TGS Newsletter 27 th June 2020 Page 1 Dear Parents, No, we are not going to talk about the Coronavirus – at least directly. Let’s for a moment talk about what we can do or should do. We are reminded of a talk given by the Rev. Martin Luther King (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/knock-midnight-inspiration-great- sermons-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-10). He talks about the story Rip Van Winkle and how the central character is astonished, on his return, to see the picture of King George the Third of England replaced by the picture of George Washington, the first President of the United States. Rip Van Winkle had slept through a revolution! But then Dr. King makes an insightful observation: “And this reveals to us that the most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not merely that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution…. And one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution.” We are living through a time of great change. What new attitudes, what new mental and emotional responses are needed of us? What new behavioural changes are expected of us? Let’s be optimistic and talk of the human spirit. Our actions have harmed the planet and but we have also worked to save it – think about life-saving medicines, green technology, the green revolution to name a few. Out of cauldrons of suffering and misery, we have not been vanquished but come out wiser and stronger – think, Mandela, Malala, the UN, Social reforms, etc. As a species, we keep pushing the envelope – that is undoubtedly true but there is something heroic and noble about Mankind that is preserved across eons and will keep us sane and whole and still beautiful. Think about this, Parents. We are to be the change that the world asks for. Let us do all that we need to do so that we emerge wiser, more innovative, more resilient, more caring. ********** ERM Day We had our Educational Roadmap Day on the 13 th of June through Zoom sessions. New staff were introduced, the Specialists explained their curriculum and plans for the year, and then parents had separate sessions with the Grade Teachers of their wards. The sessions were fairly well attended and the general feedback was positive.
We are reminded of a talk given by the Rev. Martin Luther King(https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/knock-midnight-inspiration-great-sermons-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-10).HetalksaboutthestoryRipVanWinkleandhowthecentralcharacterisastonished,onhisreturn,toseethepictureofKingGeorgetheThirdofEnglandreplaced by the picture ofGeorgeWashington, the first President of theUnited States. RipVanWinklehadsleptthrougharevolution!
Let’sbeoptimisticandtalkofthehumanspirit. Ouractionshaveharmedtheplanetandbutwehave also worked to save it – think about life-saving medicines, green technology, the greenrevolutiontonameafew.Outofcauldronsofsufferingandmisery,wehavenotbeenvanquishedbutcomeoutwiserandstronger–think,Mandela,Malala,theUN,Socialreforms,etc.
a) Hindi:Grade3studentslearnedtointroducethemselves.Theyweregivenfewwordslike-nadi,panietc.withwhichtheywerefirsttaughtitstechnique,thereaftertheywereaskedtoconstructsentences.The students of Grade 4 and 5 gave a brief introduction aboutthemselves.WehaddifferentspeakingactivitiessuchasShowandTell,extemporeandadiscussionbasedonquestionsposed.Duringthe speaking activity, we touched on life skills of dealing withemotionsviaapowerpointpresentation.Thestudentsrespondedverywelltothequestionsposed.Grade4alsodidareadingexercisewhere-in they discussed a story and framed sentences with newwords.
b) French:
The students of Grade 3 were able to introducethemselvesusingdifferentphrases.Theywereable togiveaself-introductioninfivesentences.Theywereableto identify the different members in their family inFrenchandalsodrewafamilytreeandlabelleddifferentmembersofthe family.(Mère,père, sœur, frère,grand-mère,grand-père).Theywereabletomakesentencesinthe third person singularusing the conjugation of thedifferent verbs like “etre”, “avoir” and s’appeler” anddescribe their family members. The students alsopractised these sentenceswith different listening andspeakingactivities.The students of Grade 4 started with their self-introduction in French followed by someimportantfactsaboutFrance.TheywatchedapowerpointpresentationaboutFrance–importantfacts, famous monuments, currency, national anthem, food, popular car brands etc. TheyansweredashortoralquizinordertoreviewthebasicknowledgeofFrance.IntegratingwithScience, the students learnt about different fruits and their respective gender such as “unepomme”,“unorange”etc.TheFrenchstudentsofGrade5introducedthemselvesusingthequestionandanswertechnique.They learnt several new words such as “anniversaire”, “aime”, “ananas”, “désolée” etc. Thestudentswereabletointroducethemselvesandtelltheirname,age,wheretheystayetc. Thestudentsthenmovedontolearningnumbersfrom1-10inFrenchandpractisedthesenumberswithdifferentvisualandauditoryactivities.
