Storybird

          Storybird is a storytelling website and app that encourages students to write using text and images. Storybird fosters the love of storytelling and the love of reading stories. It allows students to create authentic work and then actually raise classroom funds by selling this work. They can order their work in print and see their abilities as an artist and storyteller. 

How to use: 
1) Register - All you need to register is a valid e-mail address. Fill in the required information and Storybird will send you a confirmation e-mail. This will start your free trial (15 days). If you wish to use Storybird long-term, it costs $8.99 for a month of membership and $4.99 per month if you prepay for a year. 



2) Under 'You' on the menu for Storybird, you are able to do your own reading and writing. You are able to see your earned badges. You are able to see your favorites on your 'book shelf'. This is very similar to what students will see/will be focused on when they use Storybird. 

3) Under 'classes', teachers are able to create classes. One really cool feature on the classroom portion is that you are able to import class rosters from google classroom if you already use that. It is here that you are able to see your classes and view submissions from students. 

4) Under 'challenges', you are able to access premade content that you can assign to students. It is broken down by unit or skill so that you can find items relevant to your course of study. It also gives the suggested age band for each activity. 

5) Under 'read', you are able to read all kinds of items under the categories of comics, flash fiction, picture book, longform story, and blog. There are featured stories on all kinds of topics. 

6) Under the 'write' section, you are given the same categories of writing to choose from and must start by choosing illustrations for your story. You are able to arrange the image for each slide to have text at the bottom, top, left, or right of the picture.