Story Writing in Grade 2

Story Patch, $4.99 (iTunes link)

This week, grade 2 tried out a story creation app called Story Patch that I had previously read about on the Common Sense Media website.  Because we operate on a half-day English program, it's often tough to fit in opportunities for story writing. Very rarely do we have more than one forty minute session in a row with the entire group of students. And, as anyone who has worked with young students knows, it takes more than forty minutes to really get going on a story.  

Yesterday, I let my early finishers explore the app, without any guidelines or expectations.  Today, I paired each of those early finishers with a student who hadn't had a turn.  The goal was to work together to produce a "guided" story with pictures.  Students chose a template and answered questions based on the template.  The app then generated text incorporating those responses.  Although this option doesn't allow for much creatively, it was a great way to get the students going on the task right away. In designing the pictures, students were able to show they understood the text.  Forty minutes was long enough for most students to complete their stories and share them via email.  The final product was in PDF format.

Next time, I might consider having the students compose their stories, without the help of a template.  There is also the opportunity to type a story and print it without pictures. The pictures could then be hand-drawn. I will need to make sure I have lots of time on hand for either of these options!

Note: We had a major glitch, which the help tutorial couldn't solve for us. Unfortunately, the Tools screen disappeared on two of the iPads.  Hopefully we will hear back from the Story Patch tech support team about this issue.  In the meantime, we will be unable to use this app on those particular iPads.