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c) GlobalPerspectives:InGrade3 students have been studying the ecosystemand learningabouthowdelicate they canbe,whilealsolearningaboutnewanimalsanddeepseacreatures.Theyalso learnt about the Amazon Rainforest and how itproduces 20% of the world’s oxygen. A memoryassociation techniquewas used to teach students aboutthedifferencebetweenfloraandfauna:
Flora=flower=plantsFauna=fawn(babydeer)=animalStudents in Grade 4 started a topic called using energy where they’ve learnt the historicalevolutionofhowenergywasusedalongwiththegeographicalregionswhereonecanfindenergysourceslikefossilfuels,cleanenergy,electriccarsandsolarpanels.There’snoendtowhereourconversationtookus.Studentsalsodrewdiagramsofrenewableandnon-renewablesourcesofenergyalongwiththeirownillustrations.Inthenextclass,studentswilllookatthepossibilityoftheworldgettingallofitselectricityfromabattery!
Grade5 students drew an understanding ofwhat the programme ‘Global Perspectives’ is allabout.Theycametoaconclusionthatitisnotasubjectthatcanbetaughtinisolation.Thereistheintegrationofdisciplineswithfocusondevelopingasetoflearningskills.Theclassintroducedthemselvesbysharinginformationabouttheir family members, their occupation, the languages theyknowor are learning.This led us to the topic on ‘Family andDemographicChange’.Wetriedtoscaffoldthemeaningof theword‘Demographic’.Studentshavenowbeenaskedtoresearchhowtheirfamilywasduringtheirgrandparents’days.Howwasitsameordifferent?
d) PhysicalEducation:
Physical activity is vitally importantforourmentalwell-being.ThefocusofPhysical Education has been toengage the students invarious formsof physical activities like IndoorScavenger Hunt, Simon Says! andFitnessGrid (to name a few)makingstudentshappier,healthier,moreresilientandengaged.
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e) InformationandCommunicationTechnology:Grade3revisedafewconceptsdonelastyearwhichincludedbasicsofWordandExcel.TheywerefurthertaughtsomePowerPointskills(slidedesigns,animations,transitions,etc),andwereaskedtocreateapresentationoftheirown.Grade4startedwitheditingtextandpicturestocreatealayoutforarecipe.Studentswereshownexamplesofthelayoutofdifferentonlinerecipesandwereaskedtodesigntheirownlayoutontheirnotebooks.StudentsofGrade5revisedafewconceptstaughtlastyearwhichservedasaskillbrush-upforthe new students who joined us this year. They were also guided to download the Scratchsoftwareandwerebriefedonhowtouseit.StudentsshalllearntocodeinScratchinthefollowingclasses.
f) Art:
ThestudentsofGrades3,4,&5participatedinaninteresting‘ice-breaker’ activity to help themfamiliarizethemselveswiththeirpeers and their teacher. It alsohelped them to get to knowthemselves better. The activityinvolvedwritingdowntwowordsorshortsentencesthatdescribethemandonethingaboutthemthathaschangedinthepastthreemonths.Theyalsohadtolistthreeoftheirfavouritethingsaswellascompletethesentence,“Iam……”Based on this information they wrote down they designed personalized name tags thatrepresentedtheiruniquenessusingcoloursandartmaterialsoftheirchoice.
g) MusicGrade3studentsweresoexcitedtoshowtheirinstrumentswhichtheyhavewiththemandrequestedtheteacheriftheycouldplay.Oneofthestudentsplayedhisdrumpadalongwiththenewsong,‘Browngirlinthering’.Grade4,5and6studentsenjoyedthediscussiononwhatisMusicand what Music meant to them individually. They also wereintroducedtonewsongs,‘Imagine’byJohnLenon,‘Blowinginthewind’ by Bob Dylan and ‘Have you ever seen the rain’ by CCR,respectively.Thisinteractivemethodwasveryproductiveasthestudentsenjoyedtheclassactivities.
