Bev Humphrey​
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Word Dance 

6/6/2016

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I had fun afternoon yesterday playing with the new Word Dance app that had only just been released. Word Dance allows you to create word clouds in a good choice of shapes, or to fit a photo of your own, that you can then string together into an animation with added music. The finished video saves to your camera roll for use elsewhere. Your text can be typed in or you can use tweets from a particular Twitter user name or hashtag.You have the facility to change fonts, colours, set transition duration etc and the music is added from the music you have purchased from the iTunes store that is downloaded to the device in the Music app. The app is easy to navigate your way around and gives impressive results without too much work. At £2.29 the app is reasonably priced , I  foresee I will be using it often!
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Christmas Challenge Dec 14 

16/12/2015

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A Charlie Brown Christmas is an app that tells a classic Peanuts tale that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It's nearly Christmas but Charlie Brown isn't feeling festive, in fact he is depressed and trying to work out what the real meaning of the season is - the rampant commercialism definitely isn't it. By the end of the story Linus and Charlie Brown's other friends have rallied round and helped to cheer him up. The app is well thought out and has interactivity on each page with a few games along the way, including playing carols on a piano. I was reminded of the story by an article written by author Matt Haig about how difficult some people find the festive season, it's very thought provoking & sensitively written, and I'd like to send anyone feeling like Charlie Brown this Christmas a warm virtual hug. 
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Christmas Challenge Dec 11

11/12/2015

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I've read another Christmas story app today, Heckerty's Christmas. The Heckerty range of apps are particularly good for Dyslexics as they are written in a very clear font and the pages are cream and easy on the eye. If you choose the read aloud function each sentence is highlighted as you hear it and the voices are good fun. The story emphasises the fact that we are all individuals and fine just the way we are and reinforces the message of Christmas being a time of giving. The colouring in pages provided are enjoyable too and being able to request a signed picture for framing is a lovely added bonus.
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Christmas Challenge Dec 2

3/12/2015

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This December I have set myself a Christmas Challenge - each day I will read a festive tale and blog about it. Some of the reviews will be of books, some will be apps but I intend to upload one every single day :-)

This morning I've read one of my favourite types of book - a picture book, Badger's Grumpy Christmas by Paul Bright illustrated by Jane Chapman. Poor badger just wants to go to sleep but the other animals want him to join in the Christmas festivities and keep knocking on his door. Badger gets grumpier and grumpier and refuses to help when poor mole gets stuck at the top of the tree. He finally manages to get to sleep only to have a nightmare about his friend up the tree and he wakes up, grabs the ladder and rushes off to rescue mole. All of the animals forgive Badger his earlier surliness and he hosts a wonderful festive party. I read the book via the Me Books app  and it's wonderfully narrated by Will Huggins who voices Badger perfectly. I loved all the different animal voices, especially the scouser rabbit! Beautifully coloured illustrations throughout the book keep your eyes happy and this gentle tale would be perfect to share with little ones on a cold winter's night.
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Christmas Challenge Dec 1

1/12/2015

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This December I have set myself a Christmas Challenge - each day I will read a festive tale and blog about it. Some of the reviews will be of books, some will be apps but I intend to upload one every single day :-)


1st December
A Boy Called Christmas , Matt Haig , illustrated by Chris Mould
I've started off with a new story, read in one greedy gulp on the train to Newcastle. Nikolas is a lonely boy
until circumstances force him to leave his home and travel to try and find his father. He makes friends with a mouse and a reindeer and is thrown into jail by elves before redeeming himself to them and being renamed Father Christmas. This is an utterly delightful reading experience, from the glitter on the cover and the humour within to the amusing, clever illustrations. It would be a perfect book for a December daily read aloud session with kids and they would be spellbound I'm sure. I loved the description of crackers - "Better than exploding trolls heads!" - given by the truth fairy! I will be treasuring my copy and hoping to get it signed by both the author and the illustrator at some point.
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Dyslexia Awareness Week 5 - 11 October

7/10/2015

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This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week and there are some great resources on the British Dyslexia Association website including posters and resource packs full of information and suggestions. Something I had been previously unaware of is the DAW Awards - you can nominate a child, young person. adult or teacher for an award, I'm sure there must be many inspiring people out there that haven't yet been nominated and the awards are presented on November 27th. 
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​I have blogged about apps for Dyslexia before but  publisher Barrington Stoke have released a new app this week called Tints that has been extremely well thought out and deserves praise. The publisher's extensive experience in producing resources for Dyslexic youngsters shows and the app is smoothly functional as well as being aesthetically pleasing. You can choose from 5 soft colour backgrounds to make reading on a tablet more comfortable and there is a very useful ruler function included that will help readers focus on the text a little at a time. Looking forward to seeing a wider range of books available via the app but this is a great addition to the wonderful library of books published by Barrington Stoke. 

A function of the iPad that is not always well known can make web surfing easier for Dyslexics, Reader mode. When browsing a website or an article online if you look to the left side of the address bar often a symbol comprising of several horizontal lines appears. Tapping on this brings up a clearer version of the page with just the relevant text and images without any of the other digital noise (ads etc) that are usually there. Handy for those of us that are easily distracted too!

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    My blog is a collection of thoughts and I hope you will learn something about me from the ramblings as well as finding some useful links. I'm Bev Humphrey and I'm a Literacy, School Libraries and Technology Consultant. I am self employed so views expressed are solely my own.

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Literacy, School Libraries & Technology Consultant
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