The World According to Elaine and Moira

Today we were bowled over by five bi-lingual pupils from St Andrews RC Primary. They have agreed to read stories in Polish and Romanian to nursery children. It was a real treat to hear some of them practise their storytelling techniques. They are stars indeed 😁

 As the title suggests, this project is about creating a piece of writing which comes straight from your heart:-)

Primary 3 pupils in St Ninian’s have been set the challenge of thinking about a person who is special to them, writing something which explains why, and, creating an accompanying illustration. The finished pieces will be displayed in Menzieshill Community library early in December. At the end of the project each child’s work will be returned to them so they can gift it to their special person at Christmas.

The Award winning author Vivian French visited the class today to get things started by delivering a splendid creative writing workshop.  You can see more pictures and details on St Ninian’s blog.

In addition to receiving free books, the funding from the Barcapel Trust (which comes to us via The National Literacy Trust)  covers the cost of an author event in each of the participating schools. As a result, over 250 children were treated to the delights of a visit from award winning children’s writer Lari Don.

She shared writing hints & tips, myths & legends which have inspired her, and, she engaged the audience in creating an exciting chase or trap scene! Each of her visits resulted in pupils coming up with the most incredible and imaginative ideas.

Elaine and I whizzed round all 8 secondaries yesterday with Peggy Hughes, Manager – Literary Dundee.  We were dropping off boxes filled with an amazing colouring book inspired by D’Arcy Thompson’s  influential text,  On Growth and Form  which is celebrating its centenary year. The colouring book is a gift to S5 and S6 pupils from the University of Dundee, it was written by Matthew Jarron, the University’s resident expert on D’Arcy, and illustrated by Duncan of Jordanstone graduate Gavin Rutherford.

Alice Harman, the  lady responsible for bringing the Barcapel Trust funded Young Readers’ Programme to Dundee, joined us this week all the way from London.

Everyone was thrilled to meet her and have the opportunity to say a big THANK YOU in person.  AND, we discovered Alice has written a whole lot of text books, over 40 in fact, two of which were sitting on the shelves of the Hub Library. We all agreed, she is AMAZING!

The second Young Readers’ Programme book distributions are under way. We kicked off in Sidlaw View with P3/4. Imagine our surprise when they gave US a gift of lovely drawings and comments about the books they had chosen last time. Click here to see what they had to say!

If you have a Glow Account click here to see pupils from Sidlaw View, St Vincent’s and Rowantree Primaries choosing their books and talking about their choices

As promised, here is the Reading List discussed with the Keen Readers at Dens Road Primary on the 7th September. Click here and hey presto the list should appear 😀

Maths week made me get my thinking cap on before visiting pupils from P3 to P6! Although an old story, Milly Molly Mandy’s smart approach to getting the most out of a penny was appreciated by all and  some children also explained profit to me!

I know everyone enjoyed the ‘magic’ tricks so here is a ‘How to Guide’

A cheeky wee snapshot of some of the new Reading Rings books bought for the School Library Service. Borrow, borrow, borrow!

I had a great time in St Pius RC Primary School this afternoon, storytelling to Nursery toots, P 1 and P2, as part of Maths Week. What great listening skills they all had. Heading home this evening to learn the fruit shaking song. I love my job.