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Info Exchange Magazine
Apps Alert & Sensory Surprises
No. 60 – January 2016
___________________________________________________________________
Apps are described as Free or Lite indicates that the app is free as of time of locating
it for the newsletter. Some apps may be for Android devices, as well as for iPads.
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Beginning to Play Simple Games
Using the iPad or Tablet
A selection of games aimed at an early level of
thinking and problem solving.
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Which Go Together? ABA
This app introduces association and simple problem solving. It offers
visual discrimination, the understanding of different objects and events
and the experience of beginning to reason. There are 120 concrete,
colourful iphotos which show 4 objects at a time. The learner is asked
to identify the one that does not belong. There is verbal praise(USA)to
reward an appropriate response.
Baby Finger
The Baby Finger app is your fingers best friend. Every tap of a finger
will bring a surprise! Excellent for learning just to tap, tap, tap with
vivid rewards. It progresses on to numbers, shapes, objects and the
alphabet.
Which Do Not Belong? ABA
‘Which Does Not Belong’ teaches the learner to discriminate which
items do not belong in a group. It also introduces the negative form ‘not’
one of the first steps in learning to reason. The learner is shown four
objects at a time and asked to identify the one that does not belong.
Verbal praise (USA) reward the right answer.
My First Words ABA
My First Words App views flash cards of some common first words as
well as a matching game for pictures and words. The flash cards now have
audio(USA).
Kids Mode
This app is all singing and all dancing, covering a wide age range from 2
to 8 years old with fun, educational videos. The app claims to adapt to
the age of the child, so the videos that are just right for what they are
learning in school(USA). The videos have been screened by experts and
selected for their safety and age-appropriateness. There is also access
to the art studio to draw, colour, and be creative.
The videos are classified by the experts:
2 years - learn about colours, shapes, animals, and much more.
3 years - familiarise with letters and numbers, and enjoy countless stories and songs.
4 years - practice counting and sounding out letters with fun sing-a-long videos.
5 year olds-develop early addition, subtraction, and reading comprehension skills.
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6 year olds - enjoy math and grammar videos, explore science ideas like osmosis and
experimentation, be inspired by LEGO videos to build and create.
7 year olds - learn about multiplication and division, endangered species, sneezing baby
pandas, and much more.
8+ year olds - learn about the presidents(USA), the periodic elements, and much more
I Play and Sing
An all-in-one interactive application aimed at early learning skills. The
app uses a bright, colourful learning and activity zone. The game
concentrates on early learning development and ties into early years’
curriculum with touch screen games and voice. The user receives a
happy-face reward for correct answers and a sad-face for wrong
answers. Collect five happy faces and get a star!
Pre-K Letters and Numbers
BrightStartApps is an interactive learning system which ‘teaches children
letters, words, numbers and phonics following government curricula
adopted in UK, US and Canada from pre-K to grade 5.' Cartoon figures
guide through the letters, numbers and phonics experience with clear
instructions, applause for success and "Uh-oh" for mistakes. Key features
include individual user setup (optional) with an online child performance Report Card
(optional). Have a look at the website www.brightstartapps.com.
Clean Up Category Sorting
This app is visually very clear. Three containers appear at the bottom of
the screen and an object is above them. Drag the object to the right
container and you get a star and a female (USA) comment if it is the right
container or not. It is unambiguous as there is no visual clutter.
Arthur and Charles Present Create and Play
A funny, happy app for the whole family! Let your imagination run wild
creating unique cartoon faces from over 400 billion possible
combinations. Use your wild, whacky, beautiful creations in the memory
challenging Card Match, the fast paced Match 3, or test your powers of
observation in the Patterns games. Up to four people can use the game
on each device, and there are 178 individual pieces to choose from in the Face Creator, so
there is always a different character to create.
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Eric Carles My First App
This is a fun educational app with three matching games based on ‘My
Very First Books’ by Eric Carle. He is the writer of ‘The Very Hungry
Caterpillar’ who ate his way through a week of food! The app contains 3
levels of game play: Easy ages 1+ Medium ages 2+ Hard ages 3+
In easy mode the screen is divided in half - just like the original books -
and the learner can swipe the lower and upper halves to find a match (for example, the colour
yellow with a picture of lemons). The medium and hard modes are based on the game of memory.
Players are presented with a set of cards face down and must find a pair by flipping over cards
and identifying their matches or their related concepts.
Baby First Look
Baby First Look was created by a mother after noticing a lack of apps kept
her newborn daughter’s attention. (I wonder why she was using an iPad with
a newly born baby?). It is aimed developmentally at 0-2 years. The app is
composed of black and white picture slideshows and stories accompanied by
specially written songs or mother’s heartbeat.
