Monthly Archives: November 2018

Clicker 7 and Clicker Apps. What’s the Difference?

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Many teachers are already aware of how useful Clicker 7 is in the classroom. Clicker 7 is a talking word processor with predictive text, grids of words to support the early writer with spelling and offers a built-in planning tool to help learners prepare for writing. (see previous blog post)

Many schools have had earlier versions over the years: Clicker 3, 4, 5, or 6. It can be loaded onto Windows PCs and Macs.

For iPads and Chromebooks

This marvellous piece of software has been split into smaller pieces to make it  work well on iPads and Chromebooks without taking up so much storage and without costing so much. The apps cost from £30-£32 each.

There are four apps for iPads and 3 apps for Chromebooks.

Clicker Sentences

Clicker Sentences is ideal for emergent writers, English language learners and for older children struggling to acquire basic literacy skills. It supports children building their first sentences using words from a grid with options for differentiated writing support. It offers model sentences, illustrated writing as well as speak feedback.

Clicker Connect

Clicker Connect is for developing or struggling writers and is good for children moving on from using Clicker Sentences. It scaffolds independent writing by offering words and phrases to support children as they build coherent text. It offers colour-coded cells containing words & pictures and speech feedback.

Clicker Docs

Clicker Docs is for primary pupils of all abilities especially pupils with dyslexia and struggling spellers. Clicker Docs encourages independent writing with the support of word prediction and word banks and has a talking spell checker and speech feedback.

Clicker Books

Clicker Books is for primary pupils of all abilities, pupils with dyslexia and struggling writers. Clicker Books lets pupils create their own talking books, including pictures and speech input, using a range of differentiated support. Teachers can create reading books for pupils. It has  word banks, word prediction, a talking spell checker and a sound recorder.

Cosmo from Fillisia-Interfaces – fun and games with serious intent

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What is it?

 

This is  a set of up to six large, white, plastic, buttons linked, via Bluetooth, to an iPad app. The buttons are switches, when pressed they make something happen. They can change colour and are touch sensitive, so the amount of pressure needed to trigger a response can be varied. Put together they provide myriad ways of working with pupils with SEND, whilst offering lots of fun to those without any learning needs, too.

Using the app, these switches can be programmed to become musical, each playing a note, or a sample of music when pressed. Perhaps each press plays the next part of a known song, or they light up in sequence to show the next note. As they are Bluetooth they can be positioned anywhere. That might be on the tray of a wheelchair, or dotted around a room to encourage movement.

 

They can also be used for other activities, such as memory games where players follow a sequence, team or individual challenges to find the next colour or note. All sorts of games and activities are possible. And beyond that, they are available to be used simply as switches, connected to laptops and computers to control what’s happening on screen.

Who is it for?

Initially they were intended for pupils with more complex SEND to join in with music lessons, however, they could be used by those with a very wide range of learning needs, and none. They can improve curriculum access for some, but also provide hours of fun for all, with children and young people working and playing side by side regardless of needs or abilities.

How do I use it?

The buttons, Cosmoids, come with a free iPad app. The simplest thing to do is to scroll through the games and activities, select the one you want, and play it. The settings will automatically be loaded onto the switches. However, you can also configure each one separately, adjusting colour, sensitivity, and response. It is very easy to get started, but with options to make that make usage almost unlimited.

What else is there?

Very little. In the area of music and disability there is Skoog http://skoogmusic.com a polyutherane cube that triggers midi files when squeezed. Also a clever device and one  that is proving useful for access in all sorts of settings.

There are also Bluetooth and wireless switches available from companies such as Inclusive Technology http://www.inclusive.co.uk . Although some can be a bit flaky in operation, dropping their connections and needing re-configuring. Cosmo is pretty stable.

More information can be found at, https://www.filisia.com/cosmo .

Busy Things

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BUSY THINGS

Busy Things is award-winning numeracy, literacy and creative online software for children in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2.

It includes activities that cover: Art, Citizenship, Design, English, Geography, History, ICT, Languages, Mathematics, Music, PE, Religion, Science

This is a learning resource that quickly engages young minds and retains their interest through quality animation, vibrant colour, wacky sounds and an injection of Busy Things humour. After being a clear favourite among EYFS and KS1 teachers, where the importance of play is never underrated, there are also many activities for KS2 with lots more being added as the software is updated, including resources with a more teacher-led focus. It is particulary useful for teachers of children with SEND because differentiation is supported in almost every activity and the interface is so engaging. There are some great phonics and typing exercises, as well as comprehension and word recognition activities

How is it used?

