REVIEW

VERDICT:JOIN THE CLUB

Bug Club deserves gushing praisefor its design and innovation. This is aprogramme destined to lead the marketand transform the way we teach readingfrom Reception to Y2. It will help childrenget the best possible start in their readingjourney and enjoy page after page ofreading success. This resource will makeyou glad you became a teacher and ifyou aren’t teaching Reception, Y1 or Y2,you’ll wish you were. It’s not cheap, butyou get what you pay forand this would representa canny investment. Visitthe Bug Club website andsign up for a ‘webinar’ tofind out more.

95

Contact:www.bugclub.co.ukReviewed by John Dabell

Teaching computer savvy children to valuereading as an activity, to find pleasure inbooks of all kinds and become real readers

is crucial but far from easy, but I think I knowwhere to start. Bug Club from Pearson is awhole-school, phonically-based 24/7 readingprogramme which connects online eBooks withprinted books to teach and inspire children toread. It’s easily the best reading programme I’veseen in 15 years of teaching and the perfectmarriage of print and digital resources.

I accessed the free 90-day trial at the BugClub website. This is a no holds barred full accessoffer, so pass the word and make the most of it.The Pupil Area of the Bug Club is very easy touse. In ‘My Books’ pupils can select an eBookthey want to read or have read to them. Somepages in the books contain hotspots which linkto questions which children answer to earnpoints. This is a nice feature as it gives children anincentive to read with a purpose. This alsodoubles up for assessing children’scomprehension. Children can zoom-in on thewords and pictures for closer inspection and dipinto another book if they choose.

The accompanying hard copy books containbefore and during tips for assessing

understanding, checkingvocabulary and reading the story.There are also after reading ideasand follow-up activities to consider.The books come as colour-coded bandsfrom Reception to Y2, and there arestacks of phonic phase andreading recovery titles to choosefrom – a mixture of fiction andnon-fiction titles with over 200 books thoroughlyand appropriately graded. With big names suchas Wallace and Gromit, Dr Who and AngelinaBallerina on board, the odds of engagement arestacked in our favour.

The Teacher’s Area is similarlysimple to use and comes withextra annotation tools for highlighting,writing and, in some cases, editing text on-screen. These can’t be saved, but are useful tohave. Tracking and assessment has never beeneasier. There are quiz questions linked toAssessment Focuses which feed directly intoready-made reports, levelling guidance chartswhich allow you to use specific titles asbenchmark books for one-to one reading andguided reading cards for structuring lessons. At aglance you can get an idea of pupil strengths andweaknesses. Real-time parental reports can beprinted off for meetingsabout pupil progress.The Teacher’s sectioncontains an excellentfacility for creatingand managingclasses and groupsand a facility forsearching andallocating books.

PearsonBug Club

Teaching Tools comprise a range of pupilgames, a magnetic alphabet board, teachingguides, photocopy templates and graphemes.The lessons contain video clips linked to the BBCto practise sounds, and the writing tools aresuperb for practising letter formation. TheTeaching and Assessment guides are written byJohnston and Watson, so we’re in safe hands.

I do have a couple of bugbears with BugClub. The eBooks can be read to the children atthe click of a button, but it would have beengreat to see individual words highlighted as theywere read. Also, the magnetic board in thewhole class teaching software section might notsuit children with visual learning impairments,and the letters on the magnetic board cannotchange size or colour.

Review p95 qx 9/11/10 2:24 pm Page 1