Creative Writing #14: Have you explored using Kerpoof for digital storytelling?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kerpoof as a writing tool was brought to my attention by one of our SchoolNet members, Warren Sparrow from Rondebosch Boys Prep. He has a post about Kerpoof on his blog (<a href="http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html">http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html</a>) and he has even created the first part of his own fairytale.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is Kerpoof?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what it says on the Kerpoof website </span><a href="http://www.kerpoof.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.kerpoof.com/</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Kerpoof's multimedia software is used by kids worldwide to create original artwork, animated movies, stories, greeting cards and more. The site is meant to be fun, but we're serious about its educational value. Elementary and middle school teachers can use Kerpoof in many ways to enhance classroom activities while meeting a range of educational standards.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrWriKMBGJt6ix4jrQUtG41_HsBrz7KT-0OwrC2XG_z1qizkcSRPh2LtKmW9DudgPPa77TGQ-T-1hbKcl5fWo7cvbWe561WNXkYJimenQQFix13OBZLYkie04PsYchOccc5iCu_boMNu9/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What does a Kerfoof video look like?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what Warren Sparrow writes on his blog. “<i>Make your own animations. This is SUPER COOL and easy to use.Ideal for younger learners! Click below to see my start of a fairytale</i>”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html">http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for this Warren. I have put this into a Screencastomatic video for easier viewing on the blog. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="498" scrolling="no" src="http://screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=cI16Q4VwjA&w=420&v=3" width="420"></iframe></span></div>

30 Days of Writing Creative writing Web tools Creative Writing #14: Have you explored using Kerpoof for digital storytelling?

Kerpoof as a writing tool was brought to my attention by one of our SchoolNet members, Warren Sparrow from Rondebosch Boys Prep. He has a post about Kerpoof on his blog (http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html) and he has even created the f…

Read more »

Creative Writing #13: An African Storybook Project Report back from Stirling Primary in East London

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is another class hard at work creating stories for the African Storybook Project.  I have written about the African Storybook Project in a number of posts. The website is hopefully going live in July with stories written by South Africa teachers. If you would like your class to write stories suitable for Grade 3 students across Africa to read, please submit them by 21 June and use the guidelines found in this post. <a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2013/05/theres-still-time-to-submit-story.html">There’s still time to submit a story suitable for a Grade 3 reader for the African Storybook project. Join us!</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a picture of Liesel Kruger from Stirling Primary School in East London. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOb8laQlH29Rf9rNDq114TeN-SDgNrtpcMN5-hCPKtmb6mtU5zHgSANtT5bNj5B4pa9qlfEBrjEJweq5i93xX4xA7-1EVm4gSo8aAKKjsy2UPbweyH36r6JeChiYiHQBN4EIEEaXsR5qe/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liesel Kruger from East London</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZVLhAfur3wLIMFJ8vvBENnHABegoUKgIy9-iV9cSwiSZSirY2W4Qz5s-R8Ea1xKm7JRwRIFGuQfBjboqafQkrxAdVzIQgPXcsvbtYz5n_fmtWJIjblOCLMqycX5-FKD2EU_STvPKzn4lN/s1600-h/image%25255B20%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We are finally finished writing all the stories and I am nearing the end of</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the editing.  We will be using Story Jumper to illustrate our stories and<br />then we will snip the pictures to use them in our PowerPoint shows.  My children<br />are so  enjoying Story Jumper.  In fact, my class today asked if they could<br />stay in at break and carry on! That says it all don't you think?  Still<br />quite a way to go, but so far so good... Thank you."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are photos of the Grade 3s at work with their stories. </span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Jcweoq03-tzlyZk6_lcV_J7Aa6AP4qvV1Si4WzFg-HS1lFG3nNWdbRu6vAS_4eiEAHYxd4GGDRI7cmAMrzdyrMl6Tmf8cmiU3POC-xKd61D_DeTii88Sl9c1cB9w5LkVSwYvmtdes8l7/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYBVfgLVhSCqJpGXt32gerkNnkWdSwwS0kS-2jLJfBFHMDWCinLO069P9UU4x-dGLnG4vGTpaooAowtkuniLorrESQp1J-1Tc3niDGNiSzg0BRaBsN82c1RbqtiaO9YN3InrgCMR9BXjv/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXE0gkVNQzrI4qprB84RQ82NcFUhFFkgZZTx5-StUQzdrf9Lax3Y3t8QQK_1sDa1B0aE89zdwQfFm6oLTi5nwt58l370C3YihJy_pnsxM3yFijfp-S2xrdi2Mnk4U2PJgdYvkJ3dtucrwG/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53tbfSCCUYb_mwCZesXTL93WPRhJ15ipmidvO-qE5NIyrd46MJs3XQCTFkckVPKWLJUypPrLUfEwPEtmym94ZLnBKFDVHwDW5mFHARJuMrKsot0H8_P7dxRzkKbI2xzkU5AEVAdVHqGvq/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"></td> <td valign="top" width="200"></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr-KjvaDF-tum00hifNZZZuHXuTG0YrfNXIj0kFKM6fThy72Y4pidxlTbevHMAapN9yq8Yn47y0oL-GsxD1-evNvgIfMYDAErEwoKSJepNlRfsWXR4O7Wtwn72q4ScfYh7hb0m3eLLTnz/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-tXDJ4FQfM0F9v8CeKPColVv6aZD_CVGiFdoraKGynh6xFf30mPlSP1RtsLC09pl13pZdU1CnFyjd8emXn15kZo4MTzoKjQQq1uyv7Aw1D0tfSq2GO1VdI_zHsyDjpm88rHghiB212Jb/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRN63fcNUEalk9-fB-B7CMqyl_8e04YWPCY8wtdabpf8tFL4xgxNRvDkWPbMGp97cABu-OnCSlcJBDShPqhpeBYGnCEGwbZX6Z9HVZ7bMZUugeZsBo1jKKjE6djezqcZ_PVWMmRDxqn42A/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZAoVmRW636PEUCPSQgs2IgC23yOgP2IdnHCn8ds2KOdJbF8B_VZYwdQoTvf4wlGHos6n9FE4GMOHRv-IcBzK3tNF9IW95rLAuwD9EdsPughzY6vSmcvyT7aqju-zzt4oSQ0O_TCwujLz/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"></td> <td valign="top" width="200"></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAX1fOSK6WO38H6Ol7oXx5P8QQuS_fw-4pzSxf3BUx0kntqkgmkqvL3k3wPC8RPgP0R7td1NXbmDbR0MBeUW6FuM2aRDkUcdMfFs1PzbaHR7wb5m7zQh7rx48SlpUoAKPRzMGTgzzUKWo/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjuVJxZByJd-l48jkfrDh51UxZ30mkIS1cBMswXi-jUT0xPXC3CXbSODQmawD7Cj565SLL1AIERsv3fLx_tjQizWuODqkTEIrsHy9DQ_fvCtQ6IMWDtWgR0TI3ghs6hwUvRTZjNYC_wKP/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KRJuiyJbhjfPqh628UsLU219UUntFt97IiZ7esbN7V0BrqTiOh7DISrkXaod1eDjQO9X5_xxPtlUoourj5GDp0iEEFO9yoes5zUHdjarFxSzwYd3z13zI-8UkcUNfpSaKvIBa8S9QR1i/s1600-h/image%25255B17%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpB5OQdNkAc0r3TkQ1xFcdeI0E5Wt22NlKzaXXWtAGoeEk0SHO_AbHwt9DL18T11Kc3YYuid1XcBK-3qfucgKTxdzLHIYjn-XPJe3-fmV6tDJfaumuXqZwXvyWvJBJTWOjX2UQlPOoIru-/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></span></a></td></tr><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"></td> <td valign="top" width="200"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you so much Liesel for sending this lovely report back. </span><br /><br /></div>

