Kingsthorpe Grove Lower School

Jo Cummings

ICT Co-ordinator

I have used Planet Wobble extensively over a term with my year two class. The class related well to the pictures – they are lively and colourful with lots of interesting detail, which adds an extra dimension to the stories.  The on-screen books were well received by the children as they were able to become more independent in their reading, both because of the speech support and also the simple and clear navigation tools. The animation also made the stories “come alive”.

I used Planet Wobble in the literacy hour, where I was able to incorporate ICT within the usual structure. We read the books on-screen as a big book. This enabled me to focus on specific teaching points. I was then able to use the printed books with one group for guided reading whilst another group worked on the activities on-screen and others were working on those same activities that I had printed out as worksheets.  The range and quantity of computer activities enables all the children to benefit, working to their own potential and at their own level.

We read the story about The Cake and then we wrote our own story about making a cake. We then extended the activity and wrote a recipe for chocolate cookies, making sure that everything was in the right order.

I feel that a lot of thought and development has gone into Planet Wobble to make it applicable in many ways for literacy teaching. It really does give lots of diverse ways to use the activities, both ICT and non-ICT based. The different levels ensure that all groups were using the activities matched to their abilities.