Annual Exhibition Extension – Montessori and Pre-school Classrooms

While the Multi-purpose Hall was the main destination for the Utsaah 2016 Annual Exhibition, the Montessori and Pre-school classrooms displayed all the daily activities which children do in their class.

Working in groups or individually, the little children explore and learn through these self-directed activities in which they are gently engaged and supported by their teachers.

Learning through experience and at their own pace, these help in improving motor skills as well as cognitive and language skills while giving them confidence and joy of accomplishment.

For the exhibition, these classrooms put out all the tools on display for parents and visitors to watch the students’ interplay as they worked with a variety of materials.

The Mathematics section had Multiplication and Decimal boards which are used to familiarize children with these systems in a fun way as they count colourful beads.

Sensorial materials on display included Smell Bottles, a Trinomial Cube, Geometrical Cabinets and cards. These activities help in refining their senses as well as developing a child’s finer motor skills and distinguishing different shapes.

The Language section displayed materials which are used for recognition of phonetic sounds, verbs and nouns.

In the Practical Life activity children learn how to accomplish everyday actions which are required in all aspects of life. Besides the Unbuttoning & Buttoning frame they also get to transfer grains with tiny utensils and make Chandan paste with tiny rolling pins.

While these exhibits were delightful to all visitors, perhaps the most endearing part of this section of the annual exhibition was how the youngest students of Jyotirmay International School eagerly and cheerfully dragged visitors - and other teachers - to show off their presentations!

Annual Exhibition Puts on Display New Concepts Learned

     

The Annual Exhibition is the final event of the academic year at Jyotirmay International School and it gives all the teachers and students a chance to put on display all the new concepts and ideas introduced during the year. 

                  

This year the challenge was to move away from poster demonstrations, to show models of concepts that were practiced by the students in class and the exhibits displayed children’s learning experiences.

Book Blocks from Festival of Books

In keeping with this theme was an activity called ‘Book Blocks’ which had been carried out during the Festival of Books during the previous month. These intriguingly mounted ‘Book Blocks’ were put on display in a prime spot outside the Multi-purpose Hall where the exhibition was held. 

Children could be seen confidently and even gleefully explaining their work to parents and other visitors who were visibly impressed. With each visitor at their ‘booth’ our students grew in confidence as they handled queries and gave demonstrations.

Two of our senior students

The exhibition came immediately after the spring break and some of our outgoing seniors who were busy preparing for their Board exams also took some time out to join us with their presentations.

There were two separate displays by the Montessori section as well as the Physics lab, which deserve their own blog post, something to look forward to in the next few days.

Meanwhile, here are some more images of exhibits which varied from models to graphic designs. 

Bookstore Visits – Greater Exposure to Authors and Genres

This March, our students visited three bookstores as a follow-up to the Festival of Books which was held at Jyotirmay International School on 7^th March, 2016, with an aim to understand how bookstores function.

Students from Ivy, Basil and Amber groups at Crossword Bookstore

First off, a mixed group of Ivy, Basil and Amber paid a visit to the Crossword Bookstore at InOrbit Mall, Viman Nagar on 11^th March where they got to see shelves filled with various genres of books besides magazines, some knickknacks, soft toys, art works and posters. They even saw CDs and DVDs for music and films being sold in a large bookstore.

For many of these young children this was their first exposure to a large sized bookstore, which understandably meant that they had many questions for the store manager. At the end of their visit, they made an attempt to sketch the layout of the store to add to their learning of how books are arranged.

One week later on 18^th March, two mixed groups set out for their bookstore visits: the middle schoolers from Coral and Saffron groups went to another Crossword Bookstore located at Phoenix Mall, also at Viman Nagar.

Coral and Saffron groups exploring books at Crossword Bookstore

Sitting under the Thinking Tree

After a detailed visit through all the sections, the children also got to sketch this store's layout and later through an interactive talk session with the store manager they learned about their marketing strategies.

Senior students exploring books

At Pagdandi Chai & Books Store

Meanwhile on the same morning, nine senior students stepped out for a field trip to the Pagdandi Chai and Books Store at Baner. Noted among the top five book cafés in Pune in an online review, this bookstore also hosts storytelling circles and open mic sessions for aspiring writers.

