A new resource has been created and added to ‘The Literacy Toolkit’ section of our blog.
Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time – The objective of this PPT is to explore what types of questions we ask, the developmental nature of verbal reasoning skills and how to adapt our language to achieve improved learning outcomes for children and young people. It is written for education staff working with primary and secondary school ages.
Check out Studyladder – a fantastic esource from Australia that can be used by learners to reinforce concepts in literacy. I particularly like the reading comprehension exercises. Accounts can be set up for individuals and learning snippets can be assigned for completion online in class or at home.
The resource also has materials that can be used across different areas of the curriculum. Click the image above to access Studyladder.
Inspired by a piece of work that one of our Highland Primary Probationer teachers carried out last session, I was itching to read more about Storycrafting.
A method developed in Finland, Storycrafting allows a learner to tell a story, be listened to, be retold their story and make reflective changes based on what they hear back. 
Click the hyperlink above to access a website with information about Storycrafting. Click the image above for a short journal article about Storycrafting in action.
In Storycrafting you:
Storycrafting is a great method which can be used in the classroom to develop literacy through social interaction, or expanded to partnership working across classrooms and schools as a Global Citizenship project.
CLICK HERE: Your Mango, My Mango, Our Mango – this is a resource which can be used to support the Storycrafting methodology using through the theme of Global Citizenship.
A date for your diary . . . courtesy of Education Scotland
Robert Louis Stevenson Day will take place on Friday 13 November, though celebrations will be taking place all week, from 9—15 November. This year the theme will be ‘Stevenson on Stage and Screen’ and pupils of all ages can take part in celebrating Stevenson. To find out more about how you can be involved, visit Edinburgh City of Literature Trust’s website: cityofliterature.com/rlsday
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894), novelist and poet, was born and bred in Edinburgh. He wrote poems, stories and novels for children and adults, in Scots and English, travelled all over the world, and was gifted with a vivid and lively imagination. He is one of the best-loved and interesting authors of all time. His best-known books are Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Kidnapped. He is known as RLS for short, and his life and work are celebrated every year on his birthday, 13 November: we call it RLS Day.
The Scots Language Co-ordinators have produced some resources on the writer’s work. For more ideas about how to celebrate this great Scottish and Scots writer visit the Blether: Scots Blether RSL resources
Shared courtesy of Education Scotland –
A competition has been launched to help primary school children understand how the latest research becomes headline news in the media.
The ‘Rewrite the Headlines’ initiative will work with schools to assist young people to better understand what research is and how it gets reported in the media. They will get a better understanding of the journey from “lab to headline”, so they can more confidently judge any research stories they might come across. Equipping children to evaluate what they read and hear is a valuable life skill.
Yesterday the Literacy and English team at Education Scotland released their revised professional learning paper and progression framework as part of the Assessing Progress and Achievement resource.
There are three significant aspects of learning (SALs) in Literacy and English.
Although teaching and learning will often take place across more than one significant aspect of learning, a learner may achieve a level in listening and talking or reading or writing. Progress and achievement within these three significant aspects of learning in literacy and English will be evidenced as children and young people achieve across these key themes:
CLICK HERE – Literacy and English Assessing Progress and Achievement
CLICK HERE – Revised Literacy and English Professional Learning Paper
CLICK HERE – Revised Literacy and English Progression Framework
The relevant changes to The Highland Literacy Progression – Steps to Success will be made in due course to reflect the changes at National Level.
As well as the training in Highland provided by Highland Libraries on the P1 Bookbug pack, you can find an event on Glow TV which can be accessed remotely if you are unable to attend one of the Library events over the next few weeks.
CLICK HERE Highland Library events – P1 Bookbug Update
Bookbug Primary 1 Family Bag Session
Wednesday 28th October @ 4pm
Join Scottish Book Trust as they introduce you to the Primary 1 Family Bag, a free bag of books and resources for every Primary 1 pupil in Scotland. The bag can provide the springboard for a whole host of creative learning opportunities and gives pupils the chance to vote for their favourite book in the Scottish Children’s Book Awards. We’ll go through the practicalities and show you how you can make the most of this wonderful resource!
Primary 1 Bookbug packs should have arrived in schools now. Highland Libraries kindly ask that P1 Bookbug packs remain in school and are gifted, where possible, during Book Week Scotland between Monday 23rd November and Friday 27th November 2015. CLICK HERE for information on P1 Bookbug training in Highland. Golspie training now taking place on Thursday 5th November 2015.
CLICK HERE for Education Scotland’s key development messages for the 2015/2016 session in Literacy and English.
Have a great October break!
Why not create a display where learners are able to identify character traits? This could be from a text in guided or independent reading. There’s scope for learners to make comparisons between characters across a number of texts.
CLICK HERE – Character Traits: Read, Write, Inc.
Scholastic have some suggestions of how to introduce and develop character traits when analysing texts.
This Thursday, 8th October, is National Poetry Day. This year’s theme is light.
The Forward Arts Foundation has created some great free resources for teachers to use on National Poetry Day.
CLICK HERE to download Primary and Secondary resources
You can also find some brilliant learning resources from the Scottish Poetry Library on the theme of Light.
CLICK HERE – Scottish Poetry Library resources
Even if you’re not celebrating National Poetry Day this week, check out the resources as they may come in useful when you’re teaching poetry.
HIGHLAND LITERACY 