Tag: good practice

Supporting Attainment in Literacy at Stenhousemuir PS – Our use of Read Write Inc

Catharine Gillespie is the raising attainment teacher in Stenhousemuir PS and, with the support of her principal teacher Dawn Easton, she is leading the use of Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) from primary 1- 4  as a key support for progressing pupils’ reading, writing and spelling. The Read Write Inc Phonics programme is produced by Oxford University Press and Catharine was trained as a reading leader via the Ruth Miskin training programme. All teachers using the programme in Stenhousemuir PS have also been trained and Catharine provides ongoing professional learning and support for them. This training comprises the first three steps of a seven-step RWI programme which also includes:

 

  1. Rigorous assessment, tracking and monitoring
  2. Grouping children for maximum progress based on the above assessment
  3. Making consistent use of teaching strategies and pedagogy which encourages children’s best learning behaviours
  4. Supporting parents and carers so that they can contribute to their child’s progress

What impact on literacy learning is the use of this programme having?

The current primary 5 children at Stenhousemuir have been developing their literacy skills through this programme since primary 1 and there has been significant improvement in their attainment as a result. Most children across the school are on track with their learning with only a small number needing additional interventions to support their learning differences. Catharine notes that more children are achieving more quickly and measures this impact by comparing the attainment of current primary 2 children with those of previous primary 2 classes prior to using the programme. She attributes this impact to:

  1. Close Assessment of children’s progress:

Catharine assesses all children at 6-8 week intervals to determine where they are in their learning. Using the assessment resources within the programme, she identifies the consolidation opportunities and new learning needed then adjusts the groups which the children learn within to provide the correct degree of challenge for them.

2. Grouping of children:

Primary one children experience the programme within the adult-directed literacy element of their learning day. Fred the frog is introduced to children (the character used to engage children) and then used as a focus for structured teaching strategies across the programme. From January the children are grouped across both primary 1 classes and learn their initial sounds visually through the “Fred Talk and Fred Fingers” procedures, rhymes and visual clues. These procedures are taught in primary 1 and are then used consistently by all teachers working with groups across the school. From primary 2 upwards, Catharine groups the children using their assessment information within mixed class groups. She allocates each group to a teacher and a learning space within the school. The Read Write Inc sessions take place during an hour between play time and lunch time Monday to Thursday of each week. Catherine ensures that no child works in a classroom space which is below their actual primary stage.

3. Pedagogy and teaching strategies used:

The initial training guides teachers’ use of interactive, consistent routines for each part of the daily RWI sessions. Catharine and colleagues use these effectively to ensure that ways of working remain familiar and constant so that children can focus on the new learning. Each literacy session includes the Fred talk exploration of the new sound and teachers make this as multi-sensory and accessible as they can through their dialogue and interaction with their group of children. The Fred Fingers strategy involves children pinching their fingers in time with each of the sounds they hear in each word they see and learn. The teachers use flash cards with words which contain each new sound and a selection of review sounds, in a familiar routine with their whole group.

The RWI 1 hour sessions are focussed, with the actual activities  and ways of working changing every 15 minutes or so to support children’s focus and engagement. There is:

  • Always a review of the learning from the previous day’s work,
  • Introduction of the new sound and flash cards as above
  • Review of previously taught sounds
  • Writing of the letters, sounds and words learned
  • 3 readings of the text identified for the group (more detail below)
  • A quiz/differentiated comprehension questions
  • Linked writing opportunities at appropriate levels
  • Proofread and editing tasks
  • Grammar and vocabulary challenges
  • Longer writing tasks which enable children to apply their writing skills more creatively

The children are prepared for reading by learning the decodable and tricky words they will encounter in the story. They have a lively and engaging story introduction which builds enthusiasm for reading the text and puts the story into a context. Then they do paired reading – each child reading it again in turn. When listening to each other, the children use a lollipop stick as a pointer to guide their partner’s reading. After the first read, they have the text read by the teacher to model confident, fluent and expressive reading. Read two develops fluency and read three focusses on comprehension of the text and voice choice to match

The whole philosophy is that children are given every skill they need to be successful in their reading before they begin. As the children progress in their reading, the levels of challenge in vocabulary increase, as does the length of the text.

