All posts by Olivia Wexelstein

Summer Reading Challenge

Mythical Maze Holiday Fun at Your Library

Get ready to lose yourself in the library with the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge 2014!

Children aged 4 to 11 years are challenged to read six library books over the summer holidays, with a special Bookbug category this year for 2-3 year olds.

Join up at your local library and collect an amazing starter challenge pack. There are stickers and rewards along the way and a certificate and gold medal on completion!  Connect to the Mythical Maze website (www.mythical-maze.org.uk) where you can read, share, create and take part in interactive games.

The Challenge runs from Monday 30th June to Sunday 31st August and children can sign up at any Fife Library from Monday 23rd June.  Those who sign up by the 14th July will be entered into the prize draw to win some mythical prizes, and everyone who completes the challenge has a chance to win an author visit to their school.

Look out too for the programme of mythical summer events and activities in libraries over the holidays.  Details can be found at www.onfife.com or ask at any library.

Upcoming Glow TV Events

Meet the Athletes – Hockey/Athletics/Table Tennis
9 June 2014, 11.00 am

Join Eilish McColgan, Scottish 3000m steeplechase, Ailsa Wyllie, Scottish hockey forward and Sean Doherty, Table Tennis, exclusively on Glow as they share their excitement about the Games with you and tell you what it takes to be at the top of your game.
Mark Beaumont presents:  The Queen’s Baton Relay!
16 June 2014, 11.00 am

This exclusive session will be presented live by Mark Beaumont from a school in Midlothian.

Mark will share his rich experiences following the baton around all the 70 nations and territories and answer your questions as we go along. He will also introduce you to some special guests joining him that morning.

This is your chance to find out about the people who are involved in the organisation and running of the Games. You will hear all about how the games actually happen and be able to ask them the question only they will be able to answer. Game On!
During June we will be having many more Commonwealth Games related events. At the moment we are finalising arrangements with our athletes so keep an eye on the Glow TV schedule and the Education Scotland Learning Blog to see what is coming up!

Quick Newsletter – Summer 2014

Quick – Out Now!
The spring edition of College Development Network’s
Quick newsletter has now been published.
This quarterly newsletter aims to keep you up-to-date with the wide range of activity that College Development Network is undertaking on behalf of and with colleges in Scotland.
In this issue
  • Enabling Student Carers – New resources launched
  • Skills for Progression Event
  • Food and Drink Manufacturing Work-stream
  • The Emporium of Dangerous Ideas – Launch, Listings and Finale

… and more!

Latest from Scottish Book Trust

Read your way around the world for Brazil 2014!

We’ve journeyed around the world to bring you a book in translation from every country competing at this year’s World Cup in Brazil – there’s even adownloadable office sweepstake available so your colleagues can read a book from the country they draw.

A book from every country at World Cup 2014

Celebrate this year’s World Cup in Brazil by reading a book in translation from the country you’re supporting. We’ve picked a great book from every country at this year’s tournament.

Win bookish home decor!

Submit an embarrassing photo of yourself from your family’s archives for a chance to win some very cool bookish home decor in our Scotland’s Stories of Home competition. Simply reply to this eNewsletter with your photo attached.

We want your real-life stories of home

Is there a story you always think of when you think of home? Write and submit it to Scotland’s Stories of Home and you might just see it published in a book, and distributed around the country for Book Week Scotland 2014.

6 new Scottish books to take on holiday

We’ve scoured the summer release schedules to serve up some sizzling summer reads for your sun-lounger – or damp caravan / midge infested tent if you’re staying in Scotland for the summer.

What does it mean to be human?

The Humans by Matt Haig was a top pick for World Book Night 2014. Find out what our panel thought of it on Book Talk. Also, explore memory, poetry and Scottish history in our latest interviews featuring ‘Scotland’s most controversial historian’ Michael Fry.

Where’s the most romantic spot in Scotland?

