With any scheme or technology that you implement in school, you want to know it’s having a positive impact on learning and you’re getting value for money.
Here are some of the aspects of your students’ writing that Clicker can improve and how you can use the software to monitor and track their progress.
Vocabulary
By using appropriate writing grids and the Predictor, children can confidently use a wider range of topic specific and more advanced vocabulary in their writing.
In Analytics, you can track their use of vocabulary by seeing which words were typed, chosen from Clicker Sets or the Predictor. By delving further into Analytics, you can even see whether children listened to the words for confirmation before adding them into the Document.
Over time, children will need the speech support less frequently, include vocabulary that they first used with Clicker Sets and have the confidence to use this vocabulary in their writing outside of Clicker as well.
Length of writing
Clicker can have a dramatic effect on the amount of work children can produce and how quickly they can produce it.
With access to planning tools, such as Voice Notes (voice recordings) and Clicker Boards (mind maps), children can plan their writing in the way that suits them best and will find it easier to stay on track during writing tasks as they can refer back to their ideas (as opposed to having to remember them as they write). With point and click access to key vocabulary, your class can spend more time concentrating on their writing content and sentence structure, and less time focusing on spelling individual words, which can often interrupt their thought process and the flow of their writing. This should encourage your students to write longer sentences as their ideas won’t be forgotten, and barriers to writing longer sentences (like spelling) are removed.
To monitor Clicker’s positive impact, you can track the average length of their writing over time through Analytics. By choosing Statistics in the Analytics ribbon, you can see the total number of words in a Document, the average sentence length and the number of paragraphs. This makes it quick and easy for you to track the progress your students are making!
Spelling and grammar errors
Clicker can help learners check their work more effectively and correct mistakes more easily.
The speech feedback that reads out sentences when they’re completed helps learners to identify misspelled words, even if the misspelling is a different correct word (for example, writing ‘sow’ instead of ‘saw’). Learners can also use the speech feedback to be sure their sentence makes sense. Using speech feedback alongside the Predictor and the Spell Check helps learners to correct their work more independently. For learners who need further help with aspects of grammar, we have a wide selection of Clicker Sets focusing on different grammar rules and homophones.
In Analytics, you can easily see where the Predictor and Spell Check were used in a Document. By selecting the tabs, you can see whether the child listened to the options provided before making a choice or correction.
Independence
Clicker supports learners in writing and correcting more independently, reducing the amount of help they require from an adult.
students can use LearningGrids resources to research or refer to curriculum content independently. A recent Clicker success story included a lovely example of this:
“In ‘Choosing Time’ the students can decide what they’d like to do, and this one child really wanted to use Clicker to write about plants. This isn’t something we’ve covered in class, but she just went off to LearningGrids and found some writing sets on the subject and presented me with this whole page of writing about the different parts of a plant, how to look after them etc, it was amazing. They can just pick Clicker up and roll with it.”
Rather than needing to check the correct option in the Spell Check with an adult, learners can listen to the options provided with the speech feedback. They can also record their tasks or ideas into Voice Notes in the Document to refer to when they need a reminder of the task they’re completing. students can structure their work before starting to write with Voice Notes or a Clicker Board, and using a Word Bank ensures learners always have point and click access to key subject vocabulary.
As Clicker boosts the class’s independence when writing, teachers will find that they can spend more time with each student as those who usually rely on teacher help to complete a task will require less adult support.
Alternate methods of recording
Finally, for learners who struggle to record their knowledge in writing, Clicker offers multiple options for alternate methods of recording.
Children can use Voice Notes to record their understanding orally before attempting to write it up. They could use the video recording function in Clicker Books to record their explanations as a movie book. Or they could use a Talk Set with pictures as a stimulus to express their knowledge.
By using Clicker’s alternative methods to record students’ understanding, teachers are able to track the learning progress of the children who struggle to demonstrate this in their writing. Talk Sets and recording functions also enable teachers to easily capture the voice of the child for speaking and listening evidence.
If you’d like to discuss using Clicker in your school in more detail, you can book a Customer Care Meeting with one of our consultants. Otherwise, for further information you can always visit our:
We have thoroughly enjoyed supporting KidsAid over the last year through a range of fundraising activities.
Our mission was to help KidsAid refurnish and resource the therapy rooms that play such an important role in the support they provide for local children and their families.
