Having only
briefly used the Nintendo Wii for a starter activity in maths I could see, even
within that short amount of time, how engaged the children were. Therefore it
seemed sensible to pursue the use of the Wii and to give it much more air time.
After reading this blog I decided to use Wild Earth African Safari for our
upcoming Year 3 literacy unit Non-Chronological reports. The children had
already been learning how to make effective notes using books and videos so it
seemed logical to use a new, exciting stimulus for the children to apply their
newly learnt skills.
The
children were instantly engaged when they saw the Wii and couldn’t wait to get
started with the lesson. We had the two year 3 classes together (49 students)
who all sat with their literacy books ready to make notes. We discussed what
they would be making notes and explained that we would be choosing children who
are confident using the Wii to control the game whilst the others made notes.
The lower ability children were in two groups with a teaching assistant who
scribed their ideas into note format. In addition to this the teacher made
notes of key vocabulary on a portable whiteboard as they moved through the
game.
At
appropriate moments we paused the game to give the children time to collect and
organise their notes according to their sub-headings. This process continued
for two lessons and within that time the children produced at least two pages
of notes. The following lessons enabled the children to write their notes into
a non-chronological report so we explained that they were using their notes to
report of the African Serengeti where the game was set. This set a great
context for their learning and they were eager to share the facts they had
learnt. We noticed that the children were able to easily connect simple
sentences together using a range of connectives because of their detailed notes
for example ‘Elephants produced 330 pounds of dung a day however dung beetles
would then roll the dung into little balls.’ The children had the added bonus
of the visual stimuli which helped them with their pictures, diagrams and
captions.
These
are some photographs of the children’s note taking while watching the game and
the finished reports.
What a great start to using the Wii you and the children have had. It's so lovely when they engage instantly and are keen to write with lots of ideas isn't it.
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