RESEARCH - LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN

Interesting facts about how children develop their literacy skills - from birth ...

                              from www.firstyears.org

WEEK 6 - ANDY HAMILTON

Fantastic day! Andy is a very funny guy and very interesting to listen to. His knowledge is vast and and his career proved to be successful. Tasting session was great!

Here are some photos of him giving us lesson on edible flora.

RESEARCH - MORE ON TYPEFACE...

I have read very interesting article on this web pages: 


1.
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/06/effective-use-of-typography-in-applications-for-children-3.php titled: Effective Use of Typography in Applications for Children by Catalina Naranjo-Bock.
It highlights:
- tolerance toward reading and understanding text varies greatly, depending on the age of children and whether they are pre-readers, beginning readers, or readers with middling skills. In most cases, your use of text should be moderate unless you are designing specific areas of an application that need to accommodate large amounts of text.

- Most children learn to read by going letter by letter until they are able to make sense of an entire word. Therefore, it is important to choose a typeface with well-defined contours and generous space between letters, which gives a warm and inviting feeling.

Keep in mind:

- Follow principles of typography and visual communication design as any other design project. No matter how organic and playful the look of a user interface is, its layout should still have an underlying grid structure that displays information in the best way possible, carefully balancing all graphic elements.


- Consitency. Always remember to use layout patterns that achieve a good balance between text, color, and graphics in allsections of your applications, and use the same fonts throughout. And even if you are working with a very colorful and vibrant layout, the use of negative space, or whitespace, is as critical as ever.


 - Strive for legibility. Keep in mind that most children are not going to read entire paragraphs of text unless it is critical to their experience about reading or learning.


- children below 6 years of age can cope with only individual words or very short sentences.

2.

http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/4011/TypeKids.htm

"Most children learn to read going letter-by-letter, learning which sounds go with which shapes until they can blend the sounds together to form words. This is why new readers proceed slowly and sometimes struggle with pronunciation and syllable stress.

The efforts of new readers can be supported by making sure their texts use inviting, easy-to-read typefaces, set in the most readable way.

Text legibility
When selecting a typeface for a children’s text, look for a warm, friendly design with simple, generous letter shapes. The counters (the enclosed shapes within characters) should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular. Avoid non-traditional letterforms. A good example of a typeface with these attributes is Sassoon Primary, designed specifically for children.

Either sans or serif designs can be used as long as they avoid any extremes that could impair readability. For example:

• Don’t use condensed or expanded typefaces, which make character recognition more difficult
• Select a book or medium weight; stay away from hairline or very bold weights
• If you plan to use italics, make sure they too are easy-to-read, and not overly condensed or stylized

Both the serifed Bembo Infant and Plantin Infant, as well as Gill Sans Infant, a sans serif style, have been designed for children and exemplify the principles above.

Making the text readable
New readers have to learn to follow words from left to right and “jump” their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To make this easier, set the text large (14 to 24 point depending on the typeface and age of the reader) and with very generous leading (4 to 6 points).

Keep line lengths short, and don’t put too much text on a page. Dense blocks of type can be very intimidating to young readers. Avoid all cap settings, which are difficult for readers of any age!

Make sure there is ample contrast between the type and the background. This is especially true when setting light type against a dark background, as is common in heavily illustrated children’s books. When setting more than one paragraph on a page, consider using line-spaces instead of indents to separate paragraphs. This gives the text and the reader a visual break.

Headlines and Titles
Headline or title type gives you the opportunity to be more playful in style, color and layout, since there are fewer words to read. Decorated typestyles, lots of color, and curved and jumping baselines can all be used to attract and entertain the young reader. Keeping it light and fun is the key to keeping a young reader interested and turning pages."

Very inetersting!

TASK 5a ON BEETLES...

ENHANCE:

Name: Whirligig Beetle
Class: Water Beetle
Description: This beetle gets its name because it can be found in groups in sheltered places spinning around on the surface of the water. It’s 19mm long, oval shaped and shiny black or brown in colour

Approaches to present or enhance the above text would be:

- the word SPINNING could be enhanced by the drawing of  a little beetle spinning around it, as well as words: ON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER being placed on the surface of the water

- there could be a blank spot on the page for a child to draw the beetle (perhaps, ignoring the fact that the beetle is only 19mm long)

- stickers could be part of the page, especially when it talks about the colours - children love shiny things...and stickers

................................................................................

