Stories are a big part of learning at Richmond Hill School, children will generally follow a story for a whole half term, classes will access a story in a multi-sensory cross-curricular approach so that children become immersed in a story to full understand it. This is based on the principles developed by Pie Corbett who believes that children have to immerse themselves totally in a story to understand the language in a story before they can go onto write about a story. In simple terms this means doing everything that a teacher can think of linked to any story. Please refer to the attached PPT which demonstrate the cross curricular approach one teacher took to teaching ‘The Billy Goats Gruff’
Teachers ensure that they cover the breath of the national curriculum regarding texts by following a year plan per year group. This ensures maximum coverage and avoids duplications yet allows teachers flexibility and choice which fits with all our children. The cycle is as follows:
- Well known characters - for example Spot, Gruffalo, Paddington
- Traditional tales - for example 'The Gingerbread Man' in Year 1 to more complex Traditional tales in Year 6 which may be 'The Wizard of Oz'
- Non-Fiction linked to our stories, topics or cultural days
- Rhymes, poem and repetitive phrases this can include nursery rhymes in year 1 or in Year 6 Dr Seuss.
- Well known authors ranging from Mick Inkpen, Julia Donaldson, David Williams, Roald Dahl and many more.
- Books from other cultures for example - 'Handa's Surprise', 'Samira Eid', 'Fatou Fetch the Water', 'Cleversticks!'
As part of continuous strive to always get better we will review this structure again in September 2019.