This Week at NAIS Pudong

We're exploring just some of the activities from school this week, and the academic journey began with a world of wonder and creativity! From Year 1 phonics adventures in the sand to the engaging moments of paired lollipop reading in Y4A, our students are on a path of discovery and support.

Some of our secondary school Key Stage 3 students are diving deep into literature, exploring themes, and reimagining stories.

Join us on our journey of learning and creativity. Stay tuned for more exciting updates from our students each week!

Primary Academics: Reading Writing Phonics

Year 1 - Phonics Work 

The Year 1 students recently had a blast during their sand tray phonics activity! They dove into the world of phonics, exploring the "j" phoneme.

The lesson started with an upbeat introduction through a song with actions, making the learning journey extra engaging. 🎶 Then, these young learners embarked on a quest to discover words that begin with the letter 'j'. They diligently recorded these words in their phonics books and then dived into the practical fun of writing letters and words in the sand.

Creativity flowed as they experimented with various ways to etch their words into the sand, ensuring their work was visible to all.

These Year 1 students are thoroughly enjoying their phonics lessons, as they sharpen their skills in applying phonics knowledge to enhance their reading. This skill equips them with the ability to comprehend texts and decode new words as they read, setting them on a path to reading success!

Creative Y4 Readers

The young minds in Y4A had a great time this week engaging in paired lollipop reading! Each child took turns reading sentences, with their partner following along with a lollipop stick.

This teamwork activity allowed the children to support each other in grasping new vocabulary while exploring the enchanting world of fables.

Building a community of readers who encourage and uplift one another - that's what it's all about!

Secondary Academics: Creative Learners

Year 7 - Literature and Songwriting

Our Year 7 English students have been getting creative with their latest project! They're exploring the figurative meaning and themes behind the lyrics of Katy Perry's "Firework" and Colbie Callait's "Try."

But that's not all - the were also putting their prediction skills to the test by guessing the themes of our exciting new novel. Stay tuned for their intriguing discoveries!

Y8 - Gothic Genre Analysis

This week our Year 8 students were tasked with analysing a short gothic tale featuring common tropes of the genre to understand what made it scary. After discussing the literary elements that contributed to the story's sinister atmosphere, they were challenged to recast the narrative through imaginative writing exercises - such as introducing a new character, shifting the point of view, or transporting the setting to a different location.

This activity stimulated the students' creativity by compelling them to reinvent the story in an original way. It served the dual purpose of honing critical thinking, as well as visualising how additional characters or alternate perspectives might reshape each scene.  It also required insight into character dynamics and provided opportunities to enrich descriptive detail and vocabulary as the new narrative directions necessitated original imagery and language.

Y9 - Dystopian Genre Analysis

Our Y9 students have been analysing a short excerpt from a dystopian story featuring common tropes of the genre to understand what made it unsettling. After discussing the literary elements that contributed to the story's troubling atmosphere, they were asked to act out a scene from the excerpt; to do this, they had to place themselves in the shoes of the characters and try to adopt the “feel” of the story.

This fun exercise was followed by a partner activity where students were asked to add additional content to the story – how the story would progress – and choose the best additions based on their shared vision. This activity stimulated the students' creativity by compelling them to add to the story in an original way, whilst maintaining the same atmosphere.

The students had a lot of fun and stretched themselves to add creative content within a specific setting and plot.