Mr.Satish Sikha @ OIS

Mr.Satish Sikha, a simple man with a not so simple mission. A mission that will not only benefit the planet, but the entire mankind. An Endeavour to save the planet, takes him all across the world from the North Pole to the south with a kilometer long silk fabric, longest in the world, with ‘Go Green’ messages from all over the planet, from important dignitaries, who join hands with him in this noble task.

He is a man with a heart, a man who gave up his flourishing career as a couture designer alongside great names like Versace, Roberto Cavalli, Eli Saab, Armani or as a hotelier or a cinematic veteran to save this planet.

His aim is to ensure that every human being has at least one tree flourishing within 10 ft. radar of his abode. Realizing the importance of life, the superficiality of material things, he strongly believes that service to mankind is the only path to salvation. One must dedicatedly serve god and believing children are the reflection of god himself;Mr.Sikha has thus dedicated his life to Creating environmental awareness among children from around the world from Arctic Ocean to Antarctica Ocean.

UOI–Imagination -Activity

Based on the poi unit “Imagination”, an activity was done by the students of GRADE 3; where in they were suppose to use 3D geometrical shapes to create some different types of scenery.

They created many different scenes like a city, Egypt, train, a camping scene, mountains, a jungle etc. these models show how imagination can create an artist out of them. Math shapes unit was integrated through this activity.

Imagination–Guest Lecture

 

A guest lecture was held by Ms. Meenakshi, for the grade3 students on the UOI -“Imagination”. Through this lecture Ms.Meenakshi explained how various artists and painters can show thier emotions, tell stories and also communicate in the form of art. To imagine we need freedom of thought.She spoke about famous painters and their work. She discussed the role of imagination in making our life interesting and comfortable.

PAT- Student Reflection

PAT- Team

  

PAT, the Program for Academically Talented students is a program conducted after school from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, offered to the students of grades V and VI. It is a program which challenges the mind, develops our logic and reasoning skills, brings out our creativity builds our team spirit and helps us “Think Outside the Box” through an assortment of activities. The program is conducted by Nandini Ma’am, Stuti Ma’am and Veronica Ma’am.

The PAT Exhibition was conducted on the 8^th and 9^th of February for the students and the parents. On the 8^th of February, we conducted the PAT assembly with a series of challenging activities and the song Dynamite by Taio Cruz. In the afternoon, the students of Grades V and VI visited our Exhibition in the PYP Workroom. On the 9^th of February, the Exhibition was conducted for the parents where we had a presentation which gave them an overview of PAT and then got them involved in solving a bunch of PAT puzzles, brain-teasers and riddles. It was fun to see the parents put on their thinking caps and having a good time along with us. It was an amazing experience!

PAT is a blast!!!!!

Divya Parimi,

VI C

SPOORTHI – SESSION 5

Session- 5 of Spoorthi on 12th Feb' 2011, Saturday was a blend of many activities such as Yoga, Power point presentation, reading skills , visit to the library and reading newspapers.

It created an aura of excitement in the teaching learning transactions. Ms. Usha Rajyalakshmi, Ms. Bala and Ms. Mani with eleven students of IBDP 11 Rohit, Apoorv, Anisha, Ansh, Phanindra, Ashish, Mounika, Laxmi, Karthik, Rohan, and Akshay had the great privilege of teaching the children of Spoorthi in school.

Reading Skills:

In reading skills the children enjoyed knowing the importance of reading newspapers and going through the different sections of the Library.

During this session it was observed that only 25% of the children of our sub staff get newspapers at home. Some enjoy reading crime, some politics, some local news and some entertainment.

They were made aware of the other articles and columns in the newspaper such as weather forecast, letter to the editor, classifieds, international news, national news, local news and kid’s corner.

Visit to the Shomie R Das Learning Resource Center:

Ms Bala spoke to the children on the importance of reading books, how books are circulated in the library, the arrangement of books for easy location and also the code of conduct to be observed in the library. She was surprised when the children asked her for Harry Potter series. Their joy knew no bounds when they saw a wide variety of books displayed.

ICT – Introduction to Power Point

Ms Usha Rajyalaksmi simultaneously taught them the basics of Power Point in the ICT session.

