Helping pupils move beyond simple sentences can be a challenge - especially in early writing. Many pupils can form a complete sentence but adding detail and creating vivid imagery is a bigger step. Today, I wanted to take a closer look at a simple but powerful resource on LearningGrids: the Expanding Sentences Connect Set. It’s a flexible activity that helps pupils explore how small changes can transform their writing.

Why I chose this Clicker Set

Expanding Sentences is straightforward - but highly effective. It gives pupils an accessible way to experiment with language and see immediate results.

This Connect Set:

• Helps pupils see how adding detail transforms their writing
  
  
• Strengthens understanding of sentence structure and parts of speech
  
  
• Encourages creativity with no single 'right answer'
  
  
• Can be easily adapted to meet a wide range of pupil needs

This activity is ideal for early primary school pupils or any learners who are developing confidence with sentence structure and descriptive language.

How I would use the resource

Each grid in the Expanding Sentences set starts with a simple sentence and provides pupils with descriptive words and phrases to build upon it. While pupils can use the set independently, I find it especially powerful as a whole-class teaching tool.

I would begin by writing a simple sentence from the grid, for example: 'A dog barked'. Then, I’d temporarily hide the Clicker Grid and ask: What makes this a sentence? What do we need for it to be complete? We’d identify the subject and verb, confirming that it is a complete sentence. But I’d ask: Is it interesting? Does it tell us very much?

Next, I'd reintroduce the Clicker Grid and explore how we can expand the sentence by adding descriptive language, such as adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases.

Together, we might create sentences like: 'A tiny dog barked ferociously at the children' or 'A huge stray dog barked relentlessly by the gate'.

We'd then compare these to the original sentence: What’s different? What new details do we have? What picture do these sentences create in your mind? This discussion helps pupils see that while the structure remains the same, the added detail makes the writing far more engaging and meaningful.

Pupils can then continue independently, using the other grids to create a range of descriptive sentences. I might challenge them to create sentences that paint very different pictures from the same starting point.

How I might adapt the activity

One of the strengths of this resource is how easily it can be adjusted to suit different learners.

Simplify the task

For some pupils, I would reduce the number of options. For example, I might remove the adverbs cluster in Edit Mode. This way pupils could just focus on adding an adjective to describe the subject and expanding the sentence with a prepositional phrase. This keeps the task manageable while still building key skills.

Encourage pupil-generated language

It’s important that pupils know they’re not limited to the grid. For example, a pupil might select: 'A heavy parcel arrived…' and then add their own idea, such as: '…in the classroom'. This reinforces that the grid is a support - not a limit.

Increase interaction and engagement

To deepen engagement, I might replace grid options with parts of speech labels. I could ask pupils to suggest their own adjectives or prepositional phrases. This turns the activity into a more collaborative and language-rich experience.

By the end of the lesson, pupils should see how including detail in their sentences and using descriptive language makes their writing more interesting and brings it to life for their readers.

Explore more

Try out the Expanding Sentences Connect Set with your class.

You might also find these helpful:

• Quick wins with Clicker’s writing support tools
  
  
• Supporting writing in Early Years
  
  
• On-demand webinar - Using Clicker to support a whole class writing journey

If you’ve been exploring LearningGrids recently, you may have seen the new Clicker Book, The Boy Who Only Ate Pancakes. The book is the latest in our collaboration with the organisation, Book Dash.

In this blog, we’ll be exploring the Book Dash collection, its purpose, and how you can use the collection with your learners.

What is Book Dash?

Book Dash is a nonprofit organisation based in South Africa. Their vision is that - “every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”.  

Book Dash’s volunteer creatives have written hundreds of open-access picture books. Many of the books have strong African themes, but the messages of the stories are universal. Most of the books are aimed at early readers, and many are available in multiple languages. The books are published under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 license, which means that anyone can access and use the books for free!

Book Dash and Clicker

Book Dash wants as many children as possible to have access to their stories. That’s why they have given us permission to use their resources to create Clicker Books and supporting activities. We don’t make any changes to the original stories, and we also try to maintain the original designs of the books as much as possible.

