TGSNewsletter27thJune2020 Page1

DearParents,

No,wearenotgoingtotalkabouttheCoronavirus–atleastdirectly.Let’sforamomenttalkaboutwhatwecandoorshoulddo.

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!

ButthenDr.Kingmakesaninsightfulobservation:

“AndthisrevealstousthatthemoststrikingthingaboutthestoryofRipVanWinkleisnotmerelythatRipslepttwentyyears,butthathesleptthrougharevolution….Andoneofthegreatliabilitiesoflifeisthatalltoomanypeoplefindthemselveslivingamidagreatperiodofsocialchange,andyettheyfailtodevelopthenewattitudes,thenewmentalresponses,thatthenewsituationdemands.Theyendupsleepingthrougharevolution.”

Wearelivingthroughatimeofgreatchange.Whatnewattitudes,whatnewmentalandemotionalresponsesareneededofus?Whatnewbehaviouralchangesareexpectedofus?

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.

Asaspecies,wekeeppushingtheenvelope–thatisundoubtedlytruebutthereissomethingheroicandnobleaboutMankindthatispreservedacrossaeonsandwillkeepussaneandwholeandstillbeautiful.Thinkaboutthis,Parents.Wearetobethechangethattheworldasksfor.Letusdoallthatweneedtodosothatweemergewiser,moreinnovative,moreresilient,morecaring.

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ERMDay

WehadourEducationalRoadmapDayonthe13thofJunethroughZoomsessions.Newstaffwereintroduced,theSpecialistsexplainedtheircurriculumandplansfortheyear,andthenparentshadseparatesessionswiththeGradeTeachersoftheirwards.

Thesessionswerefairlywellattendedandthegeneralfeedbackwaspositive.

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NEWSFROMTHEPRE-PRIMARYSECTION

1NEWSFROMTHESPECIALISTS

a) Art

On the occasionof Sao Joao the students of the L.K.G and theU.K.Gwere introduced towreath craft. Our creative artisans had a stimulating experiencewhilemaking colourfulwreaths out of paper plates. They developed their fine motor skills and hand-eyecoordinationbypastingcolourful,vibrantpaperflowersandleavesontheirwreaths.

b) Music

TheL.K.Gbegantheirmusicalsessionwithactionsongsandrhymeslike‘BoogieWoogie’,‘Head,Shoulder,KneesandToes’and‘OldMacDonald’.They were also introduced to a new song ‘Hello Hello!’. Childrenimmenselyenjoyedsingingtothebeatsofthenewsong.

ThestudentsfromU.K.Gsangsongslike‘,BoogieWoogieand‘HaveyougotSunshine’.Theyalsoplayedtheirfavouriteinstrumentslikexylophone,ukuleleandthekeyboard.Itwasathrillingjamsession.

c) PhysicalEducation

GameslikescavengerhuntsandSimonSayswereconductedindoorstohelpchildrenexercisetheirbodyanddevelopproblemsolvingskillseveninavirtualsetting.Yogaisagreatwaytoinstillself-regulation,healthylifestylehabitsandfitnessinourearlyyear’slearners.OntheoccasionofInternational YogaDay, childrenwere introduced to various Yoga poses to increase strength,flexibilityandcoordination.

d) Drama

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OurpromisingactorsfromL.K.GweredelightedtobeintroducedtotheirnewdramateacherMs.AnaLizaRodrigues.Thechildrensangthesong‘Head,Shoulder,KneesandToes.’Theteacherimitated a few animal sounds and actions. Subsequently thechildrenguessedthenamesoftheanimals.Littleonesalsotriedmimickingafewanimalsoftheirchoice.

The U.K.G children introduced themselves to their dramateacherandsharedwithheraboutthethingstheyliked.Latertheyplayedagamecalled‘GesturesandRiddles’.Childrenhadfun copying the actions, expressions and sounds of differentanimals.

NEWSFROMEACHGRADE

2)LKG

b)Numeracy

ChildrenoftheLowerKindergartenarelearningtocountnumbers1-10bysingingthe‘’Knick-Knack”song.Theytriedahands-onactivity,quantifyingnumbers1-5withblocks,clayandtoysathome.Thebook‘CircusShapes’byStuartJ.Murphywasreadtoreinforcetheirrecognitionoffourbasicshapeslikecircle,triangle,squareandrectangle.Theyparticipatedintheshapehuntgamelookingforobjectshavingsimilarshapes.

c)Language

TohelpyoungmindsoftheLowerKindergartenwhohavejustbeguntowriteandaretryingtoputdowntheirworkonpaper,wehaveintroducedafewpre-writingskills.Lettersound/s/wasintroducedthroughstory,songsandworksheets.Thechildrenalsolisteddownafewwordswith/s/soundlikesnake,see-saw,slideetc.