Toddler Counting
A simple app to encourage the beginner at counting. Each object greys out
on first touch, to teach the learner not to count the same object twice.
Numbers are counted out loud as counting takes place. Digits are displayed
along with the sounds, to also teach reading.
Puzzles n Colouring Sea Life
Jump into the water and explore the world under
the sea. A smiling crab, a wandering fish, a jumping
dolphin and more wait in this puzzle app that
doubles as a colouring book. There are different
levels, easy medium and hard for the puzzle which
has background music. Good bright contrast colours and the image of the
finished puzzle can be seen, helping the beginner. The full version has more puzzles than the
lite version.
Farm Jigsaw Puzzles 123 Free
This is an excellent puzzle app. It was developed to suit the tastes and
learning abilities of young children from ages 1 to 6. It starts with
simple 2-piece puzzles and gradually moves up the levels to master the
9-piece puzzles.
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When one puzzle is completed, the name of the animal is spelled on the screen and read out
loud. Watch the farm come to life with colour when all the puzzles are completed. Animals
and animations keep interest going in completing the puzzle.
Fuzzle Pop
Fuzzle Pop is a colour matching game. Fuzzles keep raining everywhere and
have to be stopped. Match three fuzzles in the same colour and they will
pop and explode. Collect 3 and collect a super star.
Flip Ocean
The player has to find the matching pairs of different fish images before time
runs out. Clear images with sound effects.
My Rag Doll 3D
This 3D game comes recommended by my 11-year-old grandson and his
friends, so it is gruesome! Simply, there is a jointed man who can be
picked up and thrown around various scenes, until bits of him fall off. He
grunts and groans very realistically and I think I have said enough!
Paper Toss - ad Free
Flick the piece of crumpled paper into the waste paper basket. A fan
can be used to make the throw harder to judge. Perfect for eye hand
coordination. Definitely for staff room fun!
Manic Martians
Quickly bop as many Martians as you can, but be careful not to hit any
astronauts by mistake. You need to hit 10 Martians to progress to the
next level.
LEKAR This is an app from IKEA, the Swedish store, which encourages parents
and children to play more together. LEKAR, meaning “games” in Swedish,
provides a variety of games from around the world, designed for parents
to play actively with their children. They encourage active play with a
range of old fashioned games such as charades, musical chairs, follow
the leader and scavenger hunt. Good for group activities.
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Baby Memory
A memory game for early development. Press two doors to reveal two
coloured objects that match each other. The objects are abstract. No
options or complications, just start the game and start playing.
Splode
Ranked number 1 in 12 countries. Very simple level with little fuzzy
glowing splode creatures to track and touch. They go plop when you
touch them. A very first level of gaming. There are levels of complexity
with an electronic noise background producing space-like sounds.
Grave Yard Shift
This is more difficult but lots of fun. Graveyard Shift is a physics puzzler with funny bones
and rag doll skeleton twist. All skeletons have jumped out of their coffins at the ring of
midnight and as the cemetery keeper, the player is asked to get them back in there. Get the
skeletons back into their coffins before the break of dawn using the wacky environments.
Remove various types of blocks by tapping them, triggering chain reactions and hopefully
sending the skeleton into his casket. I am still trying to do this …
Backyard Zoo Dancing Teddy
A selection of little games with teddies as the stars. I like the one called
smash teddy, as a little teddy pops out of the flowers then tap quickly to
gain a point when he explodes!
Abby Robots Maker Free HD Lite
This is a construction app where the player chooses pieces of robot to
design a robot for themselves. A set of drawers appear when you select a
body part such as legs or head. There are many space noises and the
robots also perform a variety of actions. Really addictive and creative too.
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Toca Boo
The simplest of apps - full of boos!
Lots of scary music and quirky family characters belonging
to a character called Bonnie, trying to cause an uproar!
Kido Magic Finger (Free at the moment)
Kido Magic Finger is a creative app that seems unique in the
market. The app focuses on both letters and animals using
little doodle animals that are created from a fingerprint. The
‘tap to play’ format enables easy access to the learner. In
addition to teaching animal names, the app can also reinforce
the habitat animals are from and the initial letter of each of
the animals.
Gameplay is very simple. The user turns the channels on a TV screen to select the habitat they
want to explore. Then it's simply tap to play. Children explore each habitat by tapping on the
screen with one or two fingers.
Different fingerprint animals appear
randomly depending on how many
fingers are used to touch the
screen. Each animal has a little
animation that leads to the first
letter of the name being shown on
screen. Letters and animal names
are reinforced with a childlike
narrator.
