Text-based Curriculum Maps
There are a million different ways to organise a primary English curriculum. Here at Shakespeare and More, we like a text-based approach, with books and stories at the heart of English teaching.
We've worked with schools to produce a set of curriculum maps that organise the content of the English National Curriculum into text-based units, each with recommended texts, some examples of the outcomes children might produce, and all the grammar and punctuation content mapped to where it can be most meaningfully taught.
As with everything on the site, these are free to download. You could use them as they are, but you'll probably find that they work best if you have a play around with them and adapt them to meet the needs of your school.
There are a million different ways to organise a primary English curriculum. Here at Shakespeare and More, we like a text-based approach, with books and stories at the heart of English teaching.
We've worked with schools to produce a set of curriculum maps that organise the content of the English National Curriculum into text-based units, each with recommended texts, some examples of the outcomes children might produce, and all the grammar and punctuation content mapped to where it can be most meaningfully taught.
As with everything on the site, these are free to download. You could use them as they are, but you'll probably find that they work best if you have a play around with them and adapt them to meet the needs of your school.
Shakespeare and More Text-based Curriculum Maps
What are these?
There are curriculum maps for each year group from Year 1 to Year 6. Each one has:
Unit Focus- a broad category by which to organise the texts studied. Many of the units are driven by narrative texts, but that doesn't mean that children will just do narrative writing.
Time- roughly how long a teacher might want to spend on the unit. We've mapped around 30 weeks worth of units each year, giving time for consolidation of learning, revisiting any content that children may have struggled with, and giving an opportunity for teachers to add their own units. It also allows for all the other things that happen in schools: special theme weeks, assessment weeks, class performances, Christmas... Much better to teach less, but teach it well.
Example Texts- These are our suggestions for the texts that could be taught in this unit. Teachers might choose one of them, or use an alternative text that fits with the aim of the unit. Please remember that these are just our suggested texts. A text-based approach is likely to work best if schools devise their own lists based on what's worked well in their existing curriculum, the books the school has the resources for, and the books that teachers love.
Outcomes- For each unit there are some suggested pupil outcomes. Often these are written outcomes, organised by purpose. There is a choice of writing task for each unit. Unit outcomes might also be a presentation, a performance or a piece of drama. Again, teachers can choose from the suggestions or come up with their own ideas.
English Language Opportunities- We've mapped the grammar and punctuation content for each year group to where it can be taught meaningfully in context.
Are all the text types in the old Literacy Strategy covered in the curriculum maps?
No, because the English curriculum doesn't specify any particular genres or text types for children to study. We've kept some because we think they're really valuable, but others we've chosen to replace with something else. This is a decision for each school, looking at what works and what helps their children to become better users of English. You might come to a different decision, but that means no more non-chronolgical reports for us!
What are these?
There are curriculum maps for each year group from Year 1 to Year 6. Each one has:
Unit Focus- a broad category by which to organise the texts studied. Many of the units are driven by narrative texts, but that doesn't mean that children will just do narrative writing.
Time- roughly how long a teacher might want to spend on the unit. We've mapped around 30 weeks worth of units each year, giving time for consolidation of learning, revisiting any content that children may have struggled with, and giving an opportunity for teachers to add their own units. It also allows for all the other things that happen in schools: special theme weeks, assessment weeks, class performances, Christmas... Much better to teach less, but teach it well.
Example Texts- These are our suggestions for the texts that could be taught in this unit. Teachers might choose one of them, or use an alternative text that fits with the aim of the unit. Please remember that these are just our suggested texts. A text-based approach is likely to work best if schools devise their own lists based on what's worked well in their existing curriculum, the books the school has the resources for, and the books that teachers love.
Outcomes- For each unit there are some suggested pupil outcomes. Often these are written outcomes, organised by purpose. There is a choice of writing task for each unit. Unit outcomes might also be a presentation, a performance or a piece of drama. Again, teachers can choose from the suggestions or come up with their own ideas.
English Language Opportunities- We've mapped the grammar and punctuation content for each year group to where it can be taught meaningfully in context.
Are all the text types in the old Literacy Strategy covered in the curriculum maps?
No, because the English curriculum doesn't specify any particular genres or text types for children to study. We've kept some because we think they're really valuable, but others we've chosen to replace with something else. This is a decision for each school, looking at what works and what helps their children to become better users of English. You might come to a different decision, but that means no more non-chronolgical reports for us!
Year 1 Text-based Curriculum Map
Year 2 Text-based Curriculum Map
Year 3 Text-based Curriculum Map
Year 4 Text-based Curriculum Map
Year 5 Text-based Curriculum Map
Year 6 Text-based Curriculum Map
To find out more about a text-based approach to teaching primary English, check out Teaching English by the Book or follow us on Twitter.
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