Online Storybook Sites Stan Smith | Warrensburg R6 Schools | ssmith@warrensburg.k12.mo.us

http://www.warrensburgr6.org/storybooks

My Storymaker http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker

This site allows young students to make storybooks that can be printed or saved as PDF files (which you could post on your web site). Students DO NOT have to create an account to do this!

Students choose their main character from a list of possible characters, then they choose the goal of the character, and then the secondary character. So simple to use that instructions are not needed.

A few pages from my example:

StoryBird http://storybird.com

This awesome site allows you to use collections of existing artwork from various artists as inspiration, you can choose a theme (which then gives you selected artwork to go with your chosen theme). Another interesting aspect of the site is that it allows collaborative story writing!

You need an account to save and publish your story. Students can sign up (or you can sign them up) on a special kids sign-up page in which they can enter your teacher email address (instead of parent address).

Storybooks can be shared in these ways: When finished, publish the book, and then use the URL of your published book to make a link on your web site. Or, you could use screen capture to get images of the book pages, and then you can put these images onto an Album page on your web site. They are soon adding printing as a feature on the site.

A few pages from my example:

StoryJumper http://www.storyjumper.com

This is a terrific story-making site. One of the best things about this site is that it has a free Classroom Edition, in which teachers can set up a class where students login and create their stories in a secure setting without distractions. There are clear tutorials for setting up a teacher classroom. You need to create a free account to do this, but you get to create the accounts for your students (they do not type in any confidential information).

You can create a book from scratch, or use one of their templates that are designed to help you get started. There are a large variety of background scenes, props, and characters. You can even upload your own photos to be used as backgrounds in your story.

Kerpoof http://www.kerpoof.com

Kerpoof is an amazing site that has a number of different types of creative story-writing activities. Among these are Make a Story, Make a Storybook, and Make a Movie (the most robust of all of the activities). There is an extensive set of information for teachers, including lesson plans and classroom ideas. Kerpoof's free teacher accounts give you access to a range of classroom administration tools. You'll be able to register all your students, manage their accounts according to class, and control access to collaboration features (group galleries, message boards, chat and Buddy Draw).

Be sure to check out the Make a Movie activity. This allows you to pick out scenes, characters and props, and then you can assemble an animated movie on a surprisingly sophisticated timeline. You can easily animate your characters and bring them to life. People can then view your movie when you provide the link.

In the Make a Story activity, you can save a JPEG image of each of your story pages and post them on your web site in sequence or place them into any other type of document.

Online Comic Strip Story Writing Sites http://www.warrensburgr6.org/storybooks

MakeBelieveComix http://www.makebeliefscomix.com

This site is extremely easy to use and students do not have to create an account. Pre-drawn characters are available in different poses so that you can vary their appearance. You can make brief comic strips with two, three, or four panels.

Your finished comic strip can be printed or emailed to someone (including yourself), or you can do a “screen capture” to make a picture of it. Then you can post these pictures on your web site.

Here is a silly example I made. Notice the different poses of the characters:

Pixton http://pixton.com This site is MUCH more robust than the one described above. Students will love making their own original stories here. You must have an account to create comics on this site (the account requires an email address). You can create customized characters that you can then save and use later, and you can move those characters into any position or facial expression that you want! There is unlimited potential for creativity. Here are a few suggested ways you could implement this site with students:

• Create one account for you and then have students create comic stories at one computer in your classroom as a rotating station.

• Have students create their own accounts (email address needed, and parent approval needed for kids 13 and under—not very practical for elementary).

• Set up a 14-day trial Teacher Account, allowing up to 30 students (the Teacher Account allows you to create your student accounts without having email addresses for them, and other benefits).

• Pay for a Teacher Account for the number of students you have and for just the month that you will do the project.

Here is my example. Notice the total control over character position that you have: