Developing Literacy across the Curriculum

A series of develop thinking activities using video and database work.The resource includes 5 video interviews which the students watch to gather clues. They then use the database to input the information they have gathered and search for a culprit.

This is great for developing active listening skills. Tell the pupils that they can listen to the witness statement only once and write down as many clues as possible before searching the database for the culprit.

Using the spreadsheet provided, pupils can work in groups to use the information and write their own witness statements, ensuring that they include enough clues for another group to work out the culprit. 

A half-termly online magazine for KS2 and KS3 pupils, addressing geographical issues arising from current news items.

Some great articles to kick start discussion -  Also good for reading for purpose tasks.

Science in the News is a termly science magazine. Articles are selected specifically to engage and excite students about current issues being discussed in the media that are often not covered by the curriculum.

A resource based on identity and belonging and how clothes can be used to establish that identity.These activities are developed primarily as a speaking and listening resource but there are many opportunities for reading and writing also.All of the...

This is one of five units that could be used in the PSE lesson. They are great for promoting oracy skills, usually the poor relation when it comes to activities for developing literacy skills 

A thematic approach to delivering the skills of the new curriculum through the topic of Nepal.The unit includes comprehensive teacher guidance with links to the skills framework, interactive and printable resources, videos and soundfiles.

Look at the the PPT 'Deforestation the big question' This encourages pupils to research and develop an argument for or against deforestation thus encouraging them to read for a purpose and write for an audience.

This is a unit designed for creative writing at KS3 but look at the write story section in the interactive resource.

We are considering ways of turing this into a scaffolded writing resource for different genres of writing and different subject specialisms.

So for instance if I wanted the pupils to write an explanation in maths of how they had tackled an investigation the prompts could be used as a skills ladder. At each level we could give them prompts to show what would be needed from a maths and literacy point of view to achieve that level.

Or it could be used more generically, so if we want a scaffold for writing a good letter for example we could give them pertinent prompts to remind them of the things they need to include.

Nice piece in this that examines the use of rhetoric in speeches.

A series of short sharp starter activities to enhance reading and spelling skills.

We can take these templates and develop whatever teachers need to cover subject specific vocabulary.

The second in the Pentre Bach series containing bright, stimulating resources to develop literacy and numeracy skills. Join Pentre Bach characters old and new in a series of stories and interactive activities.

If you would like the pupils to record interviews both at school or in the community this is a great tool. The app can be downloaded to a smart phone and the recordings automatically save to the account you have set up...everything is stored in the cloud so you can access your work from any computer.

This free tool is great if pupils want to film their own news broadcasts. The teleprompter does away with the need for notes on the desk.

A scenario based resource that allows pupils to discuss safe and appropriate use of mobile phones .There are fifteen scenarios that can be worked through as a class or individually.

This is one of four e-safety resources that focus on new uses of technology to connect with each other. The questions lend themselves to whole class discussion and offer opportunities for higher order questioning by both pupils and teacher. 

This is a great free web 2.0 tool to help students build arguments

Take a look at Tabs 6 and 7 which support pupils as they write a detailed evaulation. We are looking to recreate these tabs for KS3 and could create the same idea for other subjects.

A collection of resources exploring the ideas of Faith...

Nice for creating wordmats etc

These units provide materials that support the progression of skills development (Reflecting, Communicating, Planning and Developing) through science enquiry to answer “big questions” from early KS2 to the highest levels of KS3.

The unit embeds lots of higher order questions to develop thinking and communication skills