23.09.2022

4th Literary Week honors the 100 years since the Modern Art Week of 1922

By Bruna Cronfli

Beacon’s Literary Week celebrates literature with activities that are specially prepared to help our students expand their cultural and linguistic repertoire, develop communication skills, and strengthen their taste for reading.

This year, we are paying tribute to the 100 years since the Semana de Arte Moderna de 1922, a very important event for the art and culture of our country. Students from G1 to Y11 participated in literature-related activities during class every day, in addition to special actions planned by the educators.

In the Berlioz unit, students from G1 to G3 (1 year to 3 years old) were invited to listen to stories told in different ways: stories set to music, with the support of books, with unstructured objects, a theater play, stories told by teachers from other classes, and a special storytelling session with Zenaide Denardi. 

The teacher and author of the book ” Pirata, o vira-lata”, told the children what motivated her to write a story and did a dedication session on the students’ copies.  

Throughout the week, the entrance of the unit invited families to participate in this moment of reading celebration with the children with a proposal: Which book marked your childhood? Why? Book markers were made available so that their stories could become a clothesline of affective memories of the childhoods of our community. 

In the Villa unit, the G5 (5 years old) families were invited to tell stories at school and their presence was much appreciated and expected by the children. The teacher and author of “Chocolate bunny and the precious gemstone” also presented her book and told the story to all the classes. In G4 (age 4), the focus was on afro-referenced authors and characters. Besides the pre-selected books, the groups worked with songs and artistic manifestations to expand their cultural repertoire.

Villa had two special guests: Marina Bastos, who told the stories “O caso da lagarta que toma chá de sumiço”, and “O urso pulguento”. And the long-awaited Mônica Spada e Souza, daughter of illustrator Maurício de Souza, who explained the origin of the “Turma da Mônica” comics and answered questions from the children, who were amazed to find out that the characters were inspired by real people.

At Campus, the week was permeated by workshops, experiences, exhibitions, chats, storytelling, and presentations, among many other special activities worth mentioning.

The students of G6 (6 years old) and also of the 2nd year (Y2) received a duo of artists who told stories in a very special way. Cia. Olho D’Água uses music and theater to take the audience to the magical world of stories. G6 heard the African tale ” Nyangara chena: a cobra curandeira”, and Y2, “O mistério do Tukumã”, a show that overflows national culture. 

The 1st-year classes (Y1) had the opportunity to receive one of the authors of the book “Lá no meu quintal: O brincar de meninas e meninos de norte a sul”, which they read as part of the studies of one of the Units of Inquiry. 

With the support of Árvore Livros platform, the 3rd grade (Y3) had a meeting with the author Otávio Júnior to talk about two titles already known by the students: “O garoto da camisa vermelha” and “Da minha janela”. The author talked about his writing craft, his community, and his life story.

After reading the book “Amal e a viagem mais importante da sua vida”, the 4th grade (Y4) received a visit from Syrian refugee Oula al-Saghir, who talked a little about her refugee process and showed some elements of the Middle Eastern culture, performing typical songs and answering students’ questions. 

The 5th grade (Y5) students participated in a workshop on Manga, the art style of Japanese comics. Professionals from Modelo Design explained the art and technique and helped the students to create characters in this style. 

In Middle School, the students prepared exhibits of poetry, French literature references, and cryptography machines of message transmitters and receivers, among others. 

The 6th-grade students (Y6) had the opportunity to experience and learn about the technique of Graffiti, with Brisola. The artwork was finalized by the artist and the students at Praça Jatobá in the Campus unit. In addition, there was a Rap and Hip Hop battle between the classes, with lyrics inspired by the anti-racism theme. The classes from 7th to 9th grade (Y7 to Y9) had a meeting with the authors João Carrascoza and Rodrigo Lacerda to talk about their works and answer students’ questions.

The students of the 1st year of High School (Y10) continued their studies in Portuguese classes and were able to delve into black female literature with the poet Elizandra Souza, from a workshop on literary writing of poems. The Y11, after having read and discussed the work “Persepolis”, talked to Mahmooni, born in Tehran who was part of a choir and also of the “Ariana” band in Tehran – in the country where women are forbidden to sing alone. In addition to the chat, they watched her pocket show.

The highlight of Literary Week and the day most awaited by students, teachers, and staff was the “Book Character Parade”. Enthusiastic and engaged, everyone who wished to participate came to school in the costume of their favorite literary character for a parade that took place on a red carpet in the Campus auditorium. For the Villa and Berlioz units, the students were invited to dance for a celebration of reading. 

The Literary Week filled our school with poetry, short stories, creativity, and fun.