Literacy in Touch

Now that the main part of the project is complete, I have compiled two ‘top tens’ in fairly random order. Read the blog posts to see how, when and where they were used.

Our ‘top ten’ ebooks
Kidzstory - Tortoise and the Hare
Kidzstory – Goldilocks and the three bears
iBooks - Georges Marvellous Medicine
iBooks - Horrid Henry’s Stinkbomb
Rapunzel 3D Interactive pop up book
The Heart and the Bottle
Handa’s Hen
The Gingery Boy
The Sun and the Wind
Angel Boy

Our ‘Top Ten’ Apps
iMovie for iPod Touch
Safari for iPad
Notes for iPad
Crop Suey
Storykit
Storyrobe
Keynote for iPad
Geo walk HD
Solar/Star walk
Comic Life

A Google search will usually find these apps fairly quickly.

What we did

Our school gained funding for the ‘Literacy in Touch’ project resulting in the purchase of 10 iPads, 10 iPods and a Mac book. The equipment was to be used in year 5 with a select group of children. We attended training courses with consultants to learn how to use the equipment and which apps to buy that would be suitable for the project.

At first I downloaded a lot of books such as ‘Red Apple’ and ‘How to make Lemonade’ to use as guided reading texts with my target children. The other books that were very popular with the children were the ones by Shoofly, which include ‘Angel Boy’ and ‘The Gingery Boy’. I also downloaded the App ‘Touchy Books’, which gives you access to many interactive books that are effective with children working at different levels. I then went onto to use these texts and others with other guided reading groups.

The texts by Shoofly and Touchy Books were very useful when teaching the children about inference because they were able to talk, not just about the written text, but also the pictures and why certain images moved in a certain way. The children were engaged in discussions throughout these sessions and they started to think about why things happen in the text and it helped them when answering questions about the text.

My class used the iPods and iPads in many ways related to reading and writing. One example of how they have used the iPods is they read a text and for their follow up activity they had to turn it into a comic. They used the Apps ‘Comic Touch’ and ‘Crop Suey’ to do this. The children took pictures from the book and then were able to crop the text from the pictures and added speech bubbles and captions to create a comic. This activity was used to help children understand the feeling of certain characters in a story. When using the iPads children have used the App ‘Story Kit’ to, again crop the text from an original story, and then write their own text.

A consultant from the project came in and spent a morning teaching the children how to use ‘Storyrobe’ so that they could add audio to pictures. I have since taught a lesson using ‘Storyrobe’ to create an audio book in our guided reading sessions and it was a complete success.

Impact

Of the six children chosen to be targeted with this project, progress has been made by every child to different degrees.

2 child made progress of one sub-level

4 child made progress of two sub-levels

This suggests that the Literacy in Touch project has had a considerable impact upon children reading.

Successful because

The overall success was based on the child engagement. Every morning the children set up the iPads/iPods themselves and were on task with no adult support, which shows the enthusiasm they have towards using them.

The children have also looked after the equipment very well and they have gained a lot of independence when it comes to looking after the equipment, such as storing it away and charging it daily.

Problems

There are still problems when finding certain Apps that are suitable for your  children’s needs and it can take some time to locate and download fresh Apps.

With regards to the technology, a few teething problems were realised with syncing the equipment and problems with wireless strength and reliability. But the iPad battery life and speed was impressive. I would recommend ensuring a strong wireless package for use with iPads and iPods.

Matt Boyle – Miriam Lord Primary School

In the beginning, the project seemed appropriate for use during Guided Reading. We used a selection of short interactive books from the Kidztory collection with engaging versions of popular stories such as ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’.

The Kidztory texts were geared more toward the lower ability pupils, whereas books purchased through the ‘iBooks’ application, for example ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and ‘The Famous Five’, were used and targeted the higher ability children. These books from the iBooks application have also been used for class reading.

My class used the iPods in a number of ways related to reading. For example, we used the iPods simply to film a final drama piece of a science fiction story. Furthermore, during the project a member of the Literacy Consultant team used two half days to conduct a project using the ‘Storyrobe’ application on the iPads. This project allowed the children to take photographs and add text and audio to create a story.

Over time we also downloaded a number of applications that could be used over the whole curriculum such as mental maths applications and google earth. The maths applications such as ‘Mental Maths’ and ‘Times Tables’ were used effectively as oral starters.

Impact;

Of the six children chosen to be targeted with this project, progress has been made by every child to different degrees.

1 child made progress of one sub-level

1 child made progress of two sub-levels

4 children made progress of three sub-levels!

This suggests that the Literacy in Touch project has made a considerable impact to children reading.

Successful because

Children have been very excited and engaged throughout the project so far, and enthusiastic to use the technology. Over exuberance can at times mean that children take longer to focus on answering questions about their reading. Their confidence has grown, not only in reading, but there has also been a positive effect on writing and development of ICT skills. I have also noticed that children have been talking more about books and authors between themselves and  are keen to read ‘paper’ books as well as electronic versions. Parent’s have also shown enthusiasm and support for the project, engaging with their children at home.

Amy Thompson – St Clare’s Primary School

What we did:

To begin with, on the iPads, I downloaded a Toy Story book (Disney Pixar) and Goldilocks and the 3 Bears (Kidztory) to use as a guided reading text for my lower ability readers. The books were very popular amongst this group so I went onto to buy the whole Kidztory collection and have been using them for guided reading sessions ever since. I also installed iBooks and purchased Horrid Henry’s Stinkbomb (Francesca Simon), George’s Marvellous Medicine (Roald Dahl) and The Famous Five: A Short Story Collection (Enid Blyton) to use with more able groups. The children chose these stories after a discussion about what they would like to read.  I also downloaded The Witches (Roald Dahl) on iBooks to use as a class reading book.

I went on to add many numeracy games on both the iPads and iPods, such as times tables games, time games and mental maths activities. These have been used with my class in mental starters and as extension activities at the end of lessons.

We used the iPods to take photos around the school grounds for a science topic on ‘Rocks and Soils’ and the children went on to uploading them, printing them off and writing captions to go with them.

At the end of a literacy topic on ‘Adventure and Mystery’ we used the Storyrobe app to create our own adventure story films. The children brought in toys to use as characters and took 5 photos of their characters around the school grounds in order to tell their story.  They then wrote their script, recorded it and uploaded it to Storyrobe. The class then watched each others stories.

In all areas of the curriculum we have used the iPads as a research tool and written notes in the ‘Notes’ section. For example, we are studying the Vikings in history and were researching Viking artefacts. The children used Safari to research information which they then put into the notes section. We have also looked up Viking artefacts using google images, enlarged them and made drawings.

As our school has been having a push on attendance and with my class have 2 persistent absences I decided to use the equipment as part of golden time on Friday afternoons. If the class had a full weeks attendance they were able to use the equipment during free time.

Impact in one term:

For the target group of 6 children, 1 child has moved a full level, 4 children have moved 1 sub level and 1 child has moved 2 sub levels.

As a class overall, the children have all made 1, 2, 3 or 4 sub levels of progress in reading.

Successful because:

The children have an increased confidence in reading and willingness to read aloud in class and group situations. We read in every lesson and often there are too many children who volunteer for the amount of reading there is to do!

For lower ability children, their knowledge and ability to work out new vocabulary is increased. By reading on the iPads, they were able to read words which they had never come across before and really surprised me with the words they could read.

The equipment has been used as an incentive for attendance which has had a positive impact on the whole class’s attendance.

The children have gained many new skills using this equipment and, at times, they have taught me a thing or two!

It has been much easier to have access to the equipment rather than trying to book the school ICT suite every time we want to  use a computer.

Problems

Initially we had a few teething problems with wireless and technology in our school. However, this was quickly rectified and since then the project has run smoothly. A useful tip for other schools would be to ensure you have a strong wireless network.

Apps are also sometimes tricky to find and we feel it would be really useful if the app store had a ‘Schools’ section. However, if you find a good app that you like, at the end of the story it will often say ‘Buy more apps’ which takes you straight to the store where you can see other stories in the same collection.

Tom Bates – St Clare’s Primary School

What we did:

I have used ipads during daily guided reading sessions with groups of 6 children at a time (class of 30 Year 3 children). The first book we used was Rapunzel, which lasted us for several sessions, including follow-up work in reading journals, on paper and using ICT – storyboards, blurbs, letters/postcards from the characters, maps, thought-tracking and other drama techniques, newspaper reports and book reviews (for which some groups used the ipods and filmed short interviews of each other commenting on the book). Used in conjunction with reading assessment fans, this worked really well to develop inference and deduction – AF3.

Assessment Focus fans

We have used similar activities with a variety of other books such as The Gingery Boy; The Heart and the bottle and Handa’s Hen. Children were enthusiastic to discuss characters, settings and events and make deductions about why? where? who? what? We spent time discussing word definitions and vocabulary choices and other features such as how the author builds the tension and atmosphere in a story. I also used ideas from an electronic reading journal devised by one of the literacy consultants (very useful).

Electronic Reading Journal

Children have learnt how to take snapshots from book pages, use Crop Suey to edit them, then use StoryKit to write a simple story. Some higher ability children have begun to learn how to use the Keynote app to create presentations.

In addition, the ipads have been used for non-fiction work connected with our current topics in geography and science. GEO Walk HD, Solar/Star Walk and Rainforests have been particularly useful. We have also used Safari for researching on the Internet, although watching some video clips has been impossible due to lack of Flashplayer. Children have used Scrabble and word warp to help spelling and phonics.

Next, I want to focus more on using the ipods for filming trailers for books we have read.

Impact

My target group was 6 children with initial reading levels of 2b, 2b+ and 2a. I chose this particular group because they were good at word recognition but poor at language comprehension. After a term on the project, children’s interim levels range from 2a+ to 3c+.