Working with Book Dash gives our users access to stories with diverse representation. The stories have beautiful illustrations to engage readers and bring the stories to life. On all our resources, we give full acknowledgement to Book Dash, so hopefully through Clicker, more people are becoming familiar with their organisation and their mission.

We currently have 12 Book Dash books published on LearningGrids, which you can find in Story Corner. For all the titles, we create a Clicker Book version of the story, as well as a range of speaking and writing activities to support the book. These include Sentence and Connect Sets to rewrite the story with varying levels of support, as well as Word Banks and a Make a Book to create your own version of the story. A Talk Set is also provided to practise recording the story before the writing activities or to create an oral presentation.

Curriculum links

In many cases, we also create Clicker Boards or other resources that link the theme of the book to other curriculum areas or topics. In the latest story, the boy’s mum sneaks healthy ingredients into her son’s pancakes since that is the only food he will eat. This book is a useful stimulus for discussions about healthy eating. You’ll find quite a few related resources already on LearningGrids. Plus, we have included a Clicker Board with the Book Dash resources that encourages pupils to think of healthy items that they could add to different foods, such as with pizza or yogurt or pancakes.

There are a number of books that have great links to social emotional learning. For example, Who Is Our Friend? (about a group of animals who have an unlikely friend that helps them) is a perfect lead-in for talking about the importance of friendship and how friends help us. Or My Inside Weather - a story about a child who uses the weather to talk about her feelings.

There are also books that lend themselves to focusing on word level work, such as Little Ant’s Big Plan. It is about how an ant’s love of reading saves the day, but it also has rhyming words for pupils to explore. A House for Mouse can be used to look closely at the use of adjectives in the description of Mouse’s dreams.

Some books, such as What If (a story about a girl with a big imagination), are a perfect inspiration for pupils’ own story writing. Goldfish Genius, which is a text-free book, provides a valuable opportunity for pupils to develop their own creative story-telling skills.

What’s coming next?

Soon, we will be publishing resources for the book 'Going Places'. It is about the adventures children can go on when they read books – great for discussions with pupils about what type of adventures they like to read about.

Keep your eyes on LearningGrids for more Book Dash titles in the future!

If you would like to learn more about using our LearningGrids content in lessons, you can read these blogs:

• Adapting Clicker LearningGrids resources with Widgit Symbols
  
  
• Weather activities to get pupils thinking, talking, and writing
  
  
• LearningGrids: Reading and writing resources for adaptive teaching
  

We’ve recently published a new group of adaptable Clicker resources on LearningGrids called Farm Animals. The collection is ideal for early readers and writers, as well as those learning English as an additional language (EAL), and includes resources with different levels of challenge to suit each learner’s needs.

Let’s explore how these resources can be personalised and used in conjunction with Clicker’s innovative features to offer additional support for your pupils and help them become independent readers and writers.

Some of the features we will focus on include:

• Tiered reading resources
  
  
• Personalised content
  
  
• Additional writing supports
  

Tiered reading resources

We built a tiered set of Farm Animals resources around two Clicker Books: a Read It Yourself book, ideal for pupils beginning to read independently, and a Read a Book for those who are more confident readers.

Each page of the ‘Farm Animals’ Read a Book includes two sentences. The first sentence names the animal. The second sentence tells the reader the location of the animal on the farm using a prepositional phrase. If a learner needs the text read aloud, they can click the speaker button on each page.

The Read It Yourself book offers a simplified version of the story. This book focuses on the first sentence from the Read a Book, creating a repetitive structure of “This is a…” to highlight the animal names. The speaker button is not included to encourage pupils to try to read the book for themselves. They can, however, click on individual words to hear them if needed.

Once you have assigned a learner the book most aligned with their current reading level, you can adapt the activity further using Clicker’s in-built features. You could add a microphone button to either of the Clicker Books to provide early readers with an easy way to practise reading the text. The recordings could also be used as part of a pupil’s reading record. EAL pupils could use the microphone to record the text in their first language. They could then share the completed books with the class.

