Treasure Island (and the National Curriculum) - I'm confused!

[mrsmallaghan]

I'm trying to find out if Treasure Island is in the National Curriculum, and for what age/s - can you help? Is your child reading it / doing projects on it? Thanks!

Do you mean as a topic? Or as a literacy text?
It isn't but a huge range of topics can be linked to the National Curriculum - I am currently doing Rainforests which isn't in the NC but fits in with loads of the objectives.

At ds's school they do pirates as a topic in Y2. Could this be where it has come from?

In Y3 DS did an extended piece of creative writing based around the theme of "Treasure Island". I believe they read excerpts from the book but the main focus was writing - how to plan a longer story, use of description, metaphor, simile, introducing suspense etc.

Thanks guys - I can see that it's listed as 'recommended reading' for a variety of ages, but I'm not sure how that actually plays out in schools - it's probably the Pirates topic as you said mimbleandlittlemy. Thanks for your help guys!

Hi mrsmallaghan:

You raise a really good point. I'm a non-UK national (husband is English) but when I grew up there was required reading assigned for each year - so all school children were exposed to what our education authority deemed important children's literature in primary school.

Interestingly enough as far as I can work out they don't do that here. So for example DD2 is currently studying The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Interestingly the school does not possess a copy and it apparently can include all sorts of ideas about what is a jungle. They seem to be watching excerpts of the Lion King in relation to this theme as well.

What is sad is that The Jungle Book is a much-loved piece of fiction (English issues with Rudyard Kipling aside it is a fantastically well written story) and I think my DD2's Y3 class would really benefit from reading it or having the teacher read chapters to them regularly.

If there are teachers out there or better yet those involved with curriculum content - why aren't there some books which all English & Welsh - maybe all British children - should have to read?

There is a wealth of fantastic children's literature - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson, Robinson Crusoe - Defoe, Gulliver's Travels - Swift, A Christmas Carol - Dickens, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll, Peter Pan - Jamie Barrie, The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien, etc... And of course can access US children's literature - Charlotte's Web, The Wizard of Oz - Baum, etc... and books in translation - i.e. Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne or Pippi Longstocking - by A. Lindgren.

I am introducing some of these at home because DD1 in Y5 just simply hasn't been exposed to them and clearly now that it's just a free choice library book (and most classics not held in school library) won't be in her state school. But mainly because I adored some of these stories.

Why haven't England and Wales (not sure about case in Scotland) adopted required reading lists for primary school children? Say 5 - 6 classi children's literature books a year?

Many, many primary schools have Recommended Reading Lists for each year group. Some of these can be found on the schools' websites. Each list though is unique to the school, rather than a national list, so different schools will have different books on their lists. And I think I am right in saying that most schools suggest, rather than require, that the children read the books on them. (I once had to get access to as many of these lists as I could, with a view to drawing up such lists for my DD's then school, and it was amazing how similar they all were!).

My DD is now at senior school (Y10), and she gets two lists of recommended books for her year group, one drawn up by the English Department and the other by the pupils themselves!

Great book. Make time to read it with your children if you can - you might have to interpret a little of the language used.