'Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye.' William Gibson
If one were to ask what is it that unites people of all ages or contexts, the answer would undoubtedly be literature. To develop a sense of appreciation for the literature available in different languages and create some learning experiences centred around stories we celebrated literary week for grades one and two from 15.11.21-18.11.21.
The literary week includes celebration of the literature available in English and Hindi. With the theme of the literary week being fables and folktales around the world we organized various workshops and sessions for the learners to engage with so that they could learn as they experienced the various forms of storytelling.
Events of the Literary Week
Discussions during the Circle Time
Each day of the literary week started with discussions around aspects of literature and storytelling during the Circle Time. The first session on day one of the literary week began with a discussion around the concept of fables, fairy tales and folk tales. The learners were presented with various examples of stories that helped them get familiar with the three genres. In grade two, the learners were introduced to the concept of the ‘theme’ in the stories. The learners were acquainted with the fact that all the stories revolve around some central idea that the author wants to convey. The significance of culture in the folktales was discussed. The learners also understood the importance of masks in storytelling as they engaged in mask making activity during the Circle Time. Through the story ‘The Monkey and the Cap Seller’, a discussion was carried out to help the learners realise the synchrony between the text and illustrations in the stories.
Storytelling sessions
Our Primary educator, Ms. Sananda Nandi conducted storytelling sessions in Hindi for the learners where she used hand - made puppets to narrate the famous stories ‘Budhiya ki roti’ and ‘Rishi Munni aur Chuha’. One could see the learners completely hooked to the storytelling session as they sang, enacted, predicted the story, answered the questions and reflected during the session.
‘The Tail of Kake De Munni’, another storytelling session was conducted by our educators Ms. Neha Gandhi, Ms. Elizabeth, Ms. Priyanka Chhabra. Famous folktale from Punjab was brought to life through the enactment by our educators during the session. The learners not just experienced the story but also answered some of the questions about the characters put forth by the facilitators.
Storyboard- Integrating art with literature
Emphasising the importance of illustrations, story board session was conducted by our arts educator Ms. Maryam Ansari and music educator Ms. Aishwarya Thapliyal. The learners sang the story ‘Paudhe ki Kahani’ with Ms. Aishwarya as they watched the illustrations made by Ms. Maryam. The learners also made their own story boards and showcased them as the story proceeded.
Panch-a-Tantra
This session was an amalgamation of music, theatre and literature where the learners created soundscape for the famous fables. The session was conducted by our theatre facilitator Ms. Himani Pant and music facilitator Mr. Dennis Babu.
Writer’s Workshop
‘Aao Kahani Bunein’ and ‘A Pet and A Superhero’ were the writing sessions conducted in Hindi and English respectively by our primary grades educators. These sessions aimed to give our learners competencies and skills to write their own stories. The session provided the learners with some essential elements of story writing. Using these elements, they tried to create their own story out of the pictures provided to them during the session. A padlet link was shared with the learners for them to share their reflections and stories post the session.
Kissa Goi
Dating back to the era of Munshi Premchand, Kissa Goi is a unique art of storytelling which came alive during the literary week. Our learners from grade five (Vandita Arora, Rishabh Burman, Atharv, Jeenal Tanwar and Risha Mangla) conducted a Kissa Goi session where they narrated a story of Bheeku making it a delightful session for all.
Author’s session
The beautiful week of literature was culminated by an author’s session. Ms. Adithi Rao author of the book ‘Boy, Bear’ led an enriching session for our young learners where they explored the story from various perspectives. The story was read out to the learners by the author herself post which they participated in a discussion.
Educational Boot Camp, 2021
As an annual STEAM engagement, Shiv Nadar School, in association with Indian Youth Nuclear Society (IYNS) is organizing the flagship ‘Educational Boot Camp 2021 (EBC '21), a month-long, fun-filled scientific awareness interactive session, “Let’s celebrate the Sun”. The idea behind choosing the theme for this edition of EBC is to explore and unravel the philosophical and scientific aspects of Sun.
The online event was launched on November 15, 2021 and will conclude with three days of interactive sessions and activities scheduled in December.
The program will encompass a good mix of fun and learnings for both students and parents covering a wide diaspora of events including individual competitions, a virtual visit to the world's largest Fusion Reactor of ITER, France and Saint Michel L'observatoire, France, knowledge podcast, demonstration and interactive sessions with globally eminent and renowned scientists and intelligentsia.
KaryoUS website - https://sites.google.com/sns.edu.in/nucle-us/home?authuser=4
IYNS website - http://iyns.in/ebc2021/
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TOWARDS LIGHT…. JYOTIRGAMAYA, 2021
Jyotirgamaya is the culmination of our Fun’kaar week. The celebration, occurring approximately half-way through the academic year and culminates the project-based learning. The learning design is based on arts-led learning and design thinking principles, helping students to explore a theme by way of surveys, art, research and reflective methods.
