Activities in What’s Up
• National Day Contest: – page 21
• Contest: Tech and Nature – page 21
Activities at ideas.whatsup.sg
“Ten thousand top athletes are heading to Paris for the Olympics” (page 1 & 28)
Our front-page story captures the mounting excitement of the 2024 Games. “Coming soon: Olympics for athletes with a disability” (page 26) heralds in the Paralympic Games which is soon after. This is also the time when football clubs buy and sell players — “Football clubs’ pre-season battle for the most talented players” (page 27) explains. More on sporting stars: “Former biking champion is now a YouTube performer (page 25) which is about Japanese trials biker Tomomi Nishikubo.
Our Inspiring Paralympians – For English, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To become more aware of para-athletes. Based on the What’s Up story, students complete a summary about Paralympic footballer Maximiliano Espinillo. They then select a local Paralympian, construct a similar profile, and display it as a poster. ⭐
The Talent Effort Combo – For CCE & English, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To reflect on the value of talent combined with hard work in achieving success. Each group gathers information about any one famous person, responds to reflection prompts about how talent and effort featured in that person’s life, and shares the group’s takeaways from reflecting on the talent-effort combination as seen in the focus person’s life.
Planning spaces to play and a city to love (page 7)
We check out Singapore’s Recreation Master Plan. Too many visitors! (page 10-12) examines the challenges of overtourism at places that everyone loves too much.
Our Ideal Blue and Green Neighbourhood – For Math & Social Studies, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To apply scaling for urban planning. After an introduction to the concept of scaling, students (1) discuss the value of blue and green spaces (2) design a blue and green neighbourhood (3) use icons to present landscape features to scale on the grid provided, and (4) respond to prompts to reflect on the experience.
Solving Overtourism – For English & Social Studies, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To practice solution-based brainstorming. Each student fills in an organizer detailing overtourism as explained in the story. The class then forms nine groups. Each group focuses on a different tourist attraction from the story, brainstorms additional solutions, thoughtfully examines them, and presents their best ones to the class. ⭐
Bringing the takhi back to the steppes of Central Asia (page 8–9)
Captive takhis bred in European zoos were recently released to their native steppes to revive the species. “A little bird comes under the wings of the Bugun tribe”(page 17) which is helping to protect it in its forest home in Arunachal Pradesh. “Raptors: dinosaurs living among us”(page 18-19) traces avian dinosaurs’ partnership with human communities around the world. With side bar: “Seeing raptors in Singapore”.
Wild Horse Crossword (online)– For English, level 1
Individual exercise. To engage more deeply in the takhi story. Puzzle of 20 words with easy clues. Available by 22 July at https://digital.whatsup.sg/. ⭐
Idioms with Bird Imagery – For English, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To enjoy bird-themed idioms. A gap-fill exercise. The student completes sentences using bird-themed idioms. List of idioms and meanings provided. ⭐
Countries compete to explore the moon. But who owns it? (page 13)
A closer look at the race by countries to explore the moon. Here on Earth, “China’s carmakers are rising fast” (page 6) as they enter the global market. Also about the transformative power of technology, “A wild shrub transforms the lives of highland farmers in Nepal” (Page 16) explains how argeli grown by Nepalese farmers is being used to make yen currency notes.
Survey: About Electric Cars – For English & Science, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To practice gathering and collating data. Based on the story about China’s carmakers, each student completes a table about electric vehicles (EVs). Groups then follow steps to survey the views of adults about EVs, collate the findings, and present them to the class. ⭐
An EV Board Game – For Science & Art, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To express creativity while engaging with the science of electric vehicles (EVs). Starting with the What’s Up story, students gather more information about EVs. They then use the given template to develop a simple board game about EVs. For “Challenge” squares, they write trivia questions. Groups exchange their game boards to field test them.
Before you discard… – For Science & English, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To encourage innovative upcycling. After watching a video on how a paper cup is turned into a basket, students go on a scavenger hunt around school to look for potentially upcycleable items. Each group selects one item, figures out what it can be converted into, and produces a brief how-to-upcycle comic strip about it.
Art that does not match (14-15)
Introduces surrealism, with images of seven famous incongruous artworks. In contrast, “A children’s author writes about her father’s childhood” (page 20-21) in a chapter book that mirrors the real world. As much a part of our cultural heritage are “Chinese wooden clogs” (page 24), a reminder that even footwear has stories to tell.
Mementos of Childhood – For English & CCE, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To make meaning of mementos associated with cherished memories. After completing a table about Little Hero, every student is guided through preparing for small-group storytelling about mementos related to cherished memories. To ensure emotional safety, students will be asked to show and share only about happy experiences. ⭐
Yesteryear’s Footwear – For Social Studies & CCE, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To better appreciate heritage footwear. The student (1) completes a matching exercise by connecting footwear names with illustrations of them (2) invites an older adult to share memories of footwear that is less commonly seen now (3) produces an infographic. ⭐
Metaphors with Words that Don’t Match – For English, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To better appreciate figures of speech. Given a list of eight metaphors found in the What’s Up issue, the student defines them and illustrates the use of each by composing an original sentence using it.
⭐ Answers to these 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.
