Students be creative writings stories using StoryBird.

StoryBird came up with a great way for students to digitally write and express themselves.  They already have hundreds of works of art that are themed so students have a lot to choose from.  Students can write their stories in many different categories and then digitally publish them so that others can view and read their thoughts and ideas.  An example of a StoryBird book is provided below.  Also there is a tutorial on how to use StoryBird.

StoryBird Tutorial

1.  Go to www.storybird.com and click the "Create" button.

2.   Your students will now choose a theme to work with.  There are many to choose from.  All you need to do is click on one of the pictures on the right hand side.  If you want to browse for more, just click the refresh button in your browser and a whole new set of images will appear.

3.  Decide what you are going to write; either a story or a poem.  Click on your preference.

4.  You will now be taken to a screen that has pictures relating to the theme that you chose in step 2.  Just drag the images you want onto your story book in the middle of the screen.

5.  As you are dragging the image onto the page you will see it highlight in different locations.  Where ever you place your image will decide where you get to write.  As you can see from the image below, if I drop the image there, it will be on the left hand side and I will be able to write on the right hand side.  Try dragging the image around until you find the best placement for your story.

6.  Now just write the first part of your story into the text box.

7.  Over to the right hand side you will see a "+" sign.  Click it to add another page to your story.

7.  At the bottom of the screen you will see your story unfold.  

8.  When you are ready to design a cover just click on the "Cover" page from your page layout.

9.  Choose the cover style that you would like to have.

10.  Choose the colored background for your text.

11.  Type your title and author into the appropriate boxes.

12.    When you are ready to share and publish your book, just click the "Menu" button from the bottom left of your screen and then choose the "Publish" option.

13.  Here you can change your title and add a summary for your book.

14.  Choose the age group your story is most likely to belong to.  Decide whether you want it public for all to see or just keep it private.  When you are done just click the "Publish" button.

//Amazon

Listen to classic audio books and download them to your mobile device.

Here are two sites I came across while looking for some audio books for my son and for those times when we travel.  There are quite a few books on these sites and you can download the audio books to portable media like your Ipod, Ipad, cell phone, droid tablet, or any other hand held device you like to use.  The books that are listed are classics and don't have issue with copy rights as most of them are out of print.

Books Should Be Free

This site has hundreds of downloadable audio books.  They are classified well by genera.

You can get many books more if you read a foreign language.  I wish I had known about this site when I was teaching Spanish.  It would have been great to start out everyday by listening to a book in Spanish.

You can create podcast type audio through iTunes, or easily download the story to your iPod or MP3 player.

Free Classic Audio Books

This site is more like an index to audio books but what you can't find in Books Should Be Free site you might find here.  You can also easily download these books to your favorite mobile device.

Make a comment if you have come across any other free audio book download sites.  I would be glad to add them to this list.