This year the school celebrated Jyotirgamaya in school with few students and parents. The event was streamed live for the parent community to be able to enjoy it from their homes. The open auditorium was lit with light and joy where our students gave performances. The school band played and sang songs cheering the gathering. The alumni were invited to share their experience of 10 years, being part of the institution.
A small exhibition was put up by our senior school students. They had created handmade products to raise funds for their project "Prarabdha - A Beginning" a Student-Led Social Impact Initiative. Another interesting project that was put up was under our cross-campus STEAM initiative, Karyous, wherein one of our students has launched an initiative to sell organic products created by women from rural areas.
Recording of the live stream: https://youtu.be/THoOv8ts7T4
FUN’KAAR, 2021
Fun’kaar is a magical word that infuses energy and creativity into our spirits. As Ananda Coomaraswamy says, “An artist is not a special kind of a person; rather each person is a special kind of artist.” Shiv Nadar School Noida yet again celebrated Fun’kaar, that time of the year when the artist in each child lets loose to paint his own canvas of free thinking.
Early Years
This year the theme of Fun’kaar in Nursery was “I Love Animals” where the children delved deeper into the Animal Kingdom with the theme mascots Avi, Scuba Diver Maya, Farmer Friedo and Forest Officer Jaya.
The students of Kindergarten embarked upon their inquisitive journey and explored the theme of “Water” this Fun’kaar. From the story of Drippy, a drop of water, the students journeyed to Palghar to understand the various sources of water to an actual farm tour by a parent to understand various “Underground Sources of Water”, the students had a terrific time with their enquiries on ‘Why water should be saved’ and turned Water Detectives to check those wasting water.
The theme ‘Exploring Landforms and Shelter’ was full of discovery and an opportunity to delve into why “every step matters”, where the students turned naturalists, urban planners and weathermen to discover various landforms, habitats, ecosystem, and weather conditions to understand the need for shelter and how to make it ideal for the environment!
In addition to the above, the students had a great time in school with Musical Sargam Assemblies, Monday Mazedaar sessions, playing traditional games, to watching stories role played by facilitators, art & story sessions, musical presentations, playing shop activity and sessions with the famous ventriloquist Mr. M Santhosh Kumar.
Primary Years
The Primary Years at Shiv Nadar School, Noida has a firm belief in the integration of the 3 Hs - Head, Hand and Heart - in the design of learning.
In the Fun'kaar process at Primary Years, the students were encouraged to incorporate traditional learning with the knowledge and understanding available at present, integrate the learning available in different pockets of academics, and apply the same with an eye to improving lives at a personal, local as well as global level. For instance, as a part of the very first Fun'kaar Week, the Grade 5 students learned about building shelters (Environmental Studies) and measurement (Math) by actually constructing temporary shelters made out of locally available material - bamboo, straw and bricks - for the ground staff. The structures were a source of immense satisfaction for the students, particularly when they saw the ground staff making optimal use of them in the hot Delhi summer!
This academic year, with the changing paradigms in education, the focus of Fun'kaar week were the concepts of 'change and connection'. During this time, the students learnt that exposure to art helps them express, embrace change and stay connected with each other and their learning.
Grade 2 explored how rituals and traditions provide a window to our tradition, Grade 3’s thrust was with Habitats and Adaptation, Grade 4 continued their inquisitive journeys by working towards how Maps and Symbols help us explore the world while Grade 5 worked proactively on Mixing Materials to Create New Products.
In addition to the fun filled classrooms, the students had a number of fun sessions like making Boondi Mithai at home, Kalbeliya Dance Screening, student led workshops, folk stories, designer writing workshops, workshops on animal habitat and adaptation, a virtual tour by the Wyoming State Museum, arts & music fest to name a few.
The learning journey for Primary Years Funkaar is showcased through a website, for each of the Form. It includes the glimpses of all the workshops, student and parent led sessions and other homeroom activities around the celebration.
https://www.sites.google.com/view/funkaar-21-22-shivnadarschool
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Hybrid Learning
The reopening of the school campus has been planned and curated in a deeply considered and measured way. For all grades, we have first begun with the Sports Program. To experience the campus, enjoy the vastness and openness especially when the children have been in a 'locked in' mode, has helped them a great deal to reorient, recalibrate, return to campus, with the new safety protocols in place.
Sharing a glimpse.
In Conversation with Ms. Bulbul Sharma
On 27th October, 2021, an interactive online author's session was organized with Ms. Bulbul Sharma , a versatile author and painter. She has written five collections of short stories, a novel, non-fiction and some of the most-loved books for children, including Tales of Fabled Beasts, Gods and Demons and The Ramayana.
The students witnessed a narration of short stories from her book, Fantastic Creatures in Indian Mythology and had a wonderful opportunity to interact with her. Discussions about the mythological creatures sparked students' imagination and curiosity. The students also greatly benefitted when the author shared some insights on essential writing techniques which left an impressionable impact on young minds.