Besides looking up unusual books in various genres by known and unknown authors, the students also explored the benefits of technology – eBooks vis-à-vis use of paper in printing paperbacks and hard cover books. 

Festival of Books and the Joy of Reading

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” These words by Ernest Hemingway reverberated throughout Jyotirmay International School with children and teachers equally enchanted during the Festival of Books which was held on Monday, 7^th March.

With events planned around this theme, the day was dedicated to book reading and related activities for the entire school. This joyful activity can be best expressed by another quote from a Chinese proverb: “A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.”

Besides reading, children solved crosswords, anagrams, and a honeycomb, and read quotes from Shakespeare. They even participated in a game called Vocab-u-lous and searched for dedications in the library books.

At the beginning of the day, a general quiz on the school library perked up the morning assembly for all classes which had young children from Ivy to the seniors’ groups participating with enjoyment.

Having brought to school their favourite book, children were happy to share these with their friends and classmates. Adding to these was a veritable treasure trove of around 73 books which Farida di had kindly shared from her personal collection!

All through the morning sessions, the students spent time in individual groups and mixed groups, either reading on their own in contentment or listening with rapt attention during book reading sessions.

Their enthusiasm spilled over into the next few days as they found out more information about the books that were introduced during these reading sessions and were eager to share them with the teachers. Some of the children were excited enough to begin reading these new favourites.

The post-lunch sessions began with a very interesting interview with Chetana di, who has recently added another feather in her cap with two publications. These are Marathi translations of Japanese books titled 'Totochan' and 'Dost'.

Invited by the seniors for an interactive session in the Multi-Purpose Hall, Chetana di was interviewed by seniors as well as the enthralled juniors about her work on these two books.

The final activity of this day brought even more fun for the children who enjoyed making “Book Blocks”. This involved writing down the title, name of the author, publisher, the publisher's logo, number of pages and drawing a character from the book.

Forming one of the duties of a librarian, these colourful Book Blocks made by our students will be displayed in the upcoming annual exhibition too for the viewing of parents and visitors.

Meanwhile in the library annexe, one got to see amusing Lexophiles decorating a wall which added a humorous spin on words. 

The ending of this enchanting festival brought a poignancy that is best summarized by the following quote: “You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” – Paul Sweeney.

On the other hand, a quote from R.D. Cumming gives it a positive twist, “A good book has no ending.” This is where the reader gets warmly invited to step into the book and make it their own with a literary adventure. 

Annual Day: Children’s Reflections on their Learnings

Following the Annual Day celebration, children at Jyotirmay International School participated in an assembly activity where they shared their thoughts and feelings about the event. As the final post in this series, some of these reflections, perceptions and learnings are shared here (it is difficult to pick from all these delightful write-ups so parents will also get to view them at the exhibition!) along with some pictures which were taken by the professional photographers.

Rukhsar who performed in the Hindi play reflected on her learning experience, “I liked the annual day it was so nice. I was so nervous for my act but when my turn came I went confidently on the stage and I said my lines properly. The most enjoyable act was the seniors the fairy tales of peter pan. In the make-up time I liked my make-up. The small ones act was also so nice.”

Another  student Shruti Naik shared her own feelings and feedback from her parents: "I was a little nervous. I don't really know how well I did, but I hope it was nice. The Peter Pan was the best, Fatima didi and Ziad rocked the stage. Zumba was very nice they all were very enthusiastic.

Fatema and Ziad as Wendy and Peter Pan

“My father thought Fatima was the best. My mother loved Patil’s part in the radio. I loved the food that was the thing I loved the most. I loved my makeup.”

Aditya who was mostly backstage as part of some of the performances and missed out on watching the others, penned these words: "Complaint: we didn't get to see other plays except for Peter Pan act. Feedback: Zumba - The Zumba dance was great. Hindi play - I don't know. Agaabai - I don't know. Radio show - Great.

