Activities in What’s Up
• Rhino Word Search – page 23
• Contest: Making Things Better – page 23
• Cool It Down! – Let’s Play – page 24
Activities at ideas.whatsup.sg
Singapore opens a new national space agency (page 12)
Part of our “Satellites” section, read about the new National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS) that will be launched next month. “Thousands of these machines are floating above Earth and many more will join them” (page 10-11) is about China’s plan to send thousands of small satellites into space over the next 14 years. With clear, engaging explanations about satellites.
Satellites Crossword (online) — For English, Level 1
Individual exercise. To engage more deeply in the story. A 25-word puzzle with easy clues. ⭐
Good Wishes for the Launch – For Art & CCE, Level 1 DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To experience expressing goodwill through artistic expression. Instructions for the class to produce a giant card to wish the NSAS team well for its launch next month. What’s Up will deliver the card to NSAS.
World’s tallest indoor vertical farm opens in Singapore (page 20)
About Greenphyto and its fully automated, AI-assisted hydroponics farming that may help Singapore meet its target for nutritional sufficiency. Another island-nation’s story, “Why Greenland is getting the world’s attention” (page 7) explains why having ample natural resources can trigger a different set of challenges.
Traditional vs Vertical Farming — For English & Science, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To learn more about vertical farming. Using the information in the story and a video, students (1) use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast traditional and vertical farming (2) respond to questions about farmers switching to vertical farming. ⭐
Our Mung-bean Experiment — For Science & Math, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To experience experimenting with growth factors. Just as the local vertical farm, Greenphyto, scientifically creates optimal indoor farming conditions, each group follows instructions to conduct a quasi-experiment with two variables (lighting and snugness) for growing bean sprouts (taugeh) indoors. They test two predictions about which of four setups is the best and which the worst for optimal growth. Results are reported to the class.
Where have all the cars gone? (page 21)
What happens when cars are banned to make way for pedestrians? We take a closer look at car-free roads around the world. Also Earth-friendly, “Electric hydrofoils are in fashion” (page 19) because these new boats have zero emissions and save money.
Going Car-free — For English & Science, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To appreciate the values underlying car-free zones. Individually, students complete an organiser about various cities in the story enjoying their car-free days. Then, in groups, they plan a transport-free class excursion. The class draws on the groups’ good ideas to construct a plan and consider carrying it out. ⭐
A Tale of Two Cities — For Art & Literature, Level 3 DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To explore using abstract art to express sentiments associated with city traffic. The student (1) studies abstract artist Paul Klee’s “Dream City” and responds to reflection questions (2) watches an instructional video (3) follows prompts to create two contrasting abstract cityscapes using colours, lines, shapes, and randomly placed sound bubbles (4) writes a caption for each. The class enjoys a gallery walk of everyone’s artwork.
When an “imperfect” circle is just right (page 17)
Our “Special Shapes” series continues with a focus on ovals this time, answering questions about the shape’s popularity in nature as well as human structures. Questions are good to ask but perhaps an overdose should be avoided, as “Tee & Boba” (page 28) illustrate. On the other hand, the cautionary “Scams” (page 9) provides an important lesson about raising questions when we see red flags.
Recipes for Everyday Mysteries – For English & Science, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork, Whole class. To enjoy depicting everyday actions with humour. Using the Tee & Boba story as their launching pad, the students use procedural writing language to depict a relatable “life mystery” e.g. “contagious yawns”. With the help of a graphic planner, they write a recipe using the procedural writing style in the appropriate tone. They contribute their recipe to a Recipes for Everyday Mysteries book for the class. Provided: recipe template.
Overfishing continues to harm the ocean (page 8-9)
About fishing companies’ bad habits and what people are doing about it. On land, people are not giving up on “Saving Kenya’s black rhino” (page 22-23) and the results are promising. While polar-bear images have become the face of global warming, scientists are pleasantly surprised to find that “Polar bears are changing with the climate” (page 8).
Responding Respectfully – For English & CCE. Level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To write respectful and persuasive responses. Individually, students write respectful and persuasive responses to reactions from three big fishing companies who are opposed to areas being closed to fishing. In small groups, they discuss and vote for the best responses, which they share with the class.
Lego bricks go high-tech (page 18)
While Lego’s Smart Play features are an exciting development, the good news is that the Danish company’s ideal of “play well” still has the traditional Lego brick centrestage. Food-tech developments have been taking “Easy, yummy, instant mee” (page 16) to higher levels over the years. More technology was showcased when “A fun race for Brazil’s giants” (page 25) was introduced at the Olinda Carnival last month.
Noodle Doctors – For Science & Health Education, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To strengthen nutrition literacy. In pairs, students take on the role of “noodle doctors” investigating a “patient” bowl of instant noodles. Using its data card (ie. sodium, fibre, protein content), they diagnose what is unhealthy or missing in the meal and record their findings in a simple medical report template. They then “prescribe” an upgraded noodle bowl by selecting add-ons and reductions with simple explanations. They fill in a Healthy Noodles prescription with a before-after comparison table and a short “Noodle Doctor’s Advice”.
Don’t point fingers; find solutions (page 24)
GOAT footballer superstar Lionel Messi is our role model for this month’s “Cool It Down!” about being a solution seeker instead of a finger pointer when something goes wrong. For contact sports, something certainly has been going wrong — research is clearly showing its impact on athletes’ brain health. “Sports are paying more attention to safety” (page 27) is a look at what contact sports is doing about it.
Be a solution seeker, not a finger pointer! – For English & CCE Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To come up with responses that reflect healthy solution-seeking. An extension of the Cool-It-Down article. Students brainstorm and write down fault-finding and solution-seeking responses to a given scenario. They discuss what may happen next in the scenario as a result of each type of response. They then share some of the responses with the class.
Wonder Women (page 14-15)
Starting with Japan’s prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, we present snapshots of eight other great women rulers in history. More role models as we go on to “Too short? How one little guy discovered his interests and became an NBA star” (page 26), about Muggsy Bogues and others who surged ahead with their passions to be highly successful. Then, Austin Appelbee, the “13-year-old boy swims for hours to save his family stuck out at sea (page 6) further inspires.
Against the Waves: Headline Heroes – For English & Art, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To practice writing a newspaper article. The student (1) re-orders eight statements to reflect cause-and-effect (2) uses the given template to write a brief news report with a catchy headline (3) shares the article with the class.
Timely Idioms – For English, Level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To explore the use of time-related idioms. Students guess the meaning of eight common idioms, use them to complete given sentences, and construct original sentences using any four of them. ⭐
⭐ 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.