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Walk the Talk - Mr. Mr. Praneet Singh
Walk the Talk is one such initiative wherein experts from different fields come to talk to students. Such sessions serve to dispel existing queries regarding certain career choices, as well as to inform students on new and emerging professional and academic domains. These sessions are primarily for grade IX and X for them to explore various careers that exist. One such conversation was with Mr. Mr. Praneet Singh on EMERGENT CAREERS IN THE AI DOMAINTED WORLD.
Glimpse of the Session.
School Comes Alive!
Shiv Nadar School Faridabad is surging forward to successfully close Term 1 of this Academic Session. While the Middle school Students have concluded their Feedback Cycle 2 last week and the Senior School started today, I am happy to share with you that we had 96% attendance of students from grades 9 to 11 to write their mid term exams, on campus.
The reopening of the school campus has been planned and curated in a deeply considered and measured way. For all grades, we have first begun with the Sports Program. To experience the campus, enjoy the vastness and openness especially when the children have been in a 'locked in' mode, has helped them a great deal to reorient, recalibrate, return to campus, with the new safety protocols in place.
For the last few weeks, the footfall of grades 4 to 8 on campus for structured games and team sport activities has been a delight to witness. We start with Sports Classes for Grades 1 to 3 as well from today.
Encouraged by the success of our upended safety provisions and teacher turn out ratio on the campus.
We are keen to open in a staggered and balanced way, without haste, keeping safety of all stakeholders in sharp focus.
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Riding the Storm
The award ceremony, aptly named Riding the Storm, was held on 9th september to celebrate the indomitable spirit of resilience and empathy and felicitate the students who won awards for academic excellence. It was held in the physical space in Wild Cat Hall with all the covid protocols in place .The ceremony was started by lighting the lamp which set an auspicious tone. This was followed by a musical rendition by the school music choir. The tradition of awarding excellence awards for academic performance is an integral and much revered part of SNS culture.
The awards for excellence in languages were given away and were followed by awards for other subjects. This was followed by a soul stirring rendition by the students of the western music AHA basket. The SNS excellence awards were conferred on six students, namely Jahaan Paul,Parth Sharma, Neeyati Saini,Kaashvi Dewan, Shagun Rajput and Krishiv Khatri. This was followed by testimonials by Neeyati Saini and Parth Sharma about how they reached their goals and what it was that brought them to this place. Last but not the least, the grade 10 students were felicitated for excelling in their boards results by adapting to the drastic changes, coping up with illnesses and surviving the turmoil in the year that was. The high achievers, namely. Suhani Sharma, Nirvani Jain, Nipun Jain and arsh Edke shared their thoughts about their journey of last year's session. This was followed by a Vote of Thanks by the Director Principal Mrs Anju Wal who once again congratulated all the award winners.
A lot of hard work, technical expertise, creativity and innovative thinking had gone into planning what finally culminated into the Award Ceremony.
मुंशी प्रेमचंद जयंती
मुंशी प्रेमचंद जयंती के उपलक्ष्य में कक्षा ३ से ५ के बच्चों ने १९ जुलाई २०२१ से ३१ जुलाई २०२१ तक इस महान साहित्यकार के बारे में जाना | सभी बच्चों ने इनकी जीवनी को संक्षेप में जाना और प्रमुख रचनाओं के नामों से अवगत हुए |
कक्षा ३ से ५ के बच्चों ने मुंशी प्रेमचंद द्वारा रचित एक कहानी को पढ़ा और उस पर आधारित गतिविधि की | उन्होंने गूगल फॉर्म के ज़रिए quiz भी किया |
कक्षा ३ के बच्चों ने ‘दो बैलों की कथा’ द्वारा घनिष्ठ मित्रता, जानवरों और मनुष्य के प्रेम तथा तालमेल को जाना एवं उस पर चर्चा की | कक्षा ४ में बच्चों ने ‘ईदगाह’ कहानी सुनी, समझी और पढ़ी | सभी बच्चों ने हामिद द्वारा घर के बड़े-बूढों के लिए नि:स्वार्थ प्रेम पर चर्चा की और उससे भावनात्मक रूप से जुड़ पाए | उन्होंने इस कहानी का मंचन भी किया |
किस्सागोई – पंच परमेश्वर
मुंशी प्रेमचंद द्वारा शुरू की गई कहानी वाचन की कला - ‘किस्सागोई’ से कक्षा ५ के बच्चे परिचित हुए | उन्होंने मुंशी प्रेमचंद द्वारा रचित प्रसिद्ध कहानी पंच परमेश्वर को किस्सागोई के माध्यम से प्रस्तुत किया | हमारे कक्षा ५ के ‘किस्सागोइओं’ ने भावपूर्ण कथा वाचन करते हुए पंचायती राज व्यवस्था को समझते हुए सरपंच की ज़िम्मेदारी और नैतिकता का बोध भी किया | इस कहानी के द्वारा सभी छात्र मुंशी प्रेमचंद की लेखन शैली से भी अवगत हुए |
सौभाग्य उसी को प्राप्त होता है, जो पने कर्तव्य पथ पर अडिग रहते हैं। - मुंशी प्रेमचंद
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