Clicker 5 ANZ (Australian/New Zealand Version)
by Crick Software
Clicker is a powerful yet easy-to-use writing support and multimedia tool that enables children to write with whole words, phrases or pictures
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Clicker 6 is now available.
Over 150 new images have been drawn and will appear in a new library in addition to the standard Crick Picture Library. Many new activities and sample grids suitable for the Aus/NZ curriculum have been created too.
View more sample images from the new Clicker 5 ANZ version
“The standards that this product exemplifies help to provide a challenge to, and a benchmark for, developers right across this sector.” – BETT Awards 2007 Judges
Crick Software has launched an Australian/New Zealand section of the Clicker Grids for Learning website at www.learninggrids.com/ANZ allowing users to download more FREE Clicker classroom resources! This new, regularly updated site contains fully localised resources and is accessible both directly and through an integrated link in Clicker 5 ANZ Version will automatically load the new activities into your copy of Clicker 5 ANZ!
Clicker ANZ Key Features
- Graphics – 125 new graphics. A new library in addition to the standard Crick Picture Library.
- Example files – Updated Example files – localised for the Australian and New Zealand education settings
- Integrated link in Clicker 5 to LearningGrids ANZ resource site – This new, regularly updated, free to access site contains fully localised resources and is accessible both directly and through an integrated link in Clicker 5.
- LearningGrids ANZ – The LearningGrids ANZ website is now live, and there are three ways to access it:
- Go to http://www.learninggrids.com/ and choose ‘ANZ Site’ from the three links.
- Type http://www.learninggrids.com/ANZ into the address bar on your browser.
- Users with Clicker 5 ANZ can access the ANZ site through the LearningGrids Direct link in Clicker Explorer.
The LearningGrids ANZ site will be automatically updated with new Clicker 5 (or Clicker 5 with Paint) resources every two weeks, as is currently the case with the UK and US sites.
- Go to http://www.learninggrids.com/ and choose ‘ANZ Site’ from the three links.
- Localised Resources – Localisation of Clicker 5 resources from UK to ANZ have been updated on the ANZ site. However, they do not appear in the ‘What’s new’ section on the homepage, this is because updated resources retain their original publishing date.
The resources that do appear in the ‘What’s new’ section of the homepage are all resources that are brand new for ANZ specifically.
Clicker 5 is more advanced than Clicker 4, taking advantage of the latest technologies, yet it’s even easier to use! The interface will be familiar to those used to Clicker, plus Crick Software have added an editing mode to make creating grids even easier!
With Clicker 5, you can store many grids in a single file called a ‘Grid Set’, which can also store all their pictures, sounds and videos. So it’s really easy to share and move your grids! You can save your preferences with the Grid Set, too! And now with the ‘Edit’ mode it makes it incredibly easy to edit your grid sets. Grids in a sequence can be reordered just by dragging, and it’s really easy to add new buttons from the cell palette. You can even change the look of an entire set of grids in one go!
What’s more, you’ll be amazed at how human this speech sounds. And words are highlighted as they are spoken, enabling the student to follow the words as they are read. To listen to the word in the grid, point to it and right-click. Then just click to send the word into Clicker Writer. The complete sentence is read out when you put in the full stop.
Popup grids can hold words, phrases and pictures that can be sent into any cell or text box. Any cell can open a popup, and cells in popups have the same features as those in any grid, allowing all students to write into a talking book and select pictures for each page. Popups also enable other new ideas, such as labelling activities – just click on an empty label and then choose the word you want from the popup.
Click here for Clicker 5 screenshots.
The good news too is that if you already have Clicker 4, you’ll find that you can still use all of your existing Clicker activities in Clicker 5!
Benefits
Boost writing independence with Clicker WriterexpandClick to collapse
Clicker’s word processor comes with a child-friendly font, simple tools, and fantastic quality speech that motivate children so they want to write!
Most word processors are designed for literate adults. Clicker Writer is designed for children who are learning to read and write. It will grow with your students as they develop their skills, making it the ideal word processor for the classroom.
Students type into Clicker Writer from the keyboard, or use Clicker Grids to enter words and pictures, so you really can use it across your age and ability range.
Amazing quality speech
Clicker Writer helps learners find and correct errors and grow in independence and confidence by providing automatic speech feedback as students write. Each sentence is automatically read out as it is completed, with every word clearly highlighted as it is spoken, enabling learners to follow the text and review what they have written. Research shows that this active engagement with text encourages students to find and correct errors for themselves.