African Storybook Project Creative writing Writing Creative Writing #13: An African Storybook Project Report back from Stirling Primary in East London

Here is another class hard at work creating stories for the African Storybook Project.  I have written about the African Storybook Project in a number of posts. The website is hopefully going live in July with stories written by South Africa teachers…

Read more »

UtellStory looks like an amazing digital storytelling application

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUb1q4_gJL2sGbmwT4h-7XyIk4wEZ_yMO1KslfVpAh7-BGpmkwtWrCDQi-yvVzScDk5Cm-HCRTuJeW2IzksiVrNdug-uxgPa5NdrAv8J-hgNLJiLyVoX-IfFdYj91YJXVxHMZEcEaVFw/s1600/UtellStory.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUb1q4_gJL2sGbmwT4h-7XyIk4wEZ_yMO1KslfVpAh7-BGpmkwtWrCDQi-yvVzScDk5Cm-HCRTuJeW2IzksiVrNdug-uxgPa5NdrAv8J-hgNLJiLyVoX-IfFdYj91YJXVxHMZEcEaVFw/s1600/UtellStory.JPG" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am always on the lookout for interesting ways to get our students reading, writing, or creating in one way or another. Today I came across <b>UtellStory </b>and I must say I really want to try out this application. I have embedded their example of what a Utellstory can look like from the opening page of their website (http://www.utellstory.com) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">below.  </span><br /><br /></div></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="450" scrolling="no" src="http://www.utellstory.com/viewstory/embed/6853b39e515f7574d900e741adef61d8?w=480" width="480"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How to create a story</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UtellStory has a 'how to' video on You Tube which explains how to go about creating a story. I like the fact that the final product can be shared and/or can be embedded on a blog. Here is he video.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MCc4iqOVq2g" width="420"></iframe><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Is UtellStory free?</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is always the compelling question! Fortunately the website informs us that they have free and paid options as shown below</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqG6SxeMFdfuVkobiRSChAZJ7Gh6YjbwUGXA5dOCDoefY341J8E-Wvomskkz7l0t_ktfu5nwFNZgIv5atk__Y9Z7VLTKZI8j-pbT7Nin-qmMtr3ik1dhyphenhyphenmVspDT4bfynbCX8mlsTPQ4S8/s1600/Utell+stories.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqG6SxeMFdfuVkobiRSChAZJ7Gh6YjbwUGXA5dOCDoefY341J8E-Wvomskkz7l0t_ktfu5nwFNZgIv5atk__Y9Z7VLTKZI8j-pbT7Nin-qmMtr3ik1dhyphenhyphenmVspDT4bfynbCX8mlsTPQ4S8/s400/Utell+stories.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, why not join me and give UtellStory a try?</span></div>

Creative writing UtellStory looks like an amazing digital storytelling application

Submitted by Fiona BealI am always on the lookout for interesting ways to get our students reading, writing, or creating in one way or another. Today I came across UtellStory and I must say I really want to try out this application. I have embedded…

Read more »

