Communication+Language+Literacy

=1. Independent computer use=

Areas of learning
• Creative development • Knowledge and understanding of the world • Physical development • Communication, language and literacy • Personal, social and emotional development

Learning intentions
• To know that technology is part of the world around them • To know that technology can support and enrich their learning • To know that technology can help them learn independently • To know that learning through technology can be an enjoyable interactive experience • To handle tools safely and with increasing control • To explore a text and enter into the pleasure of a story • To learn that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom • To use their imagination in art and design • To express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings by using suitable tools • To continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn • To select and use activities and resources • To negotiate actions and take turns

Individual targets this activity could meet
• To maintain attention and concentrate independently • To use language to negotiate when playing with a friend • To use a mouse and access a program independently

Prior learning/ICT skills
• To point and click with a mouse, touchpad and stylus • To draw by clicking and holding down • To explore software, using buttons and icons to change screens and choose options

Resources
• desktop, laptop and tablet PCs • creative and literacy software (in this Example, //Leaps and Bounds 3//; //2Paint//; //Living Books:// //Just Grandma and Me//) For appropriate health and safety information in using this resource go to [|www.becta.org.uk]

Learning context ||

Adult input
Get the children to use different types of computers and access devices: desktop, laptop, and tablet PCs, and mouse, touchpad, and stylus. They can interact with creative software and with literacy software including ‘Living books’.

Questions for assessment
• Have you had a go on the computer? What did you do? • What happened in the story? • Did you print your picture? Can I see? • Did you save your picture? Can I see? • What else do you use a computer for?

Observation
• Are the children able to access the devices and handle them with care? • Are they able to navigate a program? • Do they know what the buttons and icons do? Are they able to find out? • Do they listen to and explore the story? • Do they use the paint packages for their own purposes?

Opportunities for extension and spontaneous learning
Show children the book’s options page to select their favourite pages so they can revisit them without starting the whole story again. This will support their literacy further as they play with the characters and events and learn songs and texts by heart. Children developing a picture to a high degree could be introduced to an art package with more tools and options, allowing them to develop their art further. The computers can support all areas of learning, depending on the software chosen. Mobile computers can be used in the role-play area to reflect the world as it is today. When children visit doctors or vets, computers are often on the reception desks and are one of the first things children see. Software such as At the Vets can support the setting up of real-world areas, enhance children’s play and engage them in further literacy and numeracy activities in a meaningful context.

Commentary
The children featured in the video were able to access all the devices, handle them with care and use the programs purposefully. They showed enjoyment and concentration in their play. They were able to negotiate their activities when others joined in. The children understood that the computers could support their activities. They were able to use the computers and programs independently. They were able to immerse themselves in text and enjoy a story independently. They were able to use an art package to represent their own ideas. They were able to use colouring to negotiate additions and changes and to personalise their creation.

=2. Using a tape recorder=

Areas of learning
• Communication, language and literacy • Knowledge and understanding of the world • Physical development

Learning intentions
• To enjoy an increasing range of books • To follow a narrative in the correct sequence, paying attention to the main elements of the story such as the characters and events • To find out about a use of an everyday technology, a tape recorder and story tape • To insert a tape independently and to press the Play button • To use a range of small equipment • To handle tools with increasing control

Individual targets this activity could meet
• To listen attentively • To engage in a story and be able to discuss characters and events • To gain confidence and independence in managing equipment safely and carefully

Prior learning/ICT skills
• To recognise Play and Eject buttons on the tape recorder

Resources
• tape recorder • book and story tape (in this Example, //Peace at Last//) For appropriate health and safety information in using this resource go to [|www.becta.org.uk]

Learning context ||

Adult input
Get the children to load the tape into the recorder, press Play to hear the story and press Eject to retrieve the tape. Support them in the retelling of a narrative in the correct sequence, drawing on the language patterns of the story. Discuss the characters and events of the story, picking up on the children’s interests and highlighting key events. Support them in learning to use the tape recorder to play a story independently.

Vocabulary
insert, play, this side, eject

Questions for assessment
• What happened in the story? • Questions about the story, e.g. What happened then? Why couldn’t she get to sleep? • Where did you put the tape in? • How did you make the tape work?

Observation
• Can they handle the tape recorder with care? • Are they able to insert a tape and press the Play and Eject buttons? • Do they listen attentively to the story? • Do they engage with the story through comments or actions?

