Slim the Vegetarian Ogre Interactive Story Builder

ISBN 978-1-907719-02-8 School Edition

We at Bongo LLP believe that every child is able to write a story and have it published in a book, with a little help. Our mission, at Bongo LLP, is as an education company, not just a publisher. Helping children to learn is our motivating force and at the heart of everything we do.

Would we be satisfied if a few children were able to write a story? No, we want ALL children to be enthused and enabled to do so.

To achieve this aim, however, there must be:

• A structure to guide their writing
• Help at each stage of the writing process
• A good basic story to inspire their imagination

Without these, many children will fail to achieve their potential. Bongo LLP believes that good pedagogy should be built into ever product we build. Our structured story building software has been devised using considerable research and consultation on how stories are constructed and how children learn. It is aimed at all skill levels.Our book builder software has all of the following features:

• It takes the child stage by stage through the whole process of writing a story. They don't just write one bit of the story, they get to write the entire story. By doing this, every child is empowered and motivated. They all learn how to compose a short story from beginning to end.
• The story builder software fully supports the necessary literacy skills through help screens. It is not simply a story compiler, it is a teaching and learning tool aimed at making learning more fun for the child and the teacher.
• The software can be used without access to the Internet.

When the stories are complete, they are compiled together:

• Books can be published with any number of stories in them.
• Even a single story can be published making the software suitable for small schools, home educators, parents and special needs students.
• Books are professionally printed.

Bongo LLP offers a complete education package, including support materials. The story builder software is fully backed up with interactive whiteboard resources. These colourful and entertaining flipcharts cover essential literacy and story-writing skills.

What are the advantages to buying the story builder?

• For small schools, home educators, parents or other individuals, there are no minimum order requirements; a single copy of the book can be ordered with no additional set up costs.
• A professionally written story book based upon the same story is available to help inspire the children.
• Books can be sold at any price, giving schools an excellent source of fund raising.
• All the children will be proud of their achievements and every parent, grandparent and family member will want a copy.

Each book contains the fabulous illustrations by Russell Young, one of the UK's best young artists.For information on how to use the software please click 'Using the Software' tab at the top of the page.

Slim the Vegetarian Ogre

ISBN 978-1-907719-01-1

A full colour printed book and e-book based upon an amusing storyline. Can Slim change the eating habits of an entire Ogre population? Can he convince his family and friends that humans are in fact better cooking with a pot rather than in it? Sure to bring a smile to everyone's face, and full of superb illustrations.

The story of Slim the Ogre, in the land of Ogg, is that of a young ogre in search of a diet. He's supposed to eat human meat, like all the other ogres - grilled, fried, boiled, on toast, in a sandwich - but he has a problem. Slim doesn't like the taste of human meat (and who can blame him?!). His parents think he should get a grip and eat what's good for him but they send him to the doctor's just in case, again.Dr Roeg has an original answer for Slim on this visit. Instead of telling him he must eat a balanced diet of human meat and human bones, he suggests Slim help organise a food festival; 'Human food or Humans for Food' so he can discover the world of the human diet and the best that ogre chefs have to offer.

Slim takes up the challenge in the hope of eating pizza. Will he succeed in pulling off the social culinary event of the year? Will he find his diet?

Find out in this fun story based on the story builder software of the same name published where children are helped to write their own stories that can then be professionally printed in a book.

Full of imaginative ideas and wonderful illustrations Slim will brighten your day and make you smile and laugh whether you are 6 or 80.

Slim the Vegetarian Ogre Flipcharts

Promethean Planet Resources

Bongo LLP is committed to provide a fully supported range of products to you the teacher. We aim to provide all the resources needed to help you to get the very best out of your students.

With this in mind we have been working closely with Promethean to provide white board resources to supplement each of our products.

The Flipcharts are even designed to integrate seamlessly with learner response systems if you possess them.

