Author Archives: Mr Cook

National Digital Learning Week (14-18th May) – Digital Story Telling

As part of National Digital Learning Week, Monday 14th May – Friday 18th May 2018,  Education Scotland have publicised a great opportunity to develop digital technology skills through story telling.

Education Scotland are launching 2 main activities:

  • An exclusive National Digital Story telling activity for 30 schools across Scotland with famous children’s author Lari Don.
  • A digital story telling activity schools can enjoy in their local  setting.

CLICK HERE – #NDLW18 MORE INFORMATION

Writing with Purpose and Audience – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

When we support children and young people to create texts it is important that we provide them with clear purpose and audience.

Stride’s ‘Home and Away‘ writing competition provides children and young people with the opportunity to explore their thoughts about a topic they feel passionate about linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate literacy skills within the context of Social Studies, Health and Wellbeing and Religious and Moral Education.

CLICK HERE – Home and Away SDGs

Our Creative Journey

The Care Inspectorate document ‘Our Creative Journey‘ shares how Expressive Arts can be developed within early learning and childcare settings.

Within the document, there are a number of examples which can supporting children’s Emerging Literacy development.

A few of the examples:

  • pg.7 details the work of stories, songs, games and rhymes
  • pgs.24 and 25 share the importance of gross motor movement
  • pg.29 has a case study on storytelling
  • pg.46 includes an example on painting to music
  • pg.61 shares the opportunities for motor and language development through “playdough stations”.

These are some great examples of interdisciplinary learning experiences which can support children’s literacy, language and communication skills through adults and children playing and talking together.

FM Reading Challenge – Deadline: Wednesday 2nd May 2018

There’s less than a week to go for schools to submit their entries for the First Minister’s Reading Challenge.

Schools have until Wednesday 2nd May 2018 to make their submission to the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. The submission process is simple – check out their blog post for teachers.

All schools that submit will receive a Reading Challenge Party Pack to support celebrations of building a positive reading culture in their school.

Using Wordless Picture Books in Schools and Libraries

The Scottish Book Trust have published a resource to support ELC settings, schools and libraries in using wordless picture books with children and young people.

Using Wordless Picture Books in Schools and Libraries‘ shares the power of using wordless picture books to promote children’s literacy and language skills through language comprehension.

Use this resource with ‘Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time to develop concrete to abstract thinking, and ‘Building Vocabulary for Better Literacy‘ to support vocabulary instruction.

As part of Emerging Literacy, we’re currently developing a suite of Oral Language resources. Wordless Picture Books are a great way of supporting the development of Sequence and Narrative skills. Check out our Sequence and Narrative resources we’ll be launching through our next round of Emerging Literacy networks:

Developing Narrative Concepts
Developing Sequencing Concepts
OL – Sequence and Narrative_ TALKFORWRITING

CLICK HERE – SBT – Wordless Picture Books

Shared Reading

Have you checked out the Shared Reading materials on the blog?

Jenny Wilson, Literacy Development Officer, has created a toolkit of resources to support the development of shared reading. These materials have been created to support practitioners develop shared reading with their classes. They include guidance as well as resources to support Shared Reading with fiction and non-fiction texts.

You can access the Shared Reading resources by clicking the links below:

Pen Fifty Words – April 2018

Do Something Great… April’s ’50 Word Fiction’ from the Scottish Book Trust celebrates those who stand up for what they believe in!

This month’s ’50 Word Fiction’ from the Scottish Book Trust asks you to ‘Write a story about someone who stands up for what they believe in.’

The Equality and Diversity Picture Books are a great starting point for inspiration – packed with characters who strive for Equality and Diversity. Elizabeth in ‘The Paper Bag Princess‘ or Malala and Iqbal are just two examples of people standing up for what they believe in.

The Paper Bag Princess

Malala and Iqbal

The deadline is Tuesday 1st May 2018. The two Young Writers categories are open to all children and young people from 5 to 18.

CLICK HERE – ’50 Word Fiction’

Emerging Literacy Update – April 2018

Join the Northern Alliance YAMMER site for Emerging Literacy to take part in the conversations on taking a developmental approach to Emerging Literacy

This month’s update includes information on:

  • Emerging Literacy Networks – May 2018
  • Emerging Literacy Training – May 2018
  • Words Up (Early) – Gaelic Posters
  • Next steps: Resources for 2018/2019

CLICK HERE – Emering Literacy Update April 2018

Phonics Resources

In our recent post sharing the new resources from Jenny Wilson (Literacy Development Officer), she highlighted resources to support the teaching of phonics for reading and spelling.

Teaching phonics is an important part of learning to read and learning to spell. The Northern Alliance Principles of Effective Phonics Teaching have been designed to to support practitioners and schools to plan for developmentally appropriate teaching and learning of phonics.

Jenny’s earlier post linked to two  resources:

Teaching Phonics Guide “Letters and Sounds”
Letters and Sounds