All of these activities support children’s ability to:

  • de-code the text
  • develop their reading fluency
  • link the phonemes with their corresponding graphemes
  • form the graphemes and
  • use the graphemes correctly when spelling.

The texts also have comprehension questions which increase in quantity and difficulty as children move through the levels of the programme.

The Ruth Miskin training programme includes the specification of pedagogical/classroom management techniques which support children’s learning behaviours and attitudes. These promote a calm, ordered, focused learning environment and familiar routines and ways of working. Teachers at Stenhousemuir PS use these actions rather than their voices to manage the different procedures involved in each literacy lesson. For example, children learn that when the teacher raises their hand this means it’s time to stop what they are doing and listen for instruction. When moving from one activity or group to another, teachers use a 1, 2, 3 finger signal to manage children’s standing, moving and sitting. These techniques have been so successful that they have become adopted throughout the teaching day for all classes.

What do the children think of this literacy learning?

When asked for their opinions of their teachers’ use of this programme children in two learning groups said:

“It’s not hard or easy” gave thumbs up sign with smile “it’s medium.”

“It’s helping me learn.”

“I like the books – they are nice and good. I feel like I am learning all of the words.”

“The lolly stick helps me see all of the words.”

“ I love Read Write Inc because it helps me to read fast.” – P2

“You have to work hard to learn all of the sounds” – P1

“I read my home reading book to my mum and she is proud of me!” – P3

The teachers feel that as the programme moves up through its levels, it supports specific literacy skills and understanding such as children’s knowledge of alternative spellings for similar sounds and their capacity to proof read and edit their writing. Catharine feels that their use of the programme offers their children small, measured steps to success leading to independent working and the ability to apply literacy skills purposefully across the curriculum.

How are teachers adapting and using this programme for their children?

When reviewing their use of RWI, teachers at Stenhousemuir agreed on adaptations to their use of the programme. This included:

  • Adapting the assessments provided to be more focussed
  • Adding in a Fred Star of the Day award to the child who’d engaged, progressed or contributed well to the daily RWI hour
  • Changing the classroom  literacy displays weekly to reflect the learning focus
  • Enabling children to take Fred home for the weekend (a child in each group does this and provides a simple diary insert for Fred’s adventure book).

On Fridays children’s literacy hour happens with their own class in their own room. Teachers use elements of PM Writing to teach varied and creative writing lessons  which enable children to apply the learning they’ve acquired over the previous week.

Ongoing Development and Next Steps

To complement their use of the RWI programme, teachers are also supporting primary 6 and 7 children to catch up on any gaps in their learning by using the RWI Fresh Start programme. Children work in small groups to develop and consolidate their literacy skills, using texts which have a more age appropriate interest level.

Upon seeing the impact of Read Write Inc Phonics in the lower school, the school invested in the Read Write Inc Literacy and Language programme for Primary 4-7 children. This forms part of a language rich curriculum which develops children’s reading and understanding in different genres and builds upon the work done in the phonics programme.

Engaging Parents

It was decided that maximum impact on learning could be gained through the purchase and use of  RWI text collections of home readers and speed sound booklets. In conjunction with information night opportunities for parents and carers, these booklets enable parents and carers to support their child’s reading homework tasks. The home readers are matched with the taught content of the RWI texts used in school to ensure that children will experience success while reading. Similarly, the speed sound books enable parents and carers to engage in fun consolidation of their child’s knowledge of their taught sounds at home.

Parents and carers have been very positive about these developments, but Catharine and colleagues at Stenhousemuir PS now want to build on this initial parental involvement in their children’s literacy. They would love to attract or recruit more parental helpers who can work with children in their learning groups.