More story starter sites to inspire your students to write

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Submitted by Fiona Beal</span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most popular posts to date on this blog has been one outlining a number of sites that can be used for starting stories '</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2011/09/10-story-starter-sites-to-get-you-going.html">10 Story Starter sites to get your students writing’</a>. I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> thought it was time to add to the list. The Internet is full of the most amazing tools to encourage our students to  write. To this end I created a Scoop.it containing the posts I find as I do research </span><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Let’s face it, as teachers we need and LOVE ideas that can help us to get more from our students and engage them to the full. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Scholastic Story Starters</span></strong><br /><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is for K-6th grade. Here you can choose a theme fir starting a piece of writing in one of these categories – Adventure, Sci_fi, Scrambler or Fantasy. The teeacher is given help to use the application. To me this looks like a good scaffolding application for writing. . </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUzRY9YYWAw4d1hzt4-SWhyphenhyphengQN6bZFkyz4WjnGazNMkNSoHYQkt65JUKJcHpSVgLI1Anmo6WcSU7bi9ghOuztjW5T2_w2JFrhxjX_XIbxfE8OhNbo30xKdoJvq0CE0ireTr9RGeBdCi8/s1600-h/image%25255B27%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQDf2qK8fMF0I_Foy5qTiMlGrP-yPpyFXloRT98MvOIBzs_7bLsyEAX-kJMRyp46m-26Qq1yTg-CS6rj7QdnmWidphJwG9ANptO8ZUKFJ2iAVo4yf6WwVcxIHA_dIOmvNaIxV-8W_D2k/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvYjxDXHAPvPrJ8HrTZ6WFheCRA3_c7zNxjY-oHYwCPUtYuZwUHnCK5mi4a0HrHzA02DJi15jHu8oO7WqQiLmGMGZaDTfNcoDIQfdj-3hL2J5eLZFNoqT_ktY_g_WNWf0Yj4BOUq439A/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Flickr storm</span></strong><br /><a href="http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <br /><br />Flickr is a treasure trove for a teacher. It is a collection of free photos. Flickr Storm would be a way to collect pictures and postcards on a topic of interest, save them to a tray and then write a story using them as illustrations. For example, I typed in the word ‘princess’ and was given a selection. Each one I then click on would be enlarged into the tray on the right hand side of the page. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveKMAJsXjrbBsMqQneVrZhmfzqgbQBejFvIhorXM9FKd64-PJif11lxaTGu7DgVavAnwQbOI0E5f6sbMGqsMH0b_dxxL0-Cfe-0r3yzEDzP2rhSjqgsNxM1nIaCnsu6761ZjblEWQjrQ/s1600-h/image%25255B28%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfbEsqC5uNgN6MwcC74GpnhQGex0qCKI_21sWWnKHeZm5dIL7-yM-3uqeLEWk1Soa3dQG8RLKsFY51SZx6IQkIG5ESxxy6bV6jE38Cp3s1pKVCsxWdI3RxwzSX76wwJ1rpE9njmHZkeyQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="179" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn825iDeDmF_P5p2a10Jcp9T8NoL_6EHMeBYcIbM8IFGB93nBkx_xO5R7jdlQcUO07gVZgtsF2QOTujDaws2hkI47aFxUQbuRS8ohGXNzXOiQek3_C-JdHZ42x-SMuhTj9-cAhgOsMFdw/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. 17 larger than life objects</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/01/17-larger-than-life-giant-objects/"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/01/17-larger-than-life-giant-objects/</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This blog has a great number of photos with some objectos that are unusually large. This would certainly inspire a story!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4l_B0Z3BUWsuADBRMjM_9GtDDCjvjorrXpWFodJbT4xBeSn3xndALMC2d-f6ZWc5XmPR5VkoWE409MqJAGvudIlEr0cO10ZCZqUfWVqd64mYNHX1cxz0EhaPoE3SG0RHdGxpjurm1mPk/s1600-h/image%25255B29%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbRogW9X1dyshBy8fAy_J5IMK0zOm6qlULA05mH9l0ajweP0axcXXqvSXYVj257pB8i8qa33sBukJH0sgEgeMf8tobST_DIX4YNPX7gq3pzBE33ETFUYL2KTcDwJkACGzgsD3GkiU7z8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMhxec_VmTcYEmGn5quB8o6pfzjQVLmZUIsJZavILpFzrqX21SOngP6l2XV9bay2zgB9T3fKHwTYdyrPKimW7sWJ6fpGIL5_AvpCTsmDtV8Qfn9B5PuNEhz-Cw2ghNzAvZ6cN5kGtkKw/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. 5 card Flickr</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card">http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card</a></span> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiC020Cf1LMwr-50QnPfxW0XjaJwTUs3FrQjY2AkK1_Au2B2F4BlvDqdHaSHcP9n7rkFJ68LKtugrF-whHAUC7Osrkpd74h4AmF9CUZdu14NOgR9bU3jd1RNZTFMYA_WLkiuoj5oVzzqE/s1600-h/image%25255B30%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM11BpNGyGnosPEexwuX2tPV2Z2i5dI3a80ka17R_G_fZkGTye7d_KSeYzDBXV72K16otg33ogRe3TVB62ztiY5bmTf_JRKmqRE3JWNr0PNnBl5HHhKmgYeMtnK8AhHKLQvAjC8ZL805U/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiboXWm_gsJGhXSuNmApiHLf6ah-ClJ2114x5WhdQPsqu8OLwFfjQIppYZeyRrAv8gR7_LDb9vQuTXqMMYyZszICqPykf4UtLSYQdIzlTeBO5i2or4BYWuF2rkw7zt2ccxiHi_LXgy6xVc/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">You start off by picking one of their images to add to your story. You continue in thisein till you have collected five images that you like. Then you write your story. There are a number of examples of stories previously written to look at with their selected images.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVH4mNn4-MX31MgSJsB7axnYvv3OMSCCNjsFQ5qPseTlONWs7QJY1HK4HbAe0o8JdsexSgnM_7eQwNquatoJ23UgkQ_j194x3uDV9oljqNtYJ8QrEQU2ey-0NRXYHQ-wVQ0EkAQnsYqFY/s1600-h/image%25255B31%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjooAxdbgtOpk1n1P56CbtrtznlrpVGzXJ-4BPDDWTh2UIQsamH4EeNWwsl392p0vGamsSSS-Tmf3j5bWlVI30dpgtMwBGLDt6J3JFaZBOH2mQfS8s1yr3LD7G-NPITqMtgPruq1KrAI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIFX6RqQ-VfKwk7YOb342KHRTsZve6r_gizzaix70Wg1FdUWl-n3IwgvnBKTMS-52oyHfKo7HUulNK0EQ2QjWrqXS47coOmmLdNVocHIJ9AQvYegZNoAxASBrMxrApAuW2Q731nI1Vi4/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. Wonder of the day blog</b></span><br /><a href="http://wonderopolis.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://wonderopolis.org/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a site with pictures videos and words about something wondrous. The students could take a look around till they feel inspired to write. </span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6x6K03DIYlB6Tv0se2Gz8-XwTHNZDMn32jVrZv1tTm1B9STpRhp8vqFsZswTO0b8JzNMTatfOxrmmF724Icmpnu1L5f9JAkSmpThLOrwV-inmdlBSwsQpozA6WUb5GzCwNAbAZwZTGCk/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rSCTp_yJ-WfOihsgcxEep3IG7d2pmpy8T7vvTujO7ol3CgVc-P92q3ObUlmVT27l3YJ5gPdUaUvl72jeyYdh-HlY55FeKhJUn6TxIhMqE5aU0vSyFBCpxzQIP9y91U_CbMQlaFH-wGM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbU2-doDPncyBVJBIRmTKrHQO1Bmg8OKR4yNaoA2V3ODS3c2lM2Yg1-JhqISXHgDTpBMoNruzIyV0kmpY_zE1VRNPvVaUuzmQReabNU1np30bwqcrsz_-tQ2z8-jUhRRcg6efM8JKk_I/s1600-h/image%25255B17%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6. 100 best first lines from novels</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2wlUXW/www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2wlUXW/www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In this site the students could read the first lines until an idea strikes them. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DYCfnbnP_nDQkM4pon632-gk0gca53XTaYjhHOvsCdHoHV8FuL_1X_eIzOnMslzo3Bn6FCCakGkt74Pbpv-zI-9nlTx41MJ4ebVJOx0ZEQ9wEDtTO4OfGsed4UXIxURoWUv7VeOjFbs/s1600-h/image%25255B33%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUb0JbBlfdot3kY1F0Woc3zx39tPVJi_c7N4jx_jUmMwGRUX6n3f-Fj2ifCZLikXJ6UP49Ywv9pa9SKaHPVZnAI7nYojxn9q2NDimsV77FLebXfIH0x-0w_nfi63d2LA2MHsnurbTQ7g/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>7. The Newspaper Clipping Generator</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your students could use this newspaper generator  to generate a story from a list of headlines that you have collected. They write in the headline of choice and then start their report. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLdRRcCJAbdBrtNi60feg3fToztPUBjZtdnxIwxyiDsGzRF6tOcEOqYr2migI_HqV2x87yNcp36kbfQgwiBrsY_hXDoSeaG2ZHdHz8m8L-wX_Ri6KtO_202rA4ZR20191YvANUAhyphenhyphenU-o/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="143" /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Story Starters from the Young Writer's Workshop</span></b><br /><a href="http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html" title="http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html">http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This site is the ‘Young Writers workshop’ Ther e rae plenty of ideas for younger students on this site. When you make a topic choice it takes you a template with a starting line and this can be printed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0WoHnkeRPdLbh3qFeNYUkjypxmaBv5ZFPFFJg-DSKpA0tfoCFPXPG9rxDTmxbkpXSBXsXZLlBN0cgMcX6YIStrqGhejHdshZa22UFUycYIDHDO3mxqeJ28kRm49boRwv55hJjSftAYk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work through these and see how your class responds to them. Our biggest challenge as teachers is to get our reluctant writers taking an interest in writing.</span></div>

Creative writing More story starter sites to inspire your students to write

Submitted by Fiona BealOne of the most popular posts to date on this blog has been one outlining a number of sites that can be used for starting stories '10 Story Starter sites to get your students writing’. I thought it was time to add to the list. …

Read more »

10 places to find reading and writing resources for primary school learners – part 1

