Recently I blogged about my top ten list of tools for primary classes.  Shortly after that, I received a couple of emails from Tikatok, which was on my list, about changes in their policies, so I have replaced that choice.

While I still like the fact that Tikatok allows you to have your book printed, their stories can no longer be viewed when embedded into a blog (unless you are logged in), and they now do not allow children to use the site without sending a signed permission form to their offices.

I am planning to use Storybird with my students instead.  Storybird allows embeds. Instead of students drawing their own pictures, they can choose from pre-made illustrations in different artistic styles.  The benefit to using these would be to force students to focus on their writing–including editing.

Amanda Marrinan, who has used Storybird to publish her student’s work, says, “Anything that keeps my kids so engaged that they don’t want to go home, even on a Friday, has to be good.”  Anything that helps students to be better writers has to be good.