At last week’s ICT and Inclusion event in Inverness, organised by Call Scotland, a workshop was held by one of the volunteers from Doorway Online.

Doorway Online hosts a range of free activities which can be used to support learners working in Early and First levels – as well as learners with additional support needs – across various aspects of Curriculum for Excellence.

The simple resources have been available on the website for some time and can be used to support spelling, phonics, and letter formation within Literacy and English.

Education Scotland have recently released a suite of professional learning resources to support practitioners in assessing learners’ progress and achievement in Literacy and English.

The Education Scotland – Literacy Progression includes a snapshot of learners’ achievement in the Significant Aspects of Learning (SAL) through the Broad General Education (BGE).

They’ve also produced the following supplementary documents which can be used by practitioners:

CLICK HERE – Assessing achievement and progress overarching paper
CLICK HERE – Assessing progress and achievement in Literacy and English

In the 2014/2015 session, the Literacy Working Group aim to further develop the Steps to Success – Highland Literacy Progression in line with the new Education Scotland materials.

At the ICT and Inclusion conference run by Call Scotland on Tuesday, many resources to assist learners with a print disability were shared with practitioners across Highland.

There are three free (when used to support learners with a print disability) sources which house a number of fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as a number of curriculum resources, to assist learning and teaching from Early Level through to the Senior Phase.

Books for All Scotland Database can be accessed using your Glow account information.

Load2Learn and Seeing Ear can both be accessed by creating a free account.

The resources when downloaded in PDF format can be used with text-to-speech programmes – such as Ivona MiniReader – available on Highland machines.

At the ICT and Inclusion conference yesterday, co-ordinated by Call Scotland, I was left inspired by a free resource called TodaysMeet. Alan Stewart (Highland Council Assistive Technology Support Service Advisor) showcased the website as part of a way to use ICT to support writing in less than 140 characters.

Click the link below for guidelines which have been created to support the set-up and maintenance of a TodaysMeet site. The guidelines also include ideas how you might use the resource in the classroom.

CLICK HERE – Using TodaysMeet in the classroom

As always – we’re interested in your comments regarding how you would use the resource in your classroom.

CLICK HERE to leave a comment about using TodaysMeet – this site will be live until Tuesday 17th June. After this, you can leave a comment on our blog.

The EAL Highland Blog is packed with resources that can be used to support learners who have English as an additional language. These resources can be used to support and develop the communication of learners across each of the Significant Aspects of Learning within the Literacy and English curriculum.

Click on the image above to access the EAL Highland Blog. 

Today at the Supply Teacher Training, we briefly covered how Clicker 6, and other ICT programmes, can be used to support learners access and create text.

CLICK HERE for Literacy Support Programmes

Clicker 6 can be downloaded for free at home by Highland Teachers. Click the above link for more information.

The Clicker 6 website includes 90 second tutorial videos, supported by printable PDF files – comprehensive support guidance to use at home and at school.

Alan Stewart’s Assistive Technology Blog contains oodles of resources and links regarding the use of ICT to support learning and teaching.

Following the recent SSLN Professional Learning Resources released by Education Scotland, they are hosting a CPD event on Thursday 19th June 2014 in the Mercure Hotel.

The event, targeted at Leaders of Learning for Literacy and classroom practitioners, aims to make practical suggestions in which the resources can be used to support Literacy through First – Third level of CfE.

To apply, visit the Highland CPD Website by clicking the image above – and typing ‘literacy’ into the keyword search.

CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR SPEEDY SOUNDS RESOURCES

At the Supply Teachers’ Literacy Training last week, we were delivering some of the Phonic games which had been rolled out on the original HLP phased training and the Probationer Training. A popular game from this training was Speedy Sounds, and we suggested sharing the resources to a wider audience on the blog. Speedy Sounds – Known sounds are written on a sheet/whiteboard. Children work with a partner to point and read the sounds quickly. This could also be an everyday exercise, adding more sounds as they are taught. Progression could be to write the sounds. A copy could be sent home to parents to play together to reinforce the sounds learnt. CLICK HERE for twenty different Speedy Sounds template boards that you can use when teaching/revisiting phonic patterns.

CLICK HERE for our Spelling and Phonics Guidelines