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of my passions is developing reading and writing in kids. Nowadays the web is full of the most amazing sites – is it any wonder that some of us feel that free internet should be a basic human right!  Today I came across some amazing new sites and thought they would be great to share in a blog post.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">I have written two previous posts about reading resources for primary school learners so would like to add the links to those in case you are interested in looking them up:</span><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/01/bring-technology-into-your-foundation.html" target="_blank">Bring technology into your Foundation Phase reading lessons</a></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/01/12-more-places-to-find-reading-material.html" target="_blank">12 more places to find reading material for Foundation Phase learners </a></span></li></ul><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Share what you are reading</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/swyar/">http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/swyar/</a></span></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddjT76h4VEamggHHVKo4ALH79hrOeG4AIJf6ugR0N8bVIG-iJhvjNX1GJpJBsU8qmUX452efCFkYJJlKvEL5QIrkWm1WSS9KY5WfhXWPy6yABeKwRmzkEF18cFvwae7i0oSvcWr6D7-I/s1600-h/image2.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64LNH3exJyCH4pafz_DEVLwEU7JdpDNGeLfcPJ3Te15O_uIoFEhff3XYZ0vRdeaY14-80tPetkpO5arr0hdlnZM9aP68fNbJSk3Vdf1mVuJR92uOoerVnoSHr6YyNmK3GA63oXb6qYNE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a>  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuB9OERkSmkfGk0YKKs3MKBrfI_xNgIgXT8PL_p4dy6CurEo19aY0SKuwbEX5_DQ4QrBxc4GwNZuOrzMeLaTiWYfyDRhS1GOp1fCnfKv3v0QZY11DXfySI2JD0GMed8bxlh0jNPaZG4dM/s1600-h/image5.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1iGl7_5YlyNm1-ltEnxNER3dQWfO_X6BdTl17GHldX19oaxhNs-wIfI0kOGJF0LilCWwhL_Rz-Y0TI79zSiuaWChWl0fRYeeExHTp72cJyLM1ybREaw00tS6iT7q-gMBqEc2BSBoYKM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a great site where children can write reviews about their favourite books - fantasy novels, biographies, mysteries, sports... They can then also  share with other students what they are reading and discover new books based on other kids' recommendations.</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Children’s books forever</b></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/">http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii49UnEverBRstE5VPVtqcEATbtPUWapdo-nxNFo8q5QP_5PLiosj8bhD7gdHY1tjbvbMQ6IUOlkBeCAigDt9RK017xfu8yPxFvMfLdS6bTBy_jP_39qnrW6xxXjAkzDxcUbM2ni96Yzc/s1600-h/image61.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5c8nuXO_GilLFmmF9iVJh64Adn0rdtiiFrKoreAeGj4SMG2LK4_yI0UV6gARbzTXuL5EqcnFikipiDyGhknQI0WvNKPGrcuYrTWo97myzQFXK29zsWoAJIo1HkTAocaMj1Wu1JHylRo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This site features free and children’s books written by  Frans Wilhem. As I was paging through the site I recognised the Waldo books. </span></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">3. McGenius</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://meegenius.com/store/books/free/">http://meegenius.com/store/books/free/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qMDnxOyoK1YbIZ8XI0tV0GMdm6VT0YG5SkM3n8-bZ4onHzlY8alZzH0zdZQRuo49M9s8kCjSKT9uA_VPkxNBxSAFtGvgDqe_68f8m8TVM0ifYoUccZok5MJ5Cz-GifLbyyGpEbW97u8/s1600-h/image13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jTo4FG1s82VimJS3sYN10kwqrEv0uf1KuQb_9U7YpgQsmcrsxuzzjZ9JOlgjWRwggdXkSzr_M3Z3siGAPp8styyy1Kv1xO8KUFjmg7YwokB6vtg9YQBKQjs0ufXX7tnWmn59p94fiwU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a site that has free and paid resources. One really good feature is that the books have  automatic word highlighting to accompany the narration of each book so that the readers can follow along.</span></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. The Woodlands Junior School website</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/onlinestory.htm">http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/onlinestory.htm</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSfaboaLPCwfl6kubsNKmUiJKVMoFuoMhjRFOz0jBoz2PaLQHhWty7JKu_IazPPXTkpxeTNo4bLlp66JuUIzaEozZYrDVduaBNcJpqoWPaIVJaKAH46C9gKBKj7YFFCWc0CPgvhhzwYQ/s1600-h/image17.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-xuIW1T2p_43RMq6Vs_Y7_7ssTHmurK3atjYfNdXLuc9q0y-s65j6edEYwzWw6pCAgur8ZhD2WMETKbdadNDZOwNEPwJDmJkJNddnWyKXDOWQhQLMmh3PViSIG9kGDC7erX4KBH5nc8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This site is a good place to find educational games for elementary age students. They also have a great collection of links to free online talking storybooks.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. Magic keys</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.magickeys.com/books/"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.magickeys.com/books/</span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiQRjxEfeV1MBm-mFLUjNs7xrKUeC80lHuP2w7U27CZaYDHVDHy8wn4k1nidYXgfhPMey3HNZMAsN71Svwboptdl9reeJysWau6KFeoeTMDBaNTBbrBH0GWpCsNoBlE8ZxlrLkGip79c/s1600-h/image23.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBYvxpR0Qrj4J2kytkhjw9o-qBmfa4CnKKN9zeJteIFDo2Aucakw7Yhj8A-hbmQn2VQ-RpmmSOJG487Vqs1IlwID0cSJRmnJq9lW3CJ9nWf011u0jJCf4zhR2Uh6u3oUUaO_aw2kkAYA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here is another site with a good collection of talking picture books for children.</span> </div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. Skype an author network</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/">http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0QT5zy_f823ZrP2F_AxpiUU6CXASZMRfr8ysROuHGOpVagX2urieMBNR_WOpBOTG7MO462lzB8pszSzhzyUmpMYyUdWyAfoDZK8zuzpgb7y4XnRGCYj5KkxSSy9WJ4AL948MwShNYOo/s1600-h/image241.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="58" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNMXd71CdE4eoWMOkP7aEcB7DLvvrgb1TXcHA3xP8WVDIh7uVH7uljbtD8TYC3lyUVyCZ0w_vqa_hfi8iB5gpeVq4gJ598ek7Imx4uAwDjqYRnQT6cnl9oTh68K-MK0zuvA0LbtmSSF4E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="260" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a fantastic way to bring authors into your classroom – arrange a Skype meeting with an author. The site gives directions for authors and directions for teachers.</span> </div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>7. You are what you read</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://youarewhatyouread.scholastic.com/kids/"><span style="font-size: small;">http://youarewhatyouread.scholastic.com/kids/</span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88neGZgwlmrKKWD2ynSlYKrw4L6aWwJ5pNaYowoGuloIEcWkGeK9gSl4nbPxNv9jhHNHZRiMWVLHI7B9oLtHj82fq96FDIoB3VVTtfJRGhFL0fPfDyaMJQJIvOoRYteyb6FOLc7eXR2w/s1600-h/image29.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqAD_YOrH0gHemen1gg2ryd24tk-dFsKehhe0zKOrfHl9MnxKvXT2Bkif7f-QdXpXh8jSOBAZQJZ4yEezEGpsJTekKl5mTFe5Y7xLtpP8sAAlaTxfv9OA-nG1zSioBvHZ60cpI2M1aI8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">This is a place where kids can share information about their favourite books. After creating a simple profile <i>You Are What You Read</i> asks participants to name the five books that mean the most to them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>8. Scholastic’s summer challenge</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.scholastic.com/summer/"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.scholastic.com/summer/</span></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8m9Rjm4q4HyyNmZEDnDIXIcaPVdkIE4wNuYIJk34FPyBbMjgEYrohtdyzsajZh9DG5r0GQhhkBMQ4-K55JVHEPU8wBT9TJcQ8YRPFlMcjxQL8-O22RjWg4d0cu0UImz09vIoxVbfo9xs/s1600-h/image32.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8vCwsi-v3-IsSglaWKJUyymbNewZvktzDFFyQ5qBn3XQ_C3VBts8dCuhhmENmZk0LLj6u_Vjfgj8jnbwJbpnGHDk2nUn2KYlwB3zXxpEbxR26PiUHHJ9-4bVwEvyWPiF0x8yOyAKaFo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">9. International children’s digital library</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.childrenslibrary.org/books/index.shtml"><span style="font-size: small;">http://en.childrenslibrary.org/books/index.shtml</span></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgPjz9A1ZVjLWugmOFfOdS4eb1q6ViKUQ7lSNjns4INJSrh3BayQW34UE6_39DGfvzLVjsO4hzG8g2ytvYtYzDOZ1FZgRWw0MTLf9wsLPScI4nrRs5uVrEO6W69oJMe9Ak9PhHvks-RI/s1600-h/image35.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJ6zqdr5Y5D1Ezw3QHpyWinIGVA854cRXoWBP4CMgLMjpFyqnEyODYBHijFQXCH5h0CO1Xzlk8N7Iiy8f3hTdDsqkf6jPg8u3ElYw8ACEkLat514nVegJiDVltKZ0CSwvy8iRDVsi6yg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Read books written by authors of all cultures. This site has a wide selection of reading material. </span></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">10. Character scrapbook</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/character-scrapbook-tool-for-student.html">http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/character-scrapbook-tool-for-student.html</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0WzYo2pl25PPjEjKf7e2eJei3XZkca92qpPjWdSaD3rOOwLSgM1bGk9jCJ63NxN4gVfLzIIiDtS8drlp6_b6JWqnpKarhkxtqfio1lKnZpdXvD7Rej8z5NRilmr3858fubrDJhYCeFvY/s1600-h/image38.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfTg_NVAbgVmTqH7nghWeYZWZMrkzLr7Qpuqdc12OEZ22aDej0AbnDS2yUHe4La6_s2xjwRQNrxzR5ILV8WMh6vZFRJogPl4JFgupaoXfVgWNzyeCJRkjFQPViaaCfw0t8zV3KxXVvkQE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This site has a template that elementary school students can use to write about and reflect on the characters in their favourite stories.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is just a start! Watch this space for another ten amazing reading and writing resource site - coming soon! </span></div></div>

