Decoding Symbols is Reading

Symbols are everywhere. They are the logos for brands, the pictures we click on to access Apps and the washing instructions on our clothes. They are a way of sharing a message and they can be used effectively in the classroom; whether it is to enable a child to make choices, share how they are feeling or for us to communicate with them. Symbols are also the first step in reading.

To create my symbol based documents I pay for a personal online subscription to Widgitonline.com (this is not a paid endorsement, I just love the software) and we have Communicate InPrint3 in school too. Initially I used the software to create choice cards, labels, transcribing stories etc. however, more recently I have begun to write poems and stories to share in my classroom, which can be accessed by all children and importantly their families, regardless of their home language or whether they have SEND.

The software uses an automatic sentence analysis to suggest a suitable symbol for your text, you can override it if you don't agree and you can upload your own symbols too. 

Widgits T's and C's restrict my sharing of symbol based documents to no more than a total of 100 symbols across all resources, so here are a couple of my favourites: