Our brand new library!

After all the classes moved to our new, beautiful building, our library moved as well. Yes, we have a brand new library in the second floor of the new building. Even though all the teachers were super busy with exams and corrections these past  few days, no one can compete with our librarian Mrs. Kalpana Chandramouli. I think everyone can imagine why!

I ventured into the library today with a sole goal to conduct an interview with Kalpana ma'am. You know, to find out how she is doing, how many books have we got, how many more boxes she needs to open, and interesting things like that but guess what? I was pulled into opening boxes and putting books on the brand new shelves! I love the feel of the crisp new books so i didn't mind at all but interview took the back seat in an instant.

Student volunteers helping up in the library after school.  Children were so excited to see the numerous new arrivals on the shelves!

Every helping hand was welcomed as Kalpana ma'am was busy setting up the new library.

I got so engrossed into sorting the books that i almost forgot to ask my questions but i did manage to get some interesting facts Kalpana ma'am shared with me. 

We have crossed the 8,300 books mark with many more books en route to us! Amazing! We will very shortly be a 10,000 plus books library! In a single move of setting up the new library we have doubled our book collection or in other words, in past two days 4,500 books were placed on the shelves. I tell you, it's a lovely sight!

With the school vacation around the corner Mrs. Kalpana will issue more then 500 books to our budding readers today and tomorrow!

Class teachers of grade 1 and PP2 were in the library selecting the books they will send home with children...

Rakhi ma'am and Vaishali ma'am focusing on what books to select...

Mrs. Chandramouli told me that no later then on 16th of October our new library will be in full swing, with every single book in place. We have beautiful collections of books for every child and every level. I was thrilled to see a great selection in the teachers section as well.

Selecting books for our students  just became more exciting! So much to choose from!

With our fantastic library in place i can only think of saying one more thing: "We at SMIS wish all our students happy reading! Enjoy!"

Counseling at SMIS is flourishing!

As you might have noticed lately, SMIS is really active on the counseling front! Our students are getting ample opportunities and assistance to make up their minds about their academic career choices. 

The latest counseling jewel was taking place today. PAGE conducted an Aptitude test for students of SMIS, from Grade 8 to Grade 11. PAGE is a leading service provider to students preparing for National level entrance exams.

Their 3-stage career guidance program includes;

1. Career Orientation Session:  Students are given guidance to choose among various career options and identify the courses that they wish to pursue.

2. Diagnostic or Aptitude Test: through which a student can know exactly where he/she stand when it comes to preparation for these tests and areas where they need to focus on.

3. Parent-Child Counseling session: During this session feedback is shared with parents regarding the diagnostic test, along with career advice, including suggestions on back-up academic / career options, information on the best places to pursue different kinds of courses etc.

Based on this diagnostic test results our children will be given career counseling on the 14th of September. 

Football clinic at our school

We are all aware of our new association with one of India’s leading Sports management company, KOOH Sports Pvt. Ltd. They deliver professional sports training and coaching programs of international standards to schools, making improvements at the grassroots’ level across sports in India.

They have now introduced KOOH Sports Football Development Centers! They are committed to help develop the country’s talent by associating with ex English Footballer and a celebrated TV Pundit Paul Masefield. Paul will be assisting KOOH Sports football experts in complete deployment of the football program across the country.

About Paul Masefield: Paul has joined KOOH Sports as Technical Director for Football. Paul is a former English football player, a TV pundit and commentator @ ESPN Star Sports & Fox Sports. He has played professional football in England for a number of years with premier teams like Southampton and Birmingham City, before moving to Asia and playing in local Asian leagues. He also runs football youth development centers in Singapore and Malaysia.

We are very proud to associate with the KOOH Sports Football Development Center and we organized a Football Clinic within our school premises for 5-17 year old students.

Shail and Darsh in action.

Children and Paul Masefield.

The football clinic covered basic game abilities and mini football preparatory games. The most exciting news is that the clinic is just the beginning and will actually be followed up with a complete after school hour football center!

The after school hour program will challenge our students’ ability to adapt to different game situations  and the methods used in the program will affect their perception, decision making and on-field execution, rendering a long term impact. The after school programs will be held thrice a week and will be one hour long for the period of 8 months. The sports offered will not only be football but tennis and basketball as well!

The Round-up Gang!

Today the fourth graders had lots of fun trying to solve the jigsaw puzzle. It was based on the concept of rounding off. The children worked in groups. They divided the cards, then rounded their problems in the cards, matched with the answer cards, and  finally assembled the diamond shape! :)
The session started with a good discussion as to what is rounding, the literal meaning of it! Same answer in different forms:
a) if number greater than 5 or above we round off to the higher multiple of 10.
When prompted to think the english meaning of rounding and explain. Responses were:
b) circling
Little more prompting, with an example let us round up the children in the class. Then one child responded very innocently, "Ma'm my example may not exactly relate to numbers, but I think rounding means gathering!" It was really amazing as the child made an attempt to relate the meaning of the word to the process we do in the Mathematics.
Many times we say, let us round up the topic, i.e. discuss the main points that will summarise the whole topic! Thus, rounding in mathematics will mean that instead of taking the exact number we choose an easier number which is closer to the exact number. Easier numbers are generally the multiples of 10, 100, etc.
Extending from here, the concept was discussed and nicely applied by the children in the activity.