Part of the cast from the Radio Haldi show

Krisha Rao expressed his feelings about the event, “I was feeling very excited for our Zumba dance and Radio show, the Peter Pan play was cool but I didn’t see the full play. I wanted to watch the full play. I felt very sad.

“But my mother was saying, the Zumba was the best show and Aditya’s mother also said, the Zumba was the best. I was very happy.”

Rhona, who performed in the Zumba and the radio show,is a bubbly and humble child with lots of good things to say about other students in her reflections, “The Annual Day was amazing. The little ones were so cute and their performance was outstanding. But the best part was the Peter Pan act; we enjoyed sitting in the VIP seats and watching the act. I loved dancing in front of everyone. And I loved the radio show. Because everyone was laughing a little. I had amazing experience.”

Also, 13-year old Arya Naik has graded the performances with percentages in a pie chart! Along with his figure he shared an exuberant feedback filled with adjectives; he has even created a couple of them! “The annual day was excellent, spectacular, amazing, awesome, cool, unbeatable, unspeachable. Omygod there are so many adjectives which I can’t write.” 

Harsh.S who performed in the Hindi play on Child Labour, had this to say in his reflection: “The Annual Day was very good, unique and special. I just loved the Peter Pan show. It was just the best and especially the Dance of Peter and Wendy it was composed very well! And the background song “Lost boys” was very good. All the other acts and dances were pretty good. I liked the Zumba Dance which was performed by Clover and Iris. All of it was great.

“It was also great waiting for our turn in the ground floor. The show was just the best. I hope everybody liked the show. And the bonus part was that it was in an auditorium. The whole program was looking excellent in the auditorium especially from top the view was just amazing.” 

Compared to the middle school students, the seniors had a somewhat different perspective and learning as many of them dealt with stage fright in their own ways; here’s what they had to share. 

Manas, who played Wendy’s father as well as Captain Hook in ‘Chasing Neverland’ has displayed very important life learning in his reflection: “Performing the play in front of a live audience is pretty nerve-wrecking yet we managed to perform and had gotten a very positive response. We had gotten a golden opportunity to perform with professional equipment like: gun-microphone, spotlights, lapel mics etc. we also had professionals managing the audio as well as the lights.

Manas as Captain Hook

“There were a few mess-ups like forgetting props and a dialogue or two, but these were covered up with improvising on the spot. ‘Improvising’ is a very important skill set that we had acquired which allowed us to adapt to the changes in the script on the stage itself. This can be very helpful as not everything goes according to the plan and one should adapt to the changes and still succeed in delivery of the content. Overall it was a wonderful experience, a tiring one though.”

Ziad, who is a fairly new student at the school, played Peter Pan in the adaptation and reflected: “I got lots of good feedback about the annual so it was obviously a hit. The Annual Day’s name was ‘Breaking Free’ which was given by one of our students.

“I didn’t see any of the other programs but I know our play ‘Chasing Neverland’ was really good. I loved acting with everyone. I also got to know a lot of people in my school. I am sure everybody also liked it as it was directed by our very own Somishala Ma’am. With her acting was a breeze.And also special thanks to Divya Ma’am for teaching me some new dances and performing in them was also amazing.” 

Janhavee summed up the event best in her feedback and reflections: “Without a doubt, I can assure that this event was a total hit!!! It was actually a change as the event was held at a different venue rather than school. This change gave us an opportunity to perform on a huge stage, in front of a larger crowd which helped us gain confidence. After interacting with some parents, we realised that they had enjoyed a lot more than any year.

“Right from the pre-primary till the 12^th graders, everyone had put a lot of effort in all parameters such as: props, backdrop, costumes and especially acting and dancing in front of their parents to entertain them.”

Jyotirmay International School did not spend on elaborate professional costumes and neither did parents: if the children didn’t already own the outfits, these were borrowed from other students, parents or teachers.

Being a part of the Annual Day event meant total involvement of all the children, as well as the entire management and faculty with the aim being to give everyone a deep learning opportunity:besides the students seen performing on-stage there were others who joined rehearsals as motivators, helped in making the props as part of their art class and even preparing the costumes.