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Teaching topic: Folk tales and fables: Cross-curricular opportunities

Suggested integration of folk tales and fables across the Irish primary curriculum

English language curriculum

  • experiencing a different genre of literature; a variety of text
  • retelling stories 
  • responding to characters and events in a story (likes, dislikes, empathy) 
  • discussing events in a story

Ethical education (Learn together curriculum)

  • making decisions (What would you do?)
  • ERB (education about religious beliefs / belief systems)

SPHE curriculum

  • ideas of citizenship
  • resolving conflict
  • national, European and wider communities

History curriculum (SESE curriculum)

  • Strand: myself and my family
    • leads to: comparisons of personal and local histories

Rationale of a thematic approach

"Cross-curricular integration or the thematic approach allows the teacher to cover more content in less time thus reducing the burden of curriculum overload. In fact integration allows the teacher to achieve the impossible, to give the children access to the broad curriculum and all its subject areas. Teachers have the freedom to choose a theme and cover that theme in a cross section of subjects"

- INTO Education Conference 2007