8th Feb

The children continued to work on their story boards today. After making houses for themselves in their 'joyland', today they focussed on other basic needs: Food, occupation, leisure for children, etc. Hence 'adult males' made a farm, the 'adult females' made a kitchen with a fireplace and utensiles. They used their clay modelling skills for the same. A play ground was made by the 'children' in the family. The Art teacher Ms. Kruthi also guided them with ideas and tips about appropriate use of materials. ven in Drama, the children did role plays based on the story board.

In math we resumed fractions by learning about 'common denominators' with blocks.
There was also the Hindi assembly today about Republic day. The fifth graders also participated.

Her are some pictures and videos from the day:

5th Feb

We inquired into the topic of 'Speed' today through a PowerPoint presentation. We learnt about the definition of Speed, various ways to measure it, units of measurement and solved some problems related to Speed - Distance - Time.

In language, we focussed on Direct speech by punctuations sentences and a passage appropriately.

Finally, the favourite activity for the children was the 'Story board'. They designed their own characters in the story. They also started making puppets that will represent themselves.

A Few pictures:

4th Feb

Today the fifth graders began with their 'Storyboard'. They were given a setting: A bare place where a river is flowing with a few trees and animals near by. They designed a character for themselves: their name, personality, nature, occupation, etc. Thie activity will continue for a few days.

The children also did an activity on converting units for time. Each group chose another group whom they want to challenge with a difficult quantity to convert. Before challenging, the groups had to solve the problem themselves first. Thie fostered their critical thinking skills.

Towards the end of the day, the chidlren illustrated the IB learner profile as they understand it.

3rd Feb

Today was an absolute 'happening' day for the 5's. They got feedback for their summative assessments. Each child got feedback from three peers (one peer of their choise, one volunteer judge and one teacher choice). We also reflected on the unit.

InMath, there was competition between two groups. They had to pick chits on which random objects to be measured were written. For example: Height of the cupboard, Length of the pencil, etc. The group that finished maximum number of measurements won the competition.

In Language, the children learnt 'picture analysis'. They were asked to analyze a picture given to them.

(Above) Anirudh measuring the height of the cupboard.
Choi and Sandeep measuring the distance from Ground floor to first floor.
The girls sitting together to do their unit refelections.
Srishtee and Neha exchanging feedback.
Sandeep and Niteesh analyzing a brochure.

2nd Feb

Today was a special day for the fifth graders as we did our Summative assessment for the third unit 'Natural Disasters'. The brochures that they made were presented to the children of other grades in the PYP. The fifth graders explained to them the disaster they had worked on gave them some safety tips.

It was a good exposure for them as these public speaking skills will help them during the PYP exhibition.

The children also learnt about speech marks and direct speech. They did an activity on editing a narrative passage. They also inter converted units of measurement based on distance (SI).

Leadership Camp - 28th, 29th and 30th January, 2010

On the 28th of January 2010, the students of grade 5 and 4 along with their teachers took the busride from school to Deccan trails where we were to be stationed for the next 3 days for the Leadership camp. The students were all beaming with excitement. At the start of the camp, all the students were grouped at random into elephant, zebra and lion groups. This was great oppotunity for the students to make new friends.
The students did plenty of activities like the Burma bridge, Burma line and Zip lining to overcome their fears. During the snake show that was held, the students were shown different snakes and told about the poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, precautions to be taken when snakes are around. They touched a python and everyone of them was super excited to have done so. The students enjoyed the scenic beauty of the early morning sun and the surrounding forest. The students got the oppotunity to experience the wilderness of the surroundings forest where they got to pass through a cave. On the way back form the trek, some of the students also got to see a wild boar. The students connected with nature by collecting samples of various leaves, feathers, berries and pebbles - things that they usually do not find in their urban surroundings.
A ll the activities at the camp were very well organized and the students were constantly on their feet and had absolutely no time to feel bored.Students were able to assess their strengths and weaknesses while performing the various activities. Knowing their strength gave them confidence and it also helped them overcome their weakness and become fearless. All the students were risk takers. Everybody participted in every activity willingly and showed competitive spirit while performing.

The students displayed leadership qualities by learning to take initiative, being courageous, enthusiatic, confident, decision making skills, appreciate others, valid reasoning and clarity in vision.The time spent at the camp was great oppotunity for the students to socialize and put aside their differences. All together, the camp was a fantastic experience filled with fun and frolic and great learning to carry forward in their lives.

1st Feb

The Grade 5's worked on their summative assessments (brochures). They reflected on the leadership camp and inquired into the standard units of measurement.