Storybird is a tool for creating short stories inspired by artwork. You may use Storybird to create your own short stories and read stories created by other users. To use Storybook, you create either an individual or teacher account and begin creating stories. With a teacher account, you upload a list of your students and Storybird creates accounts for them. From there, you have the ability to create assignments, grade assignments, reward students with digital stickers and create a classroom library of digital short stories. Once stories are created, they may be embedded onto a website or blog or shared through e-mail and social networking applications. While an account with Storybird is free, accessing features such as grading, award digital stickers and allowing more than one PDF book download per student requires upgrading to a Pro account.
Storybird helps students develop creative writing skills. Choose a piece of art in the Storybook collection and, as a class, brainstorm all of the possible story ideas stemming from the photo. Challenge students to take an idea from the list or come up with an idea of their own and create a story with Storybird. Build reading skills and encourage students to read by assigning stories from the collection of user-created stories on Storybird. As they read others’ stories and create their own stories, students will improve their reading, vocabulary and writing skills.