The First Minister’s Reading Challenge was announced on Thursday 1^st September 2016 with a target audience of P4 – P7 pupils.

CLICK HERE – First Minister’s Reading Challenge

The First Minister is challenging children across Scotland to get their nose into a good book. There are over 300 titles recommended.

CLICK HERE – Book List

There are several different challenges, including individual and school challenges, which you can sign up for on the Reading Challenge website.

CLICK HERE – Challenge Information

CLICK HERE – Register Your Class or Your School

By creating a teacher account you will also get access to the classroom resources.

GET READING WITH THE FIRST MINISTER’S READING CHALLENGE

We’d love to hear what your plans are to develop the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. Let us know by leaving a comment on this blog post.

Read, Write, Count is a new campaign to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of Scotland’s children by providing advice and support for the families of children in Primary 1, 2 and 3. It a key part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to raise attainment for all and close the attainment gap.

The Information for Schools document provides an overview of the resources which will be delivered to P1 – P3 children during the course of this session. The focus on the Read, Write, Count materials is developing family engagement. A Family Presentation has been created for schools to support this.

As part of the Read, Write, Count campaign P2 and P3 children across Scotland will receive a book bag (similar to that of the P1 Bookbug Pack) this Autumn. Deliveries are now underway in Highland and will be in your school between now and November.

The Scottish Book Trust have created a number of useful resources and documents on their website to support the gifting of the texts as well as using the texts within learning contexts.

CLICK HERE – SBT Read, Write, Count

It is recommended that these are gifted to the children during Book Week Scotland – 21st – 27th of November 2016. The Family Presentation and the letters for P2 and P3 can be used in the lead up to and during the gifting process.

Schools are encouraged to make links with the Highland Library Service to support the gifting of the Read, Write, Count packs.

CLICK HERE – Highland Information for Schools

This week John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, has released guidance for practitioners. This guidance includes the CfE Statement which provides explicit advice on planning learning, teaching and assessment using the Experiences and Outcomes and the CfE Benchmarks.

The purpose of the Benchmarks is to set out very clear statements about what children and young people need to learn to achieve each level of the curriculum. Benchmarks streamline and embed a wide range of existing assessment guidance (significant aspects of learning, progression frameworks and annotated exemplification) into one key resource to support teachers’ professional judgement.

CLICK HERE – Literacy and English CfE Benchmarks

The Highland Literacy Progression – Steps to Success will be revised this session to incorporate this guidance.

Many practitioners are currently using the Phonological Awareness materials to support the development of Phonological Awareness in their classrooms. We’re pleased to announce that the Phonological Awareness assessment which was published earlier this year is now available in Gaelic on the Phonological Awareness page. Many thanks to the staff at Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis who supported Speech and Language to create the resource.

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Phonological Awareness Screen (Gaelic)

CLICK HERE – (Gaelic) Phonological Awareness Screen
CLICK HERE – (Gaelic) Phonological Awareness Picture Booklet
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Let us know if you have any suggestions of classroom based activities which can be used to support the development of Emerging Literacy by leaving a comment.

Aesop’s Fables are a collection of stories which often have an underlying moral message. These stories are a great resource to use within literacy workshops to support the development of comprehension through Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Click the image above to access a collection of Aesop’s Fables from the BBC.

In a world where many of our learners utilise the benefits of digital technology at home and at school, this month’s ’50 Word Fiction’ from the Scottish Book Trust is a great opportunity for learners to pen a piece of fiction of no more than 50 words on the subject of the mobile phone.

The deadline is Monday 29th August 2016. The Young Writers category is open to all children and young people under 18.

CLICK HERE – 50 Word Fiction (Mobile Phone)

The Play Talk Read bus is visiting the Highlands this week. This is ideal for centres and schools which provide Early Learning and Childcare.

Check out this week’s bus timetable below.

CLICK HERE to visit the Play Talk Read website for activities which develop pre-reading and pre-writing skills and promote family learning.

WORDS UP TRAINING

Following our blog post on the Words Up Key Messages the training delivered by Speech and Language is now open to Early Years Practitioners and Primary 1 Practitioners.

Please apply through the CPD Calendar

On Friday 26 August at 11am the Scottish Book Trust will be broadcasting an Authors Live with Steve Cole from BBC at the Edinburgh Festival. 

Steve Cole is the bestselling author of books including Stop Those Monsters! and Magic Ink. He will be speaking about his hilarious action adventure stories. The event is targeted at P4 – P7 pupils.

CLICK HERE to sign up for Authors Live with Steve Cole

Emerging Literacy during 2016/2017

Welcome back to the 2016/2017 session! We hope you had a great summer break! Emerging Literacy is an Authority development priority within Highland this session. Further training will take place and resources will continue to be published on the Highland Literacy blog.

CLICK HERE to download the August 2016 Emerging Literacy update.