![]() I was back with Year One in my placement school today, which was fantastic! I was able to try out some of the new strategies and subject knowledge I have gained in university classes, and gain extra school-based experience before my formal GPP period begins. I will be writing much more about Computing in the school, but I wanted to write a quick post about the Computing lesson I was present for today. We introduced Book Creator, a school-friendly app which allows students to create their own books, comics, magazines and albums, in preparation for making our own superhero stories next week. The children have been learning about superheroes across the curriculum, and basing a lot of their work around the storybook Super Kid, by Claire Freedman. The class teacher was introduced to Book Creator at her previous school, and has been trained how to deliver the app to KS1. She used a link with the interactive whiteboard to demonstrate how you would open the app, start a new book, and choose a pen for drawing. The children were then sent away in pairs to share an iPad and work out the rest for themselves. This 'tinkering time' was highly effective - the children were immediately engaged and worked out how to use the app almost without any teacher-input. This example of self-directed, collaborative learning produced much greater results than I have seen in similar, teacher-led sessions. Within ten minutes, the children had worked out how to add sound, import photos, change colours and textures, and had started to turn their scribbled pages into 'stories'. This was very impressive, as my class teacher spent perhaps two minutes explaining on the carpet, and was then free to circulate the class for the rest of the session. I enjoyed using Book Creator, and look forward to our future computing sessions. The final superhero stories will be sent home, but I would love to use the app to produce books for the classroom, and include these in a reading corner. This is something I have seen in EYFS, where children are encouraged to make and consume their own books, but I have not seen this is KS1. This is something I will be researching and bearing in mind for my NQT year. Links Using Book Creator in School - www.bookcreator.com/education Apple Store Link - www.itunes.apple.com/gb/app/book-creator-for-ipad-create/id442378070?mt=8 Super Kid, by Claire Freedman - www.amazon.co.uk/Superkid-Claire-Freedman/dp/1407124064
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