Interaction in Middle School

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL INTERACTION

On Thursday, the 9^th of May, we went to the Middle School building for our first interaction. There some students from the Middle School explained to us how the Middle School functions. They explained about all the new subjects we will be studying, extra-curricular activities (e.g. P.E, Music, Art, Design and Technology, Drama).

In the Middle School, the newest attraction for us is that we have our own lockers – no more cubby holes in the class! We also have to keep moving from class to class and be punctual. We aren’t ALWAYS in the same class with the SAME teacher teaching us all our subjects!

We also are going to learn another language, along with English (Hindi, French, or Spanish). Children in the Middle School even get a chance to be part of the Editorial board of our School Year book! I think I would really like to be on the editorial board. 

There’s one great thing about Middle School – you are independent and also do not have to form lines! We are expected to be responsible on our own. Our break and lunch timings are different from what we are used to in the Primary School. Middle School seems like a lot of fun, and we also will soon get used to the surprise tests our teachers may set us from time to time. I look forward to moving to Middle School next year!

By: Shreya Mozumdar

11^th May, 2013  

Amidst hectic Founder's Day practise

We were able to do a lot of academics inspite of hectic practise schedule for Founder's Day. In Numeracy we covered the concept of Angles and in Literacy we did two comprehensions on Oliver Twist and Roald Dahl. In Hindi we studied Idioms and Proverbs. We also had an assessment and we had to write a paragraph using idioms on a topic of our choice.

Abhinav Jain

A Week Of Fun

The week began with the PE class on Monday . In the PE class we were showed the route we would take for the Cross Country Run .  After that, on Tuesday we  had the PYP Exhibition in which we discussed some essential agreements  in our groups that we will follow during the Exhibition.Then came the big event –CROSS COUNTRY   which was on Wednesday and we had 4 categories – grade 2&3 girls, grade 2&3 boys, grade 4&5 girls and grade 4&5 boys.  Everybody took part with great excitement and enthusiasm. On Thursday we celebrated International  Mother Language Day wherein we shared poems and stories in our mother language.  After listening to the stories, others had to draw of what they thought of the story. The narrator then translated and explained the story in English.  We had a lot of fun this week!

Rishika Jain

Choir Practice

Choir Practice

I am a part of the Primary School Western singing choir. I have had a great experience singing each time we practice. It has shown that I have a good voice and I can sing well. I have had loads of fun and love going for practice. We have been learning Christmas Carols to sing on Grandparents’ Day. I have now learnt many more Christmas Carols and love singing those. Christmas Choir has given me a new experience by singing very different songs from those we used to sing during our music class in the school. Those songs were much easier to sing than the ones we now sing as a part of the choir.

I have learnt about three tonal groups that choir singers are made into. Alto, the base tune of the song.Tenor, the middle tone and Soprano, the high tone; make up the choir. All three groups have to match their voices and sing in a synchronized manner. This is how the choir sounds really beautiful and melodious. I have been very happy to have been chosen for being in the choir and have also gained a lot from it.

Shreya Mozumdar

Who We Are

 Who We Are

We have been inquiring into the second line of inquiry of the Unit ‘Rediscovering Myself’ under the Transdisciplinary Theme ‘ Who We  Are’ .We are inquiring into how we change as we grow from children into adults. This is known as puberty. The unit is very interesting and prepares us for forthcoming changes, as says our central idea, ‘ Preparing for inevitable growth and change contributes to our well being.’ I think that this is a very true central idea, as it helps us to learn about our bodies and prepare for the inevitable growth and change that happens to us, so that when it happens, we don’t have to panic.

This unit has helped me a lot till now. I have learnt a lot about how I am going to change as I grow. I will prepare for the changes and I will understand easily when they happen.

Shreya Mozumdar

Rediscovering Myself

Rediscovering Myself

Hello! Today, I am going to tell you about the Unit of Inquiry. Our new unit that we are doing is ‘Rediscovering myself’. Right now we are on the 2^nd line of inquiry how we change as we grow.

We have done the different body systems. There are a lot of different body systems but the ones that we worked on are:

Ë       Circulatory system

Ë       Digestive system

Ë       Nervous system

Ë       Respiratory system.

We had to research about the function of the system, the organs and the function, our responsibility towards the system and the systems’ connection with the other systems. Our presentations were very informative.

Now we are on the 2^nd line of inquiry- How we change as we grow. We have learnt a lot of interesting facts about ourselves. We have learnt about endocrine and exocrine. Endocrine means a gland that secretes directly into the blood or lymph. Basically you can’t see an endocrine gland but you can see an exocrine gland. Exocrine means like all the sweat, tears and a lot more.

We have also learnt about the male and the female reproductive parts. We wondered if you’re a girl why do you have to know about the male’s reproductive part and if you’re a boy why do you have to know about the females reproductive parts. Well we have to learn about them because we have to be sensitive towards what the male or female is going through. We should not make fun of them and above all- this is an inevitable change! It happens to everybody and you can’t stop it .You can only prepare yourself for it.

In the reproductive parts, we learnt that when the male’s sperm comes to the female and fuses with the egg, its then that’s the beginning of the formation of a baby. The main difference between the male and female growth is that females get curvier and the hips get more weight and for the males they gain weight and they grow hair on their face. The two genders are different while growing because female becomes pregnant but male does not become pregnant.

We understood the importance of learning this unit because it helps us prepare for the forthcoming changes.

 Koel Rai

     

Bubbling Questions

Bubbling Questions

Our new unit is Re-discovering Myself. The transdiciplinary theme is Who We Are. It explains us about the people, how we are and how we should be. The central idea is: “Preparing for inevitable growth and change contributes to our well-being.” What we know about the unit is that we will learn about growth and change. Some changes will be inevitable and others will be man-made. We will learn about preparing for the forthcoming changes in ourselves too. Some questions that come to our mind are:

·        If there was no growth or change, how would life be?

·        How will our body systems change and function as we grow?

·        How/ why is the growth inevitable?

These are questions about the unit. We hope that the unit will be informative enough to answer these questions and many more .

Shweta