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h) Theatre
As another much-anticipated year began, the curtain ontheatre was finally lifted. The early sessions are all aboutreconnectingandplanningfortheyear.Itwaslovelymeetingthe new students as they introduced themselves throughmime.Usingawordmap, studentswereguided towrite theirownmonologueswhichtheywillpresentinJuly.
InEnglishstudentslookedatunderstandingthefeaturesoffictionandnon-fiction.Theyworkedwithelementsofastoryandworkedonastoryorganizerforelementsofastory.TheyworkedonthestoryofSylvesterandthemagicpebble.Theyhavenowstartedlookingatthegenreofhistoricalfiction.HeretheylookedatthecharacterofRobinHood.InMathematics the focuswas on identifyingthe place value of a given number and thedifferentways of representing a number. Theyarenowlookingatthepropertiesofnumbersandtrying to read numbers in thousands androundingthemtothenearest10or100.
InScience,thestudentsarelearningaboutLAWWmnemonic torememberthe factorsrequired for germination. Predicting andinvestigatingthefactorsrequiredforaseedto germinate and for a plant to grow. ThestudentshavebeenwatchingvideospostedonGoogleclassroomandgrowingtheirownseeds.Theyhavebeenencouragedtoconductasmallexperimentontheirownwiththreeseeds-onefullysubmergedinwater,onepartlysubmergedinwaterandairandthethirdfullyinairsothattheycanpredictandverifythechangesseenandfactorsforplantgrowth.In Mathematics, students are revisiting place value and theapplicationofplacevalueindailylife,orderingandroundingnumbersto10’s,100’sand1000’s.Studentsarealsoinvestigatinggridpatternsandsizesforthemultiplesof2,3,4,5,6,andsoon.
4)Grade5
Englishclassesbeganwithice-breakingactivitiesandashortquizonvocabularyandgrammar.Theircreativemindswerealsostimulatedbyadiscussiononthevarioustypesofstories.Theywereshownapictureandwebrainstormedonthevariouskindsofstorieswecouldcomeupwith.Literatureclassesbeganwithreadingandanalysingtheprologueto‘TheRiverSingers’.Duringthe mid-week, students answered a comprehension that consisted of a few critical thinkingquestionsaswellasvocabularybuildingquestions.Arevisionofwordclasseswascoveredundergrammar.Thematically,TermOneisnaturerelatedandsodiscussionswereheldtohelpstudentstuneintothetheme.InMathStudentsbegantheacademicyearwithsome logical thinkingriddlesonthe first twodays.Wethenstartedourfirstunit‘Number’andjumpedrightintothefirstsubtopic‘placevalue’.Studentsplacednumbersintheplacevaluegridandlearnthowtoreadnumbersusingthetermsthousandandhundredthousand.Studentsalsorevisedhowtoordernumbersintheascendingorder. After comparing twonumbers, they also learnt how to roundnumbers to the nearesthundredandthousandplace.AfewScienceriddlestogetthegreycellsofthe students workingwas how we startedthis academic year.The first unit,‘Humansandanimals’,wasthenstarted.Studentsplacedpicturesoftheorgansontotheoutlineofahumanbodyandhenceaddedtotheirexistingknowledgeofhumanorgans.Theydiscussedthefunctionsoftheseorgansaswell.