Creative writing English Literacy Reading 10 places to find reading and writing resources for primary school learners – part 1

Submitted by Fiona BealOne of my passions is developing reading and writing in kids. Nowadays the web is full of the most amazing sites – is it any wonder that some of us feel that free internet should be a basic human right!  Today I came across som…

Read more »

Poetry sites that will get words flowing!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><em>Submitted by Fiona Beal</em><br />One of the things I love doing with a class is writing poetry. The students come up with the most interesting ideas and words. Playing with words always gives me a thrill. There are so many free interactive sites available that can make the teacher’s task even easier, and the learners experience more memorable.    <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>1. ETTC (Educational Technology Training Centre) – Instant Poetry Forms</strong></span> <br /><a href="http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm" title="http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm">http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm</a> <br /><br />This is a really great poetry site but it can be used for so many other subjects as well. If you scroll down on the left you can preview some of the templates with samples. Students fill in the blanks with their own content and click “Create”. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4ZrflI0H6CR25WcqP6VYMRYrFkkrboKDQvfWeSJ39_netZYDKs0DLO_pbWpAl6DKAdq3div__zuBCCVaaWrYDWw8NN3wiBQJCGXR_OXKd_iOwQ-ey8B_jUwmmnjnUd5byoBMRQ5vdfw/s1600-h/ITC3.jpg"><img alt="ITC" border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5xZgzXsX6C-z34EOvAa-6BPr4hnH9UToPXrbu7pRVYdjJ52xBXHwxeDUGqu3Jpp8EhgzZC910qiiXPhZPkGsA_NpNi5dLc0ANckpGampS6ahlaYzIovt7wWCY1iSqKoAAluPW3CKzzM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="ITC" width="242" /></a> <br /><br />For example, here is one of their poem outlines: <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpnZzrfsO-rOvxohuAo0Hp8jaX42MgMaFJ68i0x7Cprj-SakPa2eiBEViwwBELJ_lA1is5JgdXlkMeFscXJYkjbwjtY4h4CYtyto8KpCmwvwwsbEhjGtWDiGwx3UWNKd7cWHQgwuQ3ZE/s1600-h/ETTC-sample4.jpg"><img alt="ETTC sample" border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VX2WspgIg_LRD7FOCuLFtgTbj-0D3FwQuebvWWCTvAuxwWgmWBLwLKSuQQtawoJy8wmYY-M-fP5acP-6mN7P2j6Kl0-xefy6qW-5x7sD1WyWHGfmbf86SHKjxLK0HLpgkP-dQujVAGM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="ETTC sample" width="241" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>2. Giggle Poetry<br /></strong></span><a href="http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx" title="http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx">http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx</a> <br />Giggle poetry is an award-winning poetry website with many different features, one of which allows students to fill in the missing words at the end of lines of poetry.This site is great for the younger students. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8-lJj_JE0B2GqthwaSUbzfgfIsxpZLR6e_NWGJC0BO1G1pp65cFV_vZKO3wO0dWasIg_Dukp_fu6TJnzyu7Z1weSWRiErevDRllTflCed4CYPeVPvY7bLeBz7P3w20PKmDoUxLVTaac/s1600-h/GIGGLE-POETRY2.jpg"><img alt="GIGGLE POETRY" border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YsTzkPaHn4aEwHBsBZLaiaHVNUVzQ3oieP-S9wjJKQ21ov6uus6GBiSv9Z0NJ4YS5snpneYmeMs8O8jW44PfrSLma8aMIE2uo6gHbs854RgmrCRFx6qT71wel6NA4Q6byYxhqirn7Ic/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="GIGGLE POETRY" width="244" /></a> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong><br />3. Piclits<br /></strong></span><a href="http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx" title="http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx">http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx</a><br />  <br />I have referred to this site before in my post on 10 creative writing sites, but I love using it for poetry writing as well. It is also a great way to teach the different parts of speech and how they fit into the poem. The students start off by choosing a picture as a background that will suit the mood of the poem. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpZGwdAZxD6dvlpNUGnwrlQQzNnMcPIQzAJzlCyIHLqAYupNa7YRT1LpOyvYHt_TPpcX5GoR3nVorAMWqjFIwgmUhWYOR08sPy0HjM72w01wQkzGBoHyX7ssl17ZUDU5DGSlOJjBDb8A/s1600-h/piclits-22.jpg"><img alt="piclits (2)" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPx4qvQRZu2pURY02Abis2tFS4yq8FKyZQ4nuxevMgjwyBovtlTaZ_e6_vyO_thHrTz1IFHaKEYEdtfhEGVFAHp_QPbnW-4y6IVDjF-B5drGOImpq2kyYiYlyey3JpP_1IfYd3zyfhlVw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="piclits (2)" width="232" /></a><br />  <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQaUvfy3BBY7suEhx4c_mPFWXoUcT7UikLU2rJIbWiCo4egLFj44lsEehftPNoAtIHqiaYPmhkzUBx3TswZvpWicmInl241IHyuiRoOXhpzOrdJydk0BhvA3Bn_FfV-UDROd9X65VcH8/s1600-h/Picture22.png"><img alt="Picture2" border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9Wgdy3wjDwf9FZGFMbV5xi2DFySa6rPD6XCyx6FmaAeWO4ibI8Ck19h7APfo16WN_1qHxc_HLE9-9j85YS35AgyzZKDjUkr6B0SuNHzb7EKDxbZLTvbB-PRSyNEhtUn1Knn26pDNRtc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Picture2" width="244" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>4. Shape poems<br /></strong></span><a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/shape-poems-30044.html">http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/shape-poems-30044.html</a> <br /><br />In this online tool, primary school students can select shapes from four different themes namely nature, school, sports, and celebrations. Within these themes, 19 different shapes are included. What I like about Read Write Web’s poetry sites is they include a lot of lesson ideas. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVEQyOmuRjsdxHBzBD14qxnVOH3Eqy1I-IRAHCcqBt8PJYx4TO80X-TAtYfzERG7uqBlE6YlDAox6ipifHdWrDmKaWeot_4pCsRpZZXD9ZRPbdeqiuOclnnrVrOR1iuipeOD5gMOoZQgk/s1600-h/shape-poems4.jpg"><img alt="shape poems" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinmzjwDmBc0SboiIovt2ZrSWLEKcknV1DeNK0mHtf2ID99HC5DiwQfSY_Gw0dc515FV2Ag7ixUAICn0Xyn-p0qoa1Haq7t6GncFCganpyzLiphZwxpuDux9suaKhlfkMme9Y_rhgBr3x8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="shape poems" width="290" /></a><br />  <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouK4gaJwp8Dn7FZnAwwQnMXiSz-r0m0Hm-PlmGdZdWVFLIT3-PZOPm5Hu-0afiWSlCs69rrMn65VBzM2K2IrEWzhzOVTH3EXJunAqMuTeqXdKUNt9qF2_abkOmB_GUYJ8fcpxINDos6s/s1600-h/soccer2.jpg"><img alt="soccer" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrIoKS9h_TmNn5-3By1Rn28R_ERcGGbvcsEEAIaIAK6hnF-NonSZJXmSNsZZroXLdvtLfSmlIzzEwfKSZJFj15KZx11xwKaBsezzqkM1BXyvjnEBHyeG3QVJZuUwJpiHbIzTkLAfGtb4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="soccer" width="224" /></a> <br />  <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>5. Acrostic poems </strong></span><a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/acrostic-poems-30045.html">http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/acrostic-poems-30045.html</a> <br /><br />An acrostic poem uses the letters in a word to begin each line of the poem. All lines of the poem relate to or describe the main topic word.  In this interactive Read Write Web site you can choose your words. