We’ve been having a bit of discussion about the curriculum at my new school and I wanted a chance to jot down some ideas and see if anyone had done something similar to help guide us before we get started.
Currently we are sort-of looking at the new curriculum and teaching from bits of this but I think it’s fair to say that we are teaching with a subject-based approach. In Year 4, we are teaching literacy based on the book Rebecca’s World, our science is all about liquids and solids and our artwork is based on the work of John Dyer. So it isn’t linked up. Yet.
We were talking today about having a text-based curriculum. I was originally thinking about each unit being based around a book but this has now extended to videos too, allowing us the chance to use the great animations on the Literacy Shed too and also full length movies as well. Through the range of texts we use, we could teach the other aspects of the curriculum. For example, the book How I Met Dudley is all about machines and how they work, linking well to science with circuits or Design Technology where we can make our own machine of some kind. The thinking is that we will cut back on having science/art/etc every week and just teach intense units where they link properly. It will mean a lot of Literacy-focussed work, but this will be good for raising standards but we will of course include opportunities for cross-curricular work too.
So, I guess my question is, can anyone suggest any great books for use in Key Stage 2 that will allow us to teach some excellent Literacy, but will also allow some links to other curriculum areas? Does your school have a book-based curriculum? What are the possible downsides?
Sounds like a great idea… this is what I’m aiming for with the ‘Library’ section on Teaching Ideas – http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/
There are hundreds of books with ideas (and resources) for using them in lots of different curriculum areas. They may be useful in your future planning.
The Arrival, Tuesday, wolves in the walls, how to live forever, mirror mirror, Hugo cabret any of these are great with year 6!
We have tried to do this but like you, have found it tricky. At the moment, we are working on a topic of natural disasters, linked to rocks and soils, we are making volcanoes, creating haikus, tankas and chiquains about tornadoes and Tsunami and using Escape from the Wave by Peg Kehret. We try to link as much as possible but it’s very hard!! Our local football club has developed a criss curricular plan which we will be teaching for the first time in the Sumner term. There is some duplication of genres already taught but we are ok with it as we are very boy heavy!
I’m really interested in this too… eager to see any responses
we use the Iron Man for Sci-Fi stories linking it to robots and electricity. Also link to Art abd Eric Joyner. For Tudors we used Terry Deary snd Isabella Wallace book. Shakespeare for play scripts. For explanation texts the Wallace and Gromit book about inventions. Also clips on Utube.