Two groups of primary school children test out Developing Tray, a sophisticated hangman game which encourages thinking skills whilst reading and analysing texts. A couple of Year 6s set about reconstructing a poem and a group of Year 4s tackle a piece of prose about Henry VIII. The children have to use their phonic, spelling, grammatical and contextual knowledge to guess key words. According to its inventor Bob Moy, Developing Tray draws children into all aspects of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Children become engaged as they fill in the blanks and their confidence grows as the text becomes their own. Teacher, Heidi Knight claims that primary school students in the process of learning how to construct words, develop sentences and express themselves are encouraged by a programme that enables them to use their imagination and word knowledge. Working individually or in pairs, the software gives pupils the option of immediate feedback and greater control of their learning.

Video Series: KS1/2 English
Release Date 2007