Digital Publications
Objectives:
- Develop (or begin to develop) one or more projects in which students will create a digital publication
- Learn some tips, tricks, and techniques
Day 1: General Information
- Why use technology for student writing projects?
- Mrs. Sterling’s Word Pad – This interactive site teaches basic word processing skills for beginners.
- Word Tips
- Some Text to Play With
- Some video tips using Jing – toolbars, selecting text, changing text.
- Word Basics
- Word Basics for Students
- Brochures
Brochure on Brochures (Word 2003) (pdf version)
Second Grade Examples of units using brochures (See Washington, D.C., South American countries and rainforests.)
Fourth Grade Unit on Vermont (with student brochure examples)
Day 2: Some Writing Assistants…
Planning a Piece of Writing with a Graphic Organizer
- Kidspiration and Inspiration
(Examples: K-1 – Animal Research; 2nd grade – Everglades and Alaska; 3rd grade – Biographies; 5th grade – Civil War and Greek Mythology) - Bubbl.us – FREE web application that lets you brainstorm online
- MindMeister – FREE online mind mapping
- Mindomo - FREE online mind mapping software
- Thinkature – real-time collaboration for the web
- CMapTools – application can be downloaded for FREE
- Freeology - links to .pdf pages of sample graphic organizers – lots of others on the web
Reading Text Aloud
Word 2003
- Tools menu: Speech
- Select Text to Be Read Aloud
- Click the [Speak] Button in the Speech Toolbar
- See Microsoft video for more details
Day 3: Newsletters
- Newsletters (Example: Fourth Grade - Jamestown Newspaper)
- Linked Text Boxes
- Drawing Basics–For Creating a Masthead, Adding Lines and Boxes, etc.
- Inserting Graphics
- Commenting on Student Work
- Using “Track Changes” to Collaborate on a Document
Day 4: Cool Tools
- bighugelabs.com - Great source for cool things to make using flickr images.
- lulu.com – You can publish a book here!
- http://issuu.com/ - Publish a document here!
- zoho.com – An online Office – word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool and much more!
- ReadWriteThink – fabulous collection of writing resources.
Day 5: Copyright and Citing Sources
Here’s the link to Orchard School’s web page on copyright: http://orchard.sbschools.net/library/copyright/index.htm
Here are additional links to citation makers:
SourceAid Citation Builder
CitationMachine
BibMe
Additional Resources
CreativeCommons.org
AtomicLearning.com
Microsoft Word Tutorial (There are so many Word tutorials on the web, but this is one of my favorites.)