Personalised content

The Farm Animals collection also includes several writing activities to help pupils learn the names of animals and develop an understanding of sentence structure.

The Sentence Set enables pupils to recreate simple sentences from the Read it Yourself book, and they can listen to a spoken model sentence if they need more support.

The Connect Set is a progression from the Sentence Set and mirrors the language in the Read a Book. In this activity, learners have an extra challenge as they have to choose the correct animal to complete the sentence.

You can edit any resource from LearningGrids to meet the needs of your pupils. For instance, if you wanted to use the Connect Set but have it mirror the content of the Read It Yourself book, you can easily change the content and layout in Edit mode. You can even add images to the animal cells in any set using Picturize. This would offer pupils additional support for completing the activity.

Additional writing supports

As part of the group of Farm Animals resources, we have included a Picture Words Word Bank. You could use the Word Bank before reading the book to introduce the animals. Or you could use it afterwards with more independent writers to encourage them to write their own sentences about them.

The Word Bank could also be used for spelling practice using a special writing support feature in the Document. In Options/Settings, you can turn on Picturize for the Document. Pupils can then type the name of the animal into the Document (using the Word Bank as visual support) and if they have written it correctly, the animal will appear, matching the Word Bank.

Another resource that can be enhanced by additional writing supports is the Farm Animals Clicker Board.

The activity focuses on making sentences with prepositional phrases. The cells prompt learners to plan two parts of the sentence – the subject (the what) and the object of the preposition (the where).

The Board would be a great whole-class activity on an interactive whiteboard or as a task for more independent writers. Pupils who need additional support can use the Predictor to help them write the words. A Voice Note is also included on the Board so learners can record the sentence or practise it before writing.

The bundle of Farm Animals resources also includes Matching and Listen and Say Talk Sets to reinforce the animal names. Plus, a Make a Book activity for pupils to create their own book about the animals.

Be sure to search for “animals” on LearningGrids or check out the On the Farm Collection for lots of other resources to inspire and support your readers and writers.

For more information on using the adaptable resources on LearningGrids to support your learners, you can review the below:

• Adapting Clicker LearningGrids resources with Widgit Symbols
  
  
• Spiders: Cross-curricular activities to engage readers and writers
  
  
• LearningGrids: Reading and writing resources for adaptive teaching

We recently published a new group of Clicker sets - All About Spiders. The resources focus on the unique features and behaviours of spiders. Different versions of informational text are offered in the three-level Clicker Books, ensuring that every pupil, whether emergent, struggling, or fluent readers, can access the same topic content.

The writing activities, which include Sentence Sets, Connect Sets, and Word Banks, also provide scaffolded support for your learners. Pupils can share their new understanding about spiders using the Talk Set and Clicker Board as well.

We chose this topic because it covers a range of science learning objectives but also because spiders catch the imagination of many pupils - and can keep them engaged in reading and writing. These aren’t the only arachnid-themed Clicker sets on LearningGrids. We have a range of other cross-curricular activities about spiders that can inspire the readers and writers in your classrooms.

Let’s have a look at resources in a few LearningGrids categories:

• Greek Myths
  
  
• Literature
  
  
• Nursery Rhymes
  
  
• Creative Writing

Greek Myths

In the Story Corner, you’ll find the Greek myth The Weaving Contest. It is the story of Arachne who challenges the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. Athena punishes Arachne by transforming her into a spider. There is a Clicker Book version of the myth to read, as well as a range of writing activities to help pupils retell the story and demonstrate their understanding.

Literature

Pupils always love the classic novel Charlotte’s Web - the story of Wilbur the pig and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte. Using the resources on LearningGrids, pupils can write about the novel, analysing the characters and themes. There are also activities to support the development of persuasive writing skills - pupils write to a character in the story to persuade them to spare Wilbur’s life.

Nursery Rhymes

The next group of Clicker sets with a spider theme is geared toward younger learners. The Incy Wincy Spider resources start with a simple Clicker Book to practise reading the nursery rhyme. Then there are a range of supporting activities, including a Clicker Board for sequencing and a Talk Set that focuses on creating rhyming strings, as well as Sentence and Connect Sets for rewriting the nursery rhyme.

