Being able to publish a book is a powerful tool. I remember my second-grade teacher had me publish a booklet. I was beyond struggling in school, but I remember that assignment because I wrote my first book. Hands-on lessons with a finished product help increase engagement. Students have multiple ways to present a story with added features. You can add pictures, an interesting design, and words. Some of the publishing apps allow dynamic videos. Everyone loves taking home a book for Mom.
Storybird.com
This website lets you upload pictures and create a children's book. A creative teacher could use this to create poetry or have students do a project. You can create a teacher account and classes. You make an online version of a book with pictures. Storybird.com will let you create an actual print book for money.
TikaTok
With this website, you can make a children’s book. The concept makes writing in elementary school that much more fun.
Book Creator for iPad Author’s Pick
You make a story, and you turn it into a PDF. You can insert pictures, video, and audio.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-creator-for-ipad/id442378070?mt=8
https://bookcreator.com/education/
https://bookcreator.com/education/resources/
OverDrive Local Content
You can upload local content to OverDrive. If a school has OverDrive, you can publish your content onto your OverDrive account for anyone that has access to the website to check it out. All you have to do is convert your work to EPUB format and upload. Google Documents converts to EPUB format. You can also Google convert your current format to EPUB because there are many options. You can have your students enjoy being published. Of course, the content is only local, but we all have to start somewhere.
Video:
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/playback/Playback.do?id=3bt1f7
Convert Google Document to EPUB
Kid in Story Book Maker: Create and Share Personalized Photo Storybooks
This is a highly rated story making app.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kid-in-story-book-maker-create/id594403164?mt=8
Kid in Story Book Maker: Create and Share Personalized Photo Storybooks
This is a highly rated storybook app for children.
Creative Book Builder
This book-making app allows you to make a book in HTML, EPUB, or PDF.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id451041428?mt=8
My Story Book Creator School Edition
You can record your voice as well as self-publish a story. Then you can email the story. My Story has very good drawing tools that allow customization. You can take pictures to include in your story. This app is for young children.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-story-book-maker-for-kids/id449232368?mt=8
Using templates are a free an easy way to create new projects for your students. You can create a newsletter, brochure, greeting card, poster, blog, website, or something else. There is something for most ages and subjects. When you expect students to write and add media, you increase the ways students can represent information and meet standards. You can allow your students to use different abilities and think on different levels. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a cool design can make a project something special. Of course, you can use these templates to represent materials to your students in more creative ways.
Google Templates Time Equitable
You can use these templates to do a number of projects. These templates can help you add creativity to your lessons.
https://docs.google.com/templates
Templates for Word Time Equitable
There are a number of free templates that come with MS Word. This can be very helpful if you are into project-oriented learning. You can create a poster, greeting card, brochure, newsletter, newspaper and any other template you can think of. Often times, you don’t have to learn a new technology to do project-oriented learning. Using Word is a good example of doing project-oriented learning and not having to spend the time to learn a new technology. I also recommend using MS Publisher if your school has a copy.
iPACT
This app has templates based on the concept of Universal Design for Learning. The app gets good ratings and can be used to teach a number of different areas of education.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ipact/id896725524?mt=8
Canva
There are a number of very good templates to help you design various visually appealing projects. A smart project-based learning classroom could do a lot with Canva.
https://www.canva.com/templates/reports/