Clicker Writer vs StepsWeb

Develop students’ writing skills and build struggling writers’ confidence with Clicker Writer - the writing tool that provides differentiated support for students of all abilities. Continuously developed by Crick Software for 25 years, the Clicker product range is used in thousands of schools around the world. THE WRITING TOOL FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Clicker Writer is designed for students aged 5-11 of all abilities. It incorporates all the extensive support features from the award-winning apps Clicker Sentences, Clicker Connect and Clicker Docs (and more, too), all within a single app. REVIEW WRITING WITH CLEAR SPEECH Students use the child-friendly keyboard to type into the simple word processor, and a range of speech options encourages them to review what they have written. This helps students to find and correct errors for themselves, enabling them to become more independent writers. BUILD WRITING CONFIDENCE WITH CLICKER GRIDS Clicker Grids provide students with point and click access to whole words and phrases. Beginner writers build sentences word-by-word, while developing writers use topic-based word banks to complement their keyboard writing. Browse LearningGrids directly from the app to access hundreds of free sets of Clicker Grids on a wide range of topics - or use the built-in editor to create your own in seconds! USE SYMBOLS AND PICTURES FOR EXTRA SUPPORT Clicker Writer’s Picturize tool makes it easy to add symbols or pictures to support understanding and writing across Clicker Grids, the spell checker, the word predictor, and your document. It includes 10,000 Widgit symbols and 4,500 curriculum pictures, and you can also add your own images. DEVELOP VOCABULARY AND SPELLING WITH WORD PREDICTION The intelligent word predictor suggests words that fit the context of students’ writing. The Predictor can be customized according to reading level, helping students use good vocabulary and create flowing text with accurate spelling. CHECK WORDS BEFORE THEY ARE USED Learners can listen to words before they write them, helping them to find the word they want and achieve writing success. Any word in a Clicker Grid or the Predictor can be heard before it is used by using our unique Sound Shift tool. ADD VOICE NOTES Voice Notes are a simple yet highly effective way for students to add their own prompts, so they don’t forget their train of thought – add them to the document at any time. WRITING TO BE PROUD OF The child-friendly Sassoon font included in the app makes Clicker documents look great. Save and print your documents directly on your device, or share them with Clicker 8 on your PC or Mac via Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive. Whatever your students’ current level, you’ll watch their confidence grow and their motivation soar as they experience writing success! ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL To make access easier for those with physical challenges, the unique SuperKeys option groups the letter keys into clusters, creating just six large areas to target. Just select the cluster containing the letter you want, and then choose the letter in the enlarged cluster. ORGANIZE IDEAS WITH CLICKER BOARD Organizing ideas is a vital first step in the writing process, and one that many learners struggle with. Clicker Board is a child-friendly mind mapping area that makes it easy to capture and organize thoughts using words, Voice Notes, and pictures. Clicker Boards take seconds to create, and you’ll find hundreds of free, ready-made boards on all kinds of curriculum topics in LearningGrids, available directly from the app.

StepsWeb is a web-based literacy software programme for learners of all ages from 6 years to adult. It covers all key aspects of literacy and language development and covers the processing skills involved in literacy as well as the ‘knowledge’ aspects. StepsWeb provides a structured, cumulative approach to literacy, which encompasses and develops the five key elements often referred to as the Five Big Ideas in Beginning Reading (USA National Reading Pane, 2000). These are: phonological awareness, phonic knowledge, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. StepsWeb is a well-designed computer programme which can reinforce many of the core foundation skills and knowledge. It is intended to be supplemented with ‘real book’ reading, discussion, direct instruction and opportunities for the learner’s own ideas to be expressed (both verbally and in written form). As such, supporting resources such as workbooks are also available. StepsWeb provides a considerable amount of additional reinforcement which learners need to develop true automaticity. This is done in a structured and cumulative fashion, but still in a way which provides variety and enjoyment.