3)UKG

a)ThematicLearning

Thefirstthemeforthisacademicyearis‘AllAboutMe’.Childrenwereencouragedtointroducethemselvestotheirclassmatesandteachersbysayingtheirnames,favouritecolourandthingsthey enjoy doing. To develop their communication and presentation skills, a ‘Show and Tell’activitysessionwasorganized,wherethechildrenparticipatedactivelyandspokeabout theirfavouritefruit,toyetc.

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a)ThematicLearning

The new academic year kicked offwith students introducing themselves and expressingtheirlikesandhobbies.Studentssharedtheirthoughtsaboutonlineclasses.The‘ShowandTell’ session enthralled all the children as they got an opportunity to speak about theirfavouritetoy.Thestory‘ClarkFamily’byBillBoylewasreadtothechildrentolearnaboutfamilyandwheretheygettheirdailyneedsfrom.Thestory“TheScattheCat’’wasnarratedtoaugmentself-esteem,self-awarenessanduniquenessinchildrenduringassemblytime.

b)Numeracy

Inthefirstweekchildrenplayedgamesandlistenedto storieswhichhelped the teacher to check theirprior knowledge of numbers. The Story ‘ChickenLicken’ was read out to the class to assess theirconceptsofcountingandsequencing.Thestudentsrecapped numbers 1-20 using flash cards. Ourcreative Math wizards were introduced to the concept of patternsthroughastory‘ThePatternFish’.Thechildrenidentifiedthepatternsin the story and also created their own using different objectsavailableathome.

d)Language

In the firstweek children sang the Jollyphonicsongstorecapallthesinglelettersounds. They also played a game called‘House Hunt’ where they went huntingforobjectsaroundthehousethatbeganwithaparticularsound.

Thechildrenwereintroducedtothediagraph/ch/throughastoryandtheJollyphonicsong.Theteacherdemonstratedhowtotrace/ch/intheairandthenaskedthechildrentowriteitontheirhandusingtheirtwofingers.Theyalsowrote/ch/withpaintusingtheirfingers.Thechildrenlearnttophoneticallybreakandreadwordslikechips,chimp,churchetc..

c)

Withtheobjectiveofenhancingthechildren’sfinemotorskillsanddevelopingskillsoforder,concentration, coordination and independence, a ‘’Scooping’’ activity was demonstrated.Childrentransferredgrains/sand/ricefromonebowltoanotherathome.

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Trickywords‘I’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘was’, ‘to’, ‘be’and‘the’wererevisedthroughanactivitycalled‘PickaChit’.Theteacherpickedachitandaskedthelearnerstoframesimplesentences.

4)WorkshopsforTeachers

In-houseworkshops based on social-emotionaldevelopment,storyplayandpersonadollswereconductedtodevelopdeeperunderstandingandapplicationofthesubject.

Theobjectivewastoenablefacilitatorstoapplyvariouseffectiveandstimulating strategies toenhancethelearningprocess.

NEWSFROMTHEPRIMARY–GRADES1AND2

5)NEWSFROMTHESPECIALISTS

a) Hindi

Grade 1 and Grade 2 students learned to introduce themselves inHindi.Theylearned‘nandk’lettersandalsolearnedapoemrelatedtotheseletters.

b) French

The students ofGrade 1 were able to identify the French flag, Eiffel Tower and the Frenchcurrencythroughapowerpointpresentation.TheydrewtheFrenchflagandenjoyedcolouringitwithred,whiteandbluecolours.Theywerealsoabletogiveashortself-introductioninFrench.Studentswerealsoabletoconjugatetheverbs“avoir”,and“s’appeler”inthefirstpersonsingularto tell theirname,age,nationalityandprofession.Theywereable topronounceandwrite thethreecoloursinFrench(Bleu,Blanc,Rouge)

The students ofGrade 2 started learning how to introduce themselves in five sentences (Jem’appelle..,J’aisix/septans,J’habiteàGoa,Jesuisindien/indienne,Jeparleanglais).TheywatchedapowerpointpresentationbasedondifferentfactsaboutFrance.TheywereabletorecognizeandnametheFrenchmonuments,FrenchcurrencyandFrenchfood

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c) InformationandCommunicationTechnology

StudentsofGrade1startedwithMSPaint.Theyweretaughthowtodrawshapes,putshapestogethertocreateadrawing,andfilltheshapeswithcolours.Theyalsolearntaboutoverlapshapes,boundariesandseparationofcolours.Studentssharedtheirworkwiththeirclassmatesandtheteacherusingscreenshare.

