The Write Stuff

By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 9/1/2004

There's nothing more daunting to a writer—especially a six-year-old one—than a blank page. That's the impetus behind Stationery Studio, a new software program created to encourage K–5 students to write by supplying them with paper that's fun to write on.

A product of FableVision, the software comes with an array of stationery templates, complete with kid-friendly borders and shapes that students and teachers can print and use to create stories, reports, journals, and other creative projects. The spunky designs—one, for example, comes with monsters peeking over the borders of the paper—can be customized according to line widths, layout, color, and font.

Although Stationery Studio is essentially for kids, don't tell that to adults. "Every teacher wanted it," says Tom Plati, director of libraries and educational technology for the Wellesley (MA) Public Schools. Plati showed it to the staff, who embraced the new product. Better yet, educators and kids who aren't tech-savvy find it easy to use.

Plati says the clip art and colorful graphics help make writing assignments more appealing to students, especially second and third graders. "Educators find it more engaging for young kids than [Microsoft] Word," he says.

Geared to address state and national standards, the assignments are perfect for math, science, and language arts classes. Stationery Studio runs on both PCs and Macs and costs $69.95. For more information, visit www.fablevision.com.