Name: Great Diving Beetle
Class: Water Beetle
Description: This large and impressive water beetle is 60mm long. Look for it in ponds or lakes where it is a fierce predator, even attacking frogs and fish! It lives in the water but is a strong flier, so flies away when it needs to find a new home


Approaches to present or enhance the above text would be:

- pictures of a lake, a pond as well as frogs and fish could be included to reinforce that fierce predator


- perhaps this beetle could be transformed into a fierce pirate! chasing frogs and fish :)

- certain words could be replaced with pictures like home, frogs, fish, pond and lakes to add more colourful approach


- perhaps the beetle could be depicted as diving into the water being dresses into a swimming costume

TASK 5: QUESTIONS AND IDEAS FOR MY BOOK

QUESTIONS FOR ANDY HAMILTON:

- During what seasons are children most interested when foraging for food? and why?


- How do you approach children when they loose interest while out foraging?


- What age group children you found most inquisitive about foraging?

- What wild or foraged food do you eat?

IDEAS

I have been thinking of creating a story for the youngest audience about wild flora that grows in the forests. Since I remember my family was always foraging for mushrooms and berries, so for that fact I know quite a bit about edible and non edible mushrooms. I remember it was always an adventure for my sisters, brother and myself! We used to get up early in the morning, fully prepared with appropriate clothing: wellies, hats, coats etc and baskets, ready to go. 

We used to compete who picks the most mushrooms. With parents being there to advise us on which mushrooms we can pick and which we couldn't- it was only thanks to them that we knew. There was no books for children about such topic - only what I knew from my parents and grandparents. I have learnt that in Autumn especially after few rainy days and a lot of sun is a perfect time to find mushrooms. Also some grow by certain trees! And some poisonous mushrooms to humans can be eaten my animals.

I think that the introduction for children age 5-7 of age on foraging in a form of a story would be  most appropriate with additional features to create more interest. 

If I was to make a book for children age 7-9, perhaps scrap book format would be a good idea. Children at that age more confident readers and their vocabulary more extended. I believe that their inquisitive mind wants to learn more. Or even a forest map with its treasures would be great option!

Children age 9 and above would cope with more text content - a more detailed guide would be  beneficial. Comic book could be also a good option.

Right, I need to get creative now!

.....and here you are:

1) the concept behind this idea was the interactivity alongside basic description about mushrooms both edible and poisonous. Simple, clear explanations and clarity would be an advantage for young audience. From research and having my own children I found that children do learnt better when they can interact with the parents while gaining knowledge, therefore inserted cut-out would be one of the options. Additionally the ladybird would guide you through the page.

2) the idea behind this one arouse from the life cycle of the dandelion: if you can see, while the bee and the ladybird fly along - the text does move as well, complementing the story. As the season progresses and early Autumn comes the dandelion changes also - wind approaches, leaves fall etc. The snail is part of the story on very page. This will be a guide book approach but in a story format.

3) this idea is a mixture of everything: facts, story with the snail interacting with the audience. facial expressions will be used also - to highlight the EDIBLE from POISONOUS mushrooms. Also hide-and-seek feature with the rabbit could enhance the story for children to create their own explanation why is he hiding? or ask who's that? What does rabbit eat?etc, But this in particular will be linked to the facts.

4. Follow on mushrooms...I have created yet another approach: "Guess which one is correct?". Again this idea of the book will educate as well as entertain children and adults alike! The following pages of the book would have "complete the word, write one fact about this mushroom, etc..." Funny character - still need to choose a name for him - will guide you through the story and teach you about foraging for a reason! 

5. Berry Bary...just thinking of characters, how to make them to be more appealing. I have learnt from my own experiences that this age group children do learn a lot of rhymes and ...
I have created one with berries. I thought if I create a frame around the page with a colour it will represent particular fruit, perhaps this offers some kind of navigation for younger children who are perhaps still learning to navigate around book pages.

...could carry on...  :)

RESEARCH CONTINIOUS

I have researched interesting websites. And here they are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2006/11/urban_foraging_ethical_1.html

http://www.british-trees.com/treeguide/

http://www.vegetarianliving.co.uk/foraging.php?do=list

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/ interesting facts 

http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/Dyeing%20with%20wild%20plants.html - facts, info about the law and foraging

and of course Andy's Hamilton: http://www.selfsufficientish.com/main/ brilliant blog with masses of info!


http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/poisonous-mushrooms.html

LECTURE NOTES WEEK 5