Bloom 3 Session 9

Bloom Session 9

In this session, we will learn how to create a language specific templates for other authors to use for generating decodable readers and level readers using Bloom.  We will create a set of templates that are designed for a given language. These templates can be used by an author for generating appropriate decodable and level readers.  bfolder Data\Reader. The data files for this session are found in the subfolder Data\Reader..

Start Bloom.

Create a new Collection

1. The main window appears.  Click Other Collections.
2. The Open/Create Collection dialog box appears. Click Create New Collection.
3. The Create New Collection dialog box appears.  Select Vernacular/Local Language Collection.  Click Next.
   
   Now choose your language.  In the case we will choose English. Click Next.
   
   Now choose your country.  Click Next.
   
   Enter English Templates as the Project name.  Click Next.
   
   Click Finish.  The main window reappears.

Create Decodable Reader Books

1. In the Sources for New Books pane, select Decodable Reader template.
2. Click Make a book using this source.
3. We will setup all the stages at one time and they will be used in all the decodable reader templates.  In the Decodable Reader Tool pane, click Set up Stages. 
4. First we want to add all the graphemes that need to be taught.  Click on the Letters tab. Copy the letters found in the file Letters.txt and paste them into the Letters and Letter Combinations textbox.
5. Second we want to use a word list that can be used as suggested words for the book. Click on the Words tab.  We have the suggested words in a UTF-8 text file called EnglishWords.txt.  Click Sample Texts Folder. Copy the text file into the Sample Texts subfolder.  Close the subfolder window.  Now the path of the file is displayed in the Place Text Files textbox.
6. Third we want to create the various stages for decodable readers.  We need to decide how many stages we want. We need to decide which letters will be introduced into which stages.   We need to decide which sight words we want to use.
   
   Click the Decodable Stages tab.  Stage 1 already exists. We just need to define it.  Click Stage 1.   In the Previous and New Letters table, select the letters for stage 1.  In the New Sight Words textbox, add the sight words separted by spaces.
   
   To add the next stage, click  Add Stage. In the Previous and New Letters table, select the letters for stage 2.
    

Exercise:  Create the rest of the stages.

All the letters should be selected.  Now you are ready to create our templates.  Click OK to save your work.

7. Note we are now ready to create a book for each stage.  We will first make a book for stage 1.
   
   In the Front Cover page, enter Stage 1 Reader as the title.  This allows the author to identify which template he wants to use.
   
   As this is a stage 1 template,  we want to make the font size bigger. So click Add Page and choose Basic Text & Picture template page. In the new page, click on the Gear icon on the textbox. Click Character tab.  Change font size to 50.  This font size will be pass on to all books made with this template.  Now we can remove the added page by  right clicking on the page and then click  Remove Page.  The template will continue to remember the font size.
    
8. Now we are ready to make a book for stage 2.  Click Collections tab. In the Sources for New Books pane, select Decodable Reader template.  Click Make a book using this source.
   
   Now all the stages have already been defined. So we just need to change stage number for this book. In the Decodable Reader Tool pane, click the arrow to change the stage to 2.
   
   In the Front Cover page, enter Stage 2 Reader as the title. 
   
   As this is a stage 2 template,  we want to make the font size a little smaller than stage 1. So click Add Page and choose Basic Text & Picture template page. In the new page, click on the Gear icon on the textbox. Click Character tab.  Change font size to 40.  This font size will be pass on to all books made with this template.  Now we can remove the added page by right clicking on the page and then click Remove Page.  The template will continue to remember the font size.
    

Exercise:  Create books for the rest of the stages.

Now we are ready to make them templates which we will do later.

Create Leveled Reader Books

We will use the same collection as before for our leveled readers.

1. In the Sources for New Books pane, select Leveled Reader template.
2. Click Make a book using this source.
3. In the Leveled Reader Tool pane, click Set up Levels.
4. Now we want to define each level according to our specification.  Note that they are six levels preliminary defined.  We will want to change them.  Decide how many levels you want and then decide the rules for each level.
5. First we want to change level 1.  Select Level 1.  Set the Maximum Words in each Sentence to the desired number. Set the Maximum Word in each Page to the desired number. Set the Maximum Words per Book to the desired number.  If desired, we could set the Maximum Unique Words per Book to a number.
6. Now we want to define Level 2.  Click on the Reader Levels tab. Select Level 2.  Set the Maximum Words in each Sentence to the desired number. Set the Maximum Word in each Page to the desired number. Set the Maximum Words per Book to the desired number.  If desired, we could set the Maximum Unique Words per Book to a number.
    

Exercise:  Define the rest of the levels according to your specifications.

7. After all levels have been defined, we are ready to create our books.  Click OK to save your changes.

Applying Levels to Decodable Books (optional)

The Decodable Reader Tool and Leveled Reader Tool run checks to ensure the books will follow their rules.  It is possible to run both tools in one book.  We might want to set some of the decodable readers to certain levels.

1. Select Stage 1 Reader from English Templates collection. Click Edit this book. In the Decodable Reader Tool pane, click More. Next set Level Reader Tool checkbox. The Level Reader Tool dialog box opens. Change the level to 1.
    
2. Select Stage 2 Reader from English Templates collection. Click Edit this book. In the Decodable Reader Tool pane, click More. Next set Level Reader Tool checkbox. The Level Reader Tool dialog box opens. Change the level to 1.
    
3. Select Stage 3 Reader from English Templates collection. Click Edit this book. In the Decodable Reader Tool pane, click More. Next set Level Reader Tool checkbox. The Level Reader Tool dialog box opens. Change the level to 2.
    

Exercise:  Set the rest of the stage readers to a given level.

Make a Bloom Pack

We are now ready to give these templates to authors.  We do this by creating a bloom pack that contains these templates and then sending it to them. When they install the bloom pack, they will have access to the templates for creating books.

1. Click the down arrow on English Templates.  Then click Make Reader Template Bloom Pack.
   
   The Make Reader Template Bloom Pack dialog box appears.  This dialog box shows all books that will be added to the bloom pack. Click Save Bloom Pack.  The Save As dialog box appears. Navigate to the desired folder and then click Save.  A window opens showing the saved bloom pack.  Exit Bloom.
    
2. Run the bloom pack.  Then click OK. Then start Bloom. The templates from the bloom pack will show up in the Source for New Books pane where the authors can now use them for creating decodable and leveled readers.

Exercises

Create a decodable reader and a leveled reader from the new templates.