ThisfortnightwasfullofnewexperienceswiththecommencementoftheZoomClassesDuring the induction period, the students ofGrade3demonstrated their listening skills while playing agame.Theydiscussedhowtobe‘RespectfuloftheLessFortunate’. The students came up with thoughts andfeelings thatwereway beyond their age. They spokeabout how important it was to be thankful and toappreciate the work of all who go out and work,especiallythosewhoworksohardforsolittle.Thisfortnight,Grade4usedtheirinductionweekreallywelltohelpthemfigureouthowclasseswouldbeheldonlineduring ‘CircleTime’.They respondedtoquestionsposedandwereveryenthusiasticwhileplayingthegame‘GoFindMe…’Theclassisextremelyattunedtoeachotheralready.Theyshowedgreatinterestintheresponsesoftheirfellowclassmateswhenitcametoamemorygame.Thefollowingweek,wediscussedtheworksheet‘Adjustingtothesituation’,whichwassentoverGoogleclassrooms.Theirdiscussionswerereflectiveandanimated.Theyhadverystrongviewstosharewithregardtothetopicandtheirfeelingsaboutthelockdownandtimesafter.Grade5wastakenthroughaninductionweekwhereweplayedafewgamestogetthemonboardwithonlineCircleTimeclasses.Thechildrenwerequickintheirresponsesandhandledtheclassreallywell.Duringthenextweek,webeganourdiscussionson‘AdjustingtotheSituation’.Thestudentssharedsomeverygoodviewswithregardtohowinthesenewtimes,theyhavehadtomakenewadjustmentsandeventhoughitwasdifficult,itwasanecessaryprocess.Duringthefollowingweek,weshallgodeeperintothetopictohelpthemassessthesituationfromvariousangles,usingactivitiesthataredesignedtoencourageobservationandreflection.
NEWSFROMTHEMIDDLESCHOOL7)NEWSFROMTHESPECIALISTS
a) HindiThestudentofGrade6and8introducedthemselvesinHindiandgavebriefintroductionsaboutthemselves.Theyparticipatedinactivitiessuchasshowandtell,extemporeanddiscussionbasedonquestionsposed.Duringthe
b) FrenchTheFrench studentsofGrade6 learnt to introducethemselves through an array of questions. ThestudentsalsowatchedashortvideobyInspire,TV5Mondeandwereable toanswerquestionsbasedonthe same. They also refreshed their memory andrevised the numbers that they had done and learntseveral details about France. They also answered ashortquizbasedonFranceandtheFrancophoneworld.The French students of Grade 8 learnt to introducethemselvesinFrenchinafewlines.Thestudentswatchedthewell-knownFrench“Court-métrage”(shortfilm)FrenchRoast by Fabrice Joubert andwere able to analyse it andanswerquestionsbasedonit.Thestudentswerealsoableto differentiate between regular and reflexive verbs.Throughoutthe2week,thestudentsalsorevisedpreviouslydonevocabularyandlearntseveralnewwords.IntegratingwithICT,thestudentsareworkingoncreatingabrochureinFrench.
c) GlobalPerspectivesGrade6startedwithanewtopiccalledDiseaseandHealthwherestudentshavelearntabouthow Charles Darwin’stheory of survival of the fittest could be related to surviving disease.Studentshavealsobeen lookingat terms like“Lifespan”and“birthrate”and“mortalityrate”.Studentshavebeenveryperceptiveandareveryawarethatmentalhealthisaveryimportantandoftenoverlookedpartofhealth.Wearealsogoingtocoverthebenefitsofstemcelltherapyandnewadvancesinhealthcare!
In the 1st class the students of Grade 6 had a small introductorysession andwe played a few ice-breaker games. They revised theirdesigningskillsusingWordalongwithafewnewskillthatwereshowntothem(backgroundimages,headers,animations,etc.),andstudentswere asked to design a brochure of their own which they wouldpresenttotheclassinthenextsession.Grade8studentswerebriefedaboutthecurriculum.TheyrevisedafewWordandExcelskills,andwereaskedtodesignabrochureoftheirown using only MS Word. Students were given feedback on theirbrochures and somewere asked to re-work on them.We then didManagementsSystemsinExcelandtheyweregivenanassignmentonGoogleClassroomsforthesame.TheywereshownshortvideosonPowerPointusingimages,audiosandvideos;andwereaskedtocreateoneoftheirowntobeshowntotheclassforthenextsession.
e) ArtThestudentsofGrade6arelearningabout‘lines’andhowto draw these to create pattern, rhythm, movement,directionand texture in their artworks.The theme for theartworkis‘Monsoon’.Grade 8 is learning about tonal values and techniques ofpencilshading.Thiswillhelpthemachievethedesiredtonesintheirdrawings.Theyhavebeenworkingonthiswiththehelpofaworksheet.
