Category Archives: Literacy and English

Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Literacy and English

A RIGHT wee blether – What Did You Do?

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Have you and your class been taking part in a RIGHT Wee Blether? If so why not join our Glow Meet and share with us what you have been doing?

We all hope you have enjoyed blethering with your 2 to 5 year olds. In this Glow Meet you will see Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People in Broxburn Primary and Nursery talking to staff and children about how they took part, join us to show us your wee books about him and tell us your stories!!

We will also be looking at some of Our Wee Stories which have been returned to the office and if we’re lucky the blether bear will be there too!

So sign up and join us in Glow TV on Thursday 24th November from 11-12pm.

Literacy, Literacy and English

Additional Glovember Author Dates

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There is still time to sign up for the already very successful Glovember Glow TV author events.

Still to come:

Alette J. Willis Monday 21st November @ 1.30pm
Julie Sandilands Wednesday 23rd November @ 1.30pm
V. Campbell Thursday 24th November @ 1.30pm
Caroline Clough Friday 25th November @ 11am
Debi Gliori Tuesday 29th November @ 1.30pm

(Click on the author name to sign up to the event, Glow log in required)

Remember pupils can take part in the writing and illustrator competition, click here to find out more information.

To find out more information about Glovember visit the Glow Group.

Literacy, Literacy and English

Imprint Book Festival & Glovember

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The East Ayrshire Imprint Book Festival schools programme was watched by just under 3500 pupils from around Scotland on GlowTV. Pupils from schools in Dumfries and Galloway to Orkney logged on to Glow to see and hear the authors. There were also many East Ayrshire schools joining these events on Glow as well as pupils from local schools attending the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock in person. Glow teamed up with east Ayrshire’s Imprint Book Festival to make the 5 author sessions with Lynne Rickards, Scott McIntyre, Simon Puttock, Barry Hutchison and Tony Bonning part of Glovember, Glow’s national writing competition taking place throughout the month of November.

 This was an excellent example of partnership working between Education and Library Services in East Ayrshire, and the national Glow team, to provide events to schools that promote and encourage literacy and reading. At the Imprint Festival finale on Saturday, Councillor Douglas Reid highlighted the input of Glow as one of the successes of the festival.

To find out about more up and coming author events during November, visit the Glovember Glow Group.

Early Years, Literacy, Literacy and English, Responsibility of All

Only 7 days to go……

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On Tuesday 22nd November the Early Years team here at Education Scotland are hosting a topical debate on Glow TV. We ask an expert panel:

  • Thinking about your own work and experience, what do you think is the best way to develop children’s literacy skills?
  • What do you believe that parents of young children can do to support their literacy development?

We will also discuss the latest findings from PISA:

 “the performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family’s socio-economic background”

Visit the Early Years National Glow site today to find out more!

CLD, Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, Research, Responsibility of All

Very interesting research about parental involvement in the early years

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“Children whose parents frequently read with them in their first year of school are still showing the benefit when they are 15, says an international OECD study.”

(BBC News 8 November 2011)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15639642

Early Years, Literacy and English

Bookbug – What the Ladybird Heard

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During their first year at primary school, all children in Scotland will receive a free book with a message from Bookbug.

This year’s chosen book, ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson, won in the 0-7 age category of the 2011 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books. Thousands of children voted in this age group, so we are pleased to be gifting a book that really was their choice.

This Glow Meet will explore the book ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ including gifting ideas and fun activities that students and teachers can plan at school or in their classroom. The official gifting week is the week beginning November 21.

The session will be presented by Tracy Lowe from the Scottish Book Trust who is a regular Glow Meet presenter, her enthusiasm and love for books is clearly demonstrated in her presentations!

Sign up and join us on Friday 11th November at 10.45am.

Early Years, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies

Wise Up Wednesday!

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Early Years Glow: Did you know?

There is a whole wealth of Early Years whiteboard activities in the Aardvarks storecupboard!

  1. Visit the National Early Years Glow site
  2. Click ‘places to go’
  3. Click on the Aardvarks storecupboard
  4. Click on a subject area and have fun!
Literacy, Literacy and English, Technologies

Glovember Competition & Glow TV

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Why not enter our Glovember writing competition – we are looking for stories, poems and drawings from young people across Scotland.