Creative Writing

With Halloween coming soon, the spooky season is upon us. And what’s spookier than spiders and cobwebs! To help spark pupils’ imagination and support their creative writing, there are a number of spooky Word Banks, Writing Frames, Clicker Boards, and Talk Sets.

Be sure to visit LearningGrids and check out Collections for other cross-curricular activities and topic ideas to engage your readers and writers. Here are some other resources you might find helpful:

• LearningGrids: Reading and writing resources for adaptive teaching
  
  
• The science of reading and Clicker’s decodable books
  
  
• Supporting struggling writers with Clicker Q&A

For many years, evidence-based research from the Science of Reading project has shown how children learn to read. This research confirms that phonics is a key part of early reading success. Decodable text has an important role to play in the teaching of phonics, and on LearningGrids we have recently published three CVC decodable Clicker Books.

What is the science of reading?

The science of reading is a collection of research from the last fifty years. It looks at effective ways to teach children how to read. The strategies are especially important for struggling readers. The research provides a framework for evidence-based teaching approaches and focuses on five main areas:

1. Phonemic awareness
   
2. Phonics
   
3. Fluency
   
4. Vocabulary
   
5. Comprehension

Let’s have a closer look at phonics, in particular.

What is phonics?

Phonics involves matching the sounds (phonemes) of spoken English with the individual letters (graphemes) or groups of letters. Teaching phonics increases children’s ability to sound out, or decode, new words.

How does phonics align with the science of reading?

One of the main findings from the science of reading is that there needs to be explicit and systematic instruction. For phonics, this means teachers usually follow a plan. This plan shows what sounds they teach and the order they teach them.

There isn’t an overarching scope and sequence that all schools use. However, most schools begin by teaching short vowel sounds. This means that CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words are usually among the first words children can read.

With explicit and systematic phonics instruction, children need to be given lots of ways to practise the new sounds and letters that they are taught. This is why decodable books are so important.

What are decodable books?

Decodable books are texts that focus on specific phonics patterns. The books give children the opportunity to use their blending skills to decode words in context. It is important to offer children decodable books based on the sounds and letters they have already learned. The child should be able to sound out the majority of the words in the text based on their phonic knowledge.

Clicker’s CVC decodable books

In the case of our new CVC decodable Clicker Books (Tig in Mud, Bug in a Bin, and Peg and Bob), we highlight in the notes exactly which sounds/letters each book focuses on. Almost all the words in the books are CVCs, but they do include a couple of high-frequency sight words, such as “the” and “is”.

We offer two versions of each book – a Read a Book and a Read It Yourself. Since research recommends getting a child to attempt to decode the text on their own first, you may want to use the Read It Yourself book. The only difference from the Read a Book version is that the speaker button has been removed – so that children can’t just listen to the book.

While the texts are simple, we have worked hard to create stories (and illustrations) that will catch the interest and imagination of young readers. Your children will have fun reading about the different characters: a mischievous dog, a mud-loving cat, and a large bug lurking in a toy bin!

Clicker’s decodable stories – supporting resources

Here are some of the additional Clicker resources on LearningGrids that enhance the Clicker Books and reinforce children’s CVC decoding skills. 

For each of the books (Tig in Mud, Bug in a Bin, and Peg and Bob), there is a series of activities related to: 

• Pre-reading revision 

• Text comprehension and vocabulary extension 

• Decoding skills 

Pre-reading revision 

It is important to use decodable books that are based on letters and sounds that readers have already been taught. The Letters & Words Clicker Board can be used before any of the books to revise and reinforce the letters and sounds that will be covered in the text. The CVC words from the story are also included on the Clicker Board to practise segmenting and blending the words before they come across them in the Clicker Book.  

The Key Words Matching Set also provides an opportunity to reinforce the CVC words in the text. 

