Supporting emergent writers in KS2
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Recently, I had two customers from two different schools book a customer care meeting with the exact same query in mind:
“I’m teaching in KS2, I have a child who is working well below age-related expectations. We have a Clicker subscription but I’m not sure how it can help this pupil!”
Both teachers described a child in their class with a complex profile. They were working in a Y5 classroom but couldn't access the curriculum independently, still working in the very early stages of writing. They’d both opened a Sentence Set from LearningGrids and found the pupil was unable to access it without support. One teacher said, “I know Crick Software pride themselves on the huge range of resources for all abilities. I know I must be missing something!”
Both teachers left their meeting feeling positive about next steps and being able to provide the right level of support for their learners. So, what did I show them and how can Clicker support pupils who aren’t working at age related expectations?
Editing a Sentence Set
As both teachers had mentioned Sentence Sets specifically, we started by looking at how to make this resource more supportive. One of the main issues they’re facing is that the pupils they’re working with are unable to decode vocabulary independently. So, I started by showing them how pupils can listen to any word read aloud using either right-click or SoundShift. This is great for encouraging learners’ independence and providing that extra layer of support.
Next, we talked about how these pupils weren’t yet confident in understanding the structure of a sentence. This made it tricky for them to attempt to build a simple sentence. To support emergent writers, I recommended turning on Guided Order in Edit View. This can be done for any Sentence Set, whether you’re using a ready-made resource from LearningGrids, or you’ve created your own. Guided Order guides learners through the sentence word by word. It only allows them to select the correct word, and add the punctuation at the end. Once the sentence is completed with punctuation, Clicker reads it back to them so they can hear a clear language model of a cohesive sentence. Sentence Sets typically contain several grids, meaning children can build up a meaningful piece of writing one sentence at a time.
Both teachers were excited about this feature and the level of autonomy it opened up for their pupils. We went on to explore how you can also edit the text, colours and picture support within any writing grid, making it bespoke to individual learners’ needs. Learn more about this in our create and edit a Sentence Set tutorial.
Sorting activities
Next, the teachers asked if there were any other activities in Clicker that these learners could access independently. So, we looked at how you can create a sorting activity using a Clicker Board.
These activities are simple to use and really intuitive for children to access independently. They just need to click and drag an image into the correct place. There is a selection of ready-made sorting resources available in LearningGrids. It’s also really easy to create your own linked to your class topics or individual pupils’ targets.
They lend themselves to activities across the curriculum (I particularly like them for maths and science!) and can be as simple or complex as you need. They can include a combination of pictures, symbols and text and you can even add Voice Notes into a sorting activity, allowing learners to talk through their ideas rather than writing if needed.
Learners could be working on a phonics sorting activity, a Venn diagram linked to animals or materials, or maybe a shape sorting task in maths. I recently ran a mini-webinar talking through how to create a sorting activity from scratch, you can watch the recording here.
Speaking and listening activities
As well as writing support, we also discussed how Clicker can support children with their speaking and listening skills, especially when it comes to learning and consolidating new vocabulary, and orally rehearsing sentences.
I demonstrated how Talk Sets utilise the Voice Note tool and enable learners to talk about a topic or concept, or to rehearse vocabulary. They are particularly powerful for those learners who have lots of great knowledge verbally, but struggle to get those ideas down on paper due to the mechanics of writing.
Talk Sets are another flexible resource within Clicker. Some learners might use them as a rehearsal ahead of a piece of writing, or they could be a final piece of work for others. They can be utilised for simple words, or more complex vocabulary pupils are going to be encountering in a new topic or text. They can even be used to orally retell a story or recount a process!
Speech supported books
Finally, we looked at how Clicker Books can allow children who are working below age related expectations to access text independently. Clicker Books are on-screen, speech-supported books that come with varying levels of complexity and are perfect for using across the curriculum. They can incorporate text, audio notes, pictures and even video!
On each page, learners can choose to listen to the text read aloud, so they can access the information independently and listen back as often as they need. This is great for providing an extra layer of support across different subjects. Perhaps you have a chapter of your class text added to a Clicker Book, maybe some information on your Geography topic so learners can do some independent research, or the steps for your next Science investigation.
A real benefit of Clicker Books is that there are also linked activities within LearningGrids. Learners can go from reading about a topic, to talking about the same topic in a Talk Set, then writing about it using a writing grid (maybe a Sentence Set in Guided Order!). These linked resources keep the text and images consistent, making it really simple for pupils to transition between activities.
For more information on how Clicker Books link to the different scaffolded writing frames, read this blog post.
Conclusion
This is just a snippet of ways you might use Clicker with KS2 children who are working below or working towards age related expectations. Every learner is different, but hopefully this blog post has inspired some ideas for new ways you might use Clicker with your pupils!
Clicker is a really flexible tool. There are so many resources available that can be used in lots of different ways, and we completely understand how it can be tricky to know where to start, especially when faced with a brand-new piece of software!
Our Customer Experience team are all ex-teachers. We’re more than happy to chat with you about how to get the most out of Clicker with specific pupils. If you have a Clicker subscription, you can book a customer care meeting with us.
To learn more about how Clicker can support your pupils, read these blog posts:
