Keep Scotland Beautiful have an exciting competition that could be developed as part of an interdisciplinary literacy and social studies context, whilst developing real purpose and audience through writing.

“We want to hear from you! Whether it’s through film, photography or writing, we want to hear and share with others, your voice about environmental and sustainability issues that affect you and your local community.”

The competition is running until the end of February.

CLICK HERE to find out more

Futurelearn offers a number of free online courses across a range of of subject areas.

This week they have started a short two week course on Teaching Phonics in Early Childhood that aims to explore the importance of phonological awareness and the early teaching of phonics. The courses are designed to promote reflection.

CLICK HERE to sign up and find out more

Scottish Book Trust’s new planning and evaluation toolkit, aligned with ‘How Good is Our School? 4‘, can help you evaluate the work you are already doing to build a reading culture in your school. If you haven’t yet registered for the First Minister’s Reading Challenge this year, sign up today for access this new resource (and many more).

The National Improvement Hub also contains further information for schools.

There are two surveys – one for teachers and one for families of P2 and P3 children that have received the Read, Write, Count packs earlier this session.

Teacher Survey: Fill in the survey to enter a prize draw. Teachers can win a fun Read Write Count SUPERBOX with games, books and resources. The deadline to complete this is Monday 4 March 2019.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PNJHFJM

Family Survey: The prize draw for parents is a personal Read Write Count GOODIE BAG filled with books, games and activities for all the family to enjoy. The deadline to complete this is Monday 4 March 2019.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PXCWGJ2

National Storytelling Week takes place between Saturday 26th of January 2019 and Saturday 2nd February 2019. However, the ‘coat tails’ which runs the four days previous and four days following the week amounts to over two weeks of storytelling.

The Society for Storytelling have a number of resources available for schools, youth groups and communities to get involved by telling stories.

CLICK HERE – Society for Storytelling

Author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, of the book ‘Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth’, will be on Authors Live on Thursday 31st January, 11am – 11.40am.

Authors Live sessions can be watched live, or can be accessed in the Watch on Demand section of the Scottish Book Trust website.

CLICK HERE – SIGN UP AUTHORS LIVE: FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE

Date: Thursday 31st January 2019
Time: 11am – 11.40am
Target Audience: P4 – S1

Please note that the link to watch is emailed to you manually by one of the Scottish Book Trust team. As this is not an automatic process, please sign up to watch as soon as you can so that they can get your link to you in plenty of time.

Scottish Book Trust’s new resource Introducing poetry in the classroom resource is now available to download from their website. This resource has been designed for  P4-P7 teachers, helping to introduce poetry to pupils in fun and creative ways.

CLICK HERE – Introducing Poetry in the Classroom

Do your pupils have a burning question about Mortal Engines they really need answered? Join the  chat on @FMReadChallenge from 10am to 10.30am on Friday 25th January 2019 for a special Twitter Q&A with its author Philip Reeve. Send your questions in advance, or post them on the day tagged #PhilipReeveBookChat.

Back in September the 15th Neil Gunn Writing Competition was launched. A reminder that the closing date for this competition is Friday 8th March 2019.

This year’s competition is open to:

• Primary: P5-P7
• Secondary: S3-S6

There have been brilliant submissions from Highland primary and secondary schools over the years. For both the primary and secondary competition there is a key theme for the 2018/2019 competition. They are as follows:

Entries are due on Friday 8th March 2019. Before schools take part in the competition, check out the Rules for the Competition document below and access the entry forms for primary and secondary.

Whilst the competition is open to P5-P7 and S3-S6 there have been  lesson plan materials put together by Jenny Wilson, Literacy Development Officer, for children working within Early through to Second Levels in exploring the primary school theme as part of their learning and teaching. For those schools entering the competition at P5-P7 there is also biography information on Neil Gunn to use alongside the lesson plan.

CLICK HERE for further information