A child suffering from cholera at the Alsadaqah Hospital, Aden, Yemen. UNICEF and its partners are reaching out to communities through a nationwide awareness campaign to halt the spread of cholera – Photo by MUTAZ FUAD/UNESCO
Dear teachers,
School holidays may be over but, as everyone knows, our local festival season continues. Ponggal celebrations are still going on. The Lunar New Year is around the corner. In between, retailers will not let us forget Valentine’s Day. Coincidentally, this year, the latter two celebrations are in the same week as the more sombre Red Hand Day and Total Defence Day. This mix may have its advantages for lesson planning. Scroll down to our first IDEAS activity below, “JAM Wishes”, to see what we mean. It’s a Red Hand Day exercise that can serve as a resource for Total Defence Day, along with all those activities tagged with TDD below.
Sincerely,
The What’s Up team
THIS MONTH’S ACTIVITY IDEAS
Fighting cholera in Yemen (page 6)
A child-friendly glimpse of what thousands of volunteers and professionals are doing to help people suffering from war, famine, and a terrible cholera outbreak in Yemen.
JAM Wishes – For CCE & English, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To express optimism for solving global issues. Steps for sharing Red-Hand-Day wishes in just a minute (JAM) by channeling CNY and Valentine’s Day goodwill. TDD
Some water, please! – For Mathematics & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To practice mathematical problem solving. Three math problems involving ratio, proportion, fractions, and rate of flow. *
The Mekong’s marvellous nature (page 12-13)
A photo essay about six less-known species that were recently discovered in the Greater Mekong, where an average of two new species per week was found.
#SavingGaia – For Science & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To express views and ideas about Saving Gaia. Students create and use a Message Board to express their thoughts about the conditions of planet earth. * TDD
Mekong Crossword – For English & Science, Level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To engage more deeply in the story. Puzzle of over 25 words with easy clues. *
Teen wins Queen’s praise for her life-saving campaign (page 15)
Teenager Lucia Mee is the youngest person on Queen Elizabeth’s New Year’s Honours list. A survivor of three liver transplants, the award is for her “Live Loudly Donate Proudly” campaign.
Whole class. To gain a better understanding of organ donation and its impact on human lives. A game of discerning between true and false statements about organ donation. TDD
Quick Poll – For English & Maths, level 3 –DOWNLOAD
Group project. To (i) grow in empathy and (ii) experience data collection and presentation. Steps for a mini survey on views about organ donation.
Small toy, big craze (page 16)
This success story of the tiny robotic toys called Fingerlings is also a lesson in entrepreneurship.
My Favourite Fidget Toys – For CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To enhance self-awareness and self-regulation. A simple exercise to discover how innovative fidget toys may (or may not) help with focus and self-regulation of emotions. TDD
Individual exercise. To strengthen figure-ground perceptual skills. A puzzle of 15 hidden words, followed by sentence construction using the words. *
Comebacks to watch in 2018 (page 22-23)
An inspiring read about several sports stars, as well as a team, who are hoping to make strong comebacks this year in tennis, football, cricket, golf, snowboarding, and track.
What’s The Good Word? – For English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To practise careful reading for recall, comprehension, and inferred meanings. Students match words with synonyms from the story, followed by sentence construction. *
Groupwork. To value optimistic goal setting. Linda Yew’s Art-to-Heart is used to create a mini poster of 2018 personal goals requiring resilience and grit. TDD
TDDSuitable for Total Defence Day.
*Answers to asterisked activities will be emailed to teachers on the IDEAS mailing list. To join the mailing list, please email your name, designation and school to ideas@whatsup.sg, or fill the form on the front page of this website.
At What’s Up, we do most of the work, writing stories for students to read every month. But, we know that many of our readers also enjoy writing or want to have their say. Encourage your students to write us a letter. Ask them to visit share.whatsup.sg.
VIDEOS AND OTHER EXTRAS
Our supplementary site digital.whatsup.sg contains videos, puzzles and other extras associated with the articles in our newspaper. Use them in class or ask your students to explore the site on their own.
OUR PHILOSOPHY & VALUES
We believe values should—and do—count when schools choose resources for their students. Values-driven journalism is at the core of our mission. Find out more by exploring the ABOUT WHAT'S UP link.
