Reviews

Wobble through the Literacy Hour
Interactive, April 2002

Looking for new resources for use during the Literacy Hour? Lina Howarth takes a look at Planet Wobble, a new resource from Crick Software available on screen, on paper and online.

Making meaningful use of ICT during the Literacy Hour can really engage early readers and writers, as well as ensuring that they have opportunities to use ICT across curriculum areas. That's the beauty of a product like the latest resource developed by Crick Software. Designed by a curriculum team of ex-teachers, Planet Wobble is powered by Crick's award-winning Clicker 4 supportive writing tool.

Planet Wobble is a graded series of printed and on-screen books and activities which follow the adventures of six children - Ella, Amber, Dan, Josh, Holly and Stan - who live on Planet Wobble, a different, but clearly recognisable environment. Based around experiences enjoyed by children everywhere, the stories are provided both as printed books and in an on-screen format which includes animations. They are written using familiar vocabulary, with an emphasis on high-frequency words and simple sentence construction.

Created as a supplement to existing reading schemes, Planet Wobble reinforces the high-frequency words and develops independence in writing. Using a clear layout, both on-screen and on paper, the pictures are bright and engaging and the characters ageless, a combination designed to appeal to both emergent and struggling readers. The resource is also fully switch accessible, making it ideal for children with special needs.

Three levels are currently available, providing progression and differentiation across Key Stage 1. They all include reinforcement of the high-frequency words required by the National Literacy Strategy. At Level 1, simple sentences are provided with repetitive refrains.

The books
The books currently available at this level are At Wobble Pool, At Wobble Beach and At Wobble Park. Level 2 is slightly more complex, and currently includes Dan's Journey, Ella's Bedtime and Stan's Wait. Level 3 has a more advanced storyline and sentences. The books at level 3 are The Race, Stuck and The Cake.

The Race, for example, recounts the story of the Wobble Board race. Er.. what's a Wobble Board, do I hear you ask? Good question. Planet Wobble is Earth-like, but different. Items are recognisable, but only just! Because he environment represents no specifically familiar one, this makes it totally inclusive and cross-cultural. So back to Wobble Boards - no, it's nothing to do with Rolf Harris! Wobble boards look like skateboards, but they fly!

Supplementing existing reading schemes, these books are suitable for reinforcement and for children who have reached a plateau within the scheme used in school. Using a familiar format, they are engaged by the characters and situations and motivated to progress through the books. The activities further reinforce their reading and writing skills and have the added excitement of a different medium.

A site licence containing multiple copies of the books is also available, enabling Planet Wobble stories to be used with guided reading in group sessions.

Activities
Alongside the on-screen books, activities are provided which are based on specific literacy objectives. These activities are differentiated, enabling children of all abilities to use them, and they offer practice and reinforcement suitable for both group and individual work. Activities include picture matching, sentence construction, questions and writing stories. The activities can be printed and used during group work so that, for example, some children can be working on the printouts while others are using the computer. Planet Wobble activities provide ready-made grids and worksheets, making them incredibly easy to integrate with the minimum of teacher preparation.

As an example of their use in the classroom, the matching activities could be used with children with perceptual difficulties while others are using the word matching activities. Another possibility is using the 'make your own book' activity: children of different abilities could work in pairs, with both recounting the story, one writing the story into their book while the other records the story through the microphone. Again, both the literacy and ICT curriculum requirements are being fulfilled in a stimulating and engaging way in such an activity.

Planet Wobble online
The sentence activities help to reinforce the features of sentence construction, while the 'writing stories' activities enable children to compose their own stories based on the theme of the book. 'Words' activities reinforce recognition of high-frequency words and provide opportunities to spell them, while activities in the 'questions' section are designed to encourage children to understand - and respond to - questions based on the characters in the books.

Taking Planet Wobble one step further is the website at www.planetwobble.com. Children are given more information about the characters and their likes and dislikes, and are then invited to email them. This is a great introduction to email, providing an exciting outcome and covering areas in both literacy and ICT. The website is constantly updated with regular changes, ensuring that children visiting the site are given additional activities and information.

All in all this is a great resource from Crick and one that will be very welcome in the classroom. Children of all ages will want to read these books, and the progression ensures that they are doing so at an appropriate level. They are a must for every busy teacher at Key Stage 1.

Lina Howarth

The packs are competitively priced at £35.00 per set and include a CD with three on-screen books, related activities and three printed books. A site licence is also available at £99.00 per set. This includes 15 books five copies of each of the three books in the series and a CD which enables installation on all the computers in your school. Additional books are also available in packs of 15, (again, 5 copies of each of the three books). For more detailed pricing information, go to Crick Software's website on www.cricksoft.com, or the dedicated Planet Wobble site at www.planetwobble.com or tel: 0845-121 1691.

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