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Write with pictures
When you’re using pictures from Clicker Grids, or the ‘Instant Pictures’ feature, pictures are displayed above the words as you write, helping students to read their writing. Use pictures from the Crick Picture Library that comes with the program, or use other picture libraries such as the Mayer Johnson PCS symbols, or your own bank of photos.
Child-friendly font
The child-friendly Sassoon font displays letters in the familiar form that children learn to write. This makes words and letter patterns easier to recognise for early readers.
Easy-to-use tools
Clicker Writer’s tools use the standard icons that students need to become familiar with. By default they are displayed at a larger size, making them ideal for early writers. The toolbar is fully customisable, so you can adjust the size of the tools and display just the ones you want your students to use.
Encourage self correction with natural voiceexpandClick to collapse
Clicker’s clear voice helps students review text they have written and preview words they want to write.
Research shows that active engagement with text encourages students to find and correct errors for themselves. This is exactly what is achieved with Clicker’s clear British English speech.
Speech in Clicker Writer
By default, each sentence is automatically read as it is completed. This encourages students to punctuate their work, and ensure that they review each sentence before starting the next one. This helps students take responsibility for their writing, and make corrections as they write.
For those needing more support, each word or letter can be read as it is entered, giving students instant feedback. Any combination of the options can be used to give the optimum settings for individual learners.
In addition, students can hear any section of their writing by using the speech tool in the toolbar.
Clear highlighting
Words are clearly highlighted as they are spoken, enabling students to follow the words in Clicker Writer as they are read.
Speech in Clicker Grids
Students using Clicker Grids to enter whole words may need to check the word they are about to use before they write. A simple right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) reads the word out to them. This allows students to find the right words for themselves, and encourages them to use more adventurous vocabulary, boosting their confidence as they develop their ability to write independently.
Male and female voices
Clicker comes with two very clear voices called Lucy and Graham. Both sound almost human, not like the robotic speech found in some software.
Ensure the sound on your computer is working and then click a link to hear for yourself.
Build writing confidence with Clicker GridsexpandClick to collapse
Clicker Grids help children write by providing point-and-click access to whole words, phrases, and pictures.
Typically, writing grids sit in the bottom half of the screen, with Clicker Writer in the top half. Grids are used to enter text or pictures into Clicker Writer, either in place of, or in addition to, the computer keyboard.
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Sentence building grids
Sentence building grids typically contain all the words required to build a sentence. Some cells may also contain pictures to help students identify words, and all cells have speech on right-click so the user can hear the word before they write it.
Clicker grids like this enable emergent writers to get the satisfaction of building a sentence for themselves. Their success motivates them to try more sentences, and soon they develop into independent writers.
Sentence grids are usually linked, so when a sentence is completed, the user clicks the forward arrow to move to the next grid in the sequence, to write the next sentence.
As they move through the series of grids, the text in Clicker Writer grows, giving students the satisfaction of creating a significant piece of writing.
The words in the grid can be colour coded to define parts of speech. In addition you can offer a visual or aural model for the student to copy, or use a ‘forced order’ template to encourage left to right directionality.
Read more about Sentence Building grids…
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Word bank grids
Some students who can spell out most words using the keyboard may still need help with the more difficult words, or they may need encouragement to broaden their vocabulary. Clicker word bank grids provide instant access to any number of words.
Word bank grids can be linked with forward and back arrows or via a simple menu system. All words can be previewed with a right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click), which reads the word out.
Writing frames
Many students find it difficult to structure their writing, especially when writing in a genre that is new to them, e.g. a set of instructions or writing up an experiment. Writing frames provide scaffolding to help students achieve well-structured writing.
Clicker Grids are the perfect vehicle for writing frames. They provide sentence or paragraph starters, subject-specific vocabulary, and other supporting phrases.
Ready-made Clicker Grids
You don’t have to make all your Clicker Grids yourself! Lots of ready-made Grid Sets come with the program, and there are over 600 Grid Sets covering a range of curriculum topics available free on LearningGrids World ANZ. You can access these materials directly from within Clicker 5, without even opening your web browser, and Crick Software add more every two weeks!
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Creating and editing Clicker Grids
Teachers can edit Clicker Grids at any time – just hold the Shift key and click on the cell you want to edit. Clicker Grids are really easy to create too. Choose a template and then shift-click on a cell to get started!
It’s simple to move and resize cells, and you can easily add graphics in all the common formats, including digital photos from the Internet or your camera. Clicker comes with a graphics library of over 1800 pictures, so you’ll usually find the picture you want!