Over the year, we have raised £2,565 for KidsAid with some memorable moments along the way – including our colleague, Celia, abseiling the National Lift Tower (a whopping 418ft!) to help our fundraising mission.
In December, we were lucky enough to visit KidsAid and see the incredible progress that’s been made with their therapy rooms over the year. They are looking brilliant!
BEFORE
AFTER
KidsAid recently shared the following on their website:
Our Partnership with Crick Software
With the support of Crick Software, we are excited to share that we have refurnished our therapy rooms and purchased new toys, creative materials, and therapy resources.
John and Ann Crick are passionate about helping young people in need and have made the decision to partner with KidsAid for another year! We are excited to continue working with them and could not be more grateful for their continued support.
We are also delighted to continue working with KidsAid in 2023 and are excited to support their fantastic work within the local community for another year!
Earlier this year, a BBC news item “Writing a Book in a Day” highlighted the work of a South African based charity called Book Dash that creates and publishes books for free, with the aim of enabling all children to “own a hundred books by the age of five”.
We connected with Book Dash to inquire about supporting the resources through Clicker on LearningGrids – and received an enthusiastic response from Director Dorette Louw, confirming that we could indeed use any of the books, ending her email with the words: “We adore seeing what happens to our stories once they’re out in the world!”
A huge appeal of the stories is the range of diverse representation. So we eagerly got to work looking through the available titles (there are hundreds!) and seeing which might work well with Clicker.
The stories – all beautifully illustrated and unique – are mostly aimed at early readers and include wordless picture books too.
The first two of these books have now been published on LearningGrids:
How Do You Sleep?
This story is beautiful, and the images are really engaging and appealing to young children.
The Reading Book has strong repetition and the graphics are so much fun – my personal favourite is definitely the owl page … and yes baby owls really do sleep on their faces! When creating the book, we could have used the images without the text, but we wanted to stay as faithful as possible to the original, especially as we felt the layout of the text was such an important design feature.
As well as making the book available for readers online, we also wanted to offer additional supporting activities where possible and relevant. For this story, we have created a Make a Book activity (where children can write about the story using beginnings/middles/endings).
There’s also a Sentence, Connect, and Talk Set to enable differentiated levels of response according to individual needs. A Board Set allows children to organise ideas about how the animals in the story sleep and about how they sleep.
Goldfish Genius
Another fun title, and one of Book Dash’s wordless stories. To distinguish this from our usual "Read a Book" sets, we called the stimulus story book a "Picture Book". Wordless picture books like this are important early reading resources as they help children learn to infer what is happening in the story – since there no words, they have to figure out the story using the pictures and their imagination. This is vital in helping to develop not only comprehension but also an overall understanding of story structure and plot.
To support this story, we also have a Make a Book activity, a Talk Set and a Clicker Board so children can record – through writing, captions or speaking – their own interpretation of what is happening in the text-free story.
We hope to add more Book Dash stories and supporting resources to LearningGrids in the future. We are so grateful for this opportunity and super excited to share a more diverse range of stories and characters in our Story Corner category on LearningGrids.
Dictation (speech-to-text) is a helpful tool that allows learners to get their ideas onto paper quickly. It can help them write content such as documents, essays, and emails by using voice narration, rather than physically typing them out. Many platforms have powerful, built-in dictation features which can be used in Clicker / DocsPlus.
Windows dictation
To initiate Windows dictation, click inside the Document (or any other text field) and press the Windows logo + H keys together on your physical keyboard. Alternatively, if you are using the Windows on-screen keyboard, click the Microphone key.
If it’s your first-time using Windows dictation, you will be asked to enable it in your Settings app first.
You should then see a box appear that turns from Initializing… to Listening…, meaning you are ready to start narrating your text. To stop, press Windows logo + H again, click the dictation icon, or wait 10 seconds.
For more information on Windows dictation, please see Microsoft’s support article.
Mac dictation
To enable Mac dictation, click the top-left Apple menu and go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation to switch dictation to On.
To initiate Mac dictation, click inside the Document in Clicker 8 / DocsPlus, and then press the Control key twice. To stop, press Control twice again, or click Done.
For more information on Mac dictation, please see Apple’s support article.
iPad dictation
To initiate iPad dictation within Clicker Writer / DocsPlus, tap the green Keyboard tool to switch to the on-screen keyboard and then tap the Dictate (microphone) key.
If this is the first time you are using dictation in the app, tap OK on the following two prompts to give the app permission to use your microphone for dictating text.
