Tag: citizenship

June 7, 2016

1 + 2 Languages & the Storyline Approach

Paula O Hare and Caroline Cane teach primary 1 at Nethermains PS in Denny. They are both developing 1 + 2 languages with their pupils – French and Spanish. They made effective use of Storyline methodology to engage their pupils in developing their language skills. Click here to see the plan they used to structure their storyline. You can also click here to see the learning plan they created with their pupils.

Kerry Girdwood teaches primary 1 at Carron Primary School and has also been putting her languages and storyline professional learning to good use in her classroom. Click here to see the imaginative way that Kerry structured her storyline plan for her pupils. Click here, and here to see her Postcode Lottery “initiating events”. Kerry used these to guide her storyline so that pupils learned about the culture of European countries, as well as developing their language skills.

Paula, Kerry and Caroline have all used the storyline approach to “bundle” or connect learning and make it more relevant and coherent for their pupils. They integrated their teaching of languages 1 and 2 within interdisciplinary learning to make it more meaningful, active and engaging. They also made good use of professional dialogue to share and develop their teaching and learning ideas. Hopefully this blog post will continue this process and support others in their teaching of languages within relevant contexts.

Click on the links below to see some of the resources created and used by Kerry, Paula and Caroline:

Travelling to France presentation

Travelling to Spain presentation

Pupil certificates Spain and France

France/Paris presentation

Spain/Barcelona presentation

Smart board document for Madrid

Learning about volcanoes

March 22, 2016

The Oxgang Primary Infinitree Crop

On Friday 18th March, Bartek and Scott in primary 5 at Oxgang School, told Mrs McBlain all about the imaginary Infinitree crop which they invented. This is a very special crop which is a blend of chocolate cane and a tree. The tree has leaves which can be crushed to give chocolate oil and then the leftover leaves can be made into chocolate paper, AND the chocolate canes can be crushed to make chocolate powder!!

The Infinitree crop is grown in the town of Little Market by very special characters. These include:

Rocko Bartson who is the harvester for the village farm. He is 18 years old and gets up at 6 o clock to harvest the Infinitree crop.

Bella Flower checks the fences and she drives the trucks which take the crop to market.

Declan Donald has 5 children, and he has to get up at 1am every morning to start watering the crop. He has to water 5000 plants, 5 times a day!

Miranda Rubber plants the seeds, she has one child and she works five days a week and does housework on the other 2 days. She gets up at 5 in the morning.

Bartek and Scott helped to write this blog post and were very good at explaining how their harvesting machines worked – they chose to make these from Knex instead of making them with their bodies during drama.

As you can see from the photos above and below, Bartek and Scott have had to think hard about farming, farmers and the crops they grow. We hope you enjoy reading about the valuable learning the boys have done with their teacher Mrs Stephen. They would be delighted to read any comments would like to write in the space below.

December 2, 2015

The Water Source Storyline Develops at Head of Muir PS

Pupils and teachers in primary 6 & 7 at Head of Muir PS are enjoying their developing Water Source storylines. The Water Source is a global storyline created by the West of Scotland Development in Education Centre (WOSDEC) and University of Strathclyde, which you can learn more about by clicking here.

Kirsty Bruce is working on the storyline with her primary 7 class as part of her second year of global storyline training. She is also supporting her colleagues in primary 6 and 7, with their delivery of the storyline, including Nicola Harding, a probationer teacher for primary 6. Nicola has very effectively documented what she has done so far, and how it has impacted on her pupils – see a short extract below, and click here for Nicola’s full documentation:

We started our topic by creating a strong foundation of community. Following initial research into what the term means, we set about creating our own fictional community to become our ‘home’ for the next 8 weeks. Learners were fully engaged with the process from the beginning, largely because they had full ownership of the village and sense of community. We discussed the careers and responsibilities needed to support a village and created characters/families based on these ‘needs’.

Here is our village display. We brought in a selection of junk items and were free to create our buildings in our own way using our own ideas for design and materials. We all worked together to create the river, road and houses.

Since we created our ‘families’, they have become very important to us and we do a lot of things together. We update our character diaries on a weekly basis detailing each new and exciting thing we have been involved in.

Global storylines are strong interdisciplinary learning which help practitioners develop skills, knowledge, attitudes and values in a powerful, but naturally connected way for their pupils.

Kirsty explained that: “Initially we got together to plan how we would approach the storyline and I shared information I have gathered from the Global Storyline course. I have been very impressed with how Nicola has taken this on in her class and it is great to hear about how involved the children are.

We have mainly collaborated on ideas for the classroom displays and resources that we have each created. However, frequent discussions about how things are going have been very useful for sharing ideas and talking through the plans and how best to approach the learning at each point.”

