Pre-Primary Assembly on June 20 – Fathers' Day Celebration

Ensuring the surge of enthusiasm and energy- that is what the first assembly of the new academic year did. It was very important to the teachers and the students of the pre-primary to kick-off the year with a bang. Therefore, the theme for the assembly was an easy choice, Father’s Day- a celebration that was quite different yet important.

 Invites were sent out to the fathers of the students beforehand and the turn up on the assembly morning was quite big and surprising. The students had eagerly made hand-prints on cards that bore the beautiful lyrics of “You Raise Me Up When I am On Your Shoulders”.

 These souvenirs were distributed to the fathers in the assembly along with ‘My Dad My Hero’ badges. It was truly a moment of pride for the fathers when they received the handiwork of their children as a gift. Students of PP2-A presented two songs dedicated to all the fathers and later, Tvarita Tomer of PP2A and Om Bhogu of PP2-B shared their experiences with their fathers. Our first assembly thus had a little something for everyone to take back.

-Shwetha and Shikha

Pre-Primary

Teddy Bear Picnic!

Ever since we sent out invites of the Teddy Bear picnic, the students were counting days enthusiastically. Teddy Bear picnic is the first outing of the academic year for pre-primary students. They were taken to KBR National Park to learn more about nature and environment along with having a fun time.

 We set out to the park around 9 am on 11^th July, Friday after a light snack. Excitement was at its peak when the students were showing off their teddy bears to their friends and teachers. A flight of school buses promptly dropped the picnic party at the National Park in Jubilee Hills with the help of teachers and other supporting staff. The 40 minute ride to the park was punctuated by songs that set mood to the trip. The students smartly clad in their caps were happily cuddling their toys throughout the ride.

At the entrance of the park, we were greeted by a flock of pigeons which made the students even more excited. The trip to the park made the children quite hungry, but luckily for the snacks and juice we brought along soon the growling tummies were happy.

After the snacks, we took to walking around the park in groups. The sultry weather could not bring down the excitement as we climbed on top of rocks and up above the tree house. During the nature walk, the students observed the huge trees that gave us shade and also learnt about various animals found in the park. Some lucky ones even spotted peacocks basking in their grandeur.

After the walk, the KOOH Sports team who accompanied us was ready to refresh the children with games like Tisket & Tasket. Packed boxes of rice and parathas were soon served to the students on long carpets, were they sat together to have a perfect picnic lunch. Though tired, the students were hesitant to leave the park and on the bus ride back, all the teachers were met with the same question, “When is our next picnic!?” 

-Shwetha and Shikha
Pre - Primary

Narrative poetry by grade 5

Grade 5 enjoyed learning about narrative poetry with Phebe ma'am and have enthusiastically come up with interesting examples of narrative poems. Here are a few that represented the narrative poetry well and we wanted to share them with everyone:

Gargoyle dreams (by Anoushka)

When a gargoyle enters a dream
he starts to build up his self-esteem
these dreams are always nice
never filled with rotten lice or mice
BUT! It happened so
that poor baby gargoyle had them, you know!
He dreamt of witches, murders and death
leaving him awake and out of breath.
He cried for his mommy:
"I don't want dreams!
I don't want to go back to sleep
and hear all those screams!"
So the gargoyle never went back to sleep,
all he could do is weep and weep.
"The night is selfish, the night is cruel,
I don't want to spot another ghoul!

So, for years and days,
on the bed he never lays
he thinks it's scary
like the Myth of Bloody Mary.

Once on the field he plowed all day
he wouldn't stop working till the end of children's play.
Wait a minute this is not normal, this is not right
he decided to lay on his bed tonight.

It felt so good, it felt so light
and the best part was he dreamt of his might.
The next day he woke and climbed on an oak
and regretted for not sleeping for years
but now he knows, and really shows,
that he should never give up so fast.
He plows for a day, then rushes to play
and then goes to sleep...
Oh, yes, as I've said before -  I'll say it once more
when gargoyle dreams, he might hear screams
but never will wake
only break the ghouls and fools and screams
in his amazing, adventurous dreams.

My Dragon's Treat (by Mahati)

I was walking down the street
and i saw a scrumptious treat
all for my little dragon
it's my dragon's treat
it's ny dragon's treat.

So i bought the treat
and couldn't wait to give it my dragon
I didn't know where I was going
but to the Everdeen forest.

I found myself somehow there
but i had to go some-where
"Oh, yes!" I remembered
It's my dragon's treat
It's my dragon's treat.

I managed to get out of the Everdeen forest
and started to go towards Beverldeen City
"Come, on! Sing along everybody!"
It's my dragon's treat
It's my dragon's treat.

On my way, i met a dwarf
who snatched my dragon's treat
and ate it as a sweet
"Oh, no!" It was my dragon's treat.

So i went to the butcher's shop
and stole two handfuls of meat
and gave it to my dragon as a treat
It's my dragon's treat
It's my dragon's treat

Flying colours (by Sriya M.)

On my way back from school
i sat on a bench and
a breeze touched so cool
i opened my eyes and realized
i was in a park
i saw a beautiful butterfly sitting on a bark.

The rainbow colours on the butterfly were so attractive
i felt refreshed and soon i became active
i started chasing the butterfly
but it started flying so high.

Then I stopped at a fresh water drop
the spark of the scene made my heart hop
i caught it and planned to take it home
but then i felt it should not be caged
so i let it go roam.

I felt the park with the memory
of it's colours in my mind
I tried to locate it back next day
but i couldn't find it.

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! :)