All of next week GlowTV will be hosting different authors as part of Glovember. Please join us with:

Lynne Rickards – Monday 7th November @ 1:30pm

Scott McIntyre – Tuesday 8th November @ 1.30pm

Simon Puttock – Wednesday 9th November @ 1.30pm

Barry Hutchison – Thursday 10th November @ 1.30pm

Tony Bonning – Friday 11th November @ 1.30pm

You can sign up here on GlowTV.

Click here to visit the Glovember Glow Group.

(You will require a Glow login to take part in these events.)

Early Years, Literacy, Literacy and English, Responsibility of All

The Early Years team would love to hear from you!

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Now that all Early Years establishments have the new issue of Education Scotland’s Early Years Matters we would love to hear your views on the literacy questions which were discussed at the Saturday conference in May. These are:

* Thinking about your own work and experience, what do you think is the best way to develop children’s literacy skills?
* What do you believe that parents of young children can do to support their literacy development?

Please visit our discussion forum on our Early Years Glow site and share your thoughts and ideas. We look forward to hearing from you.

Link to discussion forum:

https://forums.glowscotland.org.uk//forums/viewforum.php?f=3490&sid=542c87bd12ded5eb8d56b128e56a2dc8

Click the link on our Glow site to see Early Years Matters online:

https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Early%20Years/default.aspx

Literacy, Literacy and English, Sciences, Technologies

Daily What News – Science & Technologies

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The Daily What News for Schools in Scotland is an online news service provided byEducation Scotland for Scottish schools. Its main purpose is to help the development of literacy and language (English and Gaelic) in young people aged nine to 16 as well as support their needs for news and information. At the same time, its functions facilitate interdisciplinary learning and critical thinking skills. The service empowers teachers and learners to develop trusted learning resources and classroom activities using community-created content and group interactivity.

To visit the Science and Technology articles click here. (To access the interactive materials you will require your Glow log in)

To visit the Science and Tecnhnology Staff Area click here.

To view Science and Technology Daily What Resources that teachers have created click here. (Glow log in required)

You can also add a Daily What News Feed webpart to your Glow Group by:

– clicking on Modify Shared Page

– Add Webpart

– Search, type Daily What

– Click Virtual Server Gallery

– Drag and drop the webpart or select the relevant area on Add to

Literacy, Literacy and English

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off!!

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Live from Dundee Rep Theatre, join us on Tuesday 25th October from 4.15pm for an exclusive Glow Meet with the acclaimed playwright Liz Lochhead.

This is a rare opportunity to hear the current national poet talk about her writing and in particular the modern Scottish classic, ‘Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off.’ Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep Theatre. You can view further information and videos of the production on the Lyceum website.

Join the Glow Meet for language and drama activities, design resources and activities, as well as video interviews with the director, actors and designer.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV for this exciting opportunity.

Literacy, Literacy and English, Responsibility of All

Literacy Team Update 3rd October 2011

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CPD
The last of the very successful Literacy Across Learning days are being undertaken over the next few weeks and will be quickly followed by LAL2.

The Primary CPD Support for this session will focus on Learning to read and reading to learn at first and second level.

Both support sessions are currently in development and a wide variety of partners are being consulted in the process. All authorities have been approached to identify dates and the first of these days will take place at the end of October.

It is intended that participants will register there interest and intentions through CPD Central.

ROA
Anna Cartlidge has been doing a power of work with all targeted support teams to develop a resource that will promote ROA. Anna is a Primary Teacher based in Aberdeen and is a very welcome addition in coordinating the teams.

Research update
Great news on the uptake for the survey as part of the Reading research – we have reached 101 responses. This is an excellent rate and will provide a sound backdrop for the interviews. All of these tools will help build an insight into pupil enjoyment of reading. Anecdotally, the clear response from Secondary pupils is that they want to be read to more often.

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Literacy and English, Responsibility of All, Technologies

New Media Literacy Resource

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Screening Shorts is a major new online resource to help and show teachers how to use moving image education in the classroom.
Log in using your glow password to access over 30 short films with teaching resources and helpful advice as to how to use moving image in the classroom. The films are copyright free and can be downloaded for editing/mash ups. The shorts are suitable for all curricular areas and age ranges.

