pearson online bug club-reading -whats it it like?

[mam29]

After a lot of thourght, research and attemp to negociate we moving dd to new school after half term.

They have a range of reading schemes in libary more variety than current ort/ginn.

But they use bug club and set online books.

whats bug club like?

looked at their website seems lots schools use it.

we have internet /computer access and home and dd loves computer based learning.

is bug club

reading scheme books online with comprehension questions after?

is it non fiction as well as fiction?

Are their games they can play related to phonics and numercay.

cand parent and teacher track child reading progress with ease through this programme?

Our school uses it and it is good. There are fiction and non fiction books. The idea is to read the books and then answer some questions. It's a bit of fun and my boys enjoy it.

thanks golden good to know. its in addition to normal reading books.
I was reading the school case studies how it can raise reading levels upto 4sublevels.

dd ended year 1 at 1b aim is 3sublevels to 2b end of year 2.
new school only has reading as homework so hoping a good push on reading year 2 not only get her confident and enjoying reading but lift her attainment to expected level before key stage 2.

Readings clicked last few months but current school been limiting her reading so progress not been that fast.

There are sample books on MN Learning area www.mumsnet.com/learning/ebooks.

We've used it since it was first released and find it works well alongside traditional books. Some children actually prefer to read on line and the teacher can see what the child has read and how many questions they answered correctly.

www.mumsnet.com/learning/ebooks

As a parent I think it's okay, but I'm not over keen on online reading at KS1 ages. But then I'm a stickler for traditional paper when it comes to reading, I love that feel of turning a page, the smell of paper... I digress!

Ds1 loves it and is racing through the books. The biggest problem we've all found at our school is that the site can be terribly buggy (no pun intended) - screen sizes popping in and out, repeated crashes, books not loading, answers not registering etc. Ds gets very frustrated sometimes. But as an additional rather than replacement resource, it's really quite good.

I'm getting a daily update from Pearson regarding site issues. They are working hard to improve the site but it is annoying when everything freezes.

my Son's school now uses Bug Club, although, he's only in reception so he hasn't been given a log-in for the online version, my eldest DS got that in year 1....the books are fab though, especially for boys, the stories are good, and they cover things like Wallace and Gromist and Ben 10 but also non fiction books about cars and wild animals - I definately prefer them to ORT.

Thanks I prefer anything other than ort.

Hi mam29:

Not sure how old your DD is but presuming KS1 which was the age group our school had signed up to Bug Club. Basically it's reading on the computer but as you read there are questions to answer about what you've been reading/ or had the computer read to you - so it also tests comprehension.

Aside from the Mumsnet on-line books here: early years & KS 1 - www.mumsnet.com/learning/ebooks and KS2 here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/learning-zone/key-stage-2-ebooks

Oxford Owl: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/ is a lovely resource.

If you are unhappy with the reading programme/ library selection at your child's school please don't forget that you can join a library, trade with friends or purchase books for your DD to read that you feel are more appropriate. I was very frustrated with the reading programme DD1 (now Year 5) had in YR/ Y1 and a some very kind Mumsnetters made the radical suggestion of read a bit of the school book each week (lots of Kipper & Chip ORT at our school) but you can also read what you want as well. It hadn't occurred to me that we didn't have to read the school's choice of book every evening and the school weren't very clear about that point but ultimately were fine with us writing about what we were reading at home when we went off plan, as long as we did some ORT book reading each week as well.

A great list of classics children's literature was prepared by the Guardian here: www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/building-a-children-s-library

and of course you may have your own childhood favourites.

Once our DD1 could read freely we rather made a mistake of leaving reading to her (again school wasn't very clear on advising parents of options/ ideas) - but DD1 actually surprised us by saying she missed reading with us in the evening before bedtime. You can take turns reading pages or you can select a classic or childhood favourite (i.e. A Christmas Carol - great to start Dec 1st and finish just before Christmas/ Charlotte's Web/ etc...) and read to your DD once in a while too. It shows you value reading, you enjoy books and it is a lovely winding down time together if done at the end of the day, just before bedtime.

HTH

Bug Club covers books to up to National Curriculum level 6C

We have just had an intro talk about this and it seems to be a Flash product so does not work on the latest android devices and I think Apple also doesn't support Flash.

Any one else come up against this problem? Seems so backwards to supply a product that is fast becoming out of date.

Up shot of this is that many won't be able to access this in the way they would probably most enjoy. Grrrr

It's been around a few years now and is intended for PCs not for phones or tablets as it is used in schools.

You can use it on iPads if you download puffin browser. There's an app that gives you a free trial, I think it's for two weeks. The full version is quite cheap when the trial runs out.

I'm not sure if it works on android tablets though.

I get that it was intended for PC's originally but just seems like lazy web based publishing not to see the opportunities to rewrite the code to work on new devices. Our school is trying to embrace new e learning ideas bringing the classroom and home closer but this product isn't really great for that or at least it isn't responding to the new way kids use tech. I think it may fail to appeal to the slightly older kids as it is outdated. Shame really.

Thank MegMogAndOwl I'll pass that on to the teacher. Will have a look for something similar on Android.

Quick question are the titles any good? Or is it as dull as other reading schemes?

Found this thread on a search about Android devices and Bugclub because it was an issue for us in choosing a tablet for the kids to use it on.

So, for anyone else who finds it on the same search, it turns out that there is now a version of the Puffin Browser for Android devices. We now have Bugclub working on the Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet we bought.

Ignore my post above.

Seems it doesn't work with Puffin Browser after all. It will work for reading the books, but it won't let the DC actually answer the questions, which is obviously the whole point of an online reading programme, so a bit useless.

Actually phoned the technical support who told me that the schools are told that it is for PC / Mac computers only and they don't support any tablet devices. According to the tech bod this is something which the schools are told and it should be made clear to parents. I did suggest that maybe this should be on the home page of the website so that there is no confusion.

I told him that the technology most children are using to access such things are now tablets, and they really should accommodate that.

In the meantime I think I shall have to tell the school that the kids won't be accessing it at home as the laptops we have which do run it are just so old and sooooo sloooooow.