Curious Words - Combining PE with Literacy

Today I worked with a mixed Reception/Year 1 class and used the app Curious Words to combine some Literacy, Dance and ICT.

The app - Curious Words - encourages children to record one second videos based on the word that appears on the screen. The children then build up a number of videos into a short film that is then shared to the camera roll. It is a simple and straightforward app that really challenged children to think creatively through 'interpretive' dance.


After demonstrating the app, the children were put in groups of three to record their own film within the app. I demonstrated how they could use their bodies through dance, shapes and drama to record the video for each word. It was great to see children eagerly trying to decode and read the words leading into carefully planning and choreographing a short video to go with the word. They could change the word if they were really struggling and they are able to add a filter onto the video if they wanted.

It was a challenge for some of the class to hold the iPad still while filming but it was good practise for what they will do further on in school.







I could easily repeat this activity with KS2 children with the hope they would be able to stretch themselves further with the videos they create for the words. Here are some examples of the videos RY1 created -


If your school has iPads and want creative and innovative ideas for how to use technology to enhance learning, Mr P can help and provides INSET and CPD for schools. As a REAL teacher still working in school, he shares tried and tested ideas that WORK straight from the classroom. 

Comments

  1. Juliet Robertson19 March 2015 at 18:22

    By chance I was using this very app to do a digital scavenger hunt in a botanic garden. Great to see a different approach - and such an effective one. As my tech skills aren't great I wasn't sure how to upload the video to a shared platform. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks - Juliet

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown24 March 2015 at 16:33

    Hi!! We are a group of Spanish students which are in Primary Education Degree.
    From my point of view, new technologies(such as iPads ) are a good option for introducing in the classroom because it is a new way to teach in which students can visualize the things that they learn and understand the contents more easily. In addition they can improve their creativity and imagination. As we can see in your post, the activity that you purpose is a good idea for developing the things that I have said before and it is a way for introducing the ICT on the classroom, something that is very important in actual societies.
    Regards.
    BusyBees

    ReplyDelete

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