Literary Week in Classes PS to V

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” — Kate DiCamillo 

Reading is a gateway to a plethora of learning opportunities, and certainly a quality that needs to be absorbed from childhood. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child's life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk. Incredibly, reading enables the human mind to interpret carefully woven words in the intricacies of thoughts, emotions and wisdom.

The Indian School – Second Shift observed Literary Week with a myriad of activities through the week from 25 April to 29 April 2022. These five days of jubilant celebration allowed the students to explore their extraordinary creative sides. The week-long festival is observed each year to enhance the literary outlook of students and is a conscious effort to put their critical and analytical thinking abilities in motion. 

Students of classes PS to V actively participated in all the activities which were designed to hone their language skills.

Preschool teachers enacted the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ with puppetry wherein the tiny tots learnt new vocabulary words, and names of different fruit and colours. This was followed by a Caterpillar craft. Songs and rhymes in English helped recapitulate phonic sounds and  improve pronunciation

The little ones at the Pre-primary level enjoyed listening to stories like ‘The Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’, ‘Best Friends’,’ Smart Honey Bee, and 'Three Little Pigs.’ The children spoke impromptu in ‘Pick and Speak - Extempore activity’ about incidents and experiences from their daily activities. Reading, a very important aspect of language was covered through the D.E.A.R – Drop Everything and Read activity. The Weave-a-Story activity gave them an opportunity to expand their imagination and create a story by working in collaboration.

The teachers of class 1 narrated stories to the students, vis ‘The Ant and The Dove’ and ‘An Elephant and a Tailor’ among others which entertained them thoroughly besides introducing them abundantly to new words. They made bookmarks as a follow-up activity. In order to practice effective communication skills using proper enunciation, a reading game and a quiz on rhymes were also organised.

Class 2 students observed the week by participating in sessions on stories like ‘Plan of Animals’ and ‘Mera Desh’ along with role play activities. The children found the stories interesting and heartwarming. They adored the different story characters who were fun-loving and playful. As follow up activities, they made bookmarks and did a Tearing and Pasting activity related to the stories done. A game ‘Word Ladder’ was also conducted in class which exposed the students to new words.  

Class 3 students made book covers with moral values inscribed on them. They also made face masks of their favourite cartoon characters and spoke a few lines on the each. The Hindi story ‘Laalchi Idli Wali’ was narrated to them which they thoroughly enjoyed. Students also presented the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ using props and flashcards. 

Class 4 students made attractive book covers of their favourite books. They also created beautiful collages on Ruskin Bond and posters on the works of the famous poet ‘Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.’ The students enacted the poem ‘Chand ki Amma’ with utmost zeal and enthusiasm. The students also came dressed as their favourite characters from their favourite stories and spoke a few lines about each.

Class 5 students kickstarted the week with hand puppets and creating a wall hanging of an acrostic poem on this year’s theme “Reclaim my Planet.” Students also narrated stories to their younger peers of class 2 using colourful puppets. In Hindi, students made a collage about the various aspects of neighbouring states. They also created their own short stories and poems. 

Students also got a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the magic of stories with Ms Upasana Kaura – from the Hindustan Times. Ms Kaura narrated ‘A Face in the Dark’ by Ruskin Bond. An interactive session also took place with Ms Jayshree Mehta – a life skill trainer who conducted a Spell-O-Thon. It was all about encouraging the children to showcase their vocabulary and explore and communicate their thoughts.

It was a week of flurry and excitement, with the children being fruitfully engaged and getting exposure to literature in different ways from their facilitators and other resource people. All the activities encouraged students to unleash their creative side and dig into their imaginations and curiosities.

Overall, Literary Week brought the students closer to the magic of language and literature.