You can quickly add more grids to your set and they’ll be automatically linked with the forward and back arrows.
Soon you will find that you’re creating grids for lots of different writing tasks. Many teachers like to create word banks on the fly – students suggest words and the teacher types them in. At the end of the brainstorming session, learners start using the word bank right away!
Promote reading independence with onscreen talking booksexpandClick to collapse
Talking onscreen books provide a stimulating learning environment for all students, and making their own provides an engaging way to recall and share experiences using pictures, sounds, text, and even video!
Clicker talking books provide an exciting opportunity for both reading and writing.
There are lots of ready-made books available, and it is incredibly easy to create your own using digital photos and your own voice. You can even add video!
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Clicker talking books for reading
Children need lots of exposure to books as they develop their literacy skills, and Clicker talking books are an important ingredient in the range of reading materials in your classroom. Clicker talking books give you the following benefits:
- They are very accessible – just a forward and back button to turn the pages and a speech button to hear the text.
- They can use either digitised speech or a real sound recording.
- Students are able to read the books independently.
- Books can be combined with supporting comprehension and writing activities (e.g. the Planet Wobble series)
- Clicker talking books make great centrepieces for your whiteboard lessons.
Personalise your reading materials by creating your own Clicker talking books – you can do it in just minutes! Drag and drop in digital photos from the computer or directly from your camera and then record your voice using Clicker’s built-in sound recorder. Add text, or leave it as a picture book. It’s easy to drop in video too.
Make books about your class or about a recent trip. Create personal books for individual students containing pictures and voices from their family. Create books on the fly with a group of students – making Clicker talking books is a simple yet innovative way to give students new experiences in reading and writing.
Clicker talking books for writing
Making Clicker talking books is not only easy for the teacher – you can give your students the opportunity to create talking books too. Younger or struggling students, start with a template that offers them pop-up grids to enter their text and pictures, plus a sound recording button to record their voice.
Creating Clicker talking books becomes even more powerful when you have Clicker Paint installed. This fully integrates with Clicker to enable students to create their own illustrations for their books with the child-friendly painting tools.
Early or struggling readers are especially motivated by the experience of creating their own books. You’ll find lots of templates on the LearningGrids World ANZ site, and of course it’s easy to create your own.
Sources of ready-made Clicker talking books
Find a wealth of ready-made Clicker talking books from the following sources:
- There are over 70 talking books in the Literacy section on the free LearningGrids World site – and many more in the other categories, covering a wide variety of curriculum areas.
- Planet Wobble is the award-winning reading series for struggling readers and writers. It contains 21 graded Clicker talking books and includes printed copies of the books too, plus lots of Clicker writing activities.
- Find Out and Write About – the award-winning non-fiction series covers many curriculum areas and has linked writing activities from every page, enabling students to write their own reports.
- Engage and enthuse learners with classroom favourite, Oxford Reading Tree. Thirty popular stories have been turned into onscreen Clicker books and include a range of reading and writing activities that relate to the stories.
- Encourage reluctant readers with the Trackers for Clicker series. Based on books by Oxford University Press, these on-screen books and activities provide age appropriate materials for children aged 7+ reading at a 5+ level.
- Develop independent reading with Clicker Books. These include printed and on-screen versions of engaging stories, plus Clicker activities covering a huge range of activities for literacy teaching.
Support learners with special needsexpandClick to collapse
Based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Clicker offers a range of both curriculum and accessibility support to meet individual needs.
Clicker 5 is a proven and essential classroom tool to support students with special needs. In addition to the extensive support for learners with reading and writing difficulties, Clicker offers unique benefits for students with a wide range of special needs.
Clicker and Symbols
Use Clicker with symbols to support students with special literacy or communication needs as they take part in reading, writing and communication activities.
Clicker screenshot
The following symbol sets are available to use in conjunction with Clicker: Widgit Symbols, Mayer-Johnson PCS, and SymbolStix.
If you are using symbols, Clicker is the perfect tool to give easy access to them, whether you are using a mouse, touch screen or switches. Because it’s so easy to add graphics to Clicker cells, you can create grids using any pictures you like, including symbols.
Combining Clicker with a symbols set enables you to create reading and writing activities that cater for students requiring symbols support. As Clicker is suitable for students of all abilities, the entire class are able to work on different versions of the same task, ensuring that those who need to use symbols feel fully included and involved.