Tell us where Scotland’s most romantic spot is and you could win the entire Outlander series from worldwide bestselling author Diana Gabaldon – including the new and final book in the series, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood.

Scottish authors confess all…

Read our Author Confessions interviews for insight into the lives of Scotland’s authors, how they deal with bad reviews and whether they would ever throw a book at a celebrity.

Commonwealth Games – Glasgow 2014

Teaching primary? Check out our Commonwealth themed Seasonal Poetry Links over on Making Makars – all the ingredients you need for a great topical lesson. If that inspires you, have a look at our list of sporty poems. Ah, sport: reading about it is so much easier than doing it, no?

Design a River Creature Competition – British Council

Win a trip to Totally Thames with Rivers of the World
Enter your primary school into our ‘Design a River Creature’ competition
The prize


We will pay for the winning team to take part in the Totally Thames season of events and enjoy lots of fun activities including a student workshop at the British Council and a visit to the Tower Bridge Experience.
What do I need to do?

Using the Rivers of the World education pack as a resource, ask students to work in groups of five to create an art work and an accompanying piece of creative writing. It can be based on a real or imaginary creature from an overseas country and river ecosystem.

Who can enter?

Primary Schools Years 4 & 5 (5 and 6 in Scotland)

Closing date: 12 noon, 27 June 2014.

Find out more and apply:

http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/classroom-resources/rivers-of-the-world/competition

The Rivers of the World education pack contains high quality, river themed cross-curricular lesson ideas. As well as a supporting resource for this competition, the pack can be used as a stand-alone resource or collaboratively with a partner school.

Workshops: Supporting Young Storytellers & Story Pockets‏

young storytellers
Supporting Young Storytellers

Fri 30 May | 10.30am (6hrs) | £36 (£30 Network Members)

Children and young people can find their own voice and confidence in communicating through storytelling. In this skills-based workshop, storyteller and teacher Beverley Bryant puts these developments in a practical context and points the way forward. Ideal for all those working with older children and young people.
Programme

This workshop will be delivered by teacher Beverley Bryant and student Elinor Thomson, allowing participants a unique perspective on storytelling for young people in Scotland today. Both facilitators are enthusiastic advocates of the power of storytelling to enhance, and even in some cases transform, the lives of young people.

Firstly, hear about the increasing opportunities for young storytellers, within the school curriculum and beyond in the wider community. Beverley and Elinor will then go on to offer practical suggestions for helping young people to gain the skills needed to find, recall and tell stories. There will be opportunities for participants to step into in the shoes of young storytellers, if only briefly, reminding everyone of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Later in the day, the group will begin planning experiences for young storytellers to develop their craft and consider creating/ finding further opportunities for young people to share their stories.

Aims
  • To reach agreement on what is meant by storytelling to ensure both adults and young people fully understand the term.
  • To explore the current opportunities and challenges facing young storytellers and those wishing to support young storytellers.
  • To explore the ways in which a young person might find their own voice, using tried and tested methodologies and hearing from an established young storyteller.
  • By working together, to begin to develop a plan for supporting young storytellers in one-off visits and over longer term projects.
  • To suggest a range of support materials.
Facilitators
Beverley Bryant is a Principal Teacher of Literacy in the English Department of Woodmill High School in Fife, where Storytelling has been embedded in the curriculum for some time. She runs an extra curricular Young Storytellers Group for three local high schools where pupils from S1 to S6 enjoy working together to become young storytellers themselves. This year the group was delighted when one of their young storytellers was voted Best Newcomer, 15-18 years category, at the annual Young Storyteller Competition in Birmingham. More recently, they were delighted when another of our young storytellers was voted Young Storyteller of the Year in the Scottish competition for 16 years and under.

Each year, Beverley uses storytelling to help P7s make the transition to high school. In addition, she regularly delivers skills development workshops for visiting European teachers.