For more information about global storyline training in Falkirk schools, contact yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk .

November 17, 2015

Primary 4 learn about Law & Order at Bantaskin PS

Yvonne McBlain visited Primary 4 at Bantaskin PS on 16th November, to hear about their Green Street and Friendship Street Storyline work. Mrs Russell’s class helped Yvonne write this blog post, and took some of the photos too. Mr Davidson’s P4D class held their court hearing during the visit – they were all desperate to hear the verdict! 4R will visit Falkirk Sheriff Court on 17th November and then stage their court proceedings back in class.

We have been busy creating a street of houses in our classrooms. Each group in our class created a “typical” Falkirk 8 year old character, then made up a whole family to live with them.

Our families needed houses, so we designed homes which were just right for them. We got letters asking us to do different jobs. When an elderly couple from Malawi moved into the empty house on Friendship Street, 4D had to come up with ways to make them feel welcome in their new country. Another letter said that the council had given us a piece of land near our street, and that we had to design and make a community garden on it. Primary 4 used their tiling skills to create a tiled centre-piece for the garden using squared paper. The gardens had to be Eco-friendly – Olivia said that eco-friendly is “putting everything in the right bins”, Caitlin said “eco means don’t waste anything”. We learned how to tile a hexagon shape, and when our gardens were finished, we displayed them and organised a Grand Opening tea party to celebrate. The next day we were “outraged” to discover that our community gardens had been vandalised! Who would do this terrible damage? Why would they do it? The pupils discovered clues – a bottle of black paint, some fingerprints, and apples with bites taken out of them.

Children in both classes learned about Law and Order in our country by investigating the crimes of vandalism which took place in their community gardens (SOC 1-20a). Their storyline included a visit to the local Sherriff Court, and the storyline letters they received, highlighted skills and knowledge they would develop during this interdisciplinary work. The letters helped to engage the children in their learning and made it accessible to them. The pupils also developed their understanding of the impact of vandalism on real people because they experienced it through their make-believe storyline. Storyline is often valuable for this reason in helping children to develop sound values and attitudes which contribute to their development of the four capacities.

Click here to see a version of this storyline plan which was developed by Yvonne and primary 5 teachers at Ladeside Primary School a few years ago. It has proven to be a valuable way to link or bundle, specific Social Studies and Health and Well Being experiences and outcomes with elements of Learning for Sustainability.

October 26, 2015

World War I Project at Laurieston Primary School

Interdisciplinary information about this project in a nutshell-

What happened: In 2014, primary 6 pupils at Laurieston PS developed their research skills by discovering how previous Laurieston pupils contributed to World War 1. With the support of Louise Tierney and Laura McDonald from the heritage learning team at Callendar House, they discovered wonderful, sad and heart-rending stories during their “Our Area in the First World War project”(click here to visit the heritage learning team blog). Pupils were able to work with a range of people during this project, including: relatives of the people they learned about, a reporter from the Glasgow Herald, ( click here for more detail of the stories uncovered in his article about their work), and a television researcher. They also worked with a storyteller and artist, who helped them to interpret the stories they uncovered in a creative and informative way. The resulting “memory box” exhibits were part of a travelling exhibition which was launched in the Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness, visited Callendar House, and local libraries throughout the Falkirk area.

The pupils continued their involvement into primary 7, and their representatives shared their work with HRH Prince Edward, on 2nd July 2015.

How does this work relate to Curriculum for Excellence?

These pupils applied their literacy skills within the “People, past events & society” organiser of social studies, to research the legacy of the first World War on their local area. Discrete subject skills were developed within and across literacy, social studies and expressive arts. The project blended the four contexts for learning – the transferable skills used across the curriculum progressed learning in a discrete and connected way. The project enhanced the positive life and ethos of the school in its local community, and offered pupils opportunities for wider achievement.

As a result of this project pupils:

Developed and applied transferable skills such as: analysing information (primary & secondary sources), working with others, planning and organising, creating & presenting information
Explored their own thoughts about conflict, and their values and attitudes towards their school and community
Deepened their understanding and appreciation of the impact of war on real people & society
Experienced active and engaging learning
Benefitted from working with a diverse range of partners including the Heritage Learning Team

Sarah Black said “I feel that the WW1 project let me do fun and exciting things. Not only did I learn a lot but I am sure it will help me in the future. It was really special getting to meet Prince Edward. I really enjoyed meeting him as he was really nice and it was a once and a lifetime opportunity.

The most important thing I learned was that thousands risked their lives and many were killed to save my generation. I am very glad I learned about WW1 and the opportunity I got to be on television with it.”

