Welcome to the first edition of our new series, ExemplaRS, which will celebrate some of the great work being carried out in our primary Reading Schools across the country. Focusing on a particular key area each time, we hope to provide schools with ideas and inspiration, but also to help showcase the range of experiences a key area can cover.
This page covers the work of primary schools across Scotland. Find our ExemplaRS: Secondary Reading Schools page here.
2.2.2 Interdisciplinary / Cross-Curricular Book Projects
The use of books to inspire curiosity and exploration of topics, bringing in classes and colleagues across the school and building rich and meaningful activities for your learners.
In East Dunbartonshire, Baldernock Primary’s P1–3s took part in the Great Science Share. They read books including The Bug Collector and Spider! and set about searching for bugs in their garden (number work!). Art & Technology combined, they made bug mobiles, and even tried building spider webs. They presented their findings to the whole school on Great Science Share Day and all this was topped off with a class trip to visit some even bigger bugs!
In Scottish Borders, Kingsland Primary got creative alongside reading The Titanic Detective Agency. The author, Lindsay Littleson, was kind enough to send a letter introducing them to the novel and the characters, all based on real passengers on the Titanic. After each chapter the children wrote their own diaries from the point of view of a character in the story, they took part in history lessons focussing on the timeline of events and characters, and also looked at science lessons based around buoyancy and propellers.
In the Highlands, Newtonmore Primary’s P4/5s were inspired when a monkey escaped from the local wildlife park. They explored a range of adventure texts and learnt how storylines develop, and created their own, inspired by the monkey. Learning about the jobs required in the production and marketing of books, they printed, marketed and sold their book of stories. The Wildlife Park got involved and invited the class to visit the park as VIPs!
At Oxgang Primary in East Dunbartonshire, P4 hosted a live ‘trial’ linked to their book ‘A Wolf’s Story’. As part of our literacy lesson today, we recreated a courtroom. We interviewed the witnesses of the wolf blowing down the pigs’ houses. We had lawyers from both sides and a jury. The jury had time to confer and decide whether the wolf was indeed guilty or innocent. Fantastic questioning from P4! I can see some future lawyers in here!
Rhu Primary in Argyll & Bute came up with some brilliant ideas for science projects linked to books, including exploring Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine. The P1s explored what happens when different biscuits are dunked in water. Why did the Gingerbread Man not want to get wet when crossing the river?
In South Ayrshire, Barassie Primary's P7 class were exploring WW2 and The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, and borrowed some war and Remembrance Day books during Non-Fiction November. They asked the school librarian to post on a local history Facebook page to learn about soldiers honoured by the town’s war memorial. Lots of information and photos came back which they used to write short stories about the servicemen. The above photo was taken on the beach right in front of the school.
Useful resources
(this will open in a new window)Interdisciplinary book projects – Reading Schools
(this will open in a new window)Shared Practice: Interdisciplinary book projects (recording) – Reading Schools
(this will open in a new window)10 things to do with any book (primary) – Scottish Book Trust
