Literary Week in the Primary

Literary Week was celebrated in The Indian School from 25th to 29th April 2016 to expose children to and help them appreciate the works of a diverse range of authors.

In keeping with the theme Africa, activities centered around this continent were also carried out.

The following list provides a quick survey of all the activities conducted during the week.

CLASS I Day 1- The children were given an introduction to the continent, 'Africa with a power point presentation. Day 2 The teachers narrated a story to the children from Africa. Each section took up a different story. (Reference: www.storyjumper.com) I A - ABC of African Animals I B The Lazy African Traveler I C The Zebra and the Giraffe I D The African Elephant I E - The Elephant Overcomes Day 3 Vocabulary linked to these stories was taken up and discussed. Day 4 Children prepared a book cover. A scene was drawn on the board and the children were encouraged to copy the same on their drawing sheets. This was later folded to form a book cover. Day 5 Children took part in a dry leaf craft activity/mask-making activity (craft linked to the stories read). Showcasing, on the final day, was with a beautifully recited poem on African animals seen at a jungle safari.

Class II Several short stories were narrated to the children from Africa. The students listened with fascination and using their imaginations, created an interesting book cover for the story. The children were also shown videos on unusual animals from Africa and were told interesting facts about African animals.

CLASS III Day 1 The children were introduced to facts about Africa. This was followed by a class discussion. Day 2 - An African folk tale was read aloud to the children. Day 3 - Class 3E conducted a special assembly. They enacted characters such as Mini Mouse, Chota Bheem and Mowgli. The children also taught grammar topics such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives and conjunctions in a fun manner. Day 4: The movie Madagascar was shown to the children. Day 5: The children in groups, prepared collages on Africa.

Class IV

Students of class IV read aloud folk tales from different parts of Africa including Egypt, Nigeria and Tanzania. This was followed by a discussion on the history of Africa and how it was discovered. A discussion on Boabab trees followed where the children drew pictures of the tree and shared facts about it. The movie Madagascar was also screened for the children in the school auditorium. For exhibits, the children showcased beautiful comic strips of their favourite African folk tale. They also presented an African song.

Class V

Day 1: Africa was introduced by an oral discussion. This was followed by a creative- writing session in which some thought- provoking topics were taken up. Some of these were - -What can you discover if you walk inside a pyramid? -Creating an illustrated story of an African tale. -We also did a mathematics' activity on ancient Egyptian numerals and a comparative account of which system is better the ancient Egyptian system or the present Indian place value system.

Day 2: On Day 2, the teachers narrated a folk tale from Africa. Day 3: A travel brochure on Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Madagascar and Kenya was prepared by the different sections. Day 4:- The movie Madagascar was shown. Day 5:- An enactment of the folk tale narrated on Day 2 was presented along with a folk song from Africa.

Besides this, Ms. Awasthi conducted a workshop with class III on building poems. The Harper Collins Group also conducted various activities.

In one session, they narrated a story to classes 1 to 3. This was accompanied by a colouring competition of a sketch linked to the story. In another session, excerpts from Annie Besants book for children were read aloud to classes 4 and 6 followed by a drawing and colouring competition linked to the book. The work done through the week was finally showcased in the School reception area for everyone to view.

Compiled by Ms.Purnima Dwivedi.