For this workshop, Beverley will be joined by Elinor Thomson, aged 17 and winner of the James Award for Best Newcomer at the Young Storyteller of the Year Awards 2014. She will be offering a young person’s perspective on encouraging and supporting young storytellers.

Book your tickets online or call 0131 556 9579

Please note, if you are a Network Member your discount will be applied at the checkout stage if buying your ticket online. Alternatively you can purchase a discounted ticket on the phone or in person at Reception.
Story Pockets
Story Pockets: Beginning the Language Journey

Sat 31 May | 2pm (3hrs) | £18 (£15 Network Members)

Some of the most precious memories to do with reading are the earliest ones. How we begin to read stories is in itself an important story.

Discover how to help and encourage preschool engagement with books with the Storypockets method in an engaging afternoon session on Saturday 31 May.

Programme

Storypockets is a programme for preschool-aged children conceived by Beth Cross, a storyteller, educator and researcher based at the University of the West of Scotland. The system provides a frame for children to take moments from stories or rhymes and play creatively with them. A simple design combines puppet theatre and a scrapbook that families decorate and build on over their visits to Rhymetimes and at home.

“One of the things that surprised us about Storypockets is that it meant children under three actively became involved in the conversation and told us what they remembered, and what they treasured about the books, rhymes and stories depicted in their Storypockets.”

Read Beth’s blog post on Storypockets on the Scottish Book Trust website.
Inspired by work with Craigmillar Books for Babies, the tool supports a co-production approach to family literacy. Creator Beth Cross shares the approach and shows how it can be used as a basis for regular engagement through sessions and informal interaction.

Begin the language journey with joy and playful stimulus.

Aims
  • To provide an understanding of how storypockets developed and has been part of supporting families and learning.
  • To reflect and share the role early sharing of rhymes, stories and word games has in a child’s life
  • To explore how a place to play with stories helps a child remember and draw together a story of their early learning and the strengths and resources this gives them.
  • To use your own experiences creating a storypocket to think through ways of use and development.
Facilitators

Beth Cross is a Senior Lecturer in Community Learning and Participation at the University of West of Scotland and has been researching the interface between formal and informal learning contexts for the last fifteen years, with particular interest in dialogic methods of exploring learner identities, strategies and trajectories.  She has taught in the areas of social policy and children’s services in England and Scotland and worked with a number of creative interdisciplinary projects that involve visual and dramatic arts in order to expand the modalities for deliberation and participation.

Book your tickets online or call 0131 556 9579

Please note, if you are a Network Member your discount will be applied at the checkout stage if buying your ticket online. Alternatively you can purchase a discounted ticket on the phone or in person at Reception.

43-45 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR
Reception 0131 556 9579

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a partnership project  between the Church of Scotland SCO 11353 and the Scottish Storytelling Forum SCO 20891

National Working Group for Dance

The national working group for Dance met on 8 May at Optima Glasgow.

The main focus of the group is:

• to establish what the barriers are to the delivery of Dance

• to improve communication within the dance community

• to establish a network of contacts within the dance community

Con Morris from Education Scotland gave the group an insight into how Glow could be used to establish better communication and links. How a “Blether account” would allow practitioners to support each other and share good practice.

View full blog post here:

National Working Group for Dance

Junior and Foundation Courses in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Glasgow

One and two week summer performance courses for ages 8-11 and 12-15.

A fun introduction to the world of drama and performance, ideal for young people who want to further their skills and knowledge.

Participants will create a unique theatre piece to be presented on the last day of the course.

Foundation Courses
Ages 12-15
Aberdeen: 7 – 19 July 2014
Dumfries: 7 – 19 July 2014
Edinburgh: 7 – 19 July 2014
Glasgow: 29 July – 9 August 2014

Junior Courses
Ages 8-11
Aberdeen: 4 – 9 August 2014
Edinburgh: 21 – 26 July 2014
Glasgow: 4 – 9 August 2014

APPLY NOW ONLINE!

For more information contact us on 0141 552 3988.