Myths+and+Legends

It’s not often that a web-based program actually does what it promises.[|http://myths.e2bn.org] Its own write-up states that ‘the site has been developed primarily to support Literacy at KS2/3 and History KS2/3. The resources are appropriate for whole class teaching, but can equally well be used to stimulate individual responses The Myths and Legends website encourages children to read and enjoy reading by providing a wealth of myths and legends from around the world. These are presented in a variety of stimulating ways, allowing the children to see, read and hear stories from many different cultures and traditions. For teachers there are grids designed to show at a glance which historical skills and content could be developed by using each of the myths and legends. The Teachers’ section also contains a wealth of additional information on a wide range of subject material, including support for creating your own stories - the most interesting aspect of the site. Getting started with this is straightforward. Clicking on ‘Create your own’ will take you to the next section where you click on ‘Story Creator 2’ and start. It is also worthwhile having a look at what other people have created. Before working with the children, it is better to have a play and register your school/class. To do this, you have to put a couple of images on your screen and press save. It won’t let you access the registration page before that. On the registration page you will be asked for a log in and password or if not yet registered, on the right hand side is an invitation to register free. Choose your login and password and then enter the name of your school or simply ‘Other’. Registration can be a little slow. Once the children understand how easy it is to create stories they can just let their imaginations run. At the top of the page are buttons for the chapters and down at the bottom is a button to access the storyboard. In the white space below the main picture is the writing area. This works as a simple word processor and is perfectly adequate. On the right hand side of the main display frame are four sections for creating the illustration. The top section is the setting with four choices, buildings, inside, landscape and water. Within each category there are many alternatives to choose from. When one has been chosen, it appears in the main frame. You can choose the characters in the same way and there is again a wide selection including, men, women, children, mythical creatures and warriors. When chosen the image appears on the screen with a red frame around it. This indicates the image is live and can be moved by dragging, re-sized by moving the scale slider on the right hand side, and rotated by using the controls under the scale slider. The third box provides additional images in the categories: effects (such as animations of flames or thunderstorms), homes (internal and external features), magical (artefacts from cauldrons to books of spells), nature (trees, flowers, logs and such like), objects (a huge range from treasure chests to wheelbarrows) and weapons. These can all be processed in the same way as the characters. Adding speech is the fourth option - characters can have their own speech bubbles. The last two options, adding your own pictures and sounds are best left until the children are more familiar with the rest of the program. However these areas are great fun and mastering them could be part of an ICT lesson before using them in the story. Two other areas on the main screen are the ‘Back to Front’ and ‘Send to Back’ options and these allow you to put objects in front or behind other objects. Removing unwanted objects could not be easier. Once the object has its red box around it, click ‘Delete’ on the far right and it’s gone. When the children have completed their first chapter, they click on Chapter 2 and so on. Stories can be saved at any stage and reloaded for further work. One real advantage of this website is that children can continue their story at home by using the same log-in details. Work submitted from home can be reviewed by the teacher who can add comments. Teachers need to register themselves and their school in order to access these facilities.