In summary, staff use of the Read, Write Inc Phonics programme at Stenhousemuir PS is engaging learners, improving reading attainment and enabling children to progress their literacy skills at an appropriate pace. Catharine would be delighted to speak with colleagues wanting to know more, and an information/sharing opportunity will be scheduled via Falkirk CPD Manager before Easter 2024.

Supporting Pupils’ Literacy Progress at Hallglen PS

Over the past 2 school years, staff at Hallglen PS have developed how they support children with their literacy progress. They have identified a selection of programmes and processes which enable them to tailor interventions to children’s individual needs. Diane Ramage, principal teacher, and Samantha Nash, support for learning teacher have also worked with staff colleagues and children to establish new ways of working. This includes the creation of a new support for learning space and the adoption of a range of literacy materials and activities which their support for learning assistant can use with children.

Which Interventions are being used?

The programmes and interventions being used will be familiar to colleagues, and include:

  • Read, Write Inc Phonics (for p 2-5)
  • Read Write Inc Fresh Start (for P 6 & 7)
  • Reading Recovery Wave 3
  • Nessy
  • Story Club
  • Use of tracking and monitoring data to inform specific intervention plans for children
  • Regular dialogue between class teachers, support for learning teacher, support for learning assistant and school leaders
  • Timetabled blocks of literacy support – 6-8 weeks
  • Liaison with Jude Davies, Support Teacher Specific Learning differences
  • Use of the Falkirk Literacy Pathway

How are these being employed?

Sam began to use Read Write Inc Fresh Start last session to help identified groups of children in primary 5, 6 and 7 to raise their reading attainment and build their confidence in reading. Initially this involved 21 pupils but the group gradually dwindled as more and more children “caught up” with their peers and no longer needed specific support. This programme was so successful that less than a third of this original group of children now require support with their reading.

In response to their observation of this impact on the children involved, Diane and Sam planned how to continue to use the Fresh Start programme with children in primary 6 and 7. In order to intervene earlier, Sam also trialled the Read Write Inc Phonics programme to support children in primary 2 – 5.

Both Read Write Inc programmes are helping children to learn the sounds which they need to read successfully. The children benefit from the use of the programme’s flash cards. These support explicit teaching of the links between the visual form of the letter/sound, its memorable and explanatory rhyme and the repetition and consolidation of the sound itself. The pedagogy employed by Sam and colleagues scaffolds the children’s ability to recall their sounds swiftly as they read – gradually enabling them to both de-code and increase their fluency and confidence.

Children progress through the Fresh Start programme at an appropriate pace and the intense, structured approach is re-engaging children with learning to read and reading to learn. Impact on reading for enjoyment is becoming visible also. This is evidenced by children’s voluntary participation in the Story Club initiative which Sam has started to run at lunchtime once a week. This initiative is an intervention designed to support issues with reading skills at the primary 2 stage.

Children choose to opt into Story Club and each session involves her in reading a story to the children then offering an related activity (currently adult initiated). Twenty eight children came to the first session and numbers remain high at this early stage of this initiative. Sam noted the attendance of one child in particular who, following his use of the Phonics programme, is beginning to master reading. This child previously hated and avoided reading so his choosing to attend Story Club evidences a huge change in his attitude to this essential skill.

Diane, Sam and colleagues regularly analyse their tracking data and other intelligence relating to their learners’ reading and literacy progress. They have instigated a 6 week assessment cycle which informs timetable and menu of support changes every 6 – 8 weeks.  This regular review of where children are enables more accurate selection of interventions for children and more intense, structured support.  In addition school processes enable class teachers to liaise with Sam at any point to explore how best to support their pupils.

Staff at Hallglen PS are also using the Nessy online platform and resources in a number of ways. Primary 6 and 7 pupils at Hallglen access Nessy online learning routinely using their digital devices. Sam noted that this independent, on demand access was not possible for primary 4 and 5 children because they don’t yet have individual devices. She set up 4 iPad word spaces within the Support for Learning classroom and primary 4 and 5 pupils now come regularly to use these independently to support their reading and spelling skill development. Teachers are also making use of individual children’s Nessy spelling targets to support more accurate differentiation of spelling tasks. Staff plan to explore other parts of the Nessy platform to consider further applications which may be valuable for their children.