Following are some photos depicting their excitement and involvement in the activity.

They finally rounded up all the numbers!! :)

It is our endeavour to emphasise out-of-the-box thinking which prepares you better to solve problems in most situations of life as well! :)

So, how was Europe?

It's been a week since we came home from Europe. All in all it was an amazing trip. The main objective was met. What was the main objective you might ask? To bring the kids back safely, of course. Yes, even with such a complex trip where one could name many objectives that would sound more fancy, the truth is that bringing children back safely was the undisputed number one.

That said, there were so many things we learned during this trip. So many things we saw and experienced that it is hard to even think of where to begin. Where should i start then? At the beginning i guess.

It all started when nine brave parents decided to trust us and send their children to Europe for 2 weeks. The children aged from 8 to 12! I must say, kudos to all nine parents! I am sure it wasn't easy. I also would like to add that in my personal opinion being able to send your child at this age abroad just shows a courageous parenting style that i absolutely admire.

So nine children and two teachers, Mr. Sai and I, took off on June 2nd towards the great adventure of discovering new countries, new things and new experiences away from parents. We were amazed with the the numerous natural beauties of Slovenia, the enchanting water ways of Venice (Italy), the youthful, crazy amusement park in Gardaland (Italy) and the interesting Minimundus in Austria. Our itinerary was packed with activities and sight seeing. Day in and day out. Towards the end of the trip the itinerary was getting more and more tiring and we crossed out few things we originally planned to see. But that was the only sensible thing to do since the children were clearly showing the signs of saturation and tiredness. I guess the art is to just keep your eyes and heart open and constantly observe how they respond and act. It is not like with the adults that could just push them self just to get that value for money out of a foreign trip - you need to stop and think many times when dealing with children. And we did.

We appeared in Slovene media - two major family magazines and we filmed for a children TV show on TV Slovenia 1 program that will air in October. The children were always making us proud with their behavior, curiosity, openness and friendliness. People were stopping me on the streets inquiring where we are from, who we are. People were thoroughly impressed with our Sanctamarians and bottom line, so was I. I was very proud of our kids!

Jana, a family magazine - once i get the hard copy i will translate it to English and display it in school.

Beautiful article in Ona magazine - again, waiting for hard copy, then translation follows :)

If there would be one learning that i would point out it would definitely be this: I observed our children are not exposed to different terrains - i have a funny analogy on that one - in a way our kids are like race horses - very good when the racetrack is covered with the familiar sand, but send them out in the wild, they are inexperienced and sometimes plain clumsy. I noticed it on our treks. That is why i couldn't support our school tie up with Youreka stronger (and any other tie ups we might have with companies providing nature camps)! They need to have that experience. I feel very strongly about it.

And on a lighter note - next time we go, we need to pack a jar of home made pickle and red chili powder :) Children missed food more then parents and anything else!

To conclude, we made tons of memories that might last a life time. We gained valuable experience in the area of organizing safe trips for our children. We tied up with few schools to eventually start an exchange program that will benefit us all and last but not least, we had so much fun! :)

Thanking all parents for their trust and our amazing management for making it all happen!

Europe, here we come!

We are all set to depart for our European adventure! Visas, tickets, accommodation, transportation, health insurance,...it's all set and done. The countdown begins for our students to go and explore Slovenia, Austria and Italy. 16 days and Sancta Marians will till take off! :)

Slovenia, a beautiful, little country in the alpine region will be our base. It is conveniently located in the heart of Europe and recently discovered even by Tollywood! In a week's time (i read that in yesterday's Times of India") the filming of a second South Indian film will take place there. When i try to give a brief mental picture to any Indian, i describe Slovenia as small Switzerland - because Switzerland is so known to Indians through movies and because it's true.

We will discover not only Slovenia and it's natural beauties through hiking, rafting and exploring cities but we will also visit Italy and Austria, the neighboring countries. Since it is known that a picture tells more then thousand words just see below a glimpse of some of the places that what we will see during our trip. The excitement is in the air and we can't wait to go!

