The Literula week 2021
The Literula week, 3rd to 7th May 2021.
Oscar Wilde said, “you are what you read.” Books, therefore, play a significant role in the life of every individual. It is a magical world full of creativity that fuels a reader's imagination and makes people open to adopting new ideas.
Shiv Nadar School is proud of its culture that encourages the students to read and express themselves through various channels.
One of the first engagements organised at the Shiv Nadar School at the start of the new academic session is the “Literula week”. An entire week to celebrate reading, thinking, questioning, imagining and writing.
Middle and Senior Years: They had the“Meet the Author” sessions with the famous and “cool” Venito Cohelo and Feisal Alkazi. “Writers are people who don’t quit-keep writing and writing”, was Ms. Cohelo’s advice besides owning a large and indiscriminate curiosity. Mr. Alkazi conducted a very interactive session, often asking the attendees to voice their views. The fact of just “put pen to paper and articulate your thoughts” was very well put across in all the sessions.
Students also had a chance to meet their inspiring peers; our homegrown cub authors!
- The online- “Paperless Press” trio of Agastya Rao, Abhimanyu Rao and Mihir Rao spoke about the need for a positive eco-friendly newspaper.
- Mavis presented the first of a 5-book fantasy series called; Sunny Methoil: The Comet.
- A collection of poetic musings was presented through Tarisha Kaushik’s “Ouroboros”, Anamika Ghosh’s “A peek into my mind” and Shrey Gupta’s “Sixteen”.
Each of our authors spoke about what prompted them to write and their journey to publish. Most evident in each session was the level of EQ and maturity that led to the creativity of the authors and the enthralled audience.
Primary Years: Each class expressed their love for books and reading through an array of engagements.
Gr. II played dress-up as their favourite Dr. Seuss character and livened the presentation with little enactments. The excitement was palpable.
Gr. III was introduced to Ruskin Bond. Students expressed their fondness about their favourite characters, hand-crafted props like pearl necklaces, masks, suspenders, etc... All part of the learning and expression that reading books allow.
Gr. IV beaming with a pool of information on books and the different genres these enthusiasts put up the motto of “reading accelerates success”! They participated in the quiz and in a heart-to-heart rendezvous with their delighted teachers to express their love for reading and literature.
Gr. V too had a heart-to-heart with literature. They discussed at length the significance, types of genres and Indian authors. To share the mystery and adventure of their favourite books by bringing to life some characters, the students played dress-up using various online filters and props to emulate their chosen persona.
It was an enriching experience to foster the love for literature.
Early Years: “Catch them young and watch them grow”. The students were introduced to "who is an author", a publisher, what are the various components of a book, maintenance of books, role and rules of a library and encouraged to start their own little libraries.
Through various age-appropriate activities such as story sequencing, creation of a book cover, weaving newly learned words into a song, a show and tell, the students were kept joyously busy. They learnt about the elements of a story, a beginning, middle, end, how to predict the story besides, using their imagination to retell a story.
Nursery classes were narrated to the “The Brown Bear” by Bill Martin Jr. (with a visual presentation). Kindergarteners were visited by the “Book Fairy” and were read to the story by Rod Campell, “Dear Zoo”. The Gr. I students read author Keven Kenkes’ stories and a Hindi story, “नन्हे मददगार”.
This year along with the enthusiastic student participation the Parents’ collective of the “Book Lovers Club” also celebrated The Literula week. The convenors of the club organised a “Words & More” for the fellow bibliophiles. Starting with a scramble-unscramble of Shakespearean heroine names, a “Master” quiz, a “spin the yarn” and “let’s read those stories”, wherein everyone was asked to paint a picture in under 100 words.
The Literula week engaged students, teachers and parents alike, throughout the week.
Anna Quindlen aptly said, “Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”
At Shiv Nadar School, we wish our students and their families to stay “home” and stay safe.
