1. Exploring electronic books
Both Y6 classes spent some time exploring
electronic books already available on the Internet. We focussed on
the Sebastian Swan stories, investigating features of an electronic
book, which are not possible to include in a traditional paper storybook.
These features included the use of sound, animation and hidden buttons
leading to further activities.
We also explored the use of Colour
Magic to produce illustrations for a picture book. Through discussion
with their working partners, children suggested story characters based
on the stamps in the program. Other ideas for illustrations were also
discussed, including scanning hand-drawn pictures and using a digital
camera.
2. Shared reading
The project continued with a shared
reading session involving Year 6 (the authors) and Year 1 (the audience).
The aim of this session was to familiarise Y6 with the types of books
enjoyed by the younger readers. We focussed attention on features
such as layout, font, language and illustrations, as well as content.
Y1 pupils selected their favourite books to read and discuss these
with a partner from Year 6.
3. Familiarisation with Clicker
4 - Creating a class book
A subsequent session in the ICT
suite was used to familiarise the children with the Clicker 4 program,
which they would be using. The children worked mainly in pairs of
their own choosing. They were shown examples already created in Clicker.
To practise creating pages of a book, each pair was given a letter
of the alphabet to use as their contribution to a whole class 'Alphabet'
book. They selected which template they would use from the Book Making
templates provided in Clicker 4. They also had to think about appropriate
use of language and rhyme. Some other important issues were raised
concerning the appropriate choice of font, size and background colour.
They needed constant reminders about the need for the page to be easily
read by young children rather than funkily eye-catching for their
friends! Each pair having created a page, they were shown how to save
and link the pages into a complete book.
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How to link pages using the Big Book templates
in Clicker 4
|
|
Select Save grid as from the File menu
Give each grid the same name with a consecutive
number, e.g. alphabet1, alphabet2
(Note no space between name and number)
|
 |
| The Book Making templates have
ready made arrows that will allow access to your linked pages. |
|
4. Writing the stories
Next, the authors were given the
task of producing a paper version of their own story.They were reminded
to keep in mind the electronic features available when transferring
their books onto the computer. A whole day was allocated to this task
to enable its speedy completion. The Literacy Co-ordinator played
an important part in this by providing advice at the beginning of
the day and support and encouragement of the children's efforts throughout
the day.
5. Transferring the stories to
Clicker
The classes then used the Clicker
book making grids to enter their work onto computers. They did this
very quickly and chose temporary illustrations from the files available
in the Clicker clipart. These illustrations were judged to be unsuitable
in most cases, as they were limited in content and compared unfavourably
to the illustrations found in good quality children's books. Teachers
reminded the children of the previous discussion about the variety
of methods to illustrate their stories and they set to work creating
much more effective and eye-catching pictures in Colour Magic.
These pictures were saved to each
child's own file and then imported into their Clicker grids. The children
learned about manipulating pictures in Colour Magic using the tools
available. They learned skills such as making multiple copies.
6. Testing the product
The final task was to show the work to the
Year 1 pupils.