NEWSFROMEACHGRADE
8)Grade6Studentskick-started theEnglishclasses for theyearby spending timegetting toknoweachother,mostlyspeakingaboutthemselves,theirhomeandtheirschool.Theyspokeaboutwhattheykindofsubjectstheylikedanddisliked,whatkindofactivitiesworkedfortheminthepast.Thishelpedtheteacherunderstandhowtodesignacurriculumthatwouldsuittheirneeds.
Sincethe focusof theyear isNarrationandReflection,content is focusedontopics likehome,familyandfriends.ThestudentscreatedanAcrosticPoemontheword‘Home’,examplesofwhicharementionedbelow:Homeisnotaplacewitharoofbuthomeiswhereoneiswithalovedone.OnlyinahomeshallwehavefunMyhomeiswhereIamabletobefunandfreeEveryoneshouldloosenupandbefree,forinahomewearefamily.~NiharikaVaidyaHappyandahumbleplaceOurcarefreezonewithMemoriesthatlastforever
There’sNoPlaceLikeHome‘Thereisnoplacelikehome.’Thesewordsaretrue.Becauseeverysingledayisanewadventurebutintheend,homeistheoneplaceIcanrelyon.Forexample,ifIhadatoughdayatschoolorI’mjustfeelingdown,goinghomeisthethingthatmakesmehappiestbecauseIhavemyfamilyandmypets.Myroomismyfavouritespot.ItistheoneplaceinthehousethatIlovegoingtobecauseitissorelaxing and comfortable. Ifmy day turned out to be bad then Iwould go straight tomy roombecausemyroomhelpsmerelaxandforgetaboutallthenegativityaround.TherearesomethingsthatIamonlycomfortabledoingathomebecausethereisnoonetojudgemeorlaughattheweirdthingsIdo.Myhouseisasafeplacewherethereisnonegativityordespair.IliketodancewithmydogsandIjustwouldn’tfeelcomfortabledoingthatoutsidemyhouse.Igotosomanypeople’shousesforlunch,sleepoversandotherthingsbutifIeatsomewherebesidesmyhouseIjustfeelweirdnoteatingwithmyfamily.Iamusedtothefoodatmyhouse.IlovethefoodatmyhouseandIwouldpreferthatoverotherfood.
~KayaKholkarInMathclassesstartedwithabeginning-of-the-yeardiagnosticassessmentduringtheinductionweek. The purpose of this quiz is for the teacher to have an understanding ofwhat childrenalreadyknowandwhichpreviousconceptsneedtobecoveredduringtheupcomingyearofstudy.Thisassessmentwillinformtheinstructionalplanning.Afterthediagnosticassessmentwemovedtothefirstunitforthisyear-Numbers.
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Students explored different types of numbersystems throughouthistory.Theydeveloped theirown number systems consisting of symbols andrules.YoucanseeoneoftheNumberSystemsthatastudent made. It shows how we can sensecolorsandutilise them to solveproblems inuniqueandcreativeways.InoneoftheearlierMath lessons during Week 1 we also did asmall activity where children shared theirmost recent act of kindness and theirresponses are really heartwarming.Herearesomeofthem…ScanthisQRcodetoseemoreresponsesgivenbyyourchild’sclassmates.Orclickonthislink:https://ibb.co/S0bDSz3Thisweek,inPhysicsclasses,studentsstartedwithaquickQuizlet!For therevisionofunitofelectricity.Theypostedtheirbestofthreescoresinthecomments section on Google Classroom. Their engagement with theactivitywasapparent fromtheexcitementthat theyshowedwhilegiving it “onemoretry” toimprovetheir time.Grade6studentsenjoyedplayingazoomscavengerhunt throughsolvingriddlesbasedonarticlescommonlyfoundaroundthehouse.Thisactivitywasdesignedwiththepurposeofunderstandinghowbiochemistryiseverywherearoundus.