Falkirk Community Trust’s Heritage Learning Team received a small grant for from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) of £9,900 from their First World War – Then and Now programme.The project had an intergenerational focus with a group of adult participants from the local community also working with the Heritage Learning Team and artist Jan Bee Brown and Storyteller Allison Galbraith to create a further 6 memory box exhibits to complement those created by the children and to provide a current cross-generational perspective on the impact of the War on the local area. Both generations came together to present their exhibits at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness to the wider community.

April 1, 2015

Falkirk Storylines Shared at International Conference

Teachers and senior managers from Kinnaird and Moray Primary Schools shared their use of the storyline approach at the 6th International Storyline Conference on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March 2015. Gemma Douglas and Brenda Bennie presented their global storyline practice with teachers from Glasgow schools and the West of Scotland Development Education Centre (WOSDEC). Ashley Thomson, teacher at Limerigg PS prepared the Falkirk contribution with Gemma, but was unable to attend due to illness and Brenda thankfully stepped in. Everyone involved shared the powerful impact of the Global Storyline training on the 14 teachers involved and their pupils. Feedback from the workshop delivered on Saturday was very positive, and the delegates attending engaged fully with the practical elements built in to help them understand how powerful this interdisciplinary learning is. Click here and here to read previous blog posts with more information about these storylines.

Lynda MacDonald, DHT, Gillian Brodie, PT, and class teachers Alison Feasby and Simran Multani also shared their development of storyline within Moray PS. In their session entitled “One School Telling Many Stories”, this team described the storyline journey taken by their whole school community over the last 2 sessions. During this time a small group of teachers have worked with and championed the storyline approach. Session 2013-14 saw every class embarking on a Storyline at the same time; their classrooms and playrooms were filled with vivid representations of characters, settings, plots and an abundance of new learning. In April 2014, all stages from nursery to Primary 7 celebrated and shared “Telling Many Stories” with parents, grandparents and other special guests. The school journey continues this session 2014-15 with an aim to improve practice and achieve greater consistency across the whole school and a drive to build in progression of skills across learning. The pictures above and below come from the nursery storyline floorbook.

At the conference, Lynda and colleagues made connections with 2 schools in the USA whom they plan to share practice with next year – there will be opportunities to link classes and storylines across the Atlantic which is very exciting for everyone involved.

Falkirk teachers are recognised for their use of the storyline approach to deliver powerful and engaging interdisciplinary learning. It was wonderful to see this practice being shared with an international audience – maybe we will have even more to share at the next International Storyline Conference in Istanbul in 2018!

March 18, 2015

Deep Understanding of Global Citizenship at Kinnaird PS

Gemma Douglas, principal teacher, and Brenda Bennie class teacher from Kinnaird PS have been using WOSDEC global storyline Our Crop, our Land with their primary 5 and 6 classes. As can be seen from their wonderful animation, this work has had a huge impact on the children’s’ understanding of sustainable farming, fair trading practices and the ethics of land grabbing.

Gemma will present this work and animation with Diana Ellis, Global Education Advisor, of WOSDEC and teachers from Glasgow Council schools at the International Storyline Conference on Saturday 28th March. The pupils of primary 6 were thrilled when their animation received 300 hits on the first night they uploaded it to YouTube.

It is clear that pupils have gained deep understanding of these global issues within the cross-cutting theme of Learning for sustainability and taken part in really valuable interdisciplinary learning. Brenda noted that

“The children are so proud and excited! It’s just amazing to see them so empowered. We’ve written letters to MSPs as well asking them to watch the video and tweet.”

Click here to see how Gemma integrated her storyline with the rest of her curriculum, and here to see how Brenda did this.

February 3, 2015

Deanburn Celebrates Global Citizenship Learning

Pupils, parents and staff from primary 2, 3, 4 and 6 at Deanburn Primary School celebrated more successful learning on Thursday 29th January.

Liz Stephens, class teacher, and Laura Beattie, principal teacher have been part of Global Storyline training delivered by partners from WOSDEC in collaboration with Falkirk Education Services. Last session they developed their use of the storyline approach and drama to deepen pupil understanding of global citizenship issues. This session they have continued this process and supported primary colleagues in delivering their own global storyline – The Farming Community. As these photos show, each class created their own crop and farming community then experienced the ups and downs of market fluctiations and the impact these have on rural economies.

Yvonne McBlain, support officer with Falkirk Education Services enjoyed listening to pupils from each class sharing their learning. In primary 4B “The Scott Family” looked forward to sharing their market stalls and video jingles with the guests. Claire and Holly liked pretending to be part of the Johnstone family. “I really liked doing Josh. I got angry because the buyer said she wouldn’t pay all the money.” “I got confused, like I didn’t know what to do.” Other primary 4 pupils enjoyed making their characters and learning about Fair trade – “Because it helps farmers all over the world and I didn’t know that” said Rebecca Smith.

In primary 3M, a character called James Bond! made a stall to show that their crop “Magic Tree” could be made into perfume.

In primary 2G the village was called Treetop and the crop was called the Spectacular Seeing and Healing tree. Reece and Robbie gave Yvonne a great tour of their storyline diary. Their drawings clearly show how they felt about the price the buyer’s origninally offered for their crop, AND the new price when the market “fell”. The boys enjoyed painting the scarecrow “to scare the birds away cos they might eat our crops.” They also liked making the harvesting machine with their bodies “we got to make a big machine what harvested our crops.

In each class it was clear that the pupils understood how unfair global trading could be to small, rural communities. They used a variety of activities to help their parents and guests understand this too. Some children manned the Fair Trade activity, and told the story of how crops like tea and bananas get from the field to our shops.

At second level in primary 6, pupils took their exploration of global trading a step further when their storyline community was subjected to a “land grab” by a multi-national company. Pupils shared their understanding of the complex issues which enable this to happen, but staging their own land grab and protest during the afternoon.

There was a great turn out of guests sharing in the learning of their children. Laura, Liz and colleagues gave their pupils’ another opportunity to present and share their learning by inviting other classes in the school to come and visit the global storyline classes the following day.

Staff at Deanburn PS are effectively using collaborative planning and professional dialogue to develop their interdisciplinary learning through the cross-cutting theme of Learning for Sustainability. They are making excellent use of their training to improve the learning experiences for their pupils.

December 18, 2014

Titanic Disaster at Deanburn PS

On Friday 12^th December, Yvonne McBlain visited Deanburn PS to hear all about the Titanic storyline topic which primary 6/5C have been working on. Hollie, Miah and Iona were kind enough to give her a tour of their classroom and wrote the rest of this blog post.

We received secret missions with information about what we had to do for our topic. One Monday morning, we were told we had to wear old clothes – it was the 16^th of October. On that morning, we were told we were going to be doing arts and crafts and that we had to build a 2D model of the Titanic. We didn’t know much about the ship, but worked in four groups and there was a funnel group, a deck and promenade group, a hull and under-hull group, and a sea group. Our teacher Mrs Crawford showed us lots of pictures and we searched Google images for more. It took us two days, but in the end we managed to finish our ginormous picture of the Titanic.

Hollie took a photo of the first class cabin, Iona took one of the second class cabin and Miah took the ones of the crew cabin.

The girls felt that this topic helped them to understand how things have changed since those days and nowadays. It also helped them respect other people more because “when we were reading the novel about the Titanic, the book says “life’s too short for arguing”. So now we think it’s a good thing to teach people that, and you should make sure you make the most of life.” Iona said “When we worked in the groups there was a lot of arguing and I think this topic helped us with problem-solving and we HAD TO solve the problem together.”

Miah looked through the evaluations written by others in the class and picked out Sophie’s which said “I really enjoyed my character and completing the missions. It was a very interesting topic.” Jamie’s said “I liked building the Titanic because it was super fun and we got to work together in teams.”

Hollie picked out some comments from the parents of people in our class. One parent said “Thought it was excellent and was really impressed with the effort they had all made, dressing up, etc.” another parent said “I was most impressed by the amount of research that was carried out. The children obviously worked very hard and it showed.”

It is very clear that these pupils have gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding from Mrs Crawford’s use of the storyline approach with this topic. Yvonne McBlain also noticed the real changes in attitude pupils had developed through taking on roles as characters on the ship, and really enjoyed sharing in the girls’ obvious enthusiasm for their learning.

December 16, 2014

Our Crop, our Land Storyline at Wallacestone PS

All four Primary 1 classes at Wallacestone Primary School shared and celebrated their Our crop, Our land storyline at the end of November 2014.

The photo on the left shows the farming community frieze created by the children during their global citizenship storyline. Each child took on the role of a villager in the farming community.

They helped create a new crop called the Super Berry plant and learned all about the processes and stages involved in growing, harvesting and selling it. Even at early level, class teacher Jennifer Main and her colleagues have noticed the impact of this project on pupil understanding of fair trade and global commerce.

The children shared their learning with the many parents and guests who came along to their open afternoon. Jennifer is one of the teachers from Falkirk schools who are making excellent use of their Global Citizenship Storyline training delivered in partnership with WOSDEC over sessions 2013/14 and 2014/15.

So far everyone involved has been very positive about the impact of this interdisciplinary work. The combination of the drama, social studies, science/HWB and literacy seems particularly engaging for pupils when taught through the storyline approach.