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Off the Rails
This app made me feel very queasy and sick as I am not a fan
of roller coaster thrills! So take it from me, it is realistic!
Build your own roller coaster as you fly through the air,
Aargh!
Watch the YouTube short video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-GbPIn-CdI
Lazoo Squiggles Free
Squiggles! This is from the good developers of apps, Lazoo.
This free app includes an eBook features such as highlighted
words, interactions and a good story to tell. Record yourself
for listeners. There are 14 colourful pages to add “squiggles”
from a well-stocked art tray. Press play in the top corner to
watch the whole picture animate and surprise. Really good and
at a simple level for all.
Have a look at this YouTube clip to
see James in full action (with dad
commenting and wanting to use it as
well!!). Excellent, great for pointy
finger mark making.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7UPyWm02g
Breathe Think and Do (Free)
This is from Sesame Street and encourages relaxation and
ordering of thoughts. Helpful to busy bees and to staff too!
Use it in conjunction with the belly breathe clip from
Sesame Street, fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZbzDOpylA
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Autism Discovery Tool
Explore the sensory world of autism and experience first-hand some of
the diversity found on the spectrum. The Autism Discovery Tool is an
immersive, play-based app where you freely explore the seven senses,
each sense showcasing four variations on a "typical" sensory experience.
Hidden tools can be discovered within each of the senses, providing
sensory strategies as you fill each sense's toolbox. Try your hand at mini-putt, make a
smoothie, sit in a classroom, or stand on a balance beam (to name a few) to better understand
some of the strengths and challenges faced by those on the autism spectrum. For example, the
vision tool gives simulations of how the world is seen through the eyes of some people with
autism. The smell shows how overpowering smells can be, ones we are not even aware are in the
room.
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Smart Apps for Kids
‘Smart apps for kids’ has a 10-minute video of the app - in
fact you see the whole app! Well, worth a look and may be
useful for inclusive settings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjpZq_wFFE0
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Info Exchange
Sensory Surprises
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Space Food for Astronauts
This is a nice mucky activity that links
into the theme of 'space' and the food
that the astronauts eat whilst in their
space rockets. Tim will be doing this!
You will need:
Boxes of instant milk pudding such
as angel delight (one between two
astronauts).
Milk-enough for the contents of the
packets (look at the method).
Zipper plastic bags (IKEA do
excellent ones).
Here is the activity:
Smell and taste the milk and pudding
mix.
Pour half the packet of mix into the
zipper bag.
Add half the quantity of milk.
Seal the bag really well.
Now squish and shake the bag until
the pudding thickens.
When it is thick, then carefully snip a
corner of the bag.
Now see who can suck the pudding out just like an astronaut.
Any left? Then squish out onto the table top and use fingers to whiz through the
pudding to make a Space picture!
Have a look at this cool snow dough found on the
imagination tree website at www.theimaginationtree.com.
All you need is:
Cornflour - 2 cups
Vegetable oil or baby oil (for a nice smell) - 1/3 to 1/2
cup
Silver glitter - 3 to 4 tablespoons
Then:
• Mix and play.
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• Pop in the fridge for a while so it is also cold to the touch.
• Add play snow animals
• Make a pile of snowballs
Talking Tom
Just like the app, this Talking Tom will repeat what you say
but can also make other noises by squeezing or petting him.
Activated by touching his head tummy or foot and coming with
a variety of 16 possible unique sounds Tom is the perfect
companion for any young child. His mouth moves whilst he
talks.
Argos
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2791599.htm
Talking Tom app – for iTunes and Android.
Remember you can adjust it to stop the violent bit!
Talking Ginger
Talking Ginger repeats everything you say with a funny voice.
You can pet his body or head to make him purr, poke his head,
tummy or feet and even grab his tail to hear up to 14 actual
sounds from the app.
www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2446758.htm
Talking Ginger App - available on iTunes and Android.
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Resources for Chinese New Year - 8 Feb 2016
The Year of the Monkey
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A Chinese Dragon made from threaded, coloured disposable cups and loads of
ribbons, silks and satin streamers. A rather nice mobile.
The old standby of handprints have been strung together for a long dragon mobile.
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A short film clip from YouTube, with distinct Chinese music and lots of red colours
and movement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQdRI8pWiw8
A wooden spoon dragon from Activity Village
Full, illustrated details on how to create this dragon can be found at:
www.activityvillage.co.uk/wooden-spoon-chinese-dragon-puppet
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Instant Chinese Food!
Noodles!
Fortune cookies
(put in your own captions)
Chinese gooseberries
Games
Chinese Whispers
Try with a cardboard tube to concentrate
the sounds.
