Young readers can tell their Singapore story in scrapbook

STep: My Year In The News has 50 weeks of fun in run-up to nation's 50th birthday

(Above) Children and their parents working on their stories at a scrapbooking workshop. Buyers of the STep scrapbook (below) will get e-mail about activities, pegged to the news, over the course of the year.
(Above) Children and their parents working on their stories at a scrapbooking workshop. Buyers of the STep scrapbook (below) will get e-mail about activities, pegged to the news, over the course of the year. ST FILE PHOTOS
(Above) Children and their parents working on their stories at a scrapbooking workshop. Buyers of the STep scrapbook (below) will get e-mail about activities, pegged to the news, over the course of the year. ST FILE PHOTOS

Get ready for a jubilant year of story-making adventures with the STep: My Year In The News scrapbook folder in the countdown to the nation's grand celebrations next year.

The multi-award winning team behind IN and Little Red Dot will get you creating stories about your favourite foods, Singapore's most legendary landmarks, even help you uncover the tale of "How I Met Your Grandmother".

Activities, pegged to the news, will be unveiled over the course of the year, and e-mailed to all buyers of the STep scrapbook over 50 weeks. They will include learning journeys and ways to get young pepple thinking about values, as well as language and heritage projects.

By the end, young readers' stories will reside alongside Singapore's own for a keepsake that is uniquely theirs.

STep scrapbook users can look forward to, among other things, meaningful ways to document the upcoming 28th Southeast Asian Games in June. By keeping up with the news of top athletes by adding them to their folder, they can discover positive character traits worth emulating. They will also learn to write a match report on a football game they watch.

"There's so much action next year, we wanted to offer young readers a fun way to process the significance of the news to their own lives," said Ms Serene Goh, editor of The Straits Times Schools magazines IN and Little Red Dot.

"We see them using it in class to create memorable stories, or collaborating with parents at home for family projects."

The distinctive red binder, aimed at children aged nine and up, was launched earlier this year, supported by two workshops on story-making for young readers. The book comes packed with 40 brightly coloured pages of English and values-learning activities which are pegged to the broadsheet's articles and pictures.

Filled with fun current affairs activities, stickers, embellishments and word bank cards, it is now available for just $14 at all major bookstores, including Kinokuniya and Popular.

Ms Hayati Haron, 33, who bought the scrapbook for her niece, said that it inspired the nine-year-old to take an interest in the news. "It was very informative and chock full of activities that engaged her. She pored over it for hours and I can see that it is really very appealing to her, especially with the colourful stickers," she said.

nszainal@sph.com.sg

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