As part of her To Lead or Not to Lead professional learning, Sam is working with primary 2 teacher colleagues to gather data about the comparative impact of the Read Write Inc Phonics and North Lanarkshire Active Literacy programmes on children’s reading. The outcomes of these studies will inform how these literacy interventions are used to support children’s progress in future.

Review and Next Steps

Diane, Sam and colleagues feel that their support for learning processes and intervention “package” has been transformative for their school and children. They have a “menu” of support which is responsive, pacey and is raising children’s confidence and ability to read. By making use of data, intelligence, professional dialogue, assessment and timetabling in combination with effective pedagogy and programmes, they are raising their children’s attainment in, and enjoyment of reading. They plan to consolidate this focus on reading while integrating development of spelling and writing to extend and enrich their menu of literacy support for their children. Diane, Sam and colleagues are rightly proud of their “package” of support for literacy learning and look forward to continuing its development for the benefit of their children.

 

Antonine PS and their Reading Schools Journey

Setting off on our journey

Antonine Primary School in Falkirk hit the ground running with their Reading Schools journey.  They had a clear idea of their reading culture and opportunities to develop. Prioritising reading and writing was identified through their school improvement planning, so there was a common focus to drive their activities.

After undertaking reading attitudes studies with both learners and staff, Antonine Primary School introduced a Reading Leadership Group with Primary 7 Pupils, teaching staff, the Deputy Head teacher, and a librarian to promote reading for pleasure across the whole school.

‘Being a mini librarian has helped me get better at my alphabet. I loved making the shelf labels to help everyone find books.’

Reading for Pleasure: The Reading Forest

The leadership group’s first task was to design and develop a Reading Forest: environment and mind-set to encourage and support reading for enjoyment, fostering a love of books and elevating their learners’ experience. The Reading Forest involved:

  • Woodland-themed, leafy and tranquil reading areas with forest sounds to evoke the sense of being outdoors
  • TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone) time
  • An outdoor library

Having the Reading Forest as a core focus allowed learners to play an active part in planning and implementation. It also raised the profile of reading for pleasure through whole-school investment.

‘I like our new library, I can borrow lots of different books.  I like all the books about insects and small animals.”

The leadership group were involved in many administrative tasks throughout this process, such as indexing library stock and creating resources.

Since receiving silver Reading Schools accreditation, Antonine Primary have developed two outdoor reading spaces to provide learners with the opportunity of reading for pleasure during school breaks.

 

Impact on staff

Antonine’s Reading Schools experience was incredibly rewarding for staff. Opportunities arose for them to receive CPD training and become actively involved in the Forth Valley Regional Improvement Collaborative literacy group.

The Reading Forest encouraged free reading time in the classroom and encouraged staff to read too, modelling reading behaviours and supporting learners to find their next great read.  Every week, all learners across the school were invited to read for pleasure through a whole school initiative TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone), where rainforest music is played through the school tannoy. When they hear this music, all learners pick up their chosen book and enjoy some quiet reading time.  Staff also plan for reading aloud to their class twice per week through Forest Rangers.

‘The children are really enjoying seeing me read during TREE and will often ask what the book is.’

‘My class are constantly checking me for updating my door sign to make sure I have added my new book to this.’

Opportunities were created for more conversations around books using resources like Book Jenga, monthly reading polls, book discovery QR code hunts and building scenes in shoe boxes. This allowed teachers to understand learners’ interests better and find enjoyable and sometimes challenging texts.

Staff also increased their knowledge of contemporary children’s literature by using Scottish Book Trust resources and engaging with programmes such as Authors Live. Activities and resources were actively shared among staff, creating a positive culture for professional development.  We now also have a Star Books display in the staffroom, displaying termly newsletters and suggested contemporary literature for teaching staff to use with the class.  We liaise closely with our local librarian to update this termly.  Similarly, all classes across the school have a Reading Spine box informed by Talk for Writing.  This provides each class teacher with a range of quality literature to explore with their class throughout the session.

