More "Storybird-ing"

I recently created another tale for second graders using Storybird.  It is a story about a young girl named Caity Jo.  Caity Jo doesn't think she belongs in her family because she looks so different from the rest. Her search for others just like her leads her to an elephant named Miranda, who helps her realize what family really means. When creating this story using Storybird, I started my work by searching for images that matched the story outline that was quickly forming in my head.  I typed in “penguins” and was directed to artwork by “Nidhiart”.  After scanning through the images and finding them adorable, I decided to change the outline for my story.  I also decided that I could incorporate some of the scientific “animal group names” learning that was part of our old math curriculum into a lesson using this story.  Therefore, I could use this digital tale to teach animal group names which would lead to students solving addition and subtraction word problems involving animal groups from the story.  I could also use this tale as the read-aloud during our first “Getting to know our Characters” unit, where students are taught that characters learn lessons in most stories.  Overall, I think the story came out the way I intended and that I used all the possible artwork from the suggested slides that I possibly could to fit my story outline.  As a read-aloud used during a lesson initiation, I think the length of the story is also appropriate. If I were to take on another Storybird project like this, I might find more images that could be used in conjunction with math lessons so that students are more fully engaged at the beginning of the lesson.  I’ve found that second graders love my math lessons that start with some sort of story. If the students feel like they are trying to solve a problem that the character from the story had, they attend to the problem with much more enthusiasm and don’t give up so easily.  The only impediments I foresee with the use of this technology are the moments when my Smartboard decides to freeze or when my desktop computer (which is ancient) “has a moment.” Otherwise, I don’t see any issues with my use of Storybird during a lesson, whatsoever.  I think that it would take a lot of planning and patience on my part to teach my whole class how to use Storybird to create their own digital story but that if I taught them in small groups, or even made the mini-lesson part of a Friday Station, we’d have more success. I definitely see myself using this tale and this technology with my second grade this upcoming school year.