Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Durgotsav and Dussehra delight



26th September was a colourful and much enjoyed day as we celebrated Navratri and Dussehra in school. Children of classes III to VIII came dressed in lehengas, kurtas and pyjamas. Children from each class performed garba. The well-coordinated dances showed the efforts that went behind the preparation. The mentors and the non-academic staff couldn't hold themselves back for long and soon joined us. Class VI students Raghavendra, Tushita, Divya and Shrey anchored the programme and also shared information about Navratri and Dussehra.



After a break for snacks, we collected again for Dussehra celebration. Students of class V, Vishnu sir and Baghel sir had made the 'Ravan'. This Ravan was a symbol of all bad qualities that we wanted to burn away. So, on strips of paper we wrote the bad qualities that we wanted to rid ourselves of and stuck the strips on Ravan. As the Ravan was set afire, the strips with our bad qualities also turned to ashes. The message this Dussehra was that of victory of good over evil.

Srishti and Titiksha, Class VIII

Friday, September 25, 2009

An educational visit to a textile industry



The students of grade VI, VII and VIII went for industrial visit to Prem Textiles and Samariya Fashions. The objective of the visit was to view the processing of raw cotton to fabric. The visit was divided into 2 phases. Mr. N.K Jain, General Manager of Samariya Textiles guided our students through the entire process.

In the first session, which was on 8th September 2009, students visited the Spinning Mill(Prem Textiles). Our children perceived the process of fibre getting converted to yarn in different stages of cleaning, mixing(in Blowroom Line), carding where the fibre sheet is converted to sliver(loose yarn), drawing in Drawframe and then finally roving getting converted to yarn in the Rotar machine. They asked queries related to the pollution due to fibre floating all over and health effect on the workers. The temperature and humidity effect on the yarn and fibre also took them by surprise.

In the second session on 16th September 09, the students were taken to Weaving Mill (Samariya Fashions) where they minutely observed the auto looms and understood the process of warp and weft interweaving, which resulted in the greige fabric. They could also understand some technical part as the designing of the fabric, selvedge and the fabric checking and its parameters. The children also witnessed the faults being amended and some tried their hands on it.

Neha (mentor class II) and Shilpa (mentor class V)

Saturday, September 5, 2009

The new face of Indus World School, Indore!



It is going to be two months now that we have shifted location from Sai Kripa colony to Chhawani, which is a centrally located area in Indore.

Being centrally located it is nearly equidistant from all corners of the city. The building, which we took over from the Kamala Nehru Trust, is 50 year old and is magnificent! High roofs and well-lighted, cross-ventilated rooms. – Good space that we wanted for our children! Mentors were generally happy to see the big rooms and the corners there in for setting up activities.

This is a bigger place – two acres. Tennis court and basketball court are being constructed. Behind the building there is open area to play. We have set up our adventure zone and sand pit there. Trees have been used for making rope swings.

The renovation work started in May. Complete flooring has been changed, walls are given bright colors. Inside the class one wall is brightly colored which makes the class very inviting. The corridors and the facade is a combination of bright white and grey. Tree plantation and grass laying is going on. One of our parents helped us to plant trees outside the school boundary wall.

As the children rushed in on the first day – this place came alive! The change of place made a small difference to them. They were looking for familiar faces and their mentors. The younger lot was happy with the new place. The Jigyasa group children had small questions.

The first month went by in orientation of children and working on their baselines. It normally takes some time for children to get adjusted to a new class, new mentor and some new friends in the class. In a non threatening and caring environment children adjust faster and so we saw that within 15 days it did not seem to be new place.

The first meeting with the parents was on 1st of Aug. Sujit, our Chairman, had come down for this to generally interact with the parents. The initial strain of shifting to a new location, which some parents had reflected, seemed to be fading. An exhibition cum sale of Rakhees made by visually challenged children was arranged in the school. We received some valuable feedback from the parents.

A colourful programme marked our first Independence Day in the new campus as we remembered our martyrs and reaffirmed our allegiance to our nation.
August also saw the Math Week. Puzzles, games, magic in the class and on the field had the children hooked for a week. Children still talk about the Math Treasure Hunt and the Math Fair.

A much loved event happened today when children expressed their affection for their mentors. The Teachers' Day celebration was almost completely managed by the class VIII students. The couplets that they wrote not only aptly described each mentor, they also were a mark of the esteem that the children held in their hearts for their mentors.

So much more has happened in these two months. Each day holds its own excitement and learning. Yet, it only seems like yesterday that we had begun this new session.

Now we need to find out ways of influencing this community of people who are living around our school. In my initial discussions about this with our trustee, Suresh Agarwal, it seemed to be a tough task; but I think it is not impossible.

I always believed and shared it also with our mentors that it is our own positivity that makes a place vibrant and gives that happy feeling! I do not know what the role of vastu in it is, but I know that we play the most important role!

Smita Rathore