Author: Mrs Robertson

Literacy Lead

Congratulations Everyone! We did it!

Huge Congratulations everyone!

I am delighted to announce that East Calder Primary has been awarded a Silver Reading Schools Award from the Scottish Book Trust.

Thank you to all staff, pupils and families who have been reading, talking about books, enjoying libraries and sharing their love of books and reading with others.

Classes completed the Reading Schools Attitude Survey and it was great to see many of you enjoy reading more now. You said you have more interesting things to read and describe reading as relaxing and fun.

Thank you for your involvement and enthusiasm, and a special mention to those who find reading a bit tricky but keep trying.

Now that we have an award it’s important to continue to build on our Reading culture at East Calder Primary. There will be lots of opportunities to carry on sharing our enjoyment of reading and books next session.

 

I am so proud of you all and remember KEEP READING!

Day 8 The Really BIG ROYAL READ ALOUD

It’s the final day of out Really BIG READ ALOUD…and today to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee… it’s the really BIG ROYAL READ ALOUD!

We have been sharing all sorts of books and stories with a Royal theme.

Younger pupils have been enjoying  ‘The Princess and the Pea’, ‘The Laughing princess’ and ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’.

The Primary One pupils took part in a paired read aloud. They had to find a reading partner with the same colour of crown.

If you want to find out more about kings and queens, we have some non- fiction books about royalty in our library.

We have a copy of King George V Silver Jubilee book in our library.

King George V was the Queen’s grandfather and this book was published in 1935(about the time our school was being built!) to celebrate his Silver Jubilee. It’s not in very good condition but it is 87 years old!!

It has some interesting photographs including ones of the Queen when she was a girl.

Perhaps you have some old books at home? Can you find out when they were published?

Have a great Jubilee weekend and remember to keep reading!

 

Day 7 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

Not sure what to read next?

Are you ready for a reading challenge?

Why not try Bookzilla?

 

Bookzilla is a free app for upper primary and early secondary school students in Scotland. The app encourages pupils to read for pleasure, whether they are already regular readers or just embarking on their reading journey. Young people can receive tailored book recommendations, see what’s popular among their classmates and challenge themselves to try something new with a reading dare. The app promotes different featured collections every month.

You can find a great trailer all about Bookzilla on The Scottish Book Trust Website. The website has lots of information about books and authors for all ages.

Please note the app is free but does not give access to free books, only recommendations and challenges. 

Why not download it to find some great reads in time for the summer?

Happy reading everyone!

 

Day 6 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

Do you love to read? Are you always looking for new books? Or perhaps you are interested in learning new things?

Why not join East Calder Public Library?

As we continue our really BIG READ ALOUD we would like to promote our local library.

It is located in The Dave King Partnership Centre.

Joining the library is free and gives you access to hundreds of books and much, much more.

We have previously visited East Calder Library with classes and hope to resume our links with them next session.

Please note the library will be closed on Friday 3rd June.


Day 5 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

To promote  reading in school we have been taking part in ‘Drop Everything And Read’  time (DEAR) over the last week. When the bell rings we can stop our other activities and read a book for 10 minutes.

Our Reading Volunteers have been visiting other classes from 8.30am to offer their reading services to younger pupils.

We have also introduced ‘Breakfast club Bookworms‘ so that pupils at breakfast club can enjoy time to read.

 

Let us know if you are enjoying these extra opportunities to read.

We were disappointed not to have our Sports Day today. Hopefully the weather will be better next week. In the meantime, if you are dreaming about winning  we have a selection of reading materials about great sporting heros!  Happy reading everyone!

 

 

Day 4 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

It’s Friday and Day 4 of The Really BIG READ ALOUD.

Friday night ..or Saturday ..is often ‘Movie night’ for many families. It is great fun to snuggle up with everyone and enjoy a really good movie. Even better with some drinks and snacks. Perhaps you enjoy a movie night together? Or a visit to the cinema.

Today’s challenge is to talk about a movie that is based on a book.

Have you read the book? Is  the  movie the same as the book? Is it better?

Which movie that was based on a book is your family’s favourite?

Enjoy watching ..and keep reading!

Day 3 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

What kind of reading material do you enjoy reading?

Do you read digitally? Maybe you read on a Kindle or i-Pad?

Perhaps you prefer a book, a magazine or a comic?

It is important to try to read a wide variety of different books and we have a big selection of fiction and non-fiction books in school.

We also read digitally.  Some pupils love to read EPIC books on their device. We also subscribe to ‘The WEEK Junior’ and ‘The WEEK Junior SCIENCE + Nature’ and can read these digitally or look at the magazine that we get delivered each week.

What really matters is that you enjoy reading and want to do more of it.

We would love to hear about the things you enjoy reading at home.

Day 2 The really BIG READ ALOUD

Who is your favourite author? Do you have a favourite book?

Is it Roald Dahl? Julia Donaldson? Jaqueline Wilson?

Perhaps David Walliams, Ross MacKenzie  or Michael Morpurgo?

 

 

Have a ‘book talk’ at home to find out which authors or books are favourites with your  family. You could even ask grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins.

Here is one of my favourites from primary school ( showing my age !) So glad to see this author is still popular and  I know P3B have really enjoyed the Enchanted series of books.

Happy reading everyone!

Day 1 The Really BIG READ ALOUD

10 REASONS you should READ ALOUD to big ones too!

Even after children can read on their own, they can really benefit from  being read to.

Here are 10 good things that can come of it.

1  It builds vocabulary.

2  It improves comprehension.

3 It’s wonderful for bonding.

4 It provides positive role modeling.

5  It improves listening skills.

6 It’s a way to discover the classics.

7  It helps with discussing difficult issues.

8 It’s a way to introduce different genres of books.

9  It’s a portal into your child’s interests.

10 It sparks curiosity and a thirst for learning.

Keep reading everyone!

Coming Soon!! The Really BIG READ ALOUD!

Calling all parents and carers!

We need your help!

As part of our Reading Schools Silver Award Accreditation we are hoping to raise the profile of reading with families.

Lots of research has shown that continued reading aloud to children even after they can read on their own, improves reading and listening skills and academic performance. It is relaxing and wonderful for bonding.

We would appreciate it if you could participate in Our Really BIG READ ALOUD! Which will take place from Tuesday 24th May to Thursday 2nd June.

 

We are hoping that over the next 2 weeks families could  find time to fit in 5 or 10 minutes of reading aloud together …at least 3 times each week if possible.

If your child can read independently you can share the reading together. It doesn’t need to be a book. It could be a comic, newspaper, magazine. It could be a recipe if you are baking or cooking together.. or the instructions for a game or model. And we know  how much everyone likes a story being read to them.. even our senior pupils.

It would great if you could take a photo of your family reading time.  You may see classes will have a post on their Seesaw or Teams page about reading for enjoyment at home.

Thank you for your support.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Article 31      I have the right to relax and play.

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