Last week I had great success getting two 2nd grade classes excited about writing. We used the FREE website: My Story Maker to help us generate ideas and create detailed stories. What I LOVE about this website is how it walks students through the main parts of a story: author, title, main character, problem, plot, and solution. The kids get to create a scene that helps them write detailed sentences. When they add props/other characters to their scene, the program automatically adds to their writing. They get SO excited to see their story expand. Here are some pictures of the different steps:
What is super cool about this site is that kids can “publish” their work and receive a special code that they can enter at any time to pull up their creation. They can also download and print their work that comes out looking just like a book!
Having your students print out their work and adding their book to your reading collection really makes them feel special. Other students have a great time reading their peers’ work! Try this out as a “techie” writing center one day. Send home the website for them to practice at home! I promise..they will LOVE it! Let me know if you would like for me to come show your class this easy to use tool.