 Link: http://www.screeningshorts.org.uk/

Literacy, Literacy and English

Glovember

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Why not get your pupils ready to enter Glovember’s writing & drawing competition on Glow. Find out more in the National Glow Group.

To get you in the mood, throughout November there will be Glow TV events taking place with lots of authors that you can join, or watch again later. There will also be a competition for young people to write their own stories. These will be judged by authors in 3 sections of early primary, later primary and secondary, with prizes for the winners and runners up including having your story published with the other winning entries in an eBook.

We will also be running an illustrator competition to design the bookcover for this eBook. Details regarding the authors taking part and the competition can be found in the National Glow Group here.

So what are you waiting for, get those pens, pencils and keyboards for a Write Good Glow?!

Early Years, Literacy, Literacy and English

Alarm bells and whistles:Toddler book apps

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Melissa McClements article in yesterday’s Guardian:
Interactive versions of books for very young children are becoming mainstream. Are they enhancing early reading experience – or diminishing it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/27/toddler-book-apps

Languages, Literacy, Literacy and English, Modern Languages, Responsibility of All

Literacy Team Update 19th September 2011

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A busy week for the Literacy team with lots of really interesting (and popular!) SLF workshops. Ranging from Gavinburn Primary School talking about their multi-modal texts to Debbie Gardner who has a wealth of experience promoting Literacy across all sectors, there is something for everyone.

You can see some of the Gavinburn work here:

http://www.strath.ac.uk/scilt/events/past/mindsets/challengingmindsetsbreakingdownbarriers-conferencematerials/showcasingvideo-gavinburnprimary-frenchrockstars/

In the longer term we are following on the success of of our targeted support days on Literacy Across Learning we will roll out LAL 2 beginning in October. The Primary day will focus on the development of reading and is called, “Learning to read, Reading to learn” with the Secondary following on the theme of Literacy as a responsibility of all.

Both days are very dynamic and include a range of practical ideas. They are supported by materials and resources that are shared from various authorities across Scotland.

The day will be booked through CPD Central and we have advertised it to all our NLN contacts.

Literacy and English

Games Poets Play

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This exciting event which is linked to National Poetry Day taking place on 6th October will focus on the needs of students and teachers writing/teaching poetry for folio.

Poet Liz Niven will work practically with participants to offer assistance in:

  • encouraging and building students’ confidence in writing poetry
  • ‘teaching’ poetry-writing more creatively and with greater confidence
  • exploring the range of methods for supporting and inspiring writing
  • helping students explore form, identify ideas, and achieve originality
  • supporting and developing works-in-progress; crafting, editing and polishing
  • creating an effective critical vocabulary and offering constructive criticism

    •  

    Find out more about Liz Niven at Register for Glow TV and then Sign Up for this event

    Register for Glow TV today and then sign up for all the events that you want to view!!

    Early Years, Literacy and English, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families

    A lot of books at bedtime

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    “Alice Ozma’s father read her a story every night from the age of nine to 18. But why?” Read this inspiring article by Emine Saner at The Guardian here:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/10/alice-ozma-dad-read-every-night

    Literacy and English

    Scots Language Glow Meet

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    Christine De Luca reads ‘Dodie’s Phenomenal Pheesic’ to a class at Sound Primary School, broadcasted live via Glow Meet

    On Monday 5th September 2011 at 11:15am Christine De Luca will be in Sound Primary School, Lerwick, reading to a P5 class, from her Shetland dialect translation of Roald Dahl.

    Roald Dahl’s famous children’s book ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ contains such a wealth of charming situations, characters, and imaginative language that it stood out as a perfect opportunity for translation into Shetland dialect. Christine De Luca, an admired writer in Shetland, Scotland and beyond, took Roald Dahl’s classic and created a fantastic new version which keeps the story and spirit of the original but tells it in Shetland dialect with Shetland characters.

    The dialect of Shetland, like so many of the dialects of Scotland, has unique features but also similarities with its neighbouring Scots languages. Christine De Luca is well-known for her talented use of Shetland dialect in her poetry and children’s stories and is an experienced, expressive reader.

    The Creative Links team at Shetland Islands Council’s would like to share this reading with as many other schools as possible so are broadcasting the event live via Glow. After the reading the author will answer questions from children in the class – and also any that come in from viewing schools.

    Visit Glow TV to sign up and take part in this event: http://glo.li/nw6vbx