Chinese Chopsticks
Try using chopsticks with rice, noodles,
pom-poms or marbles!
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Beginning to Use Code
Information for more
advanced learners
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Beginning to Use Code
ScratchJr FREE
This is a hands-on learning environment that enables young
children (ages 5 to 7) to learn the basics of programming with a
visual interface. It encourages and builds a host of learning skills,
including problem-solving, organisation, sequencing, and self-
expression, in addition to building creativity. It would be suitable
for special learners who have a grasp of literacy, perhaps using
symbols as well.
Features include:
Interactive, hands-on design.
offers story-telling, game play, and more.
Graphic interface invites experiments and intuitive play.
28 backgrounds, dozens of characters and a large collection of objects.
Dozens of possible actions and interactions to make an endless array of projects.
This is what the impressive designers say (Tufts & MIT universities)
What is ScratchJr?
ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to
create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming
blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the
paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves -- then use the
programming blocks to make their characters come to life.
ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (http://scratch.mit.edu),
used by millions of young people (ages 8 and up) around the world. In creating ScratchJr, we
redesigned the interface and programming language to make them developmentally appropriate
for younger children, carefully designing features to match young children's cognitive,
personal, social, and emotional development.
Why Did We Create ScratchJr?
Coding (or computer programming) is a new type of literacy. Just as writing helps you organise
your thinking and express your ideas, the same is true for coding. In the past, coding was seen
as too difficult for most people. But we think coding should be for everyone, just like writing.
As young children code with ScratchJr, they learn how to create and express themselves with
the computer, not just to interact with it. In the process, children learn to solve problems and
design projects, and they develop sequencing skills that are foundational for later academic
success. They also use math and language in a meaningful and motivating context, supporting
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the development of early childhood numeracy and literacy. With ScratchJr, children aren't
just learning to code, they are coding to learn.
ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets. For more
information about ScratchJr - See http://scratchjr.org.
The app comes with a series of tutorials on YouTube,
all free which is amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciWPaEgscr0
Ice Cube Painting
Materials:
Paper
Ice cubes
Powdered tempera paint
Flat box or large baking pan
How to ice paint:
Place a sheet of paper in the box or baking pan.
Sprinkle a little tempera powder on the paper.
Place the ice cube in the box and rotate the box to create a whirly painting.
If you like, substitute jelly crystals for the powdered tempera paint. There will be
a pleasing smell to the art.
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Found online
A potential framework for measuring the outcomes of intensive
interaction: Sarah’s story
Amandine Mouriere, Associate of the Intensive Interaction
Institute
Amandine did an MA in autism and used it to study the impact of intensive
interaction on a 10-year-old girl diagnosed with autism. She uses the excellent
materials from Sounds of Intent as part of this very interesting project.
Her main difficulty was analysing the data!
She needed a standardised tool,
She referred to Adam Ockelford’s ‘Sound of Intent (SOI)’ - Vicky, our music
teacher at Chailey, uses these.
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Amandine designed a FOCAL (Fundamentals of Communication, Assessment and
Learning)
RATIONALE
Pre-linguistic forms of communication, the non-verbals (eye contact, facial
expressions, gestures, body movements and vocalisations) Seigel-Causey, Guess
et all., 1989
Development is like a ‘web or network of knowledge’ (Neaum, 2010; p.42)
Breaking down the different medium children use can provide the potential to
highlight their strengths and difficulties
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3 modalities: rooted in the parent-infant interaction literature
Main pathways to communication (Hertenstein, 2002)
1. Vocal/Auditory: by 3 months of age infants begin using sounds for social interaction
purposes
2. Tactile/Haptic: major component in infant-caregiver interaction. Haptic perception: the
perception of objects using touch
3. Visual/Gestural: interrelated - the ability to use gaze and gestures tends to develop
side by side as a part of joint attention skills (Mundy, 2007)
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The Focal: Outline
3 dimensions
1. Reactive: correspond to the level of awareness in responding to communication
2. Proactive: causing, creating and controlling communication
3. Interactive: participating actively in communication with others
6 levels of abilities (level descriptors) ‘Ranging from the centre, with its focus on the self,
outwards to increasingly wider communities of others’ (Ockelford, 2013, P.132)
A case study: Sarah
Using II, Armandine collected data over a period of a year to compare changes in Sarah’s
communication.
Daily input, mainly with Armandine for the first 5 months, then with 2 other staff.
4 assessments
1. Baseline
2. +3 months
3. +5 months
4. +12 months
The results were not a teaching tool about what to do next, but rather information re what to
expect at a minute/minimal level.
