There are various methods one can use to create an electronic storybook. The Writing Process is modeled below. For more information on writing view The Write Stuff writing tutorial. Storybooks can be done as an individual or group project. The process below discusses both individual and group activities to work through the phases of a project. Older students may work through the process independently and younger students may work through the project as a large group. Primary grades may only want to create a visual storybook based on one read by the class.

The Writing Process:
Pre-writing
Students are divided into small groups (3-4) and spend time brainstorming ideas for possible story topics.
The e-book making project can be used with any area of study and it makes a great conclusion/review activity.
For younger grade levels, the teacher may wish to brainstorm story ideas with the entire class.

Drafting/Posting Writing
Students work together to create their story. If working in small groups, individual students may be assigned a particular section of the rough draft to edit and proofread. If working as a large group, smaller break-out groups could be assigned a particular portion of the rough draft to edit and proofread. This allows for some individual or smaller group evaluation to take place as the students work through revising their work.

This is a great time to introduce writing strategies like elaboration, word choice, sentence combining, figurative language, and use of a thesaurus to bring more life to the written text.

Students come together again to make certain that the story still makes sense and that the fluency and the continuity has been maintained.

Final Draft
Once the final draft has been completed, individual students or small groups can be responsible for typing their section of the story into PowerPoint, KidPix, other presentation software or web page. The type of presentation application students use will be dependent on the length of the story. For instance, students wouldn't want to use too much text if using PowerPoint or KidPix, however lengthy text looks fine on a web page.

Finishing Touches
Students are responsible for the creation of original illustrations. Have the students create a storyboard, much like professionals use, to map out their ideas and story before creating it electronically. If using a presentation software, the students should work together to create transitions, time the movement of the pages, and record their voices. Students should not use custom animation for text, although animated graphics may be a good idea. Discuss as a class the importance of design when creating an electronic storybook. If creating a web page students can use a simple wysiwyg application like Netscape Composer.

Example Lesson Plans:
An Example of a Storybook Project
Wireless Wonders Electronic Storybook
Great Projects with Everyday Software