Wainwright curriculum links and topic activity ideas
Wainwright is a wonderful cross curricular topic. Listed below are ideas developed and used by the three pilot schools who have worked with Cumbria Archives to develop the Wainwright Project.
English
- Biography - Use archive clues to create a story of Wainwright's life.
- Look at existing biographies and how to structure a biography.
- Debate/discussion - looking at the arguments about the impact of his books (from archive letters) both positive and negative.
- Letter writing - looking at fame - Wainwright's fan mail. Formal and informal letters - letter from the Queen. Write to someone famous.
- Report writing - about someone famous.
- Writing guide of local area - factual writing, editing, redrafting.
- Reading - and absorbing archive information - making inferences.
- Stories illustrated by Wainwright - Scratch and Co.
- Dialect - Cumbrian dialect in Scratch and Co.
History
- Archive Centre visit: Story of Wainwright's Life - understand methods of historical enquiry, study of locally significant history of an area and impact of significant individual. Understand how the past is constructed from a range of sources. Develop pupil's own informed response.
- Wainwright Timeline Activity: chronological understanding, understand historical concepts, gain historical perspective.
- Classroom research: Find evidence to back-up statements.
- Mystery Person exercise using Rucksack: historical enquiry skills, develop questioning skills, change and continuity.