Inuka was a favourite with visitors to the Singapore Zoo for 27 years – Picture by Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
Dear teachers,
With mid-year exams out of the way, your classes may have more time for all the IDEAS activities accompanying our What’s Up May issue. You would notice that the activities listed below are aligned with MOE’s desirable learning outcomes for English, CCE, Social Studies, and Science. We hope this makes it easier for you to incorporate IDEAS into your lesson plans. While our readers’ appreciative emails give us ample feedback about What’s Up stories — and greatly encourage our writers — we look to you to tell us what in IDEAS works best for your classes. Do let us know which activities you’d like to see more of, and why. We welcome any feedback that would help us to make sure that What’s Up continues to be much more than just another good read for your students.
Sincerely,
Mary George
Editor – What’s Up
This month’s IDEAS activities
Farewell, Inuka (page 10-11)
Inuka’s last days tell a story about difficult but wise decisions, and a heart-warming communal response to the polar bear, the first to be born in the tropics.
All Creatures Big & Small – For CCE & Science, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To explore our attitude towards the living things around us. A guided reflection on local practices that are not caring towards animals.
Inuka, Ah Meng, and Me – For Science & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To better understand humans in relation to other mammals. Uses a Venn diagram to show commonalities and differences between these two zoo icons and humans.
Magazine says sorry for treating non-white cultures unfairly (page 14)
National Geographic’s editor, Susan Goldberg, raises the moral bar with her public apology for her magazine’s racist writing before her time, about people of colour.
True or FakeNews? – For CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To develop media literacy. A gap-fill exercise that pieces together the untruths that were printed, the intent behind them, and the truth. *
Please, Thank You, and Sorry – For CCE & Music, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To promote social cohesion and harmony. The class presents to a younger class, songs and a message about these magical words. Song menu provided.
Migrant workers who write poetry (page 15)
Singapore’s Migrant Worker Poetry Competition is giving voice to many members of migrant-worker communities here. Features the 2017 winner, Indonesian Deni Apriyani.
A Taste of Mindfulness – For CCE & Home Economics, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To build community at school. A gap-fill exercise focused on migrant workers’ circumstances, followed by a recipe for a dessert to be shared with workers at school. *
Dignity of Labour — CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To better appreciate the dignity of labour at home. Reflective questions about three sets of tools that are used in local households.
The science behind our fears (page 16-17)
Along with “Are zombies real?” (page 17), these two stories suggest the origins of both rational and irrational fears, including the fear of exams and nomophobia.
My Fears Have History – For English & CCE, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To grow in self-awareness. A story-telling activity through which students explore the origins of their personal fears.
Individual. To be resilient in building positive relationships at school. Steps for using art to illustrate one’s personal safety net of reliable, trustworthy friends and potential friends.
Moving the giants (page 20-21)
An exciting introduction to awesome super transporters — gigantic cargo planes such as the Dreamlifter, trucks or crawler transporters, and super ships with FLO/FLO platforms.
Fun with Math – For Mathematics, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To develop reasoning through the mathematical approach to problem solving. Sums based on length, area, volume, solving equations, and Pythagoras theorem. *
Quotable Quotes – For English & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To reflect on and respond to global issues. Three quotes with questions to stimulate thinking. Has PowerPoint slides for whole-class sharing.
World Cup highlights (page 23)
Our sports columnist singles out what to look out for during the tournament. A must-read for first-time World Cup followers as well as experienced football fans.
Individual exercise. To strengthen vocabulary and syntax. Students examine the use of the given phrases in the story and use the phrases to construct their own sentences.
Group project. To develop skills needed for scientific inquiry. Steps for a mini survey of World Cup predictions, and for using pie charts and histograms to share findings.
* 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.