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTScW7sqQ5SksH-JRNw5Am9KjItOaHN1Y-pxdEqXAYLLC_eumH8fjNBwpVIQ2tGfz5XHYwRD3igHcsFF9pnqGgCsH1vR2btf9krJEjcqPVubk3d_cNUTYWgaw5nqMEWYJzVF20qdOlXIg/s1600-h/acrostic21.jpg"><img alt="acrostic" border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOvT-o05moa8yT1wEaeeZARvnJIkSDyJDP8Kf-1e0NfWMh8_D-r7QxLxYWLwBoWhpR4qr4UpvpaYljjhOWz1DEumiYp0qIBrHJHdWsEgEAvfyeRQrSJyN7YPeRaP7JWjoNPHST586lRCw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="acrostic" width="244" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLkHW0qTiTQtT8PP7-XfGte9plsJQhriJ2apA2mciQLQaSECS8k0yeltcZyHNBEhedJdMF8Ugp8NNMKKOn6KmwXDZoK83wVp19kVl-nnYRUd061sHsIhRQ3XOZ5xwzo-MYAHv46mlEJI/s1600-h/acrostic22.jpg"><img alt="acrostic2" border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uxLCSIAkos6FhxQvf695BCaWQmBlcWR_MXka_UwGkLXU2AAhbmhme9AHCLxxn8K7CXrjyys71SAvUU3oGOGiK7nwqFlfT54RJnF-06Qo03_dTLESEWyleJFwQUVpNG1FFC08Zz3s4dc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="acrostic2" width="244" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>6. Write a song-poem from PBS<br /></strong></span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/webkaraoke.html" title="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/webkaraoke.html">http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/webkaraoke.html</a> <br /><br />This will appeal to the older students. They can write a poem by typing in the words, and then the interactive part of the programme will choose music for it. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0hQMXcqePjsNjWDFcOwL9QluJgL0pMmoF92dta1r0Xbaj4VPyB049QNRRCm7uDQF0fEqhvXOzeggF82YFqe1qr-XYCMsJ_r75w2e9bGSy4OLFH7-RjyZ9nmk3EdKXKiCnRdqAq9HEuk/s1600-h/web-karaoke2.jpg"><img alt="web karaoke" border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfcb3ulVS618w59QjlZKVD5QOdD7LT7r9Qy-hW393spjejZRe7fvCBQpCE1Y0ZLjClxgzAeNjvKtJWuwqP7oAKaqMA-y6PZe9IFi0DugCs2emYY7whgKlD6e0_vyr50VYHE8puM-CNtk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="web karaoke" width="244" /></a><br />  <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj22nC4MHenfTjG9URQi0w0f6ntoOJ2YZl_T3YULaoIx3d000708jIDhuE2bWs-Ff2BvZ5gsvHB1IjBUs4u5Nuyb58hirrkRNB1S82mOP1MomOSQ4pW86bD_7pmeNdMBcy5XL4QNJ1Wcg/s1600-h/pbs-22.jpg"><img alt="pbs-2" border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NaIXJyyn2ahkwDRR-YRfcldtolF1_m7d1tiwFuF9TWBRhvoz9Xx1YHNFLd5uBYJ1SH2SoSfq_xbeZvRY8SUEQsSFKwATseSgBPjlDywUOwk8qyTLdoqzP1sIvZuWnUCDU32Hfj9xmso/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="pbs-2" width="244" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>7. Poetry from pictures<br /></strong></span><a href="http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/">http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/</a><br /><br />What I like about this site is that you can type in a keyword and a whole lot of inspirational clips come up. Choose one as an inspiration to write a poem. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOgAAvWBWdXyjiicLrWPYJVwLuYLKjG133RtGP-JYqa0BN6n7syJyNCyvdE9s0Pyxc27Ra4DI9BVBRJktLzJviOQOFbY4z56RVau4_UTShjMr1keKNq3Hm8MeKShkqPkJgf1HG6Zsd7Q/s1600-h/flickr-storm6.jpg"><img alt="flickr-storm" border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSS1khocZpxPXHeGwxXdYMVYUo3oEegPeRfq-ykQDzyEfMzUpu2ZWQ9zMMmKBbEAHQ7paiRJ02xOmmi4prVPwxhbv_AIrIkk4lRwzAIQap1BUSqYKZkQB6InPUAbDcUPVujBkTYYq3hY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="flickr-storm" width="242" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>8. Poetry idea engine<br /></strong></span><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/flash_pie.htm">http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/flash_pie.htm</a><br /><br />This site takes you through four types of poetry in an engaging way. Cinquain, haiku, limerick and free verse. I find that the students love it because it teaches you about the type of poem in a fun noisy machine type of manner, and then helps you make your own. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpK0H7qL8hyYGERbaJyRt9ABAx6ZoschqF-LRy_DoBM0wZ27WQCskB1uFlh5N52Yg1u3iMr5zfw5_fAw0Vn94GSO3gUBfOoJn49oi-ZVXI5U0ZQ3w6lkUtv2b4D-b2XPffDVuH0sgZXqM/s1600-h/poetry-engine2.png"><img alt="poetry engine" border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtw5AzE6o6akpkvzLv1j602Uk6gq5nZZrIdgluVlLsvyJjBTfLmA5n3Z5BHzG_qgSrzE0_tv1ND90LMFgax8R0n0NoZoHQmmjLQ7-PdXCnGBCAQLinjRUvCr0gpxLhxC9QwTie9cV46o/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="poetry engine" width="244" /></a><br />  <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQmMxM0d2_Z6jU2Gx2IT57m-knyoOdNq-BXx5PEN3k8dVff4blgdQDhsfaUGTVOGP41U2cXDfCNRgBdHpGoikbWFFVtXOcwSBbndo6vEGTzNp6vVLBXnt-wJp0ogLaFmAMXIuV5Z-Z5s/s1600-h/poetry-flash2.jpg"><img alt="poetry flash" border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDikjcGWnzPpk1ZZAmbu_L2w501abanLvSzGsr5cCOx5h6vS1ggIJhdGBjvPql1jciFf40xMg0aiGn1KUY3kFsjKpog4ZWrzK_RlTjsvfN6NFhmBrEPSLO36aO1eZCoh8dZ-NsPG3QgWc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="poetry flash" width="244" /></a><br />  <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>9. Tag galaxy<br /></strong></span><a href="http://taggalaxy.de/">http://taggalaxy.de/</a> <br /><br />This is quite an unusual but nevertheless inspiring application. First you choose your topic. e.g. books. A number of words appear on the page.  Then you choose your photos. This is certainly something different that a teacher can develop.<br /><br />  <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sEmbODXix2wEGDUs9tcwIgh0tzDPsiBeS0LsdYjAT2kwxyIX24yTBOpCkzzKvOenzPiTQVbmblUCiNvBDk50Tpv9g6HFkVYL5rvwc2_0F8a6vj_wBSpHo7W1p830dDOJT_XcspnTZQo/s1600-h/tags3.jpg"><img alt="tags" border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3wtQS8jvKknn4RfyvjnWIwDwAzdzlTGGwKECAtcJx1XJIG7l-YVl6YoxCCoRU-I-i1QUSqw8YdcVRx21Y-eRQnz0wbOv1nMoHkb8OsJAs8ovcl8gMsdC6AbLJjL28w2jAMwd3I9FDwj8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="tags" width="305" /></a> <br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWttSVkbGrf31Dh9tQAcLP0WrTNsSXtP3IxE86ATATVBNAMEWJFHHbQyeW-RFZNkmRvh2GiipI0eaizGAwpuPicq3gVo88_HeGkuf8jp98qBfX9jKYLkT7BbZ_EVj3gYiENo0PKVxqZo/s1600-h/tag22.jpg"><img alt="tag2" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdwrnhz5CK7i490J-YMpaF8s05fX1eCmVeRu6OawzYeOb1bos4H80o7Wg0-_ixcrR-LUYAvfSLwS-02Yp49TVlZRQsoqzDvAfNvBCSya7sTevlPiQxo12zvc-yZo61ZtBeVAqrvenqLE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="tag2" width="242" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iutlyAX9k_MMm84J-laHx5Ls7AXr3DexzAa2TOx7sHCuJLrRXynP6FbAuvResY8noripNCITIyoWSTDrzV1gVModQGgF754O-VuIs5vFfBfW_ziZDm4OVqi_aUtRS98ZBpfKky7oagE/s1600-h/books2.jpg"><img alt="books" border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuE9rs9Zg0ObYB9apbXd4IxWgMx9_0EyAZboYCN_rSh0qsC0rCz3pRhP8z9pNdkbuvvJuIgmD4rDiZeom_ImnhFBFTkoMmypN4HKKNDqHjUtkM2pREimiqsbv_3tStrkLVLIO0Jx-Lsg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="books" width="244" /></a> <br />  <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>10. A poetry wiki<br /></strong></span><a href="http://thebunnies.wikispaces.com/POETRY">http://thebunnies.wikispaces.com/POETRY</a> <br /><br />Here is a poetry wiki with an abundant supply of ideas. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeXm7rLTTncvYEBotMWbyFbi9QSM1QUdbUnE2Bubi_c1GDnDk_INVSUwlXa3S0y05KwPdtbCZBkueiwkA-IUVUd3M89FIVfionRk152Y1HfBCF5rO9NY6XnUcUcxisEcg0iyEji79_Kg/s1600-h/The-bunnies.2.jpg"><img alt="The bunnies." border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRL7D7IU_uZlhq4tkRtLFHvvml7plf-MHMFmq-bP54LJH2orTFkHyDshmZ8xPkN4i8Qld4F7hKB63y-p4LUzMmhupYUyZAyjIcojka0hhz-SGVH6O_-w96yyOx4XWL6MMNorr0Wd51Qe8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The bunnies." width="244" /></a> </div>