InEnglishtheyearoffwithaFilmReview.The class reviewedRobinWilliam’sheartwarmingDeadPoetsSocietyandwenton to reviewmoviestheyhadrecentlywatched.ThiswasfollowedbyaclassonPunctuationtounderstandwherethestudentsstandwiththeirgrammarskills.ThestudentswerealsoexposedtoNote-makingtechniquesthatwouldhelpthemmakenotesandstudybetterforanysubject.For Literature, the students were introduced to Shakespeare and his works and how hecontributedtoamajorchunkoftheEnglishvocabulary.ThestudentsreadanexcerptfromoneofShakespeare’snotableworks-TheMerchantofVenice.Itwasfollowedbyananalysisofthemainantagonist–Shylock.Theyalsohadanelocutionexercisewheretheyreaddifferentarticlesthattheyhadpersonallypickedouttoread,eachtimetoconveyadifferentmeaningdependingonthetargetaudience.Inthedaystocome,thestudentswillbeworkingingroupstodiscuss,analyse,arriveataconclusionandmakeapresentationonaparticulartopic.
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InMathstudentsimaginedthattheyhadabrokencalculator-andonlythekeys“2”,“7”,and“+”worked.Nowcanyoutellhowmanynumbersyouwon’tbeabletomakeusingonlythesethreekeys?Whataboutwithkeys“3”,“7”and“+”?Thisresearchwasperformedbyan11-yearoldchild,whowrote an articledocumenting the patterns thatwere found. Students explored the sameprobleminour firstclass forNumbersalongwithmakingourownnumbersystems.Wedidadiagnostic assessment to understand our current understanding of math. We started withnegative numbers and discussed the real problems that led to the representationof negativenumbersandwhytheyareusefulinavarietyofways.WeareusingKhanAcademytoreviseandpracticeaswell.
InthePhysicsstudentsconductedvariousdiagnosticassessmentsandfamiliarisedthemselveswiththecurrentGrade8topicsusingQuizletforreviewingtheconceptsfrompastyearsaswell.StudentsalsoenjoyedplayingaZoomscavengerhuntthroughsolvingriddlesbasedonarticlescommonlyfoundaroundthehouse.Thisactivitywasdesignedwiththepurposeofunderstandinghow biochemistry is everywhere around us. Students enjoyed magnified and camouflageactivities for their induction this week followed by calculating plant percentage in theirrefrigeratortounderstandhowalllifeisdependentonplants.Studentsalongwiththeirteacherwillbemakingaterrariumandmaintainingthesamewiththepurposeofinstillingrespectandresponsibilitytowardsplantlife.InHistorystudentsofwillbeworkingontheIndianIndependenceMovementforthisterm.ThecontentfocussedonthearrivaloftheBritishinIndiaandhowtheyusedtradeasanexcusetogainfootholdintheIndianSubcontinent.ThestudentslateranalysedthevariouschangesbroughtaboutbytheBritishintheIndiansocialandeconomiccustoms.
10)CIRCLETIME:Duringtheinductionperiod,thestudentsofGrade6respondedverywell to the games ‘Would you rather?’ and ‘Go find me a…’. Thestudentswerefocusedandattentiveeventhoughthatitwasthelastclassoftheday.Thefollowingweek,wediscusseddiscrimination.Thechildrenwereveryvocalabouttheirfeelingsaboutthistopic.Allofthemspokeoutabouthowtheyfeltaboutthe‘BlackLivesMatter’protestshappeningallaroundtheworld.Somealsosharedtheirviewsonhowwecannotputallpolicemeninthesameumbrellaofbeinghorriblewhen,inreality,allwerenotthesame.Duringthe inductionprocess, thestudentsofGrade8playeda fungameof‘Bingo’.Throughthegame,theydiscussedtheimportanceoflife skills like listening skills, focus, attention and psychologicalwellbeing.Thefollowingclassbeganwithavideoondiscrimination.Thestudentswatchedanexperimentonhowamade-upconceptusedto discriminate could cause children to lose their confidence andactuallybehaveinalessmotivatedmanner.Thestudentsthenspoke
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about their views and also shared incidences where they saw discrimination and possiblyidentifiedthesame.