Writing support
Use symbols in Clicker writing grids to help children develop their writing skills. Simply clicking on a Clicker cell containing a symbol sends the symbol into Clicker Writer. Clicker Writer displays both the symbol and the text, encouraging learners to make the connection between the words and the images. By listening to the recorded speech as it reads their work back to them, learners develop their understanding of the link between the symbols they see and the words they hear.
Communication grids
Creating your own communication aid is easy with Clicker grids. Because you are able to link together as many grids as you like, there is no limit to the number of symbols you can access. You are free to mix different types of symbols and other graphics on the same grid, and it is up to you whether or not to display text underneath them. And, of course, you are able to make changes to the grids whenever you need to.
Dyslexia
Clicker’s writing support works by providing a child-friendly talking word processor (Clicker Writer) supported by the unique Clicker Grids, enabling students to produce a piece of writing to be proud of.
The extensive range of Clicker talking books provides unique materials with reading support that your students with dyslexia can use independently. Every title includes carefully designed, varied reading and writing activities that teach and reinforce new literacy skills.
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Read more about Dyslexia Support in Clicker 5…
Learning difficulties
Clicker is the perfect tool to use with students with learning difficulties, because it enables you to present students with activities that are broken down into small steps, and to revisit learning objectives many times using a variety of activities.
Clicker’s multisensory approach of using words, pictures and sounds keeps learners interested and motivated, and enables them to achieve success.
Clicker was designed for learners of all abilities – watch the video below to get an overview – you will see how its many support features make it a particularly powerful tool for students with learning difficulties.
Read more about Clicker 5 and Learning Difficulties…
Speech or language impairments
Clicker is a great favourite among speech and language professionals as well as special needs teachers. Clicker activities are perfect for children struggling to acquire language or to express themselves.
Read more about Clicker 5’s support for students with speech or language impairments…
Physical disabilities
All Clicker activities are fully accessible with switches. Clicker grids are scanned either automatically (if you are using a single switch scan) or by pressing a second switch.
Note: Crick USB Switch Interface, IntelliSwitch, JoyCable 2, IntelliKeys USB or DJ Switch Interface Pro 6.0 (USB) is required – other switch interfaces are not supported at this time.
To optimise access for individual users, fine-tune the timing settings and customise how the scan is displayed. For further reinforcement, choose an auditory scan. All functions are accessible to switch users, including moving between grids and opening pop-up grids and keyboards. Everything is customisable exactly to the student’s abilities, so that they only have the options they can manage.
All ready-made Clicker materials are designed with scanning at the design stage, so all Clicker 5 templates, grids, and talking books scan in an intuitive way.
Read more about accessing Clicker 5 with switches…
Low vision
In addition to the high quality speech, the clean, uncluttered screen layout, and the customisable colour-coded grids, Clicker includes a range of extensive accessibility options for students with low vision.
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- Customisable zoom options
- Special high-contrast colour options
- Variable line spacing
- Large toolbar option
- Large fonts option for cell tooltips
Want to find out more about how Clicker 5 is being used with students with special needs? See Clicker 5 Case Studies.
Develop English as a Second Language literacy skillsexpandClick to collapse
Clicker is extensively used to help students who are learning to understand, speak, and write English.
Talking Books
Students use Clicker talking books independently. Listening to the text while studying the picture helps to introduce new words and develop understanding. You can even make bilingual talking books, where the student records in his or her first language on one button, and in English on another. As well as demonstrating that their first language is valued, the completed bilingual books make useful teaching materials for other English as a Second Language resources.
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Practise speaking skills
Creating Clicker talking books is a perfect way to practise speaking skills. For example, make a picture book of a familiar environment and let the student record his or her voice on each page, naming the relevant objects.
Alternatively, have an additional button that gives the learner a model sentence or word to listen to. They then record their own voice and compare it to the original. Students record their voice any number of times until they are satisfied. This is a non-threatening way for English as a Second Language students to be able to rehearse and practise their English.
Develop writing skills
Use sentence building grids to teach students to write simple sentences.
Modelled sentence grids are a powerful way to help learners to internalise language by providing a model sentence for the student to look at and listen to. The model appears in a popup, and although the student can open the popup whenever they wish, they can only write words into their own sentence while the popup is closed.
A variation on this is to add a record button, so that the learners record their own voice reading the sentence when they have completed it.
Forced order grids reinforce simple sentence structure by only allowing words to be selected in the correct order from left to right.
Colour coded sentence building grids are another great way to reinforce sentence structure.
You will find lots of ready-made sentence building grids freely available on the LearningGrids World ANZ website.
