Teaching writing is something that I actually love to do. I know there are many who regard it as a chore and a challenge to get the kids to write enthusiastically. I believe that all boils down to the methods and the purpose behind the writing. There isn’t much to get excited about when you have to write to a specific, meaningless prompt week-in-week-out, using the same old rigmarole. Engaging our learners with authentic learning is an ENORMOUS part of maintaining their interest, enthusiasm and participation. (I have a post with several tips and tools for authentic learning right here. ) Whether you’re working on fairy tales or science reports, these web sites should help overcome a bit of that reluctance with your young writers. I use them a LOT within our units of inquiry. They are easy, engaging and absolutely make writing fun!
Digital story telling is a means of creating a story, report or fun presentation through digital means. It can be used across all disciplines and all ages. It is truly transdisciplinary, utilises ALL of the Approaches to Learning Skills, is one of the simplest ways to integrate technology into your classroom and, most importantly, kids absolutely love it! I have compiled a list of 5 of my favourite websites and apps that I have found to be easy to use, produce a beautiful product and keeps kids of all ability levels wholly engaged. All are free to use with a few requiring a small payment for upgrading. Just click on the links provided to explore for yourself.
1.Little Bird Tales
This is a great site and very popular too. The children can create their own art for their story or use the tools on the site. They will then record their own voice to tell the tale. It is simply laid out, bright and colourful, making it engaging for the little kids and can be advanced enough to keep the interest of older kids.
This site actually provides example lesson plans to implement with your class, if you’d prefer a structured approach until you feel comfortable going it alone. It produces the sweetest finished product ever! There is also an iOS app available too.
2. Digital Films
If you have a classroom website or a blog, this site allows you to share your film with the world! Or whomever you share your class blog with. 
You can create a digital animation of your story and simply embed it into your site/blog. Easy to use, provides examples and kids love to share their work with parents at home.
3. Make Belief Comix 
This is such a fun site and so easy to use. And it allows multiple languages, so even better if you wish the kids to create using a different language.
It gives a clear demonstration and allows you to create a comic strip with up to 9 panels. There are a ton of fun characters, speech bubbles and backgrounds to choose from. The finished product is cool and appeals to the graphic novel fans as well as the younger kiddos.
4. Voice Thread
“Ed.VoiceThread is a platform where students develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity skills.”
The company’s own quote is the PERFECT hook for any IB teacher! Critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity? It has it all! I love Voice thread and have used it for many years now from summative assessment presentations to maths reports and the coveted IB PYP Exhibition. It is also aligned with the American Common Core State Standards.
It can be used as a part of a collaborative group activity, allowing for multiple children, including you, as the teacher, to add your input with comments. Or it can be used to simply publish a student’s story. It is simple enough to use with lower grades and can be rigorous enough to challenge those older kids too.
Upload pictures and add additional text, clip art and voice to the product, making it a professional looking and yet personal product for the children.
5. Boomwriter
This site is similar to Google docs in the sense that it allows the teacher to view each account’s writing and offer feedback individually. However, the catchy part is that it 
also provides the opportunity for much peer feedback too. The children write and edit, then their writing is anonymously voted upon through the website. The final drafts can be edited as a group or whole class and then they are published into a hard copy. Seeing a professionally printed copy of your writing is always a boost to confidence. I have used this with my SPED writers and ELA writers over the years because of the heavy amount of teacher/peer feedback and, of course, the final product, WITH their names printed on the book or report. Perfectly memorable for all involved.
Have fun exploring these websites. I hope that you’re able to find something great for your own class. Please do share your experiences!
Enjoy!
