Literacy Team colleagues from our Falkirk Service and School Improvement Team have created a learning grid of literacy-led activities which can be used by school colleagues to support their remote learning planning and teaching in January 2021. Judith Davies and Louise Amos created the grid and sourced the many useful links and engaging learning activities it offers. Click on the image above to open the grid and click here to view the activity sheets.
The Scottish Book Trust also have resources linked to Scotland/Burns click here to view the resources Tweeted @Bookbug_SBT – Learn about Rabbie’s life as a boy, colour in a wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie and discover the meaning of some braw #Scots words in this activity pack from @VisitScotland
East Ayrshire Council also shared a Google Robert Burns Birthplace Virtual Classroom link available here.
This blog post shares the second family literacy learning pack created by Falkirk Children’s Services Literacy Team during school closures caused by coronavirus. We hope it gives Falkirk families a fun way to learn together while dreaming of better times when we can go anywhere we like! 🙂
Are you ready to pretend that you’ve won a dream holiday, have a large budget to spend and can go to any 3 cities in the world?
Click here to download a print copy of the plan – this takes the form of a work book which you and your children can use at your own pace (it has 50 pages so you might want to pick and choose the ones you need, or ask your child’s school to make you a print copy). The whole family can work together at the same time, or children can work independently – you will know what is right for you.
Look at the plan with your child(ren), check they understand the order of the little task bubbles and questions at the beginning of each section, then get started. The plan suggests things to do and ways to do them, but you might have even better ideas. Enjoy doing as much or as little as your child(ren) want to each day and remember that this learning shouldn’t replace or be in addition to what your children are being asked to do by their teacher or school. Don’t do too much.
Useful Links to use with this plan – Click on the links below when you are ready for them (they are roughly in the order you will need them as you work through the plan).
What is a holiday? Click here for a simple definition. We hope you enjoy remembering and talking about your own holidays and days out.
Click here to watch a BBC Bitesize video about the world, the continents, atlases and maps you might want to spend a bit of time refreshing your knowledge of the world by doing the activities there too.
Click here to view our brochure with information about some of the major cities of the world – you can research to find out more information or find your own cities instead if you want to. Click here to view a useful presentation created for Falkirk pupils by the digital learning team at Encyclopeadia Britannica. This brilliant resource will help you research cities of the world. You can click here to visit their schools website
Google Street Map is a great tool for taking a virtual tour or walk in your city, use this link to help you.
When your children/your family are on their pretend holiday, you might want to make/keep a creative holiday diary – click here to see a couple of examples from the internet.
Click on the country below to learn more about the culture, the traditions and the language spoken in your holiday cities – these power points have audio files which you can use to practise using words and phrases you might need.
When you come back, please tell us all about it by leaving a comment below. We would be grateful for your feedback about how valuable you find this plan.
This blog post shares a digital family learning pack created by the literacy team working for Falkirk Children’s Services. This is our first pack produced during the closure of our schools and centres as a result of the corona virus and it uses the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We hope it helps parents and carers across our authority to support their children’s learning and to enjoy learning together. To use this pack with your children you should:
Read over the plan – click here to view (save to a new file in your device?)
Explain the plan to your younger children and let older children read it themselves – you can talk about whether you all want to use it to learn together or with only one child (your child’s school may have given you advice about how it fits with the other work your children have been sent)
Tell your child(ren) that working on this plan will help them practise and get better at talking, listening, reading, writing, being creative and developing technology skills. You might want to talk about the little curriculum pie chart (see picture below right) which shows the school subjects this plan links together – literacy, expressive arts and technologies.
Simply start with episode one and work your way through to episode 5 – remember to only do as much as you are able to at any time and to take breaks when your child(ren) need these.
You can stick really closely to the questions and activities suggested by the plan, but it can be just as valuable to change these depending on how your children answer, and what they like/want/are able to do.
At any suitable point during your Jack and the Beanstalk learning, let your child(ren) search through the extra activity ideas listed below and choose any that they want to do.
When you are finished, we would love to hear how it has gone. Please leave a comment on this blog post below, and/or Tweet tagging your child’s school and our #LiteracyAtHome.
This way of learning is called Storyline and has been used in Scottish schools and nurseries for over 40 years. Click here to learn more about the Storyline approach.
Extra Ideas for your Jack and the Beanstalk Storyline work:
Activities for nursery and primary 1 children – click here.
BBC Radio Music resource – learn how to sing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk – click here
Click here to explore Jack and the Beanstalk drama ideas from the Scottish Book Trust
Click here to view copyright free pictures and resources
This post collates sources of professional learning for Literacy and English and was compiled by Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support officer with central team colleagues from Falkirk Children’s services. We hope these offer valuable support in these challenging times, but please email yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk with comments or additional ideas.
This blog is our main Falkirk source of information about literacy and English in our establishments – you can browse examples of Falkirk practice as well as local and national updates. Our Falkirk Literacy and English Glow group (login required) also stores hundreds of documents and ideas which we can’t share on this public platform.
Click on the text/images below to browse each site.
Education Scotland colleagues have collated a links to online sources of materials for literacy in their Professional Learning Wakelet
These include sources such as BBC Bitesize, Scottish Booktrust, Education Scotland sites, etc.
Our Forth Valley & West Lothian Regional Collaborative Literacy group have also created a blog which is full of sources and materials to extend professional knowledge and support the adaptations to practice currently required of us. These materials were designed to support all practitioners – whether teaching from home, or working in our hubs.
Yvonne Manning, principal librarian, Falkirk Children’s Services and her wonderful team have moved our Library Resource Service to its new home at our Bothkennar Hub. Click here to visit the Learning Resource Service blog and stay updated on developments including Borrowbox, reading for enjoyment and developing a reading culture.
Louise Amos and Jude Davies, Support Teachers for Specific Learning Differences can be contacted louise.amos@falkirk.gov.uk & judith.davies@falkirk.gov.uk and have provided the following documents, materials and links to support your professional learning around specific literacy or language difficulties.
CLPL incorporating the Scottish context –
Click here to explore online course materials – An Introduction to Inclusive Education
Click here to explore Three Dyslexia online learning modules
Click here to explore Education Scotland professional learning
Other useful information, links and resources can be found in the Addressing Dyslexia website here.
Ursula Busch and Ann McPhilemy from our English as an Additional Language service has also provided the following links:
Click here to visit NALDIC – National subject association for EAL
This link leads to essential reading: Learning in 2+ languages – Guidance which promotes inclusion of bilingual pupils and identifies good practice in supporting bilingual pupils
This link leads to and Education Scotland professional learning tool – Supporting bilingualism and English as an additional language
Further links and information have been collated here in this document by Ursula – thanks to colleagues in Stirling and Glasgow Councils for the information shared.
This blog post shares the second family literacy learning pack created by Falkirk Children’s Services Literacy Team during school closures caused by coronavirus. We hope it gives Falkirk families a fun way to learn together while dreaming of better times when we can go anywhere we like! 🙂
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