Creative writing Literacy Poetry Poetry sites that will get words flowing!

Submitted by Fiona BealOne of the things I love doing with a class is writing poetry. The students come up with the most interesting ideas and words. Playing with words always gives me a thrill. There are so many free interactive sites available that…

Read more »

10 Story Starter sites to get your students writing

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><em>Submitted by Fiona Beal</em><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Have you ever wondered how to get the reluctant writers in your class enthusiastic about writing? Nowadays with all the wonderful free applications available on the web a teacher doesn’t have to stress about this any more. (Please note that there is a link to a follow up post with more story starter sites under point 11 below.)<br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>1. Wallwisher</strong></span><br /><br />This is an idea I tried last year. Open a wallwisher page (<a href="http://wallwisher.com/">http://wallwisher.com</a>)  and ask the class to think of a good start to story. There are always those students who rise to the occasion and add their bit. Of course there are those who just sit and think during the whole exercise. Then, when everyone has added their ideas, let everyone choose one of the ideas and start writing!  This usually works well.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCmAaQNlEA50CfVSW6LdrL5wEcznJWMlbswoD7Y0rl7UUqdx9_KgpjsZeMZk_lHdL7SwrFt0tDDaBZ7_cU23fpnIfF4d-skpmsyq1wlgbCeHpnK49OS37WtVLxlJuJa8Fk_GBs2kabqnA/s1600-h/wallwisher%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="wallwisher" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjICbi7nzZci49LYXfOBmrwP9WimyKLNMsgC9K_BJQrzbMqQxG-LA_b05VxlAkpY1UgghoUUvbcWfWI_CVfeAS-0kqq1Ijf91HtL617m1jL6dQeqohcF9D3wRmw2qEk8sZjtAs2lUaW1oE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="wallwisher" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>2. The Story Starter Junior</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm" title="http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm">http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm</a>)<br /><br />This site provides 729 story starters for kids and won an award in 2008. Every time you click on the story starter button a new idea appears. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaa5ch_UTO38nl1XNzIhI8JGCW9cwLyq3eEZXP2PB1DXh7fHLUOc1OjI4tjE9SF4LIIPfFxHoghHIOM6ifStTIe2Rgk2Lx7qqtvPF89kvnbs6BX9FQAUkg9Z2a454x2zdnPryi0s_M3E/s1600-h/storyStarterJr%25255B2%25255D.png"><img alt="storyStarterJr" border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizT4Yoo69dzK5worrCDpTCKU0CwvD2VJ3sDuSQS6620l9SH9XvAOd3Kxzx0Gur6KA53PHedPuRGPzUZvN4lIzWcWXmvZnhDsRby3nCBAk6uTdkdTFKN9uvKXk18aU2BIfB4BZOBrltpIw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="storyStarterJr" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>3. The Story Starter</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.thestorystarter.com/" title="http://www.thestorystarter.com/">http://www.thestorystarter.com/</a>)<br /><br />Here is it’s companion site which is for older students and adults. This one has over a milllion story starters. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqGn-zIU6YsonX1lOE5fjmw4re3aD-Hsb6mDTms1KA1gPQtJVyy9jra2egB2-A_BJf15Rb39Zzsgv0l_MZ7Fo41M_DcP2u_YPA16WtkisNGjqv33kctoXRcMvOy6vbi672bP93LPXuG4/s1600-h/st-st2%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="st-st2" border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6yXXl3mI2AMltWoFOJwK0M2nGUZJxhbZeGF7ADuRh02M1AsOGjAZea3HxkkTwqcGnDBNrGcXo9zoUnq18Wzp90coIIC-42_Jk5h19SivsWU6920I3PdZqnw87a3YTXPp9n2hEu7EBQI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="st-st2" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>4. Creative Writing prompts</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/" title="http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/">http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/</a>)<br /><br />This is another site that has won an award. All you do is point to one of the 346 numbers and a box appears with a prompt. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4YU5UHgE6URru7dFp8U96vuYkQ_RDPAzt6eY1bA5vdqskDzv5fhPGyOokNJQ2xkl7mZvhjfhyphenhyphenVeicgovPwJImlbYXYRuuuabeOtse0us4lTKA0HvtVQlBDTVsudM2aCVN3pHyfytDbA/s1600-h/cr-wr-prompts%25255B2%25255D.png"><img alt="cr-wr-prompts" border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1j2-j0wAYMeG1qI6OnmZFxFdnQ3tjevLfyWcFGuO8OpeHx19KQsO0r3u_RJiswf13mUK5jmYl9XdsAmYi0oV8NgQvlW4tAwDpnmOHinQNTY4MCXI5nNX1RejqCT2hs4M-0znlcYfDcQY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="cr-wr-prompts" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>5. The Storyboard Generator</strong></span> (<a href="http://generator.acmi.net.au/storyboard/interactive" title="http://generator.acmi.net.au/storyboard/interactive">http://generator.acmi.net.au/storyboard/interactive</a>)<br /><br />This site allows you to generate a play script. You choose your avator and a script idea, and then…who knows! All sorts of possibilities emerge. Try it and see.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLN79NmtIHVmMCR8Fizoh7fYQJnrhw89VWzt9Y3WRO5ZodTknlrR8DveBUv15lB2suDB2INa8Q4DUZTQNGXMcoa2LXSEeA2a7H_4b2qTbWveA7SXVvF-WKkeY-fom3bcLSPmjKfUx-Rac/s1600-h/storyboard%252520generator%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="storyboard generator" border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckR1cXyIHCkoqUWbfcn3yglhfWjb14LrUYLsghdvdLaZJd-0NKMkHqMdK7572xs5BikcMx34xTgM25tsIk-3VKVjL5a3ovJYUSG4IaDC-H6SsI3zc1wSaDv3dzurJC7oHPnuCMb-92sw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="storyboard generator" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>6.  