What you get for your money is an impressively produced audio CD and CD-Rom, as well as a handbook of links across the curriculum from literacy to citizenship for Years 2-6, via music, science and geography, all based on the narrative poem Jack and the Beans Talk.
The CD-Rom provides an animated book, whiteboard activities and a bank of resources. The book can be used on standalone machines, as well as on an interactive whiteboard, and children can be read to or read the story themselves. Good animation, sound, rhyme, pace and graphics make for an engaging tale and the basis for masses of literacy activities.
Using this on an interactive whiteboard gives you access to 10 activities, all based on the poem. These are open activities; for instance, by showing a page at a time you can use the built-in tools to mask words and replace the rhymes, use the pen tool to circle letter strings or the spotlighter and reveal tools to discuss how words are constructed. Alternatively, you can have a page free of text and create your own version of the story, or one without colour or words, allowing a new story to be told. Other activities provide just the backgrounds and characters, or speech bubbles attached to the characters.
Older children can develop scriptwriting by masking out words in speech bubbles and writing new conversations, or working on or off the screen with a playscript scaffold. Other activities offer labelling, sequencing of events, instructions, alliteration and character passports, all supported by differentiated photocopiable worksheets.
The ideas in the handbook encourage teachers to integrate the themes into other areas, enhancing creativity and enjoyment. To help with this, the resource bank provides the tools with which to make your own whiteboard activities, displays, group and independent tasks, using the backgrounds, characters, objects from the tale and photographs of real runner beans, theatres and puppets.
The audio CD holds the author's introduction to this version of the classic fairytale, the story and the songs and instrumentals with which to create your very own Mini Bean Operetta, while dancing to the Bean Polka. This package could be dipped into for specific needs or as the basis for a term's work, but would work really well as a whole-school or key stage project.
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Contacts and prices
Jack and the Beans Talk
Shoo-fly Publishing
Tel: 0191 519 1800
www.shooflypublishing.co.uk
Price: £285 (site licence)
Requirements: SMART or Promethean whiteboards - other boards present 10 activities as PowerPoint documents, which you can use your whiteboard tools with in the normal way
Ages: 6-11
Ratings
Ease of use 5/5
Fitness for purpose 5/5
Value for money 5/5
Overall 5/5 |