These resources include a fully integrated Big Book and an extensive set of whiteboard Flipcharts to help deliver the key concepts of story writing including setting the scene, writing speech/dialogue, comparatives and superlatives, connectives and writing a conclusion to a story.Bongo LLP Flipcharts are low cost and fully functional in the free edition of ActiveInspire. They will also work on any interactive whiteboard, you just need to download the free version of the software from Promethean.

The Flipcharts can be used as standalone units to cover the stated literacy topics, together with the Big Book to develop children's writing skills or with the Slim software which enables teachers to get copies of a professionally printed book containing all the stories written by their class.

Each flipchart contains:

• Fun activities
• Teachers notes
• Interactive games
• Assessment

Slim the Vegetarian Ogre Interactive Story Builder

Using the Software

Our story-builder is software you can download and install on your computer (Mac or PC). Once downloaded, the children in the class work through the software to complete the story.

The software starts with a useful login where the child is identified. In the school version, each child gets a copy of the software on a computer and can login with his/her name and the name of the school. This sets the name of the child as the author of the story and it appears in the book.

Once the name/school page is complete, the child clicks a Next button to take him/her to the start of the story.As you can see, they have to decide whether to set the story in the past, present or future. This is an excellent way to differentiate. They are told what to do in the introduction at the top, and buttons at the bottom give extra help if needed. This page is pretty straightforward; they just have to press a button.

Once they've decided when they want their story set, they press the Next button which takes them to a page where they have to start writing.

I chose the 'Past' button on the previous page, so here is where I start setting the scene in the past. It starts, as with all good fairy tales 'Once upon a time'. The child is told what to do in the introduction at the top. If s/he needs further instruction, there are two 'What to do' buttons at the bottom of the page - one audio, one written. There is also a 'Help' button to give ideas and instruction on aspects of literacy.The child is invited to use his/her imagination to get the story going. Once happy, s/he presses the Next button. It isn't possible to jump a page. Each page has to have something written on it (or a button chosen in the case of the first page). This is so the child is taken through the whole process from beginning to end and helps establish the story's continuity and progress. They can use the return button at any time to amend their story; they can also save and open the story at any time.

On the next page, the child meets Slim the Ogre who is very unhappy because he doesn't like to eat human meat despite the fact that ogres are supposed to eat human meat and need its nutrients and vitamins. Slim would prefer to eat vegetables, but they make him ill and the first scene takes place with him in the outside loo of his parent's shack suffering from the effects of unsuitable food.The story continues page by page relating how Slim has to go an see a doctor to help him 'get a grip' as his parents call it, how he agrees to help organise a food festival, 'Human Food or Humans for Food' to pit human chefs against the best ogre chefs in the land of Ogg, how he has to write an advert for the festival, or a set of rules for participants, with notes on the relevant literacy aspect (persuasive writing, imperatives, etc.), and on to describe the festival, chefs, gala and results of the competition.

The child is guided every step of the way, but there is enough freedom in what s/he can write to make it a creative process for every ability of child. The brightest children are motivated, once they've finished with the software, to write their own story without constraints about Slim or their very own ogre story. The less able are proud to get through and finish Slim's story, enthused by the ability to succeed at writing the whole thing from beginning to end.There is a Save button so that the child can come back to the story and continue at his/her own pace. Once the story is finished, teachers using the school version collect each child's file, then use the book builder to produce the book, check it for accuracy, and then send off for printing. Each child's story is told on an A4 page so the book doesn't get too big and heavy. The book can then be sold to families to be given to aunties, grannies and other family members. For schools, it's a fantastic potential source of funds because they can charge whatever they like for each book.

It was trialed with lots of children and many, despite being anti-reading and writing, loved working on the computer and writing with the aim of finishing with a book. The concept of having their very own book with his name on it was a strong motivating force.

The story-builder is available from the Bongo LLP website store, where you'll also see the book; and a set of interactive flipcharts to accompany the aspects of literacy for schools is available on the Promethean website here.

New technology is an amazing tool to enthuse children to learn and create. We think our story-builder is a one of these amazing new tools, so new it's actually a first, and we hope it inspires some great stories from your children.