TALKING AND WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
TOPIC
SENSES
RECOUNT
REPORT
EXPLANATION
PROCEDURAL
PERSUASIVE
(Chronological as
a narrative)
(Nonchronological,
often with topic
headings.
(Stating purpose and
giving reasons)
(Instructions)
(Advertising,
persuasive talks)
 Sound walk
 Sensitive parts  How the ear/
of tongue
eyes/brain work
 My day if I
was blind/
 Survey/
 Why this topic is
deaf
report of
important
school areas  Reasons for
 Best meal I
from
ever had
blindness/
disability
deafness etc.
 Biography of
perspective
Louis Braille
 What I’ve
Helen Keller
learned from
 Recount a
this topic
guide-dog/
optician visit.
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
SCOTS KIST
 Recount story
of a ‘Punnie’
 A day in my
life using
Scots…
 Recounts of
famous Scots
 Review of
each others’
performance of
poem
 Survey and
report of
different types
of Scots
How to train a
 Considerate of
guide dog
disability
The best way to
 Charity posters
learn signing
asking for help/
money
How to make
texture prints
 Letter to HT to
ask for a guide
How to make
dog visit
drinking juice
when blindfolded
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
(Putting across point
of view, with
reasons)
 Rights of blind/
deaf
 My most valued
sense, and why
 Evaluation; One
thing I’d change
about this project
and why.
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
 Which poem I
like best and why
 My mums
favourite skipping
rhyme and why
 Why Scots
shouldn’t die out
 Why Scots
 How to make a
‘jeelie piece’
 How to play
traditional
playground game
 Instructions
about how to
register &
 Poster
promoting Scots
poetry for
pleasure
 Save this word
advert
 Speech-why
this word should
IMAGINATIVEWRITING
(Events that have not happened,
and may be unlikely to happen)
 Play with sound effects
 Setting atmosphere by
deleting ‘sight’ from
description
 Feely box – convert to
similes
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
 Pros/ cons of
high rise flats
 What’s best
about modern
Scotland?

IMAGINATIVE
Stories in Scots
housing
matters to me
 Modern life Vs
traditional
images
participate in
‘adopt a word’
scheme
be adopted
 Which
traditions are
worth saving?
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
ENTERPRISE
SCOTS
DICTIONARY
 Recount an
interview with
Scots Lang.
expert.
 What I learned
from making this
dictionary
 Writing
minutes of
meetings
 Completed
dictionary
 Comparative
report on
professional
dictionaries
 Interview
friends/ family
on view of
dictionary
 Design a report
format for
review of own
dictionary

EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
 Why was Scots
 How to use this
dying?
dictionary
 Meanings of words  Instructions/ rules
for playing Scots
 Why do languages
‘Call my Bluff’
change over time
 My favourite Scots  How to interview
over the phone
words & why
 A beginners guide

to txtg in Scots

 Letter to
supermarket to
persuade them to
display Scots
words
 Writing to
family/ business
leaders to persuade
them to use and
preserve Scots
words
 Job adverts
 Advertising the
dictionary
 Letter to HT to
use Scots in letters
to parents/ notices
around school
 Save this word
advert
 Poster/ speech
promoting poetry
for pleasure
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
IMAGINATIVE
 Scots should be
compulsory in
school
 How we should
spend profits &
why (decide)

 Story in Scots
 Translations of
fairy tales into Scots
 Retelling Scots
poems as stories
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
WEATHER
 Recount of a
hurricane
 Where I put my
ice balloon &
what happened
 Ice balloon
experiments –
eg salt

 Meaning of
Beaufort scale
 Weather
forecast for TV
 News report of
flood, storm,
drizzle etc.
 Impact of
weather on
transport
 Cloud types/
formations
 Little book of
Sun facts
TOPIC
RECOUNT
ELECTRICITY
 Day in my life
without electricity
 Recount a visit
from an
electrician
 Biography of
Edison
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
IMAGINATIVE
 Writing to
weather to explain
its effects ‘Dear
wind...’
 Anti pollution
leaflet
 Posters for P1 –
how to dress
sensibly for
different weathers

 Pro/cons of
living in hot/ cold
climate
 Write to PM /
local newspaper
 Schools should
close every time it
snows
 Scotland should
stop moving the
clock back
 Wind & sun – who
is stronger?
 Ice balloons – who
(or what) is trapped
in them, and why?
REPORT
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
IMAGINATIVE
 Report of
interview with
lollipop man
about weather
conditions
 Uses of
electricity at
home – survey
 Sources of
electricity
hydro/ wind/
wave/ nuclear
etc
 How is electricity
made
 How electricity
reaches or home
 How different
types of switch
work pull/push etc.
 Pro-cons of
living in hot/cool
climate
 Write to PM
First Minister
about priority
admission
 How/why a
hurricane forms
 Annotate diagram
of rain cycle
 Explain meaning of
sayings about
weather – eg. Red
sky; Cows lying
down...
 Explain how/ where
frost forms on grass
 How my ice
balloon froze