Busy Things is LGfL’s most heavily-used resource. It is a wonderfully quirky online educational resource, featuring many excellent curriculum-linked games, activities and downloadable resources.

If you are in a London school getting  broadband from LGFL then you will have free access to Busy Things. If you are a teacher or pupil in one of those schools then you will be able to login at home as well, (using your USO login, your LGFL credentials).

Once logged in you will choose your Key Stage and then the appropriate year group.

What else is there?

Rigorous pedagogy underpins BusyThings, as every activity is designed to support individual descriptors from the revised 2014 Primary and EYFS curricula across the Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 & 2 (with curriculum mapping throughout).

The latest version sees a refresh of the interface, the addition of  new functionality, new resources and tablet compatibility for nearly all activities. The best way to get to know Busy Things is to explore it.

Busy Things has hundreds of resources across the whole curriculum range and the whole primary age range.

There is a curriculum browser so you can search for content, all of which is mapped to EYFS and NC learning objectives. The Teacher Mode is an area for planning, customising, gathering evidence and general organisation and the Teacher bar is always visible.

 

Teachers can alter difficulty levels and create custom collections of content to make lessons engaging for all types of learners at different ability levels.

Also there are hundreds of printable PDF resources, including extensive worksheets linking to interactive activities and a Phonics Resource Maker Tool so that you can create custom phonics paper-based games and worksheets – like letter formation, captioning and matching etc. Also included is an extensive clipart library featuring the Busy Things characters.

Busy Things will work on tablets, as well as interactive whiteboards, desktop and laptop computers, and some activities particularly lend themselves to front of class demonstration to invite discussion, create engagement and encourage experimentation.

There is also a “My Files” area for gathering evidence, saving and recording children’s work for individual portfolios.

 

 

Choose-It Maker – flexibility through simplicity

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What is it?

Choose-It Maker is package which you can use to make simple activities for use online, or download onto an iPad or other tablet. Essentially it is a flexible template used to make exercises based on choice, within which there are a number of options. It is designed to be highly flexible in use, so pupils can use a mouse, touch-screen, switches or eye-gaze to work with them.

You select the content you want to use, then work through a set of steps to create an activity. For instance, if you were working on initial letter sounds you might make a set that matched pictures with sounds. On the first slide you could pose the question, “Which one begins with ‘c’?” then have an image of a cat or a dog to choose from. The next might be for the letter ‘d’, then ‘e,’ and so on.

Complexity and challenge is achieved in a number of ways. The question can be posed as text, audio or image, or all three. Similarly the choices can be offered in all three ways. You can also vary the number of choices with up to six options on a screen. In this way questions can be asked in a variety of ways, and progression can be built in. A scoring system lets you keep track of how your pupils are doing. There are also optional rewards, with short animations and music.

There are a number of ‘Ready Mades’ available which can be installed or used online. These include literacy, numeracy and science multiple choice sets with between 20-40 activities in each topic. These will work for pupils working up to early years levels, on topics such as the most common words and number bonds to ten. They are a good way to get started.

Who is it for?

This software was originally designed for pupils with more challenging and complex SEND, thought of as working at ‘P Levels.’ However, as they are essentially a blank template they could be adapted for any on-screen, multiple choice, activity, using text, images and/or sounds. At the end of each activity pupils can print a certificate, so a record is created of how they got on.

How do I use it?

With the ‘Ready-Mades’ it is a matter of selecting a subject area – numeracy, literacy, or science – then finding a suitable topic. Other options include whether to have sound or not, whether to use rewards, and the type of access. This latter includes eye-gaze, and one or two switch scanning. Otherwise learners just use a mouse or touch screen.

If you make your own you give your set a title, then follow through the workflow to make as many slides as you want, each time posing a question and providing answers, one of which you mark as correct. In operation these can be jumbled on the screen so each time it is used answers are in a different place.

What else is there?

You can do very similar things with presentation software, such as PowerPoint or Smart Notebook, however, this could be quite time consuming and fiddly, using functions such as hyperlinks, and turning off the automatic progression of slides. With Choose-It Maker all this is built-in already.

Then there are online resources such as Kahoots, which will create quizzes that can be shared with learners for them to answer on their own machines, however, these are usually done as group activities rather than as standalone ones.

With the built in rewards and recording Choose-It Maker is worth the investment, offering simplicity, creativity, and time saving.