Supporting families

By surveying families and learning about their reading habits, Antonine developed a range of opportunities to meet families’ needs, from building networks with the local library service to launching home reading challenges. The gap between home and school was closed, with families engaging in community book hunts and activities on social media, building on rich foundations and helping to foster a love of reading at home as well as at school.

‘It allows us to have some nice quiet family time together. It feels like we are all going off on an adventure together.’

“[I enjoy] hearing my child’s reaction to stories – hearing my child’s progress in their own reading – the opportunity to spend quality time with my child.’

In working towards Gold Accreditation this session, both the Staff Improvement Group and School Library group are taking reading for pleasure into the local community with 3 new initiatives:  Read While you Wait, Read Enroute and a Community exchange library.

Wider impact

Reading Schools helped Antonine Primary cement reading activities and a framework to monitor their progress and success. Termly reading challenges became mainstreamed and linked to the Reading Forest, organising the schools’ reading activities under one framework.

Creating an evaluated driver diagram helped build momentum behind the fantastic work already undertaken while also identifying areas for improvement.  This continues to be an approach we are currently using in aiming towards Gold Reading Schools accreditation.

The programme provided a coherent structure and clear progressive route where all literacy activities would be celebrated and documented, knowing that they would contribute to the school’s wider aims and priorities.  Reading Ambassadors are celebrated weekly at whole school assemblies. What Reading Looks Like at Antonine, a reading policy, has been developed to provide all staff with an overview of all reading for pleasure initiatives that are now embedded across Antonine Primary School.

 

English as an additional language – celebrating and supporting

Over 75 different languages are currently spoken by pupils in Falkirk Council’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Centres and Schools. The EAL team is part of the Additional Support Needs Outreach Service and works with pupils whose first or home language is not English.

Our EAL team support pupils who are enrolling in or who are already attending a Falkirk Council ELC centre/class or school. Their support helps pupils who may be beginners in English or pupils who speak English more fluently but are not achieving their full academic potential. They work with schools and families to meet the needs of learners for whom English is an additional language.

Please visit the EAL team blog page here for more information and support with any queries you may have about teaching and supporting your pupils. All EAL professional learning from CPD Manager is listed on our 2022-23  professional learning menu which you can visit using this link Professional Learning for Literacy and English – Welcome to Falkirk Literacy (glowscotland.org.uk).

 

Improving literacy across learning in Argyll and Bute

At the National Literacy Network meeting in June 2019, Claire Bryden, Principal Teacher for literacy from Argyll and Bute Council shared literacy developments ongoing with primary and secondary colleagues. The slide above captures the ultimate aim of the strategies being developed – to ensure that:

  1. All practitioners understand the importance of literacy to learning across the curriculum
  2. All practitioners understand the level of challenge required when designing literacy tasks
  3. Literacy is embedded within planning across the school
  4. Literacy learning is made visible to learners
  5. Pupils have an overview of their own literacy across the school
  6. Staff provide feedback on literacy
  7. All staff involved in the assessment of literacy

Click here to view Claire’s full presentation and learn how she is working with others to explore and combine a number of ideas, research sources and tools such as:

  • Supporting emerging literacy inspired by a variety of sources including David Fulton
  • Exploring ideas from research by Sue Ellis on the three domains of literacy
  • The development of pupil vocabulary using the Storyline approach
  • Developing interdisciplinary contexts which integrate STEM/science within relevant historical contexts
  • Defining how these contexts could progress the degree of challenge to pupils’ literacy skills and development across the curriculum in primary and secondary settings (see below)

  • Focus on the development of pupil skills – supporting these by creating simple, effective tools for pupils and staff to use during teaching (see below)

  • Linking all of these developments to aim for a shared, firm understanding of standards and appropriate pace and challenge for literacy across learning
  • Applying Improvement Science methodology to track and evidence impact

Increasing engagement in reading with Primary 2 at Beancross Primary School

In March 2018 Rebecca Morrison, class teacher of primary 2 at Beancross PS began looking at ways to help her pupils make more progress in their reading. After attending a CPD session which explored enjoyment and choice in reading, Rebecca decided to make links with the local library and to involve parents who wanted to help progress their children’s reading.

