Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Roald Dahl But Didn’t Know Who to Ask! (In association with the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre)

Roald Dahl has long been one of the nation’s most popular storytellers. In this unique and very special event to celebrate national Roald Dahl Day, young readers have the opportunity to have all their questions answered.
Questions might be about Dahl himself or any of his bestselling books. Roald Dahl experts, Amanda Conquy and Wendy Kress from the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre will be on hand to tell you everything you ever wanted to know. The event also features a screening of a specially commissioned film with interviews with Roald Dahl himself and some of the people who knew him best- including Quentin Blake and his granddaughter Sophie Dahl. The event is rounded up with a quick fire quiz for the audience and all books sold on the day will receive the special Roald Dahl Day souvenir stamp.

Monday 13th September
10.30am
Guide Age: 7 – 11

John Fardell
Baddies, Goodies and 7 Professors!

John Fardell was the run away winner of the 2009 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books for his brilliantly funny picture book ‘Manfred the Baddie’ – an amusing but cautionary tale for younger children. Also known for his thrilling adventure series fearturing ‘The 7 Professors of the Far North,’ John has now produced three books in the series, all heaped with praise from children and critics alike. John works as a freelance writer, cartoonist, illustrator, designer and puppeteer so expect an absorbing, interactive show from this master with a pen!

Tuesday 14th September
10.30
Guide Age: 7 – 11

Chris Bradford
Young Samurai

Chris Bradford’s first book, ‘Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior,’ attracted no fewer than six book award nominations. His energetic mix of a brilliant adventure story and authentic Japanese culture is a fantastic event for any class – but especially those studying Japan. The event is made all the more thrilling as Chris weaves karate, kick-boxing and samurai swordsmanship through his sessions. A sure fire hit and excitement from start to finish!

Friday 17th September
10.30 am
Guide Age: 9 – 14

Andy Stanton
Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree

Andy Stanton’s unique and original style of wild and wacky humour ensures his show will be a bit hit with boys and girls every time. His new book Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree was just released in June and is already flying off of the shelves. If you only catch one show this festival, this has to be it. Inspiring, enthusing and very energetic stuff! A real must see!

Monday 20th September
10.30am
Guide Age: 7 – 12

Cathy Cassidy
Cherry Crush

Cathy Cassidy is just HUGE – and I don’t mean 6’ tall. Her books are some of the most borrowed in Fife Libraries and her sales across the world are in the millions. We are honoured to have secured the only Scottish date on her UK tour as she launches her new title Cherry Crush. Cathy is fun, fabulous and very switched on – as she fields questions from both boys and girls on why her stories look pink and fluffy – but are really deeply searching tales of the dilemmas of teenage life!

Friday 24th September
10.30am
Guide Age: 9 – 14 years

The Scottish Heritage Project encompassed all S1 pupils and staff from the English, History and Computing departments. The project’s aims were:

• Developing pupils’ understanding and appreciation of their local heritage
• Encouraging pupils to make connections between different areas of learning
• Building pupils’ skills in working independently
• Developing pupils’ skills in working in partnership and in teams

The project explored a number of different themes of Scottish heritage, including music and arts, local industry and famous buildings.

Visit this cookbook to find out how Barry created a ’Scottish Heritage’ Glow Group and then sub-Groups for each of the different themes. All S1 pupils and the staff involved in the project were given membership of each of the Groups. Each Group contained links to web sites for background reading and for research tasks, discussion boards for pupils’ questions and feedback, and assignments created in Glow Learn.

The teachers were keen to provide an engaging and enjoyable learning experience for the pupils and so did a lot of preparation and planning in advance of embarking on the 6-week project. Firstly, they visited other schools who had already been involved in the project to get advice and ideas from them. This allowed them to clarify the things they would like to do themselves.

They decided then that they would like to mix up the children from the P1 and P2 classes to enable them to select the activities they would like to take part in and so provide opportunities for personalisation and choice.