Successful because

Children have been very excited and engaged throughout the project so far, and enthusiastic to use the technology. Over exuberance can at times mean that children take longer to focus on answering questions about their reading. Their confidence has grown, not only in reading, but there has also been a positive effect on writing and development of ICT skills. I have also noticed that children have been talking more about books and authors between themselves and  are keen to read ‘paper’ books as well as electronic versions. Parents’ have also shown enthusiasm and support for the project, engaging with their children at home.

Angela Meehan – Nessfield Primary School

A video of my presentation at Teachmeet Leeds in May about this project. Seven minutes plus a bit of ‘Fergie Time’.

I’ve just spent a great few days with Y6 at Parkwood Primary in Keighley. Our aim is to film a trailer for a book with nothing more than an iPod touch and lots of imagination, energy and enthusiasm.

We started by learning the language of film using the BFI’s brilliant C and S technique: Camera - Character - Colour - Setting - Story - Sound. A quick intro’ to this was provided by the NHS 5-a Day film Gimme 5. I  Always use this – it lasts less than a minute – but is a brilliant piece of persuasive filmmaking.

Next, we used four minutes or so from chapter 1 of the Pixar film Up – a stunning piece of cinema. To support this we used the jigsaw speaking and listening approach to get maximum involvement from all children.

I’ve recently discovered a trailer for Tom Palmer’s new book Own Goal which I used as a model of the sort of thing they might make. I had also had a play with the iMovie app over the weekend and made a one minute of a trailer for Oliver Jeffers’s Lost and Found. This led to a minor challenge as, having demoed iMovie to the class, when we looked at iMovie on their iPods it was quite different and much more limited. It seems they have version 1.1 and I have 1.2 – I’m working on this.

As they began to work on storyboards, we also let them play with iMovie  and practise filming their opening shots. This raised issues of camera shake, light reflection and the quality of their camera work.

A Storyboard covering script, sound and camera

Having discussed quality and quantity – too many clips were long and rambling- we set to work on filming the opening and attention grabbing shots.  All children now have these ‘in the can’ and many have completed storyboards and are ready to roll next week. What is interesting, is how the children are now using technical language such as panning and tilting and extreme close up when planning and making their films. The investment of time on day 1 in talking about Cs and Ss was well worth it.

These children did their SATS last week. And although this isn’t quite as much fun, I have to commend them on their efforts and behaviour this week. They have been a delight to work with and an absolute credit to their school and the people who work there. I’m back next week for more of the same  - can’t wait!
Philip

This was my first in-class session as part of the project. I used the excellent ShooFly iPad app Angel Boy and had pre-prepared inferential questions on web based sticky notes on a Primarywall so that the children could answer the comprehension questions on their iPads.

As a warm-up, and to develop prediction skills, I had printed a montage from the app and cut it up into individual pictures which were given out gradually so that the group could begin to piece together their predictions.

Their predictions were excellent and they constantly refined them as each part of the montage was revealed. The difficulty came when it was time to answer the comprehension questions.  The children were stimulated by the part of the text we had discussed, and although they were full of creative ideas, they tended not to answer the questions they had been asked. This work was carried out less than a month before the Key Stage 2 SATS so it was particularly important that the children should actually answer the questions they had been asked. Many Y6 teachers will empathise with this issue at this time of year.

This issue arose with the first group I worked with so I was able to pre-warn the second group about this. Despite this, they still found it difficult to actually answer the questions directly. However, we were able to have a good discussion about this problem with the children and their teacher at the end of the session. Answering the question became a focus for the children for upcoming preparation for SATS.

Philip

More from Helen Ruffe – I worked with both a higher and then a lower ability group reading ‘The Gingery Boy’. Neither group had accessed the story before but were able to make links to the traditional tale. The session was focusing on inference skills and they were all able to read the text successfully. Questions and responses were based on such things as Who is ‘I’ / ‘we’? as this changes through the text; how the colour of the font changed to indicate who was talking; use of specific rhyming phrases (spicy, flighty. winking, blinking etc) and why characters were wearing shoes and… the twist at the end.

The children had amazing powers of inference/deduction especially the higher ability group.

Total engagement was the order of the day – the children just loved the iPads and reacted so positively to them.

Big thanks to Helen Ruffe for this and the following post relating to the Gingery Boy. Helen retired on 15 April 2011 and these contributions were two of her final acts – what a way to go. Thanks Helen – we’ll miss you.
Session 1 – I worked with the target group on Rapunzel (Rapunzel 3D interactive pop-up book) They had already read the story and were familiar with how to use the iPad. Our aim was to write a brief overview of the story and then note features that made it such a good version and would be the basis of a recommendation to others to read it.

The children worked in pairs and identified such things as colourful writing, interactive pages with clear instructions, moving pictures to indicate what to touch/ move etc, sparkly images,. The children were working on the read it yourself version so didn’t make comments on the sounds/oral version. All their ideas were recorded on an A3 sheet.

Follow up – the next day the same group worked with James on how to turn their written notes into an oral recommendation – using iPods. Initial versions were good but needed some refinement eg making sure heads were visible, standing still when talking and he is going to have a second session with this Children seemed to have no difficulty working out what to do.

Thanks to Ideal-Binary for permission to use the images.