For more information on how you can control the access apps have to your iPad’s hardware features, please see Apple’s support article.
Chromebook dictation
While Chromebooks do have a dictation feature, it’s not currently possible to use this within Clicker Writer / DocsPlus. Our developers are hard at work to implement this in a free update, which will be coming soon.
If you need any assistance with dictation in Clicker / DocsPlus, or any element of our software, please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@cricksoft.com, by filling in this short form or calling us on 203 221 2697.
As schools close for the summer break, there is an air of anticipation of how we can all use this time not just to reflect and refresh, but to keep developing minds working and growing.
Let’s help children to feel calm and settled, and most importantly inspired and ready to face all the challenges of the new academic year.
The Oak National Academy (who provide free video lessons to support elementary and secondary schools) have created a summer learning support guide.
As part of this, they have identified priority units and lessons in key curriculum subjects, so it’s a great way for children to consolidate or fill gaps in knowledge and understanding. You might find our growing bank of free LearningGrids resources invaluable for additional follow-up activities. We’ve put this guide together with a few ideas to keep children engaged in learning.
Struggling to get them started on a creative writing task? Get them planning their thoughts and ideas with one of our storyboards, analysing a character from a favourite tv show or even writing about their favourite footballer or edge-of-the-seat football match (there may be one or two this summer!).
Keep it fun and relaxed, don’t let it become a battle. Explore our LearningGrids library to find something that excites the child or children you are working with.
For the past few years, we’ve nominated various charities to be our charity of the year. For 2021, we are proud to be working with Filling in the Blanks. Filling in the Blanks is a fantastic organization based in Norwalk, Connecticut which provides food bags to thousands of children who suffer from food insecurity.
For these children, weekends, summers and snow days are scary times as they may not know where their next meal is coming from – and the COVID pandemic has only escalated these fears. Filling in the Blanks delivers food bags to schools before the weekend as well as during summer break (including summer camps) to ensure that children have nutritious meals even when they’re not at school.
Since its founding in 2013, the organization has gone from strength to strength, growing from a small operation in the founders’ homes to occupying a warehouse with 5000 square foot of space with volunteers who store and process the food bags that go to schools today.
We have lots of fundraising ideas for the next few months, including:
- A Virtual Food Drive.
- This is an ongoing effort in which we can either purchase a selection of food items Filling in the Blanks needs or donate cash directly.
- A Virtual 5K – April 25th to April 30th.
- Traditionally, the 5K event would have been organised so everyone ran the same route, but to be COVID-safe, this year we can run, walk, or cycle anywhere. This should be a fantastic opportunity for both our UK and US teams to take part and raise funds.
- Golf outing – May 18th.
- A sponsored round of golf around the prestigious GlenArbor Golf Club in New York.
- Various opportunities to volunteer.
- We know that our team members in the US office are very keen to get hands on with Filling in the Blanks’ work and make up some food bags.
- Holiday Backpack Drive.
- Over the holidays, Filling in the Blanks provides sturdy backpacks to every child who receives their food bags. They also fill these backpacks with holiday-appropriate food (like pancake mix), an age-appropriate book and toy, hats, gloves, socks, and a dental kit. This is another opportunity for us be directly involved by volunteering our time to help fill the backpacks.
- Kindness Note.
- These are handwritten notes that are added to the Weekend Meals Bags – a personal note of encouragement that can make a big difference to the children receiving them.
We also have some seasonal events planned for Halloween and Christmas. Keep an eye on our social media channels for announcements regarding these.
If you want to find out more about the work of this brilliant charity, please visit their website.
At the start of a new year, many of us look for ways to lead healthier lives and we often encourage children to do the same. There are a variety of resources on LearningGrids to encourage children to talk, read and write about the importance of making healthy choices.
Our Keeping Healthy – Read a Book is a great resource for introducing the importance of good hygiene, sleep, regular exercise and a healthy diet. The related Talk, Make a Book, Connect, Sentence and Word Bank sets enable children to record their understanding of how to lead healthy lives. We have also recently published Washing Hands – Read a Book with linked resources to support children in writing about another way to help keep themselves and others healthy.
Brushing My Teeth – Read a Book focuses on good dental hygiene. The Clicker Book is supported by Sentence and Connect sets so that children can write about a simple tooth brushing routine. Older children can read about the location and function of different types of teeth in the Find Out About Teeth Custom Set. Search for teeth on LearningGrids for more related resources.