Students of Grade 2 were shown a presentation on brochures and the different types ofbrochuresavailable,alongwiththetypesoffolds.Theyalsolearntaboutthevariousdifferenttypesofkeyboardsthatexist.Studentswerethenshownthedifferentwaystoinsertimagesandwrapthem.TheyalsoexploredclipArtimages.Infurtherclasses,theyshalllearntodesignatravelbrochure.

d) Art

ThestudentsofGrade1learnedtodrawafishandabutterfly.Theypaintedtheseusingwhatevercolourstheyhadavailablewiththem.Each child was then given the freedom to draw whatever theywantedtodraw.SomedrewcarsandtheGaneshaidolwhilesomedrewtherainbowaddingtheirownuniquetouch;theypaintedthepicturewithvibrantcolourscreatingverycolourfulartworks.Oncetheyweredonewiththeirartworks,weplayedafunactivity“Ispythecolourred”.Theyhadtosearchforanythinginred,showitonscreenandsaywhattheyhadgot.Onestudentcouldn’thelpexclaiming, “This is such fun!” Studentsgotback toart aftera longbreak,while theactivitiesenabledthemtoexperimentwithcoloursandmadethemobservantofthecoloursaroundthem.

etc.Additionally,theystartedwiththeintroductionofthenumbers(1-10)andsixmonthsoftheyearthrougharhymingvideo.

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SincethestudentsofGrade2Aand2Bweregiventhefreedomtodrawwhatevertheywanted,somedrewacolourfulfish,afairyandsomedrewarainbow, the result being a variety of colourful artworks. The studentscreatedveryoriginaldrawingsusingsimplelinesandcolouredthemwithcrayons,pencilcoloursandwhatevertheyhadavailable.Weplayedasmallfunactivityafterthestudentsweredonecolouringtheirartpiece,“ColourcolourwhichcolourdoIspy,Ispythecolourgreen”andtheyhadtopickany green coloured object and say what the object was. This activityenabledthestudentstoimaginewide,workwithphysicalspacethroughartandthefunactivitymadethemobservantofthecolourfulthingsaroundthem.

e) Dance

Grade1and2startedwithJazzthisacademicyear.Theyweretaughtspecifichandmovementsandcrossopenstep.Attheendoftheclasswechoreographedusingthetechniqueslearnt.

f) Music

StudentsfromGrade1wereaskedtolistentodifferentsoundsfromtheirnaturalsurroundings.Sinceit’sthemonsoonseasoninGoa,thestudentswereaskedtokeenlylistentothesoundofraindropsfalling.Theywereshownhowtorecreatethemusingthebodypercussion.Anewsongcalled‘Fivehundredmiles’wastaughttothem.

Thesong,‘I’dliketoteachtheworldtosing’wastaughtinGrade2BandGrade2A.ThestudentsfromGrade2Arequestedforthesongs‘CountryRoads’and‘Eachofusislikeaflower’whichtheysangalongwiththeteacher.

g) Theatre

Asanothermuchanticipatedyearbegan, thecurtainontheatrewas finally lifted.Theearly sessionsareall about reconnectingandplanningfortheyear.Itwaslovelymeetingthenewstudentsastheyintroducedthemselvesthroughtheteacher’s.

Using a word map, students were guided to write their ownmonologueswhichtheywillpresentinJuly.

NEWSFROMEACHGRADE

6)Grade1

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ENGLISH

In English, to begin the yearwe startedwith ‘Knowme better’ -interactive sessions. We also had question and answer sessionswhere students were asked to share a little about themselves.Furthermore,thestudentsalsohadanactivityonamazingadjectiveswhere the students had to describe themselves after saying theirnamealoud.

Inthefollowingweekthestudentswereintroducedtopunctuation,hardG,CandsoftG,C.

SCIENCE

We started the induction with experiments and activities such as race aspeedboat,weighsomeairandaquiz.Webegantheacademicyearwiththetopic‘Materials’.Thestudentswereintroducedtotheterm‘Matter’andthethree states of matter. The students were also introduced to the term‘material’ andwereasked to identifyobjectsmade frommaterials suchasmetal,plasticandwoodandpropertiesofmaterials.

MATH

InMath,wehadanactivityon2Dshapeswherestudentshadtoidentifythe2Dshapesinthemysterybag.Thestudentswereaskedtogivereallifeexampleswheretheyshared2Dshapesaroundthem.

