Kids Say the Darndest Things

Are you old enough to remember when Art Linkletter or Bill Cosby hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things?  The show featured interviews with young children. Many households tuned in to listen to their unfiltered responses.  Children want an opportunity to express themselves and be heard. It's up to us to give them the opportunity to share their messages or tell their stories.

Kiln Creek Elementary hosted a video contest at the end of this school year.  Students worked individually, in pairs, small groups, or as a class to plan, write, film, and produce their message.  We received many many videos based on the themes provided.  It was a delight watching and listening to their messages!


Themes:

• Survival Guide: How to Excel in ___Grade!
• Kid Talk: What changes would you suggest to improve Kiln Creek Elementary?
• Time Capsule: What did you learn this year that future students should know?
• Staying safe during summer break (internet safety, water safety, theme park safety, mall safety, etc…)

How to Behave in 1st Grade! 

Summer Safety Lessons

Ways to Improve Kiln Creek Elementary

Theme Park Safety Tips

How to Have a Super Safe Summer

Are you interested in hosting a contest or film festival?  Need a starting point?  Feel free to modify the form in the Box below.

Part 2 Imagination + StoryBird = Collaborative Storytelling

We had a great Summer Institute session!  Below are the resources, ideas, and stories you created!

Learning Goal 1: Research elements of creative writing.  What were the common themes?

Learning Goal 2:  Create a collaborative story or poem using StoryBird.com.

• http://storybird.com/books/a-moonlight-journey-to-the-dragons-den/?token=72qbtw 
• http://storybird.com/books/merandas-search-for-summer-fun/?token=aukscc
• http://storybird.com/books/its-hard-to-be-a-ballerina/?token=73r7na
• http://storybird.com/books/you-wont-believe-what-happened-to-me/?token=vufhn6
• http://storybird.com/books/imagine-82/?token=zg47wv
• http://storybird.com/books/friendship-likely-and-unlikely-acquaintances/?token=ra3ub4
• http://storybird.com/books/quest-for-cupcakes/?token=4tzqyf  
• http://storybird.com/books/what-happened-to-the-tree/?token=pg4d38

How can you use StoryBird.com?

• I’m teaching third grade next year, and I think that this would be a great way to get the students to interact and work together so they learn to work and cooperate.
  
  
• If I am in kindergarten next year, I would love to do an “All about Me” story, where each of my student have a page to write about them, I could also use it as an introduction to Kindergarten or a summary of something we have done in class. I think my students would really enjoy seeing what they wrote in a book.
  
  
• I teach LD resource grades 1-3. Storybird will be great for first and second grades to make books with repeated patterns for students that are low readers. It will also be helpful for students who have trouble generating ideas for writing.
  
  
• I think this will be a great activity to use with my 2nd grade class this upcoming year. They will be creating stories, and using and developing the elements of creative writing without knowing it! These stories can then be used to further develop comprehension of what the students read. The skills they gain from this activity can be carried over into all other subsequent reading they will do. The fact that they can invite someone to look at/edit their story means they can work with a peer, and it won’t come across as the teacher making all these changes to their creation.
  
  
• I teach inclusion so with 10 below level readers I think it would be great to have these pictures to have them create stories. It’s difficult to have my lower level readers create from just a topic, but most of the time they are visual learners and the pictures will be great.This is good for introducing the class routines. It could be used whold group to have the children get used to writing. Then Have the children work in smaller groups as the year goes on.
  
  
• You can use Storybird as an independent writing station (at the upper-elementary grades), as well as a way to teach peer-editing, whole-group writing pieces, or just having fun with creative writing. My kids really enjoyed using it this year, and most of them made their own accounts at home (with their parent’s permission). It’s also a great way to collaborate with other classrooms/grades…even in other states, etc. (For example, using it for READ AROUND THE PLANET)
  
  
• Storybird would work well for introducing writing. It would also be good for an introduction with at the first of the year. This would also work well whole group at the beginning, and then have three or four collaborate. Finally have one child write each story and trade to help the other one edit.
  
  
• Ways to use Story bird with elementary aged students having speech/language delays:
  
  Working on:

• WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: grammar, sentence structure, topic maintenance, sequencing (first, next, last), spelling (writing the sounds that are there-not by the way they say the sound), organization, commenting, vocabulary (tie in from class or grade level)
• PRAGMATICS: determining audience, topic maintenance
• ARTICULATION: reading the story orally and practicing the sounds they mispronounce; making a story that has words which have the target sound they are working on
  
  
  For more information on getting started with creative writing and collaborative writing click here.
   

Imagination + StoryBird = Collaborative Storytelling

What would a student do if you gave them a blank sheet of paper?  Would they fold it, draw on it, cut it into pieces?  One of the best things an educator can do is give students the opportunity to imagine and create.

I am glad you picked this session for Summer Institute!  Even if you are not joining us face-to-face, you can still interact with the Prezi below.  Join the conversation and post comments.

StoryBird on Prezi