Ever asked your class to write a story?
Ever heard the response “but I don’t know what to write about miss” – Yeah I thought so.
I have come across a software that will help eradicate that. (Thank goodness I hear you all say)
Story Bird is a software that allows children to write their own books 🙂
No matter how complex or how simple – they all look fabulous.
The software has a wide selection of images that are grouped together. For example there is a group of pictures (cartoon ones) of hedgehogs doing lots of different things. The pictures can then be put in the book in any order and all the children have to do is add the text. Finally an answer for having no ideas.
The pictures are great and allow for a great deal of story ideas.
I have created a simple book aimed at reception year children. Below I will discuss the uses that this book can have in the classroom.
I based the idea on friendship after seeing a nice group of images. Therefore, the story could be used as a stimulus for a circle time activity to discuss friendship, and how we should and shouldn’t treat others. There is the idea that the bunnies took it in turns on the swing, which made them all happy and there is also scope to discuss how Joel felt at the start of the story compared to the end and why that was.
For older children, Story Bird could be used to allow them to write their own stories. It is quick and simple and allows them to focus on the content of the book instead of drawing pictures.
It does to an extent restrict what they can write due to the images, but I do feel that there is a wide range of images on there and an image can be manipulated to portray many things, if the text is written in such a way.
Again, this software allows multiple cross curricular links. As a teacher, you could put together a quick story about a historical person or event, adding in a few facts. You could create a story based on a scientific experiment, or you could even write half of a story, and get the children to write their own ending of it. The possibilities are endless.
By Katie Webb, Jade Dawson, Katie Stanbrook and Jaz Shaw.