Jackpot for Writing

Children today are expected to compose online, which includes the entire writing process. The class sits down at their computer, opens a writing program and stares at a blank screen. The direction: write about anything you want. Some children begin writing while others fiddle with their mouse or look around the room while searching for a topic. Story Starter has solved that dilemma if you are looking for a fiction story that’s a little out of the ordinary.

Story Starter is a fun way to help a child choose a writing topic. The screen shot above is how your next prompt will be decided. Click on the “spin” lever to make all four wheels go and will stop at random times. If one section is not desired, simply click on the “spin the wheel” button that is aligned with that section. At the top of the window is the full prompt. Beware that the topics are less than ordinary as the prompt above states Write a letter to a million-year-old cantaloupe who stars in a TV show.

Another feature that is beneficial is that the language of the topics is age appropriate. Before pulling the lever, you will have the option to choose your grade level ( K-1, 2, 3 and 4-6).

The next step is the writing of the topic. The author will select from four options: notebook, letter, newspaper and postcard. Each option will have a text box and an option to add a drawing, using a pencil, various colors, selection of line thickness and an eraser-if needed.

There is not option for the work to be saved making this activity a one class project.

Category: Language Arts | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 15

Digital Scrapbooking

Whether you are studying famous Americans, characters in a book or a location, Scholastic’s Scrapbook is perfect.

Upon entering the site, the student will be asked to type the title of the book and the character. If you were studying a famous American, you would type in the time period he/she was alive or the name of a battle that he was a leader in.

The next screen will have two sides. On the left is a drawing area. It offers options for humans and animals. The animal options are dogs, pigs, mice, a cricket, fish, a mole, horses, cats, a dragon, a monkey, a bull, a rabbit, a giraffe, an owl, a dinosaur, a turtle, or a gorilla. These images are as is and do not offer an option for additional accessories.

The human images offer more variability. You can change skin color, hair, eyes, nose, mouth and clothes. The completed picture is of the shoulders and head.

On the right side of the screen is a table where students can type in various things regarding this person. Using the arrows, you can scroll through the options that are 10 Words to describe the character, details about their appearance, facts about their personality, challenges faced and accomplishments. Each line holds 60 characters where the students can type ideas or complete sentences.

There is also an option to print out a blank scrapbook page if you want them to draw their own picture. Scholastic has created a teacher guide with lesson plans and ideas for use of the scrapbook with various grade levels that can be found in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

How can you use this in a classroom?

character study in different forms of media
famous Americans, artists, historians
analyzing historical and current structures
whole group or on an interactive white board
independently on student computers

Category: interactive white boards, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies | LEAVE A COMMENT

January 18

Word Up!

Wordle is a neat way to display a student’s writing in a different way. It may not be a paragraph or have any punctuation, in fact it may not even have a sentence. It will be filled with many, many words.

What it will be is text presented in an artistic way. The text can be adjusted by color pallete, layout and font. Once the words are placed in the window, they can be adjusted as many times as you want. The size of the word depends on the use of it. Looking at the Declaration of Independence below, government is the largest word because it has been used the most. The smaller words are used less frequently. If you were to type the words in yourself, you would type one word several more times than other words to make sure it was larger.

Another example that is similar to Wordle is Tagxedo. Tagxedo offers the same features as Wordle. It also allows the creator to select from various shapes, which will enhance the presentation of the text. Once created, if you roll over the words they become hyperlinks. Clicking on them will take you to a website where you will find more information. (This feature is only available while in the site. Once it is saved as an image, you cannot click on the words.) Below is the same text as above, The Declaration of Independence, but presented in a shape.

How can you use this in the classroom:

create list of traits about a character
description of vocabulary word
words used in a Science or Social Studies unit
synonyms or antonyms
historical documents
back to school activity
book reviews

Category: interactive white boards, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies | LEAVE A COMMENT

December 1

Crayola Writing Prompts

Crayola has been around for years and has a way of tapping into our creative sides. They have done it again, digitally. This time students can create their own coloring sheets. They can choose from one of the ten backgrounds, select images from the different libraries using the drop down menus and add speech bubbles. (There are also pre-made sheets hanging on a clothesline at the bottom of the page that can be selected.) Keep in mind, when this is complete it is a coloring sheet. There are no capabilities to add text to the picture before it’s printed.

With that being said, how can it be used in the classroom? You have been working on word problems in Math. You have given them story problems where the students have read them, created the number sentence and solved it. The students have completed the same activity on their own, but some students respond better to things presented graphically. What if the coloring sheet was created to portray the word problem? The student will have to think of an topic of their story problem and create it using this site. Next, they will print out the picture and add the words to the speech bubbles. You will notice that the speech bubbles have three different shapes-one for conversation, one for thinking of ideas and the last for stronger comments.

This activity can also be tied into a history lesson where the picture would show a scene from an ancient civilization. The characters added to the coloring sheet could explain an event that happened during a specific time.

The best part about this site is it could be used in a wide range of ages when the age appropriate skill is attached to it.

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