Our Human Body 1/2/3 differentiated Find Out and Write About activities encourage children to read and write about how other parts of the body work. For more independent writers, there are also Word Banks such as Human Health and Development to support writing about healthy growth and development.
Use the Exercise and Pulse Rates Talk Set for an active way to investigate the effects of exercise on the body. Children talk about the different exercises and predict what changes might happen to the body after the exercise, and then they record the pulse rate and body changes that actually happen. The Pulse Rate Investigation Word Bank supports learners in writing up the investigation and their findings.
There are also a lot of resources on LearningGrids that focus on food and healthy eating, such as the Food Groups and Food A - Z Word Banks. The Food and Nutrition-Sorting Connect Set encourages children to sort foods into how nutritionally valuable they are. For an engaging way to encourage children to explore the impact of unhealthy snacks and whether they should be allowed in schools, read the Clicker Book Junk Food – Viewpoints. Children consider the different viewpoints on the Junk Food - For or Against Clicker Board. Their completed mind map, along with the Junk Food – Persuasive Writing Word Bank, can be used to plan a speech or to structure a piece of persuasive writing.
As you know, a healthy lifestyle also includes a focus on mental wellbeing. We have many resources in the Feelings category to encourage children to be aware of their feelings and to talk or write about them. Browse the Our Bodies or Keeping Healthy categories on LearningGrids for many more resources available to support learning about being healthy.
Safer Internet Day takes place every February. It’s an important event celebrated in countries around the world. And never has safe internet use seemed more important than right now with so many of us using technology to work, learn and socialise through online connections. To mark this year’s event – on February 9th – we have teamed up with Childnet to put together some resources to help children learn about staying safe online. Childnet works across the world to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
Our new resources on LearningGrids are designed to work alongside Childnet’s SMART Adventure animations: The Adventures of Kara, Winston and the Smart Crew. They focus on SMART rules, which have been proven to be effective in helping younger children understand the importance of keeping safe online. During their travels, Kara and Winston use the internet, mobile phones, social networking pages and chat, to negotiate and find their way through the adventure. On their journey, they interact with a real-life SMART crew who give advice to help Kara and Winston stay safe.
There are a range of differentiated Clicker resources which accompany the SMART Adventure animations, designed to support children in thinking about e-safety issues.
- There are five Clicker Books covering each chapter of the adventure story. These are simplified on-screen talking book versions of the animations, designed to reinforce the key e-safety SMART rule messages. Children can also create an oral retelling of the books to demonstrate their understanding.
- In addition to these, a collection of differentiated activities – including speaking, sentence building, scaffolded writing and word banks – enable children to write about e-safety SMART rules which help them make safe online decisions.
Find all our Safer Internet Day resources on LearningGrids and let’s keep young people working (and playing) online safely.
LearningGrids has numerous Clicker and DocPlus resources that can support or extend the BBC Bitesize lessons.
The BBC Bitesize website is currently providing handy daily lesson schedules and we have many resources on LearningGrids to support your learners to achieve the lessons outlined. This is the link to this week’s lesson schedule and daily lessons here. Here are some of our favourite complementary resources for this week:
- Younger learners can create sentences, with correct punctuation and adjectives using our Character Adjectives and Add the Adjectives – Places resources.
- Learners can add more detail to sentences using our Adverb Sentences, Choosing Adverbs resources and the Adverb Word Banks.
- The Toys and Materials sets offer learners a book to read, and resources to create their own book or write sentences about the materials around them.
- The Ancient Egypt sets help learners to write about what life was like for Egyptians over 5,000 years ago
- Learners can use the Solids to Liquids resource to record observations of an ice cube melting and sort the properties of different states in the Solids, Liquids and Gases Chart.
- For the older learner, our Job Letter Wordbar supports formal letter writing, and the Letter Writing A - Z offers vocabulary for writing letters for a variety of occasions.
- Geography students can use the Glaciation A - Z Wordbar which supports writing about glacial processes and landforms.
- The Text Analysis Wordbar provides starters, vocabulary and a structure to help learners respond to a literary text.
This is just an example of how well the range of Clicker and DocsPlus resources match up with the Bitesize lesson planners. If you need any help finding LearningGrids resources that cover a particular topic or learning objective, please pop an email over to info@us.cricksoft.com and we’ll be very happy to assist you.