Early level literacy and numeracy activity- Early spelling and counting

How to teach learners to spell and count using ScratchJr!

1. Select background for the picture

• Select icon in the middle at the top of the screen
• Select background named ‘River’. This back ground should appear on your page as following.

2. Select characters 

• Click the blue circle with the white cross on the left of your screen to select characters
• Once the characters appear, double click the ones you feel would suit
• For this particular activity however, select the pig, the dog, the bird and the duck. To select a character more than once return to the characters icon and click it again until you have 2 pigs, 3 birds, a dog and a duck
• Place them on the picture as they appear on the picture below

3. Spelling characters 

• To move each animal to show the learners what animal you would like to spell select a character using the bar down the left hand side of your screen
• Once a character is selected click the blue arrow on the icon bar at the bottom of your screen
• You must always start with the green flag to allow the movement to work
• Select the forward arrow to move the pigs and dog forward, you can move these forward as many times as you would like by clicking the number at the bottom and selecting a number using the key pad
• Select the up and down arrow to move the birds up and down like they’re flying and the duck like its swimming
• You must drag the arrow to the white bar at the bottom for the system to work.

This will allow learners to know exactly what character you would like them to spell without getting confused by the other characters in the picture.

4. Counting characters 

• To count the characters with ScratchJr repeat the same steps as the spelling to allow the children to identify what animals they are counting clearly

 

Watch this video to help your understanding of the programme! 

 

 

Why use ScratchJr?

ScratchJr is a useful tool to use in the classroom as learners will instantly become engaged in the software and will be willing to learn through the movements of the picture. By this lesson being numeracy and literacy based this ensures that the learners will be able to develop both skills within one lesson.  Another benefit of this programme is that it can be used in similar lessons and can be adapted to suit certain topics.