Cross Curricular Writing

The cross-curricular writing projects should be seen as a chance to sharpen the skills the pupils have developed in literacy lessons. Cross-curricular writing provides the perfect opportunity for the pupils to write for a purpose and to improve the language structures they have been practicing.

A quick recap of the pupils’ writing targets from literacy lessons is all that is necessary. This will provide the pupils with an opportunity to reinforce and revisit skills from previous writing lessons.

Certain subjects lend themselves perfectly to a particular writing genre. These include non-fiction, arguments, instructions, non-chronological reports, persuasion, journalistic, recounts, explanation and writing formally. If cross-curricular writing opportunities are planned carefully then the writing skills covered in literacy lessons can reinforce existing learning of a text type and allowing a more focused understanding of the subject being taught.

Modeling writing is crucial to successful writing in primary schools. Each project comes with a modeled text, sentence starters, and key vocabulary to help scaffold the writing for pupils. These should be used to reinforce the expectations and support the pupils with areas of writing that they find tricky.

Cross-curricular writing not only provides an intrinsic motivation but provides an engaging way of writing for a reason. Opportunities to word process work should be provided. This not only helps pupils to develop vital typing skills but also provides the opportunities for their writing to be exposed to real audiences. These could include presentations, publications, connecting with the local community or with the online world.