With the support of her head teacher, Rebecca initially checked that Grangemouth Public Library could accommodate class visits by her pupils. The next step was to set dates which suited the library and her children’s parents. Parents were invited to join in with monthly visits to the library to read with their children, help them select books and generally promote reading and the use of the library.

So far the visits have been well attended by parents and pupils have been very enthusiastic about this shared reading experience. Some parents have become members of the library as a result of this initiative. Pupils borrow a book from the library each time they visit, returning it the following time – they really enjoy having access to the huge range of books available in the public library.

Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support teacher with Falkirk Children’s Services joined the class visit on the morning of 29th May 2019, and spoke to the children, parents, carers and grandparents attending. She asked the children how they felt about the library visits:

Kayden said “Happy. I like going to the library, I’ve been every month since I started primary 2. I read more and I enjoy getting new books.”

Hannah likes the visits because “there’s lots of books close together and I can choose anything I want.”

Siobhan said “I feel good going to the library and I enjoy that you get new books every month. It helps with my reading and sounding out words. I like getting them (right) and if I’m not sure I can ask.”

One of the mums said “It’s really good for them to be able to come down to pick a book they can read in school – the visits help them become more independent.” Mr Finlayson joined his grandson to read, commenting that “He reads all the time and has been coming to the library since he was 18 months old – it definitely has paid dividends for his reading.” Mums Jennifer and Emma feel that the visits are a very valuable experience for the children who hadn’t been to the library before. They suggested that the visits really encourage reading as well as offering a valuable opportunity to walk from school, getting fresh air, exercise and learning safe routes around their town. This was dad James’ first time being part of the library visit, and he explained that his child “seems to be enjoying it – it’s nice to see them coming to the library.”

Rebecca has been liaising with Grant, the librarian to arrange the visits and as soon as he and his colleagues had completed the mammoth task of checking out the books, Yvonne also gathered his thoughts: “We love having the kids in the library – they are the future and it’s great that they are getting into reading and literature. We have our Summer Challenge coming up (click here for more information) and it’s great that we have such good relationships with the primary schools in Grangemouth.

The enjoyment of the children was obvious during their visit, with final selection and stamping of books being particularly exciting – as can be seen from the photos.

Rebecca has observed that combining her teaching of reading in the classroom with monthly visits to the public library with parents has helped her pupils’ reading in the following ways:

  • pupils willingly choose to read for pleasure during opportunities for free choice in class
  • they are eager to look at and read each others’ books (they have read more books!)
  • the number of pupils who read at home has increased
  • parents are reading with their children more frequently than before
  • pupils who previously struggled with fluency and comprehension have improved these skills – some of them have made very significant progress

Rebecca will continue to develop this work next session through an approach called practitioner inquiry where research and more formal data measures will help her evaluate just how much difference this reading intervention makes.

Literacy Strategy Celebration of Success

Monday 12th January saw over 100 people attending a celebration of Falkirk Council’s Literacy Strategy event at Camelon Education Centre. Representatives from all of the 8 work streams including parents, pupils from Bonnybridge Primary and Grangemouth High School, teachers, Education Scotland, Library Resource Services,  businesses, partners, Falkirk Herald, Forth Valley College, the author Stuart Reid, librarians, development officers from neighbouring authorities, Scottish Book Trust, Employment and Training Unit, Moneywise Project, Entrepreneur Me and Renella.

Key note speakers Helen Fairlie, Literacy Development Officer, Education Scotland and Anne Pearson, Acting Director of Education started the celebration event off with positive news about how Falkirk Council are raising attainment in literacy.

