The Precision Teaching Wave Three Intervention Materials have been updated, including an introductory training PowerPoint with slide voiceovers, and a resource package to support the use of precision teaching.

You can download the Precision Teaching Resources below:

• CLICK HERE Precision Teaching PowerPoint

• CLICK HERE Precision Teaching Templates

Literacy permeates throughout everything we do both in and out of school. Practitioners can plan for Literacy skills through three different ways:

• Discrete literacy learning – Developing individual aspects of literacy.

• Literacy through Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL) – Applying and assessing literacy skills in context.

• Across learning  – Opportunities to develop and demonstrate literacy skills in all subject areas.  

Recently Education Scotland published resources for use across the Broad General Education (3-15), created in a partnership between the University of Glasgow and Education Scotland. The resources are located in a number of curricular areas such as Social Studies, Modern Languages, RME and Technologies. The resource links provide an opportunity for children to apply their literacy skills through interdisciplinary learning, or demonstrate literacy skills across learning.

CLICK HERE – Education Scotland/ University of Glasgow BGE Materials

Mentimeter is a site with great potential for the classroom. There are many possible uses… in developing literacy skills for example, it can be used to develop children’s questioning skills linked to a text,  or supporting the development of interactive presentations that generate instant feedback.

Teachers can create an account on www.mentimeter.com and get started with their presentation. Using an internet enabled device, others can then provide instant feedback that can be produced in a number of forms including word clouds and graphs.

The following video explains how to get started:

CLICK HERE – Mentimeter

Cromarty Arts’ Crime and Thrillers may be a competition for YOU!

As part of this year’s Crime & Thrillers Weekend, Cromarty Arts have launched a brand new short story writing competition, open to all.  The genre is crime and thrillers and the story title is ‘The One Hundred Steps’ (after the beautiful and legendary Cromarty walk up the South Sutor).

There are two categories: under 18 (1000 words) and 18+ years (2000 words) and the deadline for submissions is midnight on Sunday 7th April 2019.  Entries will be judged anonymously with a winner and runner-up in both categories and prizes awarded by Ian Rankin at our end of weekend session on Sunday 5th May.

For full details, terms and conditions and an entry form, download here in Word or as a pdf.

CLICK HERE – Crime and Thrillers – Cromarty Arts

Bookbug have recently launched their new app for families and practitioners to share songs and rhymes on the go, look up new words or make up songs and rhymes to their new instrumental versions!

CLICK HERE – Bookbug App More Information

The Morphological Awareness resources that sit as part of the Wraparound Spelling guidance have been updated. This now includes further resources to support the learning and teaching of morphological awareness, and a continuum for morphological awareness development.

CLICK HERE – Morphological Awareness Continuum

CLICK HERE – Morphological Awareness – Roots and Shoots Guidance

This week, Monday 18th March to Sunday 24th March, is Shakespeare Week. Check out the Shakespeare Week website for a resource toolkit to support literacy and language learning in the classroom.

CLICK HERE – Shakespeare Week Resources

The fourth round of Emerging Literacy networks in February and March explored the:

• Using Texts to Play and Talk Together guidance to support play and exploration. This looked at developing play contexts linked to a text, focusing on the adult’s role through observation and playing and talking together, and support children to review their play.

• ‘What makes an Early Level reader and writer?’ – Using the Early Level Literacy and English Progression, practitioners reflected on the use skills developed in early reading and writing, using the progression to support moderation.

The Network 5 sessions will take place on the following dates, in the following venues in April.

CLICK HERE – Emerging Literacy Update March 2019

“A Picture Tells A Thousand Words”

Wordless Books are a great way of supporting children’s literacy and language development through vocabulary, oral langauge comprehension and narrative skills. In a previous post last year we shared the Scottish Book Trust’s guidance on using wordless books in schools and libraries.

Using these practitioners can:

• develop children’s langauge in context by making comments, describing what they see

• ask developmentally appropriate questions, to support children’s verbal reasoning and abstract thinking

• develop children’s sequence and narrative skills to retell and create texts.

The Scottish Book Trust has written a blog post on using Wordless Books. CLPE has also has a suggested list of wordless books that can be used across the school.

Those schools that are part of the Council’s structured approach to reading comprehension development this year are using wordless books to support the development of comprehension strategies.

CLICK HERE – Scottish Book Trust – Wordless Books in Schools and Libraries

CLICK HERE – Scottish Book Trust blog post – Wordless Books

CLICK HERE – CLPE – Suggested list of Wordless Books

In developing Wraparound Spelling, there are resources on the website that have been created to support morphological awareness.

Membean is a great website resource that can be used when developing morphological awareness. The root trees include root words for each of the roots.

CLICK HERE – Membean Root Trees