Fun Fairytale generator</strong></span>  (<a href="http://www.sistersgrimm.com/newsite/game.html" title="http://www.sistersgrimm.com/newsite/game.html">http://www.sistersgrimm.com/newsite/game.html</a>)<br /><br />This is a fun fairy-tale generator site that will capture the imagine of the daring younger learners. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUf6rMCqzvy51EX-W-ws2BCu1ASS_2nZ3_HEWt_8r23sl9wVuc2XZde6TeZ0rFOn-kOHGMHa0K8pJTnq7_-tJ_m916bSwMPO9TAjelAVtAgZ6tUDwOYHQx5h7VJdXtYNDbf0VO96HMZsk/s1600-h/Fairytale%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Fairytale" border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Zuv7Yon7OQaedsowmJP-KDuv-JBD5NL-0h8osQrua21KmOgef1NE2us_QUx5L4SSsXHcevjbNNydMS8jzEKQkw1AB_S6-gV7At_f3Pk98jgnmr8dtl0QIR7I0VCS56yKDA6f3ZhaErM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Fairytale" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>7. A character generator</strong></span> (<a href="http://bit.ly/dnHLt" title="http://bit.ly/dnHLt">http://bit.ly/dnHLt</a>)<br /><br />This site supports Key Stage 1. You choose the type of clothes, hair and skin colour that you want your character to have.  Then you type on the notepad a sentence about your character. You can then click on the Print button at the top of the screen and your character and the sentence will be printed. The idea is to show it to the teacher and talk about who you have created. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYP3orfJKWJ4iw2Cn7bSdu-XE0CAYpMH0gmTJc89wjPnVuyXKpv2wUSztEsYvZ_2XJ2tesPfWPakT8F9hyphenhyphenmA37uL5UcjsBM7l0kkCE3IfYipWMTIwktGTVhiStYfOwGUu0iFOWh0Ykqig/s1600-h/characters%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="characters" border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRL6HyMm1ZTKcVIm2LFxd5vAGZm1szG8qgV0-wHTMG7Cs-8AYAsOGIVMACi9z2iP2PEZn2Qq0M2PLRAqyLP0_CLIVgliiAkTpcgAXS4nCRfyrO1acVtyFKgKu7cK4lXgafL8HueRdmPFY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="characters" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>8. Storyplant from the BBC</strong></span><br /><br />This will really appeal to the younger learner. A story guide takes one on a fascinating journey and helps the student to develop their story. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkYRCg9IDrAc4fRooVcOeXKUxEHIodOrQaix7vLJbdgabCY9vpDF1XJ7zCgeqDjU1PamjIEItD3E9sr4v90Ccgx6VB8Lu8k5euEQJcmoWN9SbZIaS6ZZm7Am4xE56FxsstJFPVsa5-fg/s1600-h/storyplant%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="storyplant" border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3FQdHInSMPlwmhtl4bBmVd5XiNDNIm7Elp3YM4Dutgba-oRVo6s6DeVGmGQx6MrQKc0nKmROWAju6NUUyLYX-4bF-fDJ-07jR8T3twNSloFzUXdl9prWz-xCbAauApya5HP6ax44IYGY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="storyplant" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_yg7-ZBP_tnI07owocLS5wF8FuRa6OmWuvuq7wKh9d59iWRu7Crk9nTxg3iOLUOlat2dark8UYPBBBov45as2rhXPFBw6tehW6A-b6ZfDMuUbiHmB9zkFqWiywH_0BperO4GYn3JCKU/s1600-h/storyplant2%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="storyplant2" border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbc2C8KyfeMcUj-BwheiMmYWyZnAmZMOlaeq5iALh6E98n-Pw-VsalXJWqgZvIrQ5zYGIJnP7FvwRy1yzg14SSTeajzGC46Y97zinrJipqZBCH4T1Ug3qE-NaDYpH3E08BpkTbg31ZlAY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="storyplant2" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">9.  Boomwriters</span></strong> (<a href="http://www.boomwriter.com/home/Schools">http://www.boomwriter.com/home/Schools</a>)<br /><br />This seems to be a site that you join – free to schools – and it takes you on a writing journey. It could be worth investigating!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mMLS0SBCkb0gnymdMuN-iIrzrgvMywKG00VmNP7HTAq0cXl2Q8dfutUhLlnL1PdUFlaAi1IEhe3G_mS0xa1nLyUTBGSHDUskFkp0mgCLGC-2g6fjGqtxxEhmGxjGBbWZVcefdZZeeYM/s1600-h/bbomwriters%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="bbomwriters" border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0oTfLVCRvIEO1HVKd2AMUyf_m2f2TgVd0Jd7_HZTX7XbcBrfwC3KllyM8O8afWHmjX8Pje8St4ebsSuwgkC0Z-Zg-me2bp455haJfHXA9zmCJbgS-0kIQI3tspaKw0i-P90dKdLbg3Q/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="bbomwriters" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>10. Inspiring ideas</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/inspiringwriting.htm">http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/inspiringwriting.htm</a>)<br /><br />Just to finish off this looks worth exploring – 34 more ideas in a Google doc. <br />Click on the picture to be taken to the actual Google doc so that you can view all 34 ideas.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddf8kn4m_59zqzbv9gs&pli=1"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1n1dJ1YCidI732gVL6MdiAyjBsENDnHMYqpUQYkCodEIpO-6fKVLWoHwFGJqcgrutM5T77IoafQnX6CGq-ZI-1omt-Y8M4h2Wnn2yJp5P5l9QL46ZFjtL2VItWTGdG3VScOOZKLTAn4/s320/inspire.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>11. Even more..</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post is continued with another group of story starter sites. Visit <a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2013/01/more-story-starter-sites-to-inspire.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">More story starter sites to inspire your students to write</span></a></span><br />  </div></div>

Creative writing 10 Story Starter sites to get your students writing

Submitted by Fiona BealHave you ever wondered how to get the reluctant writers in your class enthusiastic about writing? Nowadays with all the wonderful free applications available on the web a teacher doesn’t have to stress about this any more. (Ple…

Read more »