 It was very interesting to see how fast learners they were. The IB students assisted the children to animate objects, copy and paste, slide transition etc.

Health and fitness – Yoga

Ms Mani our Yoga teacher taught the children the meaning and benefits of Yoga. She highlighted the importance of warm up before doing Yoga. She also taught them the ‘Surya Namaskar’.

All the students had snacks after the Yoga class.

Reflections of IBDP  Co coordinator  and the students:

Mr. Biju , the IBDP Coordinator visited the ICT and Reading Skills class and enlightened the students on the importance of reading newspaper and use of technology in education. He emphasized on the fact how newspapers have an edge over television in providing us information.

Ms.Rubina,
SPOORTHI Coordinator

Think out of the box ...

Ms.Nandini Mathur

Think   out of the box and face   the   challenge by the Oakridgers    !!!

Once more Oakridge placed their students at the heart of pragmatic learning. PAT showcase was a platform to let children take ownership of their learning. PAT students of Grade V and VI put up a magnificent showcase on 8^th and 9^th Feb 2011 for students, teachers and Parents.

A special assembly by the PAT students was conducted, where they had to recall numerical and visual details, and decipher the codes using the memory.

To stretch the minds of younger Oakridger’s of grade 5 & 6, a gallery walk was organized where the students were engrossed in solving challenging activities; it was an overwhelming sight to see the young minds and teachers stretching their brains to get work out various mind bending puzzles and activities.

On 9^th Feb the parents of PAT students were invited to the world of stimulating minds.  Our young, smart and energetic students took their parents through their journey of PAT .The children presented  deductive skills with baffling logic problems, tantalizing word games and number puzzles which would give their minds a thorough workout to help them in all aspects of life.

It was a cherished event for Parents to be quizzed by their young kids.

Green Rangers attacked the City Petrol Bunks

On the 9^th and 10^th of February, the Green Rangers  went to the jubilee hills Petrol Bunk .

At the Petrol Bunk  the Green Rangers held up awareness placards and spoke to the daily commuters advocating the need to maintain their vehicles in order to reduce air pollution. The public was asked to sign pledge cards, promising to do their part and help the city.

The Green Rangers  worked together and through their  efforts managed to persuade a great number of people to join the cause to  bring down air pollution levels.

Sadana Kalidindi and Divya Gutala
                 Green Rangers

A Vice-President’s reminiscence

I joined Oakridge International School in June 2009 and at first it was a  shock for me. I came from a school with three hundred students and joining  Oakridge was an astronomical difference  for me. I had to get used to the uniforms, the buses and the all the students. I wasn’t comfortable, at first but after the  first month I got used to it and gave wings to my  ambition…..I wanted prove my mettle in school.

I decided to run for the post of the  Head boy. It was a hard nut to crack convincing the students  to vote !!! When the posts for 2010-2011 were announced I was initially disappointed to hear that I hadn’t won the post of Head  boy but that of the  Student Council Vice President. The post of Vice President didn’t mean much to me initially but then I realized it’s what you do that makes your badge important. Along with the rest of my team in the student council we tried to make a difference to the environment and everyone in school.

My term as Vice President has nearly come to an end, and I don’t want to let it go. But what I realized is having a badge or a post doesn’t make you important it’s what you do as a person that makes you important. I know the next student council is going to do an amazing job, every year the student council is growing in both number and in work. We have taken a step forward from where the previous Student Council left  and now the next Student Council will take it even further ahead.

 Sometime in March the next student council will come in and we all need to move on and let go, every song has to come to an end but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the music.

 Karan Aryaman Marwaha

Vice President of the Student Council 2010-2011

PP 1’s Creative Expressions

Ms.Rachna Mathur

PP1 Teacher

Preprimary -1 showcased their skills for their  parents with great panache. PP1’s had their creative expressions on 2^nd February, 2011.  

Pp1’s started their day with a calming session of yoga where they showcased their various asanas and of course their discipline. They further displayed their water play ( pouring squeezing, mixing of colour, float and sink) and sand play (wet/dry sand, naming equipments, impressions with wet sand)  and art and craft( shapes, flower/butterfly making with given cutouts ), music (singing different rhymes).