Conclusion
FOCAL is a useful tool to highlight minute and subtle changes, small but essential developmental
steps
It is user-friendly
It provides a clear profile of an individual’s progress over time
It helps to promote the use of II
References
Hertenstein, M. 2002 Touch: its communicative functions in infancy. Human Development, 45 (1).
P.70-94
Mundy, P. 2007. Individual Differences and the Development of Joint Attention in Infancy. Child
Development, 78 (3). P.938-954
Neaum, S. 2010. Child development for Early Childhood Studies. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd
Ockelford, A. 2013. Music, Language and Autism. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Siegel-Causey, E., Guess, D. Paul H Brookes; Baltimore: 1989. Enhancing nonsymbolic
communication interactions among learners with severe disabilities.
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Environmental Print and Logographic
Reading
Reading Without Words
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Environmental Print and Logographic Reading
One of the key areas of reading for very special learners is their exposure to,
and understanding of, environmental print. Even though they cannot read printed
words, they can begin to understand their world through the media of
environmental print.
What Is Environmental Print?
Environmental print surrounds us in everyday life and offers information without
the need to be able to read in any great depth. It presents a constant barrage
of information that we may need to function in a particular environment. One
does not need to be able to formally read in order to read environmental print.
Case Study
As I sit here, I observe Thomas, six months old, who
is lying on a rug on the floor. Already he is exposed
to environmental print. The print that surrounds him
also gives information to those who interact with
him.
He is wearing a vest with a logo on and his size
range.
He has a bib that says “I love my Dad”.
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His striped sleep suit has Babar the elephant motif.
His disposable nappy has colourful ‘ABC’ motifs and arrows to indicate back
and front.
He reaches towards a Winnie the Pooh mobile, with a logo on.
There are characters, Tigger, Piglet, Winnie the Pooh on it too.
His bottle has raised lines and words on it to feel and explore.
Tom’s visual gaze is already absorbing all this environmental stimulating print as
he gazes around his surroundings.
Do this exercise yourself:
Sit still for 2 minutes.
Gaze around your immediate environment (including on your body).
Make a list of environmental print you are exposed to in that time — which
will probably be quite a lot!
Environmental print provides messages in many different ways, such as brand
names and their associated slogans:
CocaCola
Weetabix
Dyson
Ford
Fiat
Sainsbury's
Lucozade
The Mail
VW
Mars
Tesco
Sunday Times
Environmental print is also evident in
different media, such as:
newspapers
books
neon signs
cars
delivery vans
billboards
TV adverts
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Web
slogans
menus
shop fronts
magazines
beer mats
mugs
pop songs
e-text
computer font
graffiti
This blizzard of environmental print means that very young children still unable
to read in a conventional way, are able to pick out and recognise whole words that
are important to them, for example “Toys-R-Us” and “McDonalds” must be top
of the list for many!
Logograms
This whole word recognition is known as the logographic reading phase. This is a
key phase of emergent reading for very special learners, as it means they can
read their environment without formal reading skills.
Environmental print can be used as a reading activity in the community for life
skill reading and also can be presented in a school setting, provided it is in
context and referred to and explained in this context.
Here are some suggestions for searching for logograms or environmental print
in the community.
Go on a ‘print walk’ seek out print and photograph it.
road signs
Stop! Cross Now!
bus stops, train stops
restaurant names
logos on clothes in a sports shop
billboards
posters for cars (find logo on real
cars)
newspapers and comic names
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Back at school, explore and investigate environment print in the classroom,
office, and corridors.
Generalise environmental print in a library box of collected logograms seen on
real objects, including:
mugs with popular logos or brand names
latest craze, e.g. Pokemon, Frozen
menus from fast food joints
carrier bags with brand names
photos of posters seen in the community
miniature cars and trucks with logos
a box of groceries with brand names
sports programme logos, cartoon logos
videos of captions for soap operas, e.g. “Coronation Street”
and “Eastenders” with sound clues to the logogram
An awareness of conventional print also develops from
Environmental print. The environmental print raises awareness
that print can:
tell a story
give information
give instructions
store a memory
send messages
link to a life style
Knowledge of the use of environmental print can open up a range of reading
targets for understanding conventional print, including the following.
Environmental Print Targets
providing a degree of independence and choice in life,
increasing the ability to explore interesting objects and
artefacts relating to print,
developing interest in print and motivating exploration,
understanding the importance of print in everyday life and living,
becoming aware of print in the environment,
beginning social interactions using print,
making sense of the environment using print.
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For some pupils:
print gives useful information about the environment,
print leads to organic reading through the pupil’s own personal language,
needs, emotions and interests,
print is very meaningful.
For a few pupils:
print can extend to communication,
print can be sought and used in the environment.
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