Reading and writing skills are essential in all content areas. Whether students are interacting with expository texts or texts from various literary genres, they need to be able to view text critically and gain meaning from it.  Using cross-curriculum planning, you can select books and readings that support what is being taught in other content areas while still reinforcing essential reading and writing skills.

Imagine your principal has asked you to create a short professional development session that can be shared with other teachers in your building. The goal of the session is to provide a high-level overview of the benefits of cross-content curriculum planning and using literature to support key concepts and ideas being taught in other subject areas.

Using the topic Resources and your own research, create an 8-10 slide PowerPoint presentation for a professional development session designed for K-12 teachers. 

 The presentation should:

• Explain the importance, value, and benefits of cross-curricular planning and the use of literature to support the learning outcomes being taught in other content areas in each grade range (K-3 and 4-8).
• Summarize how to best utilize cross-curricular planning in each grade range (K-3 and 4-8), including discussion of the unique processes that can be used in planning and the challenges one might face when planning for each grade range.
• Explain how using literature to make cross-curricular content connections aligns to the reading content area standards.
• Describe how using literature to make cross-curricular content connections can support differentiated instruction and help to meet the needs of diverse students. Provide specific examples to illustrate your ideas.
• Provide an example of a cross-curricular lesson or activity for each grade range (K-3 and 4-8) so teachers understand how connections can be made between concepts and skills. Include discussion of both literature and expository text selections.
• Include a title slide, reference slide, and speaker notes. There are no notes required for the title and reference slides, and these two slides are not part of the total presentation slide count.