Activities to teach and practise specific vocabulary
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By creating activities with sets of alternative choices, you can use Clicker to teach specific vocabulary or language conventions.
LearningGrids World resources
The extensive range of free resources on the LearningGrids World ANZ site is widely used with English as a Second Language (ESL).
Provide students with picture supportexpandClick to collapse
Clicker 5 includes the Crick Picture Library, containing over 1800 curriculum pictures.
The Crick Picture Library is divided into curriculum-related folders and provides a wide range of clear, instantly recognisable pictures. Add pictures to writing grids to help students find the right words, and illustrate your Clicker talking books to make great teaching resources.
It’s easy to find the picture you want by browsing the library from within the program’s picture palette. Drag and drop the pictures from the palette, or use the unique “Instant Pictures” feature where you simply type in a word and the relevant picture appears automatically.
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Click here to see an MS PowerPoint presentation of What’s New in Clicker 5 (ppt 2 MB)
View latest features in the Clicker 5.2 update
Click here to view an online Clicker 5 Guide.
Click here to download the Clicker 5 Guide in PDF format. To view this file, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Want Clicker 5 to speak in other languages? Check out Speech Support for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL).
Clicker, ClozePro, Jigworks and Wordbar are supported by Crick Software’s free website of resources at LearningGrids ANZ and LearningGrids.com (UK and US) (over 70,000 registered users). The LearningGrids.com website provides ready-made materials for use in your classroom. Just register on the site, view images of the resources, then simply click to download..
To view our Clicker 5 – Beginner’s Hands-on Workshop Guide click here (half day workshop).
For a more in-depth guide, check out our Introduction to Clicker 5 – Hands-on Workshop Guide (full day workshop).
Need to add word prediction into your Clicker 5 Grids?
Good news! Clicker 5 now works with Penfriend XP and Penfriend XL version 3.1 or later. If you have an older version of Penfriend XP or XL you can download an upgrade to the latest Penfriend version that will support Clicker (version 5.2 onwards); this upgrade can be downloaded from the Penfriend downloads website.
Click here for a Help Sheet on how to use Penfriend Word Prediction in Clicker 5.
Related Products
Videos about Clicker 5
Requirements and ResourcesexpandClick to collapse
NETWORKING: All of Crick Software’s programs can be used on a network. To purchase for a network, simply buy the single user product, then the number of additional user licences required. The CD includes a network installer, together with full instructions.
Minimum System Requirements for Windows Version
- Pentium II 400 MHz or greater
- Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000
- 128 MB RAM
- 400 MB hard disk space
- A sound card is required if you wish to use the speech
- CD ROM drive
- Crick USB Switch Interface, IntelliSwitch, JoyCable 2, IntelliKeys USB or DJ Switch Interface Pro 6.0 (USB) is required for switch access
Minimum System Requirements for Macintosh Version
- Mac OS 10.3 – 10.6; not compatible with 10.7 “Lion”
Compatible with Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard” and 10.6 “Snow Leopard” (Clicker 5 ANZ version 5.27 and above is compatible with Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard”. If you have an earlier version of Clicker 5 ANZ and wish to run it on Mac OS 10.5, contact Spectronics Technical Support.) - PowerPC or Intel processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 400 MB free disk space
- Crick USB Switch Interface is required for switch access
View / Download
Online Training by Spectronics is available for this product.
Clicker 5 ANZ (Australian/New Zealand Version) is targeted at the following age ranges:
- Early Childhood
- Early Primary
- Mid Primary
- Upper Primary
Clicker 5 ANZ (Australian/New Zealand Version) is designed to foster development in the areas of:
- Early concepts
- Literacy
- Switch use
- Cause-and-effect
- Switch timing
- Choosing with a switch
Users can access Clicker 5 ANZ (Australian/New Zealand Version) in the following ways:
- Mouse/ Trackball/ Joystick
- Keyboard
- IntelliKeys
- Touchscreen
- Single Switch
- Multiple Switches
For more information on "Clicker 5 ANZ (Australian/New Zealand Version)" read the following articles:
- Clicker 5 Preview by Special Educational Needs Information Technology (SENIT, pdf)
- Clicker 5 - Winner at the Grid, Times Educational Supplement, January 2005 (pdf)
- Clicker 5 Review - Part 1
- Clicker 5 Review by Rik Ludlow, "The ICT Guide" section, Special Magazine, August 2005 (pdf 1.2 MB)
For answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and technical support visit:
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