building schoolwide literacy Share

TeachersFirst - Getting Started with Book Creator

LITERACY GOALS:

  • writing of complex concepts
  • oral expression of complex concepts
  • vocabulary development
  • connection of written ideas
  • clarifying details

With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing, and use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

GETTING STARTED:

  1. Start here: https://bookcreator.com/
  2. First create a free account.
  3. Next, begin by choosing the type of book you would like to make.
  4. Add content by clicking on the + sign.
  5. A menu will open up with items that can be added to the page you are working on.
  6. Pictures and text can be maneuvered (resized, rotated, and adjusted in a variety of ways) by using the Inspector button.
  7. When you have created more than one page, you can view them by clicking on the top tab of the pages button.
  8. On the home page, the title and author can be changed.
  9. Use the “Share” icon to export the book.
  10. Practice creating a sample or two to become familiar with the tools and options for this interactive resource.

TIPS:

  • Book Creator can be used for a variety of projects across all subject areas.
  • The “Read to Me” function on Book Creator is one of the app’s most versatile capabilities. This can help early readers learn to read, or provide an opportunity to practice proficiency in English.
  • Additionally, the ability to embed video within the e-book can provide sign language translations.
  • Educators can control aspects such as font size and colors to meet the individual needs of learners.

PROJECT IDEAS:

Second Grade:

  • Teacher-created interactive books for any topic can be shared as a learning center. The class can create books together. Possibilities include sight words with illustrations, digital picture albums of class activities to promote oral language as students narrate them, textless books for oral expression opportunities, and basic story patterns, simple stories using sight words, holidays, and thematic units including bus safety, dental health month, and various science and social studies units.
  • Utilize Book Creator to encourage thinking and problem solving through illustrations. Students will design and illustrate a math problem. They can share with their classmates and work in groups to solve each problem.
  • In science, use Book Creator to make observation photo books. Take a nature walk and ask learners to find specific objects and living things. Learners will label and share what they learned.
  • Construct your own class dictionary with guide words. (Keep adding new words all year!)
  • In math class, create books to explain word problems created by your students (include answers on the following page).

Third Grade:

  • Utilize for science, social studies, and health units, collaborative group projects, and presentations. For example, students can record audio predictions before beginning and experiment, and also photograph their experiments as they work.
  • Allow students the chance to write creatively and then share their work with students in another grade level.
  • Create heritage books with the use of Book Creator. Students will learn about their family history and culture, and can even take photographs while at home of pictures and other family memorabilia to include within their projects.
  • Capture students’ imagination through comics and graphic novels. Learners can tell a story through the use of speech and thought bubbles. Encourage learners to use the writing process to draft a short story and then implement it into a comic format.
  • Have students create daily reading journals to document their reading responses.

Fourth Grade:

  • Focus on research skills and informational writing. Use Book Creator as part of the final presentation piece.
  • In music class, learners can write detailed step-by-step instructions to teach another student how to play an instrument.
  • Use in language arts to demonstrate understanding of the beginning-middle-end of stories, highlight rising action and climax, characterizations, and more.

Fifth Grade:

  • Utilize for science, social studies, and health units, collaborative group projects, and presentations. Allow students the chance to write creatively and then share their work with students in another grade level.
  • Students can create their own adventure as they work in groups to write stories that have multiple plot lines and characters. Hyperlinks will allow the readers to choose their own story path and ending.
  • Encourage students to take a picture of a specific piece of text, a passage, or a page. They will then connect with the text, and circle, underline, or box the part that has significance. Then they can create a visual representation that highlights their thinking.