Text comprehension and vocabulary extension 

Talking about the story and exploring the children’s understanding is an important part of using decodable books. The stories and pictures have been authored so that there are things to talk about and ways to extend vocabulary. This even starts with the cover – “Who do you think Tig is?” “What do you think will happen to Tig?” 

Once children have read the stories, they can use the Tell the Story activity or the Clicker Board sequencing activity to retell the story in their own words.  

Decoding skills 

A Connect Set and a Sentence Set are also included. These allow children to rewrite the story while practising their decoding skills. With the Connect Set, children need to sound out the last word to choose the correct CVC word to complete the sentence.  

The Sentence Set provides another opportunity to decode the text from the story. It also reinforces pupils' understanding of sentence structure. For a greater challenge, Sentence Sets can present the model sentence aurally. This way, children would need to listen carefully and decode the words to recreate the sentence.

The Key Words Talk Set can also be used for decoding practice. This could be before or after they read the Clicker Book. Initially, children may need to record themselves segmenting and blending the sounds in the words (/c/ /ă/ /t/ - cat). But with enough decoding practice, orthographic mapping (storing a word permanently in memory for instant retrieval) will allow most children to read the words from sight – without having to sound them out each time. 

Click on the links below to see the CVC decodable Clicker Books and their supporting Clicker Sets in LearningGrids: 

• Tig in Mud 

• Bug in a Bin

• Peg and Bob 

Be sure to check out the Sounds & Letters category on LearningGrids for many other phonics related activities. Here are some other resources you might find helpful: 

• Support early reading with Clicker  

• Clicker and Phonics webinar 

Over the last few years, we have all seen how important it is to help pupils build a strong foundation for emotional well-being and resilience. A lot of research and studies have been done to look at the benefits of social emotional learning (SEL).  

There are many similarities between social emotional learning in the United States and personal, social, health, economic (PSHE) education in the United Kingdom. 

A focus on SEL: 

• Improves academic achievement  
• Increases social behaviours (such as kindness, sharing, and empathy) 
• Improves pupil attitudes toward school 
• Reduces stress among pupils 

Why use Clicker as part of SEL sessions?

Many schools have found ways to incorporate social and emotional learning in their classrooms, but the difficulty can be in making sure that it is accessible and meets the needs of all pupils.  

With Clicker, you can: 

• Provide flexible support options to meet pupils’ needs 
• Accommodate different learning styles (multiple means of engagement and expression) 
• Offer a multisensory approach 
• Save time with ready-made resources 

LearningGrids includes a large range of free Clicker resources to support social and emotional learning in our Feelings & Actions subcategory. 

To see a selection of these Clicker Sets in action and learn more about how Clicker can support social and emotional learning in your classroom, you can watch the recording of the SEL webinar that Rebecca and I offered earlier this year. 

Want to find out more about Clicker?

If you’ve seen something that’s inspired you to use Clicker more, or for the first time, in your lessons, here are some helpful resources: 

• Free Clicker Basics training
• How to support your growing cohort of SLCN pupils
• Make assessment fun and engaging with Clicker 

Or if you’d like to speak to a member of our friendly team, you can: 

• Book a free discovery call
• Email info@cricksoft.com

Did you know that it was 120 years ago that Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight? On LearningGrids, we have Clicker resources to help your children learn the science behind flying and to commemorate Wright Brothers Day on 17th December.

We recently published a series of activities about the forces of flight. Children can read about the importance of weight, lift, thrust and drag in the Forces of Flight Clicker Book. Use the Clicker Board with the class to consolidate children’s understanding of the four forces. They can then use the Connect Set, Talk Set or Word Banks to share their learning in a piece of writing or as an oral presentation.

What will you be doing this Halloween – carving pumpkins, making costumes, trick-or-treating? Be sure to add reading and writing with Clicker to that list! LearningGrids is full of great Halloween resources to inspire all your readers and writers.

Your younger learners can read about a group of friends at a Halloween party and then use the supporting sets to talk and write about the activities. Using the Connect Set Halloween Fun, or the Halloween Word Bank for more independent writers, children can write about things they do to celebrate Halloween. Or explore instruction writing with the Making a Pumpkin Lantern resources.

