Website review by Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2018
Storybird
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Storybird

Social storytelling site helps kids create, publish storybooks

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Learning rating
See full review
Community rating
Based on 47 reviews
Privacy rating
81%| Pass Expert evaluation by Common Sense
Grades
K–12
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Communication & Collaboration, Creativity, Character & SEL
Great for
Media Literacy, Creating Media, Digital Citizenship
Price:  Free to try
Platforms:  Website
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Take a look inside

1 video | 6 images
Storybird in 30 Seconds
Educator Video
0:38
Teachers can add classes and students with a free teacher account.
From the dashboard, teachers can create assignments.
Kids can choose from a wide variety of site-curated, licensed art.
Straightforward story editor makes it easy to add original text and arrange artwork.
Kids can browse published stories and review teacher-created assignments.
Writing guides and video-based interactive courses offer in-depth guidance.

Pros: A huge collection of curated art provides student-authors with distinct and inspiring illustrations.

Cons: Students can't add their own art to stories, which limits creativity a bit.

Bottom Line: A great fit for teachers looking to develop students' writing and digital citizenship skills through storybook creation.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

It's easy to imagine using Storybird as a free-write station, to prompt various writing tasks, or as a platform for peer workshopping. With a bit of creativity, storytelling can also be linked to a variety of school subjects, including history, science, and even math. Follow the developer-created monthly challenges that inspire students to think about different narrative techniques, a particular illustration, and more. Or, use the guides or interactive courses to lead your students through learning something new about writing. These curriculum guides and courses offer structured lessons and activities as well as some extra bonus features (e.g., more challenges and stickers) for students. Note that at the time of this review, this section of the site had quite a few broken links, so make sure to verify that these are still available.

With a free classroom account, teachers can create assignments, and review and comment on submitted stories. They'll also be able to arrange for purchase of any student-created work, including organizing fundraisers that give 30% of the books' proceeds directly to the school. To bridge the gap between school and home, parents can take their kids' account with them when the class is over.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Storybird is an online social platform (and Chrome app) for storytelling. Students act as authors, pairing their words with site-curated, licensed art. Students can compose text, but they can't upload their own art; they must use Storybird's curated collection in their picture books and illustrated poems. There's a 7-day free trial, but after that most features -- outside of reading stories -- require a paid account both for teachers and students. Teachers can also set up a paid classroom account that supports a number of students based on how much they pay.

After signing up or logging in with teacher-provided credentials, students can read published stories or create their own. They can repost favorite stories to their own Storybird account feeds, "heart" stories they like, and comment on them. Students can explore what their classmates have written in the class library or click on the Read tab to browse stories using a variety of filters. When students are ready to create their own, there are three possibilities: picture book, long form (think chapter book), and poetry. To get started, students choose which format they want, then browse Storybird's art collection to find illustrations that go with (or inspire) their writing. After students choose the art, the editor launches and lets students choose which illustrations to use, add text, and create as many pages as needed to complete their story. The poetry setting resembles magnetic poetry: students work with one illustration and a collection of word tiles, which they arrange to form a short poem. Authors navigate between pages using a slider at the bottom of the screen, and drag and drop one picture per page or chapter. Students can save and publish stories from the editor and can invite collaborators to work on stories with them. Completing writing activities earns badges and crowns, which can be redeemed for stickers or writing prompts.

Storybird offers a community for storytelling and a well-designed interface for matching words to compelling pictures. It can inspire student writing, but not all students will be inspired by the site on its own. Since students and teachers can also read published stories and comment on them, it offers good opportunities to practice digital citizenship. There's a clear distinction between a private classroom community where stories and comments are shared only with users associated with your class, and the public forum. Stories and comments shared with the public are moderated and curated for readers and teachers interested in specific genres.

It may be a bummer for some that students can't put their own art into Storybird creations, or use their own words in the poetry format. Other students -- for example those who want to illustrate their stories but lack confidence in their own artistic abilities -- will appreciate the variety of unique images in Storybird's collection. This setup really puts the focus on writing. The ever expanding collection of teachers' guides, syllabi, interactive courses, and writing tips cements that focus and makes Storybird a valuable resource for helping students unlock their creative writing skills. It can be a little awkward to browse through all the illustration options in the editor, which may frustrate or limit some. And, in the poetry format, students are forced to use a collection of provided words, which makes it more like a word game than a true opportunity for pure creative expression. Even with these criticisms, Storybird is a unique social platform for sparking creativity, encouraging storytelling, and creating professional-looking storybooks.

Overall Rating
Engagement

Students will be inspired by the fun, beautiful, and whimsical artwork. They'll also find joy in producing and publishing books they can share with family and friends.

Pedagogy

The social features create an art-infused storytelling community. Students get to make lots of choices here; they'll learn by exploring and exercising their creative storytelling muscles.

Support
It's an attractive, easy-to-use platform with an extensive FAQ-driven help center.
Common Sense reviewer
Mieke VanderBorght Researcher
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Key Standards Supported

Language

  • L.11-12.3

    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

  • L.4.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.5.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.6.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.7.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.8.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.9-10.3

    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Writing

  • W.1.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

  • W.2.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

  • W.3.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.4.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.6.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.K.6

    With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

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Community Rating

(See all 47 reviews) (47 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Melissa M. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
P.S. 69 Daniel D Tompkins
Staten Island, United States
Beautiful way to engage hesitant writers and accelerate the gifted!
It truly is a surprising and engaging writing tool to unlock creativity in all writers. Students can view, comment and give feedback on each other's work and get inspired by writer's on a global scale. You will quickly see students working on their projects at home as well!
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Data Safety
How safe is this product?
Users can interact with trusted users and/or students.
Unclear whether this product displays personal information publicly.
User-created content is filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.
Data Rights
What rights do I have to the data?
Users can create or upload content.
Processes to access and review user data are available.
Unclear whether this product provides processes to modify inaccurate data.
Ads & Tracking
Are there advertisements or tracking?
Data are not shared for third-party advertising and/or marketing.
Unclear whether this product displays traditional or contextual advertisements.
Behavioral or targeted advertising is not displayed.

Continue reading about this tool's privacy practices, including data collection, sharing, and security.

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