Bohinj, Slovenia

Sea Life, Gardaland, Italy

Klagenfurt, Austria

Piran, Slovenia

Soca river, Slovenia

Venice, Italy

Vintgar gorge, Slovenia

Bled, Slovenia

Soca river, Slovenia

Night out at Yercaud 2013

             Sancta Maria students of grade 3 and above went to a summer camp with Youreka! The camping adventure was absolutely amazing. In my personal opinion i can not think of a greater holiday gift that can last a life time a parent can give to a child. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. There are challenges, tears, and homesickness on one hand but there are priceless rewards of personal growth and satisfaction on the other hand that greatly outweighs the hard parts – even if children are not quite aware of it yet.

While I was taking a precious break with a blue mustache drawn on my face (it was a mustache day theme, mind you) in the shade of the Lapa Lapa place, the kids were getting ready for the night out. You might ask: Exactly what is a night out when one is already camping in tents in the middle of nowhere? Nowhere in this case being in the middle of the Arabica coffee plantation and aromatic eucalyptus trees not far from Yercaud in Tamil Nadu. Sancta Maria students were getting ready to camp in the wilderness. Out in the open. Out, under the stars. Out, away from civilization. Out, away from the comfort of toilets.

 Imagine, just bunch of Sancta Marians, 3 instructors, heavy back packs filled with tents, sleeping bags, utensils, food provisions, small camping gas cylinders, canisters of water  - venturing out in the jungle to spend the night under the stars being self-sufficient. Pitching their own tents and cooking food without much help. Now, that is what I mean by night out! And what a night out it was!

Earlier in the day the children learned how to pitch tents in the camping ground. Little did they know that in the evening itself they will have to prove their skills and pitch them for real and actually sleep in them. They were briefed about the LNT philosophy (LNT =leave no trace), the most important aspects of fire safety when used for cooking a meal out in the open, the art of packing the rucksack and just like that they were ready to go in the late afternoon. The weather was not exactly on our side. It started raining heavily. Everyone got their rain ponchos out. Just as we were all ready. The rain stopped. “Ok, children, rain ponchos off and pack them inside.” Yay, sun! Just as we all undressed and packed the ponchos it started raining again. “Oh, come on!” kids exclaimed. “Ponchos on!” command was heard again. Some children lost it there itself – admittedly I myself was questioning the sanity of marching out in the rain, getting drenched and hike for few kilometers and set up the tents. Of course at that point I was not aware that before the monsoon sets in, the afternoon heavy showers are a normal thing in the area and they disappear as fast as they appear. Before everyone was ready with their ponchos on, the rain passed and the sun was out again. There were a lot of confused eyes wondering what to do next. Ponchos off, on, off, on! 

Well, the clear blue sky and the sun convinced us all that “ponchos off” is finally the safe option and that we are finally ready to get going. The centipede like row of enthusiastic campers finally started to move ahead. Loaded with heavy rucksacks the complaints started to rain in.

  “My shoulders hurt,” said Rishita.   “Well, the shoulders hurt, because you are carrying a heavy backpack – it is very normal. Get used to it,” I replied to her big astonishment.
 “This backpack is too heavy,” said Arnav. “If it was too heavy you couldn’t lift it.” Was the best I could come up with. 
“Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” The most common ones they asked. “We just started! It’s too soon for such questions!” :)

Yes, it might be that for the first time in their lives they have experienced a bit of hardship in the nature and the answers were not very comforting. Half way through the easy hike we also had to carry 30 liters of water distributed in plastic canisters. But as with all things, the hike came to an end and we reached our camping ground. Well, it was just a ground, really, that we turned into camping. Children pitched their tents in very windy weather conditions that made the pitching harder and funnier, too! The tent fabric flapping like a distressed bird trying to escape the inevitable with lots of drama and sound.

Surprisingly fast the tents were pitched and ready. Everyone started preparing for the cooking part with great gusto. There were definitely more eager helping hands than tasks at hand. We had a team who cooked the soup, a team that cooked rice, a team that made potato curry and finally a team in charge of tomato dhal.

A lip-smacking dinner was served and tired and happy campers quickly retired to their respective tents for a good night sleep. Some tents went quiet almost in an instant while some were bustling with laughter and conversations for a long time. Finally, everyone went quiet and we put off the fire and slept.

The next morning it was like we needed to reverse the entire thing. We had to un-pitch the tents, clean, pack and walk back to our camping that all of a sudden gained an amazing respect with all of us. It almost seemed like a 5 star hotel just because toilets were available! Children enjoyed the night out without fail. So much team work and bonding happened in just one day. It was indeed a very precious experience for all of us.

Evergreen moments of the class party.

Enjoying gangnam style with kids.

Bubbling with enthusiasm.

Evergreen moments of 2 A

Kids eagerly waiting for the class party to begin.

                                                          Yummy food!!!!!!!!

                                                 Little rest after the dance.

                                                     Playing hide and seek.

Proud to step up to grade 3.

                                                          Zeal with enthusiasm.

         Our loving students.

                                               Feeling proud to be honor.

                                                 Golden moments of class party.

                                                Congrats to all the kids for their bright future.