With many children today entering EYFS settings experiencing some form of communication difficulty, it is important that practitioners find interesting ways of motivating children to participate in speaking and listening activities. One such way is to create digital stories using presentation software.
Bright images capture children's imaginations, and the increasing availability of interactive whiteboards in early education settings is providing opportunities for practitioners to use a wide range of digital resources. Children are fascinated by ICT and become excited at the prospect of using recording equipment.
Stories are a fantastic way of developing listening skills. Fairytales will be familiar to many children, as will their structure and well-known refrains that encourage audience participation, such as 'Fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman'.
In addition, popular picture books with a repetitive format, such as Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary (Puffin), help to develop oral literacy, as they are easy to remember and build a sense of anticipation within children as they wait for the part where they can join in.
Step by Step
The following is a guide to making a digital storybook, which can be differentiated to suit children in nursery through to the end of reception.
This example uses Microsoft PowerPoint because it is the most widely accessible, though other presentation software packages are available (see box). The instructions are based on using Microsoft Windows XP and Office 2007.
Step 1: Choose a story
Choose a story that the children in your setting know well. The objective of the activity is for children to retell the story, so it is important that they have plenty of opportunity to become familiar with it.
In the weeks leading up to the activity, share the story several times with the children. Provide small-world and role-play activities associated with the story and set up a storyboard or puppet theatre to enable the children to memorise plot and characters.
Step 2: Set up a PowerPoint template
- Make a title slide, using a scan of the book's front cover or WordArt.
- Create enough slides to correspond with the number of pictures you expect to use. To create a new slide, go to the Home tab and select New Slide. Ensure that you choose a slide layout that gives the option to insert a picture as well as a text box.
- Click on the Design tab and choose a colour theme for your slides by formatting the background style.
Step 3: Prepare the pictures
There are various options for preparing the pictures. If you have a picture book version of the story, you could scan in the pictures and paste them on to PowerPoint slides. Alternatively, ask the children to draw some and scan in these. Involve the children in the scanning process; show them how a scanner works.
To paste a scanned picture on to a slide, select the Insert picture from file icon in the box, find your picture and click on Insert.
If you are using scanned pictures, it is a good idea to reduce them in size to help ensure that the slide show loads quickly and runs smoothly. Do this after all the pictures have been inserted, then click on one picture. Go to Compress pictures under the Format tab, click on Options and select Screen under Target Output.
Another option is to ask the children to draw some pictures on the computer using a Paint program.
It is a good idea to paste the pictures on to the slides in a random order. They can then be displayed using the Slide sorter view and the children can help to rearrange them in the correct order.
Step 4: Add the text
Work in very small groups. There are plenty of opportunities for differentiation at this stage. For children not yet ready to write, create a bank of sentences in a Word document beforehand. Read these to the children and ask them to match them to the pictures.
With more confident children, look at each picture in turn and ask what is happening, before working together to create a sentence for each slide.
More able children can be allocated a picture each and asked to think of a sentence or caption, which can be typed in for them. Ask higher-ability children to write their sentence down. This can be scanned in or typed in by an adult. Otherwise, those children who are very confident with computers and know how to use a keyboard might like to copy their sentence themselves.
Step 5: Record a narrative and sound effects
For this stage, your computer needs to be connected to a microphone and speakers. Again, there is opportunity for differentiation here.
More confident children will have plenty to say and will want to tell the whole story in a single breath, so help them to structure their thoughts and organise what they are going to say.
Look at each slide in turn and read the captions that have already been written. Allocate a slide to each child. Help them to focus on each slide in turn, think about and rehearse what they are going to say. Record one child at a time.
To record a sound in PowerPoint select the Insert tab, go to Sound and click on Record sound. A small box will appear and you will be asked to name the sound. This is a good place to keep a record of the child's name.
Use the buttons Record and Stop like any other recording equipment. Use Play to listen to and check the recording. When you are happy with the result, click OK and a small speaker icon will appear on the slide. Click on this while in Slideshow mode and the recording will play.
Those children who are less confident can record one or two word utterances. For example, a character in a picture might be shouting 'STOP!' and a child can be recorded saying this. Otherwise, they can record sound effects such as car engines or splashing water. This is also a useful way to include children who have special educational needs.
Step 6: Animate pictures and text
Pictures and text can be animated to fly on to the screen or appear and disappear with various sound effects. To animate a picture or piece of text, select the Animations tab, click on the picture or text box and go to Custom animation. A window will appear on the right-hand side of the screen; click on Add effect. Again, involve the children in this process; they will learn a lot from observing you, having a go themselves and assisting in making decisions.
FURTHER IDEAS
- Take digital photographs of children acting out a traditional tale. Children then add text and narrative.
- Children take photos of puppets acting out the story. Record children telling the story and put pictures and sound files together.
- Video children acting out the story, inserting scenes as media clips.
- Children make up their own stories and take photos of classroom toys acting them out.
Possible Learning Outcomes
- Find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology; use a mouse and keyboard to interact with age-appropriate computer software;
- Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak within a familiar group;
- Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener; retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories.
Marianne Sargent is an early years education lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University. She previously worked as a foundation stage teacher at maintained schools in Jersey and England
SOFTWARE OPTIONS
- 2Simple Software: 2Create a Story offers child-friendly, step-by-step instructional videos; allows children to draw pictures, type storylines and record a narrative.
- Max's Toolbox: Max Show Children can insert pictures and text and record sounds. Includes a word bank to help.
- Clicker 5: Book Making A digital book template with facilities to insert pictures and text and record sound. Also has a word bank.
- SMART Technologies IWB: Notebook Software Children can type storylines, insert pictures and sounds from a gallery, copy and paste pictures from the internet, draw their own pictures and record sounds.
More ICT Resources for Literacy
- Pelican Interactive Big Books feature a selection of stories and non-fiction books with interactive activities. Widely available on CD-ROM, they can be ordered online from a number of websites.
- Ridiculous Rhymes features silly rhymes with narration, animation and music. Available from Sherston Software.
- Cbeebies Stories and Rhymes features a wide variety of animated tales and rhymes. Available at: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories