/blogs/

This site is teacher moderated and easy to use by students. You can share the student work with other students and families or keep it private. You can even find other classrooms to blog with! Seesaw works on a computer as well as an iPad. There is a paid version, but I would stick with the free version as this has many features. One of the great free features is students can scan a QR code to sign in, instead of remembering a username and password!

Tech Tool Tuesday - October 18th - Writing

To keep with the writing theme for October, I presented 2 resources during the October 18th Tech Tool Tuesday presentation.

Boom Writer

Students can use this online writing tool to develop their creative writing skills and understanding of literacy elements. When a teacher sets up a Boom Writer account, s/he then creates accounts for his/her students as well. The teacher can choose from 3 different activities - Story Writer, Word Writer, and Project writer. The activity presented on Tuesday was the Story Writer. The first step is to present a writing prompt to the class. A teacher can create his/her own or use the multitude of examples available on the website. Then, students write a response to their teacher's prompt using the Boomwriter website. Once all prompts are submitted, the class will choose which response is the best; this will be chapter one of their class story. Next, the students use the winning response as a catapult to write the next chapter of the story and submit it via the Boomwriter website. Another winner is chosen and the process continues until the story is completed. When voting, the students are not able to see the name of the author, making the decision process more authentic.

Storybird

Teachers will sign up on the Storybird website and provide their students with a class code. When I had 5th graders sign up for accounts, I had them use their district provided username and password to keep things simple. Once in your class account, students will choose a set of drawings from the website. These drawings were created by artists. There is a plethora of options available, so it may take students time to decide on the set they would like to use.

 Once a set is chosen, students are taken to a the builder area of the website where they can drag and drop the pictures onto a page. 

This is also where they add text and dialogue. The challenge for the students to write a story utilizing the pictures as guide. The text should make sense with the pictures on the page. The end result is an online book with beautiful pictures and a story crafted by the student. Teachers can also order their student's books for $2.99 each.