BlackCat launches new toolbox to introduce early years to ICT

BETT 2005 (Granada Learning, stand E40 / F40) – BlackCat is launching the second in its BETT Award-winning series of introductory ICT toolkits for Foundation Stage to Lower Key Stage 2 pupils (Levels A – B of the Scottish curriculum). Building on the success of the original program, Numbers, Words and Pictures 2 has been designed to give a bright and integrated introduction to ICT in the early years. It focuses on key ICT skills – data handling, graphs, art and turtle graphics – and can be run from a simple menu and set to the needs of individual pupils.  

Jenny Darby, primary publisher at Granada Learning, said: "The original Numbers, Words and Pictures was a winner for a number of reasons. Teachers liked the ease of installation, the customisable settings for individual learners and the availability of sample files to help pupils get started. They also liked the uncluttered and friendly interface with big, bold icons, and the way in which the different programs interacted with each other. In designing the new suite, we have built on the most popular aspects of the original program and have worked with teachers to deliver a new and improved product."

“The key new features in Numbers, Words and Pictures 2 are a greater focus on aspects of programs that proved popular in the first series, and an increase in starter topics and curriculum-related data sets. We also worked to extend the target usage at both the high and lower age groups so that the suite can be used from reception right through to Key Stage 1, enabling children to progress straight to the popular BlackCat Supertools suite. Another key difference is that we have brought the program up-to-date technically to meet with today's classroom networks and technical specifications,” continued Darby.   

 

The activities featured in Numbers, Words and Pictures 2 include:

Pick a Picture 2 – this covers the key concepts of data-handling; graph, search and sort data, with pre-provided topic based data sets to get started;

Counting Pictures 3 - the activity introduces pictograms and graphs with many pre-defined resources and topic-related datasets;

Painter 2 – this graphics program provides real crayon, spray and paint effects to emulate real drawing tools;

Turtle 2 – a first introduction to Logo allowing children to easily control an onscreen turtle. Includes fun turtle projects for pupils to complete;

Sort – this program introduces Venn and Carroll diagrams with pre-built databases;

Writer 2 – this introduction to word processing contains built in templates, word lists and image resources.

 

A single user licence for Numbers, Words and Pictures 2 costs £89. Group user packs start from £139.

 

  

 

 

 
 
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