Halloween is also the perfect time to write a spooky story or a ghostly poem, and we have lots of resources to support your children’s creativity. The recently published Suspense Writing Word Bank provides introductory phrases and other vocabulary to help build tension and excitement in stories. Your aspiring poets can use the Halloween Haiku or Spooky Words Word Banks to (pumpkin) spice up their poems.

Visit LearningGrids for many more Halloween resources.

For a lot of children, the summer holiday means a break from the stresses of school. But a change to the normal routine can bring other challenges for many children. Clicker is a good tool to use to check in with a child to see how they are doing.

If your child is struggling with the change, the When My Routine Changes Connect Set or the How Do You Feel Word Bank can help them express how the change makes them feel and what they can do to feel better. Their writing can be a great conversation starter for the two of you.

With all the action and excitement that summertime brings, don’t forget to plan in some quieter moments. Practising mindfulness can help children manage their emotions and build self-control. If you are heading over to the local park or a friend’s house, why not make it a mindful walk on the way – focus on what you see, hear, smell and feel. You can read about a similar walk in the Clicker Book A Mindful Walk – Read a Book. Children can use the Clicker Board to reflect on what they experienced during their own walk.

Explore LearningGrids for many more resources that focus on Feelings and Actions.

Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration of life and death and takes place on November 1st and 2nd each year in Mexico. The holiday has roots back to rituals honouring the dead in Ancient Mesoamerica.

In our recent Mexico Clicker Sets on LearningGrids, we explore this tradition, as well as other cultural and geographical features of the country. The collection of resources includes Read a Book and Read It Yourself Clicker Books and a range of related speaking and writing activities.

Depending on the needed level of support, children can use the Sentence Set, Connect Set, or Word Bank to help them write about Mexico.

Or you can provide children with an alternative means of expression by using the Talk Set, where they can record information about Mexico. Don’t forget that you can increase the number of recorders for each picture to allow children to record their ideas in bite-sized chunks. They can then listen to all their recordings on the start page – great for class presentations!

Be sure to visit LearningGrids for more Mexico resources, including a Word Bank and Clicker Board about the ancient Mayan site Chichén Itzá.

Most of us write differently depending on what we are writing and, importantly, who we are writing for. While we regularly give children different writing tasks to develop their writing skills and to expose them to different genres, too often the only audience for their writing is their teacher. A recent Edutopia article discussed how giving children an authentic audience for their work can increase motivation and creativity. The article made me think about ways that Clicker could be used to support children in writing for different audiences.

Sharing work with other classes is an easy way to give children a purpose for their writing. Get your pupils to create Clicker Books for younger children. They can create non-fiction books or write imaginative stories that can be saved to a digital reading corner. The speech support built into Clicker will make the stories accessible to the younger readers. To further strengthen the sense of audience, your pupils could read the books to the other children, either in person or using the sound recorder in Clicker.

Writing to school governors or local council officials can be a great way for children to connect with persuasive writing. Let pupils come up with topics that are relevant to them, such as making improvements to the school playground or adding a cycle lane to town streets, and then get them to write to the appropriate school or community leaders. Our Persuasion Planner and Writing Frame provide support for pupils as they create their persuasive arguments.

Pupils’ own classmates can also be a highly motivating audience. Have them become class experts on a topic and then share their work with the rest of the class – through classroom displays or in oral presentations to the class. With Clicker Board, pupils can create digital posters to use as part of their presentations. For children who are less confident presenting to an audience, they can use a Talk Set to pre-record their presentation and then play the recordings to the class.

For an even larger audience, get your pupils to submit their work to national (and global) showcases and competitions such as our Summer Story Share. The Clicker Summer Story Share is an opportunity for primary pupils to tell us a story that excites and inspires them. The theme for this year is: “If I could go anywhere…” To help write or tell their stories, pupils can have unlimited home access to Clicker throughout the summer break. We’ll be showcasing their wonderful stories online, for the whole world to enjoy!

