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Booktrust is an independent reading and writing charity that makes a nationwide impact on individuals, families and communities, and culture in the UK. We make a significant positive contribution to the educational outcomes of children from the earliest age. We work to empower people of all ages and abilities by giving them confidence and choices about reading. And we want individuals of all backgrounds to benefit from the wellbeing that a rich and positive engagement in reading and writing can bring.   Our work supports children and young people, parents and carers and indeed anyone who would benefit from the positive impact that books, reading and writing can have on their lives.   Vision: Empowering people through reading and writing.   Mission: Booktrust inspires everyone to enjoy books, reading and writing and the lifelong benefits that they bring. Our aim is to build a literate, connected and creative society.

"Languageisavirus.com exists to cure writer's block and inspire creativity. You can choose from a multitude of writing games, gizmos, generators, writing prompts and exercises, tips, experiments and manifestoes from infamous avante garde writers and how-to articles on fiction writing and poetry."

One Word is a simple writing prompt generator. The way it works is the user clicks "go" on the One Word homepage and they are presented with one word. Users then have sixty seconds to write in the text box whatever comes to their minds regarding that word. The idea is not so much to write definitions of the words, but rather it is to write sentences using the word.

"Write or Die is a new kind of writing productivity application that forces you to write by providing consequences for distraction and procrastination."

Write Rhymes is a fun little site where you can find a word to rhyme with just about any other word. I tried to use words for which I couldn't think of obvious rhymes, but each time Write Rhymes came up with something. To use Write Rhymes simply type a word in the text box then option-click on it to see a list of rhyming words.

Toasted Cheese is a daily writing prompt site that publishes prompts on a monthly calendar. The whole month is laid out for you with a different prompt each day. Don't see anything you like on the current calendar? That's okay, click through the previous months to find old prompts. Periodically, Toasted Cheese holds writing contests which you can learn about by clicking on the links on the calendar. The writing contests are based on one or more of the prompts from the calendar.

"Are you ready to do some creative writing exercises? Story Spinner is a generator of millions of creative writing exercises. There's a handheld version you can buy so you will have writing exercises wherever you go. And there's a FREE online version on this page that you can use over and over and over again."

PicLits aims to provide inspiration for writing short stories. PicLits tries to reach this goal by providing users with images upon which they can build their writing. To get writers started, PicLits provides a list of words which can be dragged and dropped into sentence form. If you don't want to use or don't need a word list, you can select the "freestyle" option to begin free-form writing.

Plinky is a good place to find writing prompt ideas. Plinky provides users with a new writing prompt everyday. The benefit of Plinky over other writing prompt websites is that once you've created an account you can see how other Plinky users responded to the prompt.

Scholastic Story Starters is a great tool that students will enjoy using to create short, creative fiction stories. Scholastic Story Starters offers four story themes; fantasy, adventure, sci-fi, and scrambler. To create a story on Story Starters a students picks a theme, enter his or her name, chooses his or her grade, and spins the big wheels of prompts. The student can spin the wheels until he or she finds a prompt he or she likes. After the prompt is selected the student can write his or her story using the letter, postcard, notebook, or newspaper format provided by Scholastic Story Starters. When the story is finished it can be printed. 

"ESL Reading Worksheets by www.elcivics.com Each worksheet includes a short paragraph about an everyday problem a character faces, a true-false exercise, a writing prompt, and a black and white image. They are presented in pdf format and should download quickly. I suggest reading the stories to the class before assigning the writing exercises. Estimated lesson time: 20 minutes."

Cube Creators provide templates designed to break the writing process into six distinct parts. There are templates for writing biographies, mysteries, short stories, and a blank template that you can customize. Students enter the required information into the online template. When the template is completed, it can be printed with lines for cutting and folding to create an actual cube.

"Improve your listening skills and hear about the news. Listen-and-write.com is free listening practice."

"The Onion" is home to well-written, fake news articles about contemporary issues and people. It's a great way to introduce your students to satirical writing and to point out that not everything you read is true. Have your students read an article from "The Onion" and then write a piece of their own.

Published April, 2015 Project IDEAL by Jerome (Jere) Johnston, Sheryl Hart, Destiny Long and Jenifer Vanek, is a new professional development resource for adult educators from Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for Adult Learners). The vignettes include: 1. Creating an ESL Classroom Online 2. Developing Independent Learning Skills in a GED Prep Class 3. Preparing for College: Mindquest Academy 4. Independent Learning Skills For ESL Students 5. Broadening the Academic Horizon for GED Students 6. Expanding the Writing Curriculum Beyond GED Prep 7. Technology-­‐Rich Writing Instruction for ESL Students 8. Vocational Education in an ESL Class

This is another awesome website where students can choose a picture and start drawing or writing a text on it to create a story.

 Pen.io is a writing tool that simplifies this process and allows you and your students to create and maintain a work portfolio that can be published and shared on the web.

Story Map is a free interactive story planning tool from Read Write Think. Story Maps provides four templates for outlining stories. To use the templates students title their stories then choose one of four templates to outline their stories. The four template choices are conflict, setting, character, and resolution. Students can print their completed templates.

"StudySync is a web-delivered product designed to increase reading, writing, and critical thinking with award-winning lessons aligned to the Common Core Standards for Middle and High School."

Wonderful to promote writing skills and creativity