Wow it was amazing! It was not a mere activity but a child’s skills, ways  of comprehending, analyzing, connecting and demonstrating it all in a holistic way. That was the essence of it all.

We read to know. We write to express.

Reading and writing difficulties.   An   interpretation for Teachers.

The dyslexia association of Andhra Pradesh popularly knows as DAAP conducted a three day workshop for Psychologists, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Remedial Instructors, Teachers and all other professionals who work with children with learning problems.

This Program was a great opportunity, for all of us. It was conducted by Dr. J.P. Das who is an Education Psychologist, research Professor, and originator of many programs in the field of disability rehabilitation.

The three day work shop was based on the legendary theory of PASS (Planning, Attention, Successive and Simultaneous Processing) of intelligence.

It was aimed at upgrading our skills and become better equipped professionals. We were introduced to two new programmes PREP and COGENT.

PREP (PASS Reading Enhancement Program)

PASS Reading Enhancement Program (PREP) aims at improving the information-processing in simple words reading comprehension.

Strategies that underlie reading, while at the same time avoiding the direct teaching of word

Reading skills.

Accordingly, the program is structured so that tacitly acquired strategies can be used by the children in suitable ways.

COGENT (Cognitive Enhancement Training)

Cognitive Enhancement Training is designed for the enhancement of cognition, phonological

Awareness, and language, especially linked to literacy and school learning.

Cognitive Enhancement Training (COGENT) is designed for children ages 4 to 7 with normal and atypical developmental histories Limited exposure to literacy, Mild developmental delay,

Language impairment, at risk for developing dyslexia and other learning difficulties. Cognitive Enhancement Training can also be used as a continuing activity at home. It provides an Alternative route toward the development of reading and associated academic skills.

It was a wonderful learning experience with Mr. Das. We are positive about implementing these two programs in school for the benefit of our children.

Ms.Sangita Karan

Supportive Instructor

Representative from - UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

 

Ms.Anusha Daduvai
Career Counsellor




Australia  arranged for an information desk at the school today to give an overview of the university, their academic programs, tuition fees etc. She met the students and gave a review on the admission requirements, the application process and more. It was followed by a doubt clarifying session, which was attended by the students of Grade XI - CBSE.

The students gained information about the university, their admission criteria, scholarships offered by the university and the general requirements. The representative also spoke about the Australian Education System.

Face-to –Face with the Green rangers @ the Inorbit mall

Conserving our planet is the one characteristic we share, as we reside on this planet, we have to cooperate to preserve her. It is the one hope for future that can unite us.

Going green can be the global movement of the 21st century, much like the movements that defined and transformed the twentieth, for the better. So, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving green a chance.

The Green Rangers is  a special army of Oakridge International School  students  out on a mission to try and reach as many people as possible, in local communities to spread the awareness and importance of 'Going Green'.

The catalyst for environmental change – the green rangers visited the Inorbit Mall on the 5^th  and 6^th of February and cautioned  anyone and everyone by singing  awareness jingles and by making people  pledge  to act wise, and do whatever they can, so there’s enough clean air around us. They asked  people to be mindful of and sensitive to the natural environment in their daily life.

Mr. Nick Taylor @ Newton Campus

Students of grade 2 had a wonderful opportunity to meet an author Mr. Nick Taylor in connection to their POI unit ‘Stories’. In preparation to the aurthors visit students were made to brainstorm on what information they would like to collect if they get a chance to meet an author. With their inquisitive minds they came up with wonderful questions that they would ask an author. Prior to his visit we also showed the picture of Nick Taylor and asked the students to guess who he is?  Their interpretations were varied. Few kids guessed him as the President of Spain; some said he is a doctor, an engineer, an actor e.t.c.  Finally when the children met him in the session they were excited and enthralled to be in his company.  

Mr. Nick Taylor discussed with them the essential ingredients ie character, setting and conflict that are required for a story. He even explained the importance of description of the characters and the setting in a story which captures the attention of the readers. It was a very fruitful sesion for our young learners, many of who are aspiring to be young authors like him. Altogether it was a wonderful session for the students and teachers as well. We are grateful to Mr. Nick Taylor who readily agreed to come and shared his valuable time with the young learners.

Navitha Boda

Class Teacher 2D