After hearing the key note speakers, participants broke off into work stream groups to engage in professional dialogue and share their contributions to the literacy strategy to date. They then examined next steps and further ways forward to support ‘zero tolerance to illiteracy’.

Here are a few samples of photographs from the event:

IMG_3640 IMG_3641 IMG_3642 IMG_3643 IMG_3645 IMG_3647 IMG_3649 IMG_3651 IMG_3653 IMG_3655 IMG_3658 IMG_3659 IMG_3662 IMG_3664 IMG_3665 IMG_3671 IMG_3672 IMG_3674

Active Literacy Update Session 2013 – 2014

 

Each year, as part of Workstream 6 of the Literacy Strategy, a report is prepared relating to Workstream 1 – ‘Embed active literacy in every establishment’.  These reports can be viewed here:

Please click this link to access Active Literacy Strategy July 2013 for Session 2012 – 2013.

Please click this link Active Literacy Strategy July 2014 to access ‘Active Literacy Update’ for Session 2013 – 2014.

For further information, please contact literacy@falkirk.gov.uk

Teacher Champions – Maddiston Primary School

Over the past few months Lesley Haston, class teacher at Maddiston Primary School in Falkirk, has been working closely with her colleague Laura Fowlie on a Mairi Hedderwick-inspired project as part of the Scottish Book Trust Authors Live Teacher Champions Programme.

Lesley and Laura’s P2 pupils were inspired by the Katie Morag series.

The children started this project by watching the Author’s Live event with Katie Morag author, Mairi Hedderwick.

They discussed if any of the children had read these books before or seen the new TV programme. They read a different Katie Morag story every week.

In groups the children wrote about the characters from Katie Morag using adjectives and we displayed these on the wall. They came up with words such as toerag, mischievous, cheeky, old, hardworking, etc

Exploring Scottish culture through play

The children had a Scottish themed play afternoon where they had opportunities to choose a variety of different activities. They could build the New Pier out of construction, they curled paper to make Alecina’s sheep’s coat, they wrote down the ingredients for haggis, played in the water with boats and ferries, listened to Scottish music, decorated thistles and created Plasticine Nessies.

Learning about picture book construction

They wanted the children to learn more about the production of picture books in preparation for them producing their own. They had a visit from illustrator and print maker Cate James; she explained the picture book making process and took the children through the storyboarding process. The children had a fantastic time and we have been using this idea in our language lessons, they are eager to create their own characters and story books.

Inspired by the island-living theme in the Katie Morag series, the main focus for the project was to produce a piece of extended writing in the form of a travel brochure. The children were split into seven co-operative groups named after a Commonwealth country. They worked together and found out lots of facts and information about their country from the national dress and food to famous landmarks and people. Once they had collated all this information, they used it to write their travel brochure. They had to come up with their own company name, prices and accommodation options on their island. The children worked extremely hard on their brochures and the results were brilliant. Everyone was asked to present their brochure to our Headteacher. Every pupil was awarded a Katie Morag book of their very own for their hard work.

To round off the project we held a ceilidh and invited along their grandparents. It was a massive success and the turnout for it was overwhelming. The children had practiced Scottish songs, poems and highland dances to entertain and involve their special guests. They had fantastic feedback and the children were so pleased at who came to see and hear them. The children also shared their extended writing project with their visitors and it was lovely to hear all the amazing comments.

Alongside all of this, the children were rehearsing for their forthcoming class assembly. They performed to parents and the whole school to tell them what we had been learning. Each child was given a part to play in our assembly such as sportsman, flag bearer, Scottish dancer, Katie Morag characters and narrators. They learned songs and poems to accompany the assembly and supplied costumes to enhance the performance.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed all of the activities and opportunities that they have been given throughout the project. They have been so enthusiastic and produced some of their best work. The project has also been included in their Enterprise Award accreditation where we are hoping to achieve our Platinum award.