A Grade 1 And A Grade 2 Student Hard At Work On Writing Their Storybird Together
Yes, I teach young students. As Grade 1 and 2 students, these children are just learning how to read and write. They have only been in school for three or four years, and they are continuing to learn a lot about school routines and expectations. My Grade 1’s are coming to school for the first time for a full day, every day, and this can be an adjustment too. Regardless of age, what these students can do is truly amazing!
Early this week, I showed my students how to create a Storybird for a special math centre activity. When I pulled up the Storybird website, my students got so excited. Many of the Grade 2 students remembered writing Storybirds last year, and they couldn’t wait to get started. I thought that it would be fun for a special Friday Journal activity. Today, my Grade 2 students taught my Grade 1 students how to create a Storybird.
I was just thrilled! We’ve been working on story elements for a while now, and the students used what they knew about story elements to create real “stories.” Each story had characters, a problem, and a solution. I couldn’t believe that last year, I didn’t even attempt Storybird until the end of the year, and here we are, just months into school this year, and my Grade 1 and 2 students are already creating digital storybooks together. Wow! (Finished Storybirds can be found here.)
Today showed me what real collaboration and meaningful writing looks like. It proved to me that age isn’t a factor: regardless of age, if we set high expectations for our students and support them as they achieve these expectations, they all WILL achieve them. Watching what was happening in my classroom this morning was an incredible experience for me as a teacher, and I’m glad that I can share this experience with you too! Please share your “wow moments” here too because I was definitely “wowed” today.
Aviva
I completely agree! This year I nervously started using Kidblogs.org with my first graders- I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if they could handle the exporting, the uploading, and everything inbetween. The best day we have had this school year was when they learned how to comment on each other’s blogs. It was magical to watch them navigate on their own, with little help from me. Now, each time we go to the computer lab, the students want to post on their blogs. It has made even my most reluctant writers excited!
I am definitely going to try Storybird sometime soon also. I’ve heard of it, but haven’t used it with them yet, so thanks for reminding me!
Thanks for your comment! This is fantastic! I’m so glad that your students have had such success with blogging too. I hope that they enjoy Storybird as well.
Aviva