Saturday, October 6, 2012

All Hands Meet


 “All men dream, but not equally. Some dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds and wake in the day to find it is vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible”, Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence.

Every organization has a vision, a dream to turn certain aspirations into reality. The more you think about them, the more passionate you grow about realizing your goals. One such dream of an organization is to bring about unison in its mission statement, to extend its reach, to prepare leaders, to strengthen its core groups .While representing our cooperation towards a common goal, coordination and correlation in our daily activities is a step towards achieving these objectives. It goes without saying then that we as a group must meet once in a while to reinforce our faith, trust and abilities into a common goal and vision This is what an All Hands Meeting is about.

The idea behind this initiative by the management is to get the entire team on board. I believe too that there is no substitute for personal contact. We are meant to believe in the power of people to do things that contribute to the success of our organization and when we start designating them as something other than people we fail to realize our goals and become focused on policies and procedures. This meeting reiterates the fact that Oakridge as an organization believes in creating a structure for success. 

An All Hands meeting was organized in the MPH on 6 October to showcase the achievements of the school and also felicitate the staff for their committed and dedicated efforts in taking the school forward. The event was a great success and it left everyone with a sense of belonging and a motivation to look forward to a better tomorrow.  






My experience at National Level Teacher's Conference


A National Level Teacher's Conference on CEPA (communication education public awareness) was conducted by the National Green Corps as part of the COP XI Conference on Bio Diversity at Meridian School.  The objective of this conference was to promote awareness among teachers on the bio diversity issues at a global level. The CEPA programme aims to help governments, educators and others to create the tools needed to answer biodiversity and sustainability questions, raise public awareness and integrate biodiversity into education systems worldwide.

I had the opportunity of not only being on the Editorial Board for evaluation of position papers but also on the panel of observers for the teacher's conference. There were many interactive sessions with teacher groups representing Corporates, governments, media, teaching community and other major stakeholders. The topics covered a wide range of issues including a debate on Economic progress taking precedence over environment protection and conservation.

The Chairman for National Bio Diversity Dr.Balakrishna was the Chief Guest for the occasion. He delivered a very interesting talk and spoke on intergenerational equity (the values that one generation passes on to the next generation), The focus of his talk was on communication and how as policy makers one has to communicate, understanding the challenges in reaching out and considering the impact of our actions in doing so.

It was a good learning experience for me and a good way of bonding with people from different professional backgrounds. Every learning I feel calls for a deeper understanding of the subject and the teachers conference was a good platform for me as an educator to interact with core groups, share their perspectives and in the process enhance my understanding in a meaningful way.

- Mohseena Hussain

Visit to the world of Ocean

Pre-Primary students  visited the “Marine Life” exhibition conducted by Kangaroo kids School on Thursday 4th Oct 2012. Children were excited to see all the sea creatures that were on display and also learned some amazing facts about them. 

They enjoyed the puppet show which showcased different animals living in the sea.







Friday, October 5, 2012

"Week of Special Learning Needs"


The Counseling and Supportive Instruction Unit is conducting “Week of Special Learning Needs” from 3rd October to 6th October 2012. As a part of the program an Open Forum for the parents and teachers was organized on the 4th of October under the guidance of Dr. Shakila Naidu, school’s psychologist. The objective of the program was to showcase various resource materials, teaching aids used by supportive instructors to teach children with special educational needs.
Different, easy to use strategies that can be used with the children at home too were explained and demonstrated to the parents. The strategies used covered a vast range of ideas that can be used across first to seventh grade students.
Parents and teachers were eager in asking questions and clearing all their doubts. Head Mistress Ms. Hema attended the event along with Mr. Arjun Rao, Principal of Oakridge International School Bangalore, who appreciated the efforts put up by our teachers.






Few Reflections from Parents:

“This is a very informative event which gave us useful tips on teaching methods for children.”-
 Mrs. Vijayalakshmi

“Teachers have done a lot of ground work, hope to follow few of the strategies at home with my child too.”- Mrs. Usha

“I really appreciate the teachers who are using these methods to teach and motivate the children.”
- Mrs. Farhana Ahmed 



CAS Activity by Grade IX students


Moments of Inter-School Soccer Tournament at Oakridge Newton Campus








World Heart Day Celebration in Junior School

Oakridge Junior school is celebrating World Heart Day today. The students brought cut outs of hearts with a fact written on them related to a healthy heart. Students of Grade 5 presented a skit related to a happy and healthy heart in the assembly and school doctor, Dr. Nazia spoke to the children about the same.  Grade X student Kunal ventriloquized the heart beat to the amazement of the kids. This is a step further in connection to the Global Children's Challenge, wherein the students and teachers are promoting a healthy and active life.











Thursday, October 4, 2012

Guest Lecture for Grade II


Grade 2 children had a guest lecture on tooth hygiene by dentist in context to current UOI topic “Healthy Habits”. Learners were given a demo on how to brush the teeth every day and how to avoid cavities. They were also shown few videos which enhanced their learning. Students were able to understand the importance of brushing their teeth twice a day. They enjoyed the session a lot and also wrote amazing reflections.

Few reflections by young learners

“To keep our teeth clean we should eat fruits and vegetables.” -
Aryan (Grade II E) 

“We should brush our teeth up and down, round and round and in the end clean our tongue too”- Moksha (Grade II G)

“After brush we should floss and children should brush two times a day”- 
Esha Sai Saxena (Grade II G)

“Every six months we should visit a dentist and get our teeth checked”- 
Atiksh (Grade II E)