Opportunities for extension and spontaneous learning
Add stickers to the buttons to help move the children towards managing the recorder independently. Use paper tape recorder buttons in games to develop children’s recognition and vocabulary. For example, play games of matching or pairs using the correct vocabulary and discussing what the symbols mean. Once the children can use the tape recorder with increasing independence, put it in the story corner with a collection of taped stories and story books to for the children to ‘read’ along with. Make tapes with familiar adult voices and perhaps children saying their favourite parts. Make tapes with stories told in the children’s own languages. Add a microphone so children can tape their own retelling of stories to play back to an adult or each other in a small group. Support retelling a story with magnetic tape on the back of cut-out characters and objects from the story book. Add cut-out photographs of the children so that they can include themselves and each other in their retellings of familiar stories, e.g. adding themselves and each other to Mr Gumpy’s boat. This will help them engage further with the story, make it their own, play with patterns of language and identify with characters. Use a webcam so children can see themselves retelling a story. They can play at being on television, telling a story as a presenter and gaining mastery over the language of books. Add a play recorder to the role-play area. Use a story book on the computer.

Commentary
The children featured in the video found it hard to insert the tape correctly and press Play and Eject, but managed it. They enjoyed the story and asked for it again. They would be helped to become increasingly independent if the buttons were marked with stickers, e.g. green for Play, or a larger coloured arrow. They could insert the tape independently the right way around if the tape had a clear sticker on each side marking its sides 1 and 2. This would also help their recognition of numerals in a meaningful way. They liked taking care of and operating the tape recorder, offering to close the compartment when it was left open: ‘Can I shut it?’ They really enjoyed ‘reading’ the book as they listened to the story. A bonus was being able to discuss the story and interact with it while listening, helping to engage the children further.

= 3. ICT and role-play =

Areas of learning
• Creative development • Mathematical development • Knowledge and understanding of the world • Communication, language and literacy

Learning intentions
• To use their imagination in role-play • To express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings in role-play • To recognise numerals 1–9 • To use language such as ‘more’ or ‘less’ • To find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology • To use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences • To use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events • To enjoy using and listening to spoken and written language, and readily turn to it in their play and learning • To interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation

Individual targets this activity could meet
• To cooperate and share • To communicate events they have been a part of and share experiences • To explore objects and show curiosity about how things work • To sort and match objects

Prior learning/ICT skills
• To be able to push buttons

Resources
• scanner till, kettle, toaster, microwave oven, phone For appropriate health and safety information in using this resource go to [|www.becta.org.uk]

Learning context ||

Adult input
Get children to use props to support their role-play and to recreate their experiences with the technology that is part of the world around them. Give an opportunity to touch and control objects in play that they are less likely to be able to in their real worlds.

Questions for assessment
• Who were you being today? • Did you have to go to the shops? • What did you do there?

Observation
• Are the children able to use their imagination in play? • Do they use language to recreate experiences? • Do they show developing awareness of numbers, print and technology in the environment? • Do they play alongside each other or cooperatively? • Are they able to negotiate and take turns? • Do they show an understanding of the purposes of tools?

Opportunities for extension and spontaneous learning
Use a visit to a local supermarket, health clinic, shoe shop or café to encourage the children to look at how technology is used to weigh and measure, price, scan bar codes, swipe bank cards and print receipts or cheques. Back in the setting, recreate these environments with the children. Use digital photographs of their visits to remind them of what they saw. Ask the children to help make cardboard photocopiers or barcode scanners. Add pretend telephones to talk into and record messages on, and computers to play write on and to print out signs for the new environment. Try out software to support different environments. Some software is set in a particular environment e.g. a doctor’s or a vet’s surgery and could be used to encourage children to ‘read’ the screens and ask their friends questions. Word processing software will help children ‘write’ a letter and print out an envelope to send to a friend. Other software can also be used to make home-made screens to support any environment, e.g. to add pictures of food and numbers for children to make choices at a café. Ask children to send e-mail cards from their favourite TV characters or pretend to text on a mobile phone: these electronic forms of communication are now commonplace in many homes.

**Commentary** The children featured in the video were able to use their imagination and language to recreate roles and experiences. They took turns and negotiated throughout their play. They shared equipment fairly and played at different shop roles using appropriate language: ‘Take care when you carry the bag’. They expressed and communicated their ideas, thoughts and feelings in role-play. One child tried out 999 on the mobile phone and her friend recognised and confirmed that she was calling the police. The child with the phone recognised numerals and the children shopping saw the meaningful use of number in their play. They were using everyday technology, much of which they would see in their homes or at the shops. They were motivated by the use of this equipment, and it supported their purposes: one child looked through the microwave oven door at his cooking and another inserted toast in the toaster. They used talk to sequence ideas and clarify thinking: the turn-taking conversation as they exchanged goods and money in the shop was exactly as they would see adults carry out almost daily. They showed their pleasure in listening to and using spoken language, interacted with others and took turns in conversation.