Have you had a chance to look at all the Clicker resources on LearningGrids about the Moon?

With the Phases of the Moon sets, children can read, write and talk about the main phases of the lunar cycle. The Clicker Board can be used as an introductory activity or as a way for children to demonstrate their understanding at the end of the topic. Children could even create a Moon journal – Clicker’s painting tools are perfect for illustrating the different phases of the Moon.

There is also a great group of Clicker resources to help children learn about the Apollo 11 Moon landing. These Moon Landing sets include a comprehensive Clicker Book covering the events and the people involved, as well as a simplified Read It Yourself version. A range of writing activities, such as the Connect set, allow children to write about the mission to the Moon and its historical significance.

For early readers and writers, the recent Day and Night sets help them think about differences between daytime and night-time activities and events – and the changes in the sky. The Talk Set gives all children, including struggling writers, the opportunity to record their thoughts on the topic.

Visit LearningGrids for other resources about the solar system or changes at night.

One of my favourite books to read with my classes was always Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It is a great read-aloud book and perfect for more independent pupils to tackle on their own. On LearningGrids, we have published a series of Clicker activities to help learners examine the book more closely.

There are Word Banks for writing a synopsis of the story or to write about key elements in the novel. Pupils can use Clicker Boards to carry out a Character Study or to explore the theme of Friendship. The Connect Set, Word Definitions, helps learners focus on interesting vocabulary from the book – matching the words to their definitions and then using the new vocabulary in different contexts.

Charlotte’s Web is also great as a stimulus for other genres of writing. A Famous Pig – Report offers starters and vocabulary to help pupils to write a news report about Wilbur and the discovery of the messages in the web. Using the Saving Wilbur – Persuasive Writing Frame, pupils can write a letter to try to persuade Mr. Arable to spare the life of Wilbur.

To go along with the Charlotte’s Web resources, we have also published new book review sets, including a Talk Set which pupils can use to prepare an oral report – retelling the story or explaining why they like or dislike it. We have also created Book and Film Comparison Clicker Boards to compare and contrast the written story with its filmed version.

Be sure to check out the Literature section on LearningGrids for many other resources to encourage pupils’ active engagement with texts.

One of the many things the pandemic has done is to reinforce the importance of the social and emotional well-being of children, and the role that social and emotional learning (SEL) must play in schools alongside academic learning. We have recently published more SEL Clicker resources on LearningGrids, to help support the areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships and decision-making.

Getting children to slow down and be mindful about what is happening in the present moment helps with all different aspects of their social and emotional well-being. Our Mindful Walk sets include a simple story about what a child sees, hears, smells and feels on a walk. Children could then take their own walk and use the Clicker Board or Talk Set to note observations from their walk.

Let’s get learners to celebrate their successes. Children can write or record affirmations with the Positive Self-Talk Connect and Talk Sets or use the My Strengths Clicker Board or Word Bank to write about positive personality traits, social skills, achievements or talents.

The Rose, Thorn, Bud sets give learners a chance to reflect on positive moments (roses), but also to think about challenges or areas where they may need support (thorns) and new ideas they would like to explore (buds).

When there are difficult issues that they need to tackle, children can use the decision-making planners and writing frames to help resolve them – considering both the positive and negative outcomes of their possible resolutions.

Be sure to visit LearningGrids for lots of other SEL Clicker Sets.

Have you met the Alphabet Animals, Clicker’s newest characters on LearningGrids? These colourful creatures have been designed to help children learn the letters of the alphabet, develop an understanding of alliteration, and explore the initial sounds in words.

In Alphabet Animals – Read a Book, learners are introduced to Annie ant, Desmond dolphin, Gary goose and the other 23 characters. Additional Connect and Custom Sets, including Alphabet Animals – Who Can and Alphabet Animals – Presents, start to develop children’s ability to distinguish between different initial sounds in words.

Each animal character, such as Benny badger, also has their own book so that your class can find out what the animal likes, has and can do. All the Clicker Books have recorded speech and are supported by speaking and writing activities to explore the particular letter/sound and to help write alliterative sentences.