We also introduced the topicon ‘Money’where students learnt about estimation andmakingtotalsusing1 cent coins.The studentsweremade toanswerpracticeworksheetswhere theylearntmakingtotalsandfindingtheamount in twodifferentways.Furthermore, thestudentswerealsointroducedtowordproblems.

7)Grade2A

ENGLISH

Aspartoftheicebreakeractivities,thestudentshadfunintroducingthemselvesusingadjectives.Thestudentslaterlearntaboutpresenttense.Alongwithaquickrevisionofverbs,thisaidedthestudentstounderstandhowtheverbssoundandisspeltinthepresenttense.

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The students also learntwhat a summary is. Thestudentsweremadetospotthedifferencebetweenatextandasummaryofthetext.Theythenworkedtogethertosummarizeapassage.

SCIENCE

With the current topic of ‘Living and non - livingthings’,studentsaremadefamiliarwithnatureandthingsthatarearoundthem.Theyarelearningthekeycharacteristicswhichhelpdifferentiatebetweenthetwo;plants,leaves,flowers,stone,candleetc.wereusedaspropstohelpthemunderstandtheirnature.Thestudentshavebeenaskedtotakeafreshleafandobservethedeteriorationitgoesthroughoveraperiodoffewdayswithoutitssourceoffoodandlight.

MATH

Numbers are intriguing even for adults! And it takes two to make it fun! The students areunderstanding the different houses numbersbelong to (ones, tens and hundreds).Manipulativesandvisuals arebeingusedwithseveralexamplestoexplaintothestudentstheconcept ofplace value. This particular topic isundoubtedly triggering the bright minds tothinkandprobe.

8)Grade2B

ENGLISH

ForEnglish,wehavebeenworkingonbridgingthemissedtopicsoflastyearduetotheunprecedentedlockdown.Thetopicswerethepastandpresent tense, summarising a given text and helping studentsunderstandthenuancesintheprocessoftheconstructionofajoke.

SCIENCE

Over this fortnight, the students were introduced to thetopic‘LivingandNon-livingThings’.Theyparticipatedinavirtualscavengerhuntwheretheyhadtofindvariousitems,given a specific criterion for e.g. find something that youmade,findsomethingwithafaceonit,findsomethingmadeofwoodetc.Theywerethenaskedtosorttheitemsaslivingandnon-livingthings,basedonthesevencharacteristicsoflivingthings/lifeprocesses.

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Forinstance,apipeonthegroundwasshowntothechildrenandtheycorrectlyidentifieditasanon-livingthing.Thefacilitatorthenjoinedanotherpieceofpipetoitandasked“Whythendidthepipe(anon-livingthing)grow?”Theyrespondedthatthepipewasphysicallymanipulatedbytheteacheranddidnotgrowonitsown,indicatingcomprehensionofthesub-topic.

MATH:Thetopic,numbersandproblemsolvingwasintroduced this fortnight and the focus of thesessionswasthesub-topic,‘placevalue’.Athoroughrevision of tens and oneswas first done to ensuremasteryofpreviousknowledge.Thestudentswereconsequentlyintroducedtotheconceptofhundredsin the place value topic through base ten blocks,manipulative objects, interactive powerpoints andworksheets.Videoswerealsousedtoensureunderstandingbyallstudents.

CIRCLETIME

ThisfortnightwasfullofnewexperienceswiththecommencementoftheZoomClasses

Grade1

This fortnight, grade one first got comfortable with the idea ofhaving a Circle Time. During their induction classes, they weretakenthroughaseriesoffungamestohelpthemunderstandwhatcircletimewas.Theyplayedgameslike‘WouldYouRather’and‘Gofind me’. Young as they are, they seem very adept with gettingonlineandfollowingonlineetiquette.Thefollowingweek,discussionsontheirworksheetbasedongoodmannersbegan.Thestudentspracticedusingmagicwordslike‘ThankYou’,‘Please’and‘Sorry’.

During week one, the Induction period for Grade 2 centered aroundgettingthestudentscomfortablewiththenewwayofconductingCircleTime.Theyweretakenthroughaseriesofgamesthattheyenjoyed.Therewasalotofmovementandthestudentswereextremelyenthusiastic.Thefollowingweek, our discussion on theworksheet of ‘Being Happy andCheerful’commenced.Thelevelofengagementhasbeenwonderful,withallstudentsputtingtheirbestfootforward.Grade2Bwentaheadandworkedontheirsheetsandcameupwithlovelydrawingstoshowtheclass.

WiththatweendthiseditionoftheSchoolNewsletterforNurserytoGrade2.

Sincerely,

TeamTGS