 How to make a
rain gauge/
windmill/ wind
sock
 How to make ice
balloon
 How to make
perfect snowman

 Instructions for
light circuit – lift
flap answers
 How to make a
switch
 Instructions for
buzzer last year
game
 Live a safer life
 Conserve
energy (school
posters)
 Historical
poster – gas or
electric bulb?
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
MY BODY
 Third person
recount of
evolutionary
stages of man
 Taking part in
fitness survey –
what was it like
 Food diaries
 Recount visit of
doctor/ nurse/ to
health centre/baby
clinic
 Annotated
diagram of
brain, tooth etc.
 Looking after
myself
 Comparative
report on (un)
healthy packed
lunch
 What it would
be like
without…
(drawing)
 Report teaching
input on topic
 How my eyes/
ears work
 Why the skeleton
is constructed as it
is
 Healthy eating
Vs eat what you
want
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
EGYPTIANS
 A day in the
life of Egyptian
queen
 Discovery of
T’s tomb
 Recount of a
walk through a
temple
 Questions we
want to know
about Egypt
 Information
about
exhibitions in
class museum
 Egyptian gods
and sacred
animals
 Comparative
report – schools
then and now.
 H’glyphics
 What they put in
pyramids and why
 Who was who in
Egyptian society
 Agricultural
pattern down Nile
and why
What would I put in
my tomb and why
 Should tombs
remain
undisturbed?
 Why slavery is
wrong
 Why should we
have class trip
to Egypt?
 Hand-washing/
teeth brushing
 How to do a
perfect forward
roll

 How to embalm
a body
 How to make a
shaduf
 How to build a
pyramid –
instructions by the
foreman
 How to make a
model mummy
 healthy living
leaflets
 write to
persuade
expert(doctor/
nurse) to visit

 Leaflets – visit
our Egyptian
museum
 Persuasive
speech about
‘best book on
Egypt’
 Letter to HTcould we turn our
Crm into a
museum?
IMAGINATIVE
IMAGINATIVE
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
IMAGINATIVE
EUROPE
 Recount visit of
MEP
 Day in life of a
child in
Scotland
 Postcard for E.
country
 Note-taking
from video
 Establishment
of EEC
 Sorting paper
(Steve’s
activity)
 Biographies of
European sports
stars
 Aspects of one
country –display
as travel guide?
 Compare
contrast writing
skills activity
PO81
 Little book
exploring
stereotypes
”Scotland has...
but my Scotland
has...”
 How the European
parliament works
 Quiz: where am I?
 Why the EEC was
set up
 Pro/con euro
 Pro/con open
borders
 Should inter
European
football transfers
be allowed or do
they encourage
clubs to ignore
local talent?

Journeying through
Europe as a playstation game.
 A taste of
Europe’ recipe
books
 How to get
elected to
parliament
 How to get from
YYY to ZZZZ (a
country in
Europe)
 Invitation to
European feast
 Tourist
brochure
 Electoral
platform as
candidate for EP
TOPIC
RECOUNT
REPORT
EXPLANATION PROCEDURAL PERSUASIVE
ARGUMENT/
DISCUSSION
CHANGING
MATERIALS
 Close
observation of
decaying of
material
 How to test the
strength of a
carrier bag
 Visit to a
factory
 Recount of
Breadmaking
 Techniques to
change metals
 Litter survey
report: types and
will it decay?
 Effects of heat
on different
substances
 Reversible/
irreversible
changes
 Why toast burns
 Why boiling water
gets bubbles in it
 Why objects are
made from certain
materials
 We should all
recycle more
 Sustainable
wood sources
 How to turn sand
into glass
 Recipe
 How to
waterproof fabric
 How to make
recycled paper
 Letter to council
(recycling)
 Plastic bagspersuade
supermarkets to
use paper ones

IMAGINATIVE
END PRODUCTS: IDEAS
Topic Grid –writing acrossthe curriculum . An AID to planning – not more planners!
Diagnostic sheet
Clear policy sttement research based (quantity; direct teaching; across curriculum; formative; collaborative; independent have a go; supported and T. directed)
Exhibition –children’s work related to planner grid.