Visit LearningGrids to find the full range of Alphabet Animal resources. And let these fun Clicker characters give your learners a strong foundation for reading and writing!

K-W-L charts are a great way to engage pupils in a new topic – helping them to recall knowledge, develop a purpose for learning, and track their progress. These graphic organisers are designed to highlight what you know (K), want to know (W), and have learned (L).

We’ve recently added a K-W-L chart on LearningGrids. The Clicker Board can be used effectively by individuals or groups on a computer or with an interactive whiteboard. The chart can also be printed out for use away from the computer.

Use the first column to assess or activate pupils’ prior knowledge. In the second column, get the pupils to plan their learning by generating a series of questions about the topic. Pupils then use the final column to summarise their learning. The first and last columns can be helpful for retrieval practice – trying to recall information without it in front of you to cement long-term learning.

The K-W-L chart can be used to support research on any topic, in any curriculum area. It could also be used when starting a new book or chapter to encourage more engagement with the reading. Or how about using it before and after going on a field trip to ensure that pupils are focused and make the most out of the educational visit?

Be sure to visit LearningGrids for other graphic organisers and planners.

Edutopia recently highlighted the 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2020, and one of them jumped out at me because the findings were a great match for Clicker’s multisensory approach to learning. The study explored how using pictures and gestures helps children learn a language and greatly improves their ability to remember new words months later.

The ease with which you can include pictures, along with speech support, in Clicker activities makes it perfect for learning new words or concepts, particularly for English language learners. Using Clicker Books, for example, to creating a simple talking picture dictionary or virtual flashcards is a quick way to introduce target vocabulary to your learners. Children can see and listen to the word, and they have the picture to reinforce the meaning.

By adding a record button to the page, English language learners or early readers can record themselves saying the word as well. They can re-record as many times as they like, giving them time to develop their confidence in a positive, non-threatening environment.

To further personalise the book and reinforce the picture-based learning, you could add an additional picture cell to the page. Using the integrated painting tools, children create their own picture to represent the word. They can even use the letter stamps to practice writing the word.

Did you know that you can also record videos directly into a Clicker Book? This is a perfect way to incorporate the gesture-enriched learning described in the study. Get children to add short videos acting out the words.

Other Clicker activities such as Matching, Talk, and Connect Sets can be used effectively to assess children’s new word knowledge. You’ll find hundreds of these types of resources and Clicker Books on LearningGrids; or see our tutorials to create your own sets which include multisensory strategies for language learning.

In the Story Corner section of LearningGrids, there is now a new area for Myths and Legends, and we have recently published a series of Clicker resources focused on the stories of Theseus and the Minotaur, The Weaving Contest and King Midas and the Golden Touch. In this short video, we’ll introduce you to the stories and some of the fantastic activities to use alongside the books.

Be sure to visit LearningGrids for all of the Greek Myths resources and lots of other Clicker stories!

Which animal do you think is the best? The lion with its beautiful mane? The hippo with its enormous mouth? Or how about the giraffe with its long neck?

With our latest group of sets about The Best Beast, children can read and write about the story of a group of animals arguing about who is the best. With two versions of the reading book and writing activities that range from sentence building to word banks to support children writing their own version of the story, the resources can be used by younger learners of all abilities. Using the Best Beast – Mind Maps Clicker Board, children can reflect on the features of the beast imagined in the story and then create their own “best beast”.

Be sure to visit the Story Corner on LearningGrids for many other fun Clicker stories.

Fables are often a great way to explore how stories can be passed along from generation to generation, and that they often teach a moral lesson.

Our recently published family of Clicker sets brings Aesop’s Wind and the Sun fable to life with wonderful illustrations and accessible text. Children can read the story and then retell the fable by recording with the Talk Set, or using the Sentence Set, Connect Set or Word Bank, depending on the level of writing support they need. There is also a Matching Set to help children become familiar with keywords from the story.

Once children are familiar with this fable and others, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, they can use the Fable Writing Frame to write their own.

Be sure to visit the Story Corner on LearningGrids for many other Clicker stories.