Want to add some colour into the Early Level? Elmer the Elephant is celebrating his 25th birthday this year. As part of his birthday celebrations, Random House are organising Elmer’s Parade events around the country. If you’d like to be involved or want to find out more, email APress@randomhouse.co.uk to register your interest. With World Book Day next month

Click the images below to access more information and Elmer themed activities.

Thank you to the Highland Library Service for highlighting Elmer’s Parade – 2014.

A colleague recently recommended English for Everyone as a resource which can be used to support and extend the comprehension of learners.

CLICK HERE for the comprehension section which includes texts and relevant questions,  organised under each age category, to use with individuals or groups.

Let us know what you think of the resource, or  alternatively if you know of any similar online resources, by leaving a comment.

A colleague has been in touch about the ‘Foundations of Writing’ materials which were created by Jordanhill in the 1980s. I’m hoping that someone out there may have one of the resources to assist a Class Project in a Highland school.

We’re looking for the Picture Book Story about the cat which can be used to support a Storyline Approach.

If you have this resource, or know of someone who could point us in the right direction, please get in touch.

Thank you.

National Storytelling Week 2014 kicks off next Saturday. Click on the images below to access a few resources which aspire to inspire . . .

The resources from the Scottish Storytelling Centre are fantastic – I’ll definitely be using the Early Years Starter Pack.

Some great top-tips for storytelling can be found below:

If you know of any other great resources . . . remember to comment!

Whilst browsing looking for ideas to support next week’s writing lesson, I stumble across this on Clever Classroom. The ideas are not new, but I’d like to pick up on two points in particular.

Firstly, with reference to visualising their idea – this is something which Highland Literacy promotes through the use of using media as a stimulus for writing.

Secondly, the point that Mrs Poultney makes about writing EVERY day – although extended writing with a time limit may not be appropriate in all stages, providing learners with purposeful writing experiences, with regular teacher/pupil dialogue focusing on improvement, provides learners with more than a standalone weekly writing lesson.

What will your learners write tomorrow? 

Looking for interactive resources to use within lessons to develop the literacy skills of your learners?

Room Recess is a fantastic free resource which contains games which can be used to support the teaching of reading and writing. Click on the images above to access the resources. My particular favourite is ‘Word War‘ which can be used to develop word building.

It’s been a busy term in Literacy HQ. We’re currently developing ‘The Highland Literacy Progression’ which we aim to send out before Easter 2014. We’re also developing further PowerPoints to add to the Literacy Toolkit as well as, where appropriate, refreshing the HLP materials.

The Highland Literacy Group are co-ordinating three CPD events during inset on February 19th 2014. Two of these event will take place at Crown Primary School in Inverness, the third in Invergordon Academy.

The first CPD event is a workshop which looks at ‘Creating Texts’ in the Primary School. The morning aims to question ‘What makes a good text?’, linking to the ’6 Traits + 1′ writing resource. Referred to in earlier posts, ’6 Traits + 1′ is a resource which can be used across the school to develop writing. This open to practitioners within the Primary sector.

February 19th 2014 – 09:30 – 12:30 – Crown Primary School

Our second CPD event we’re hosting is an ‘Introduction to the Literacy Toolkit’. This is aimed at Leaders of Learning within Primary Schools. The 2 hour CPD will allow practitioners to familiarise themselves with the Literacy Toolkit, providing  guidance as how to facilitate this within schools.

February 19th 2014 – 13:30 – 15:30 – Crown Primary School

The third event is ‘Big Writing’ – hosted by Big Writing trainer,Anne Glennie. The whole-day event aims to provide practitioners with a programme which can be used to develop writing, including guidance on learning, teaching and assessment. The course costs £37 per head, and can be found on the CPD calendar.

February 19th 2014 – 09:30 – 15:30 – Invergordon Academy

All events can be found in the CPD calendar – put ‘Introduction’ into the Keyword box within the Search Panel. Click the picture at the top to access the Highland CPD website

Highland Schools are reasonably well placed to support The Curriculum through the use of ICT software programmes available on the School Network.

CLICK HERE (or the image above) for a document which includes the software packages available on Highland machines. The ‘How To’ guide includes links to additional resources which provide further information on each of the packages.

We hope you’ve all had an enjoyable first week of term.

If you’re planning on doing some Literacy work for Hallowe’en next week, we’d love to know any fabulous resources which we can share on the blog. Click the pumpkin picture at the beginning of this post for an idea which I’m going to try with phonics/ORT words in infants. CLICK HERE for some more Hallowe’en ideas.

Have a great weekend!