The project started after the Easter holidays with a letter arriving from a dragon! This was accompanied by dragon dust (which strangely resembled glitter!), footprints on the floor and scorch marks on the letter itself. All of the 100 children were gathered together to be read the letter from the dragon. Immediately they were captivated. In his letter, the dragon asked the pupils to turn the rooms into an Enchanted Forest. He left articles for the children and these were then used as a basis for the themes that the classrooms were given.

Visit this cookbook to find out more.

Initially, Glow Light will be live for users in the following local authorities:

Aberdeenshire
Edinburgh
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries and Galloway
East Ayrshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Eileanan Siar
Fife
Glasgow
Moray
Inverclyde
North Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
Shetland
South Ayrshire
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian

Some local authorities have decided to turn on the new homepage at a later date, which is why it will not automatically appear for all users.

What do you thinkof it? We’d love to hear your feedback, and make improvements where we can.

Sessions will be held fortnightly and will aim to rotate days and times to accommodate as many users as possible. The ASM Support Glow Group can be found under National Glow Groups or via the “Glow Help” group on the national site.  The site is open to all ASMs and Staff, with an open invitation to all local authority and school ASMs to join in via Glow Meet.

Questions out with the training sessions can be posted in the ASM Discussion Forum contained within the Glow Group.

The first scheduled ASM training sessions will take place on:

Friday 3rd September (11am-12pm) – New Glow Services discussion + Drop-In
This first session of the new school year will have an update of the changes that have happened over the summer within Glow and any impact this may have for ASM’s. This session will be delivered via the Glow Meet room within this page. Hope to see you there..

Wednesday 15th September (2pm-3pm) – Drop-In session
Session to cover any ASM questions you may have.

The team hope to see you there.

P5 pupils are invited to read, or listen to, at least one book by each of three different authors and then to vote for their favourite writer. This is the first of a series of cookbooks in which we’ll explore how Glow has added a whole new dimension to this enjoyable and hugely valuable project.

Visit this cookbook to find out how the “Which Writer Wins?” project aims to provide pupils with opportunities to:

• Read for enjoyment
• Develop awareness of genre
• Reflect on writers’ ideas and crafts
• Express their opinions and listen to the views of others

Then join our CfE Modern Languages Glowing Thursday on Thursday 2nd September from 4-5pm.

Thea Searle, Modern Languages Subject Supporter for Highlands Council will present the approach taken by her authority in preparation for implementation for CfE. Thea will consider the key messages of CfE and how these are being taken forward by building on the primary experience and auditing the S1 syllabus (based on Metro 1) against the Experiences & Outcomes. She will also discuss future plans including the identification of further resources to be developed.

One teacher’s question led staff tutor Graeme Reid down some quite unexpected routes, developing a literacy project encompassing early reading skills, functional writing and regular use of a gorilla suit.

Over the last year,  Graeme Reid has been seconded out of school three days a week to be a staff tutor in Angus.  Graeme’s remit includes supporting schools to use Glow to enhance learning and teaching. On one of his school visits, Graeme was asked by the P1-P3 teacher how Glow could be used with, and by, young pupils.

As copies of the picture book “Mr Big” had recently been given to all P1 pupils by the Scottish Book Trust, Graeme decided to use the book as the focus of a literacy project. “Mr Big”, by Ed Vere, is the tale of an enormous gentle gorilla who finds it difficult to make friends, as his physical appearance scares people away.

The Mr Big project focussed on developing pupils’:

• Early reading skills
• Listening and talking skills
• Functional writing

Visit this cookbook to find out how Glow was used to support the project by:

• Providing a wider audience for pupils to share their learning
• Providing pupils with opportunities to communicate with pupils and adults beyond their own school.

We are focusing on rectifying this problem and will be able to assist any user who has lost images from their blogs. Please contact us at glowhelp@rm.com if you require any assistance.

 If you have a folder of your images we will ensure they are placed back on your blog. 

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience.