Activities in What’s Up
• Contest: If I were Ginny – page 23
Activities at ideas.whatsup.sg
Children’s lives are improving but food crises remain a big problem (page 1 & 28)
Released last month, the UN’s Global Report on Food Crises stresses that, although there is no food scarcity, access is hindered by wars and conflicts. UNICEF’s writing-and-art project, “The Gaza We Want” is having “Children in Gaza share their dreams for the future” (page 6) despite their distress. This month’s “Tee & Boba” (page 28) shows how we too can deal with heavy thoughts — Boba enables Tee to let go of a food-related fear (not of going hungry but of being eaten by a cat).
Decode a Secret Message – For English & CCE, level 1 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To develop comprehension skills. Based on the cover-page story, answers to multiple-choice questions unravel a wise saying. ⭐
Put One Thought Down – For Art, English & CCE, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To reflect on some common fears that kids deal with. An extension of the Tee & Boba story. The pair (1) fills a thought cloud with common worries that peers face (2) choose one thought each from the cloud (3) use the template to create a Thought Card that illustrates the heavy thought (4) think of a kinder alternative thought and act (5) translate their ideas into a poem using the gap-fill provided as the back of the Thought Card.
People who are helping to make things better for planet Earth (page 8-9)
Features a young Singaporean environmentalist, a South Korean and Indonesian pair of K-pop fans, a German biologist, and an Italian fisherman — all honoured for their contributions by National Geographic. “Planting trees helped turn Paris into a cleaner, more beautiful city” (page 12) is another good-news story about the environment. Next, we applaud the trees themselves with “400-year-old oak wins tree contest” (page 10) and a photo essay, “Some special trees: tallest, biggest, oldest” (page 11). And, “How plants transformed Planet Earth” (page 13) takes us back to the earliest plant life’s progression to what we see today.
Making Improvements — For English & Science, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To practise real-world problem solving. The students complete an organiser about the NatGeo awardees featured in the article. Each group (1) develops an action plan to improve something at school (2) invites the class’s feedback (3) finalises the plan. ⭐
If Trees Told Stories — For Science & Social Studies, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To value old trees as part of the life around them. Students (1) complete a table based on the article about old trees (2) select a mature tree at school or nearby and sketch it in the given graphic organiser (3) gather information about the tree and speculate what events took place during its lifetime (4) create and present a poster showing the tree’s memories, and why it should be protected. ⭐
Riding a whale to discover its world (page 21)
For eight hours, a camera riding on a whale’s back gave an engineer and his team first-ever footage of two sperm whales having a conversation in the deep seas. More historic firsts with Artemis II “Riding a spacecraft around the Moon” (page 20). A third article celebrating both nature and human tech is “It is the shape of planets, sculptures, and unique buildings” (page 19), about spherical objects both natural and human-made.
Synthesis and Transformation — For English, level 1 DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To practise creating complex sentences. Students rewrite sentences using a variety of sentence structures. ⭐
A Dotty World — For Art & Science, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To explore using dots and circles in art following artist Yayoi Kusama. The student (1) watches a video about Kusama’s art and responds to questions (2) lists all things circular and spherical at school (3) creates Kusama-style art and explains what it expresses. The class has a mini art exhibition of all the artwork.
How Jensen Huang became a giant of digital technology (Page 7)
A story upholding humility, grit, and vision. Side bar “Nvidia chips and AI” tells us why Huang’s microchips are enormously successful. From a real-world tech giant to fantastical ones, “Why some giants are loveable” (page 24) highlights common themes in The BFG, How to Train Your Dragon, The Iron Giant, and Bridge to Terabithia. “Underwater art” (page 14-15) tells us about one more giant — at the bottom of the sea is Japan’s first underwater sculpture, Ocean Gaia, by sculptor and environmentalist Jason deCaires Taylor.
We Can be Young Entrepreneurs – For English & Science, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To enjoy redesigning products and developing simple business plans. Individually, based on the story about Jensen Huang, students write what they think led to his success and the Nvidia microchips’ popularity. In groups, they imagine redesigning an existing product and follow prompts to construct a business plan for it.
More than Meets the Eye – For English & Art, level 3 DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To enjoy creative writing applying the concept of flat and rounded characters using the CHARM framework. Based on the article about loveable giants, students (1) analyse misunderstood characters (2) use the CHARM framework to compose a rounded character selected from a given list (3) describe their made-up character with the help of a template (4) write a short story about their character. ⭐
Not just about players: The World Cup has star coaches (page 27)
An incisive look at the top managers who will be at World Cup 2026. Getting coached in a different way, Baggs and Cache are “Dogs that face danger with courage and a sense of duty” (page 16) as they learn to work as avalanche rescue dogs. Its side bar tells us about “The fake story about dogs that went viral”. On a lighter note, preparing for “Office chair racing and other curious sports” (page 26) is taken as seriously by some sports enthusiasts.
Rescue Dogs Crossword (online) — For English & Social Studies, level 1
Individual exercise. To foster reading comprehension and increase vocabulary. A twenty-word puzzle with easy clues. At https://digital.whatsup.sg/ ⭐
Invent An Odd Sport! – For Social Studies & PE. level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To use creativity and logical thinking to create a new sport. Each group (1) lists common features of odd sports in the article (2) uses the graphic organiser to design a safe and funny game using ordinary classroom objects (3) tests it out with the class and invites reviews (4) improves it and finalises its rules (5) reflects on the experience. ⭐
Soldiers turned biscuits into crunchy postcards (page 22-23)
About World War 1 army biscuits that were used as postcards and even creative artworks. Fast forward to our present-day vlogging craze, the desire to communicate lives on as “More people are filming their everyday lives in videos” (page 17). “What we can learn from Singapore street names” (page 18) reflects a similar desire to capture a bit of history and meaning when naming roads. More about communication, “Give words richer meanings” (page 25) looks at how we can help others understand what we really mean by using rich, descriptive phrases as demonstrated by writer Arundhati Roy.
Meanings of Names – For English & CCE, level 1 DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To enjoy discovering meanings of names. Based on the street-name story, the student matches a list of street names with their meanings. Next, the student approaches relatives and friends to find out the meanings of their names. ⭐
Same Word, Different Meanings – For English & CCE, level 2 DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To explore how words carry different meanings. Extending from “Give words richer meanings”, each student does a word-association task for three trigger words. Then, every group combines members’ inputs into a word frame and shares it with the class.
⭐ 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.
