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CONTENTSmedia.gemseducation.com/media/29001/kgs-news-letter...CONTENTS 2 CHIEF EDITOR Mrs. Megha Anand SUB-EDITORS Mrs. Ramadevi Chamarti Mrs. Shabnam Irfan Mrs. Sangeetha Arun LAYOUT

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CONTENTS2

CHIEF EDITOR

Mrs. Megha Anand

SUB-EDITORS

Mrs. Ramadevi Chamarti

Mrs. Shabnam Irfan

Mrs. Sangeetha Arun

LAYOUT DESIGNER

Mrs. Karpagavalli Preetam

Mrs. Tahmina Kharwa

August 2014Volume 3

THE ART OF DANCE 3

AWAKEN THE SPIRIT OF

Nationality 5

BACK TO SCHOOL 6

EXPRESSION IN VERSE 7

LESSONS LEARNT FROM HISTORY

The Second World War 9

VACATION SKATING 12

KGS Times, August 2014 | 2

We invite parents to sharetheir views and experiencesthrough KGS Times. Pleaseemail your write up to thebelow email Id on or beforethe 10th of September forthe next edition.

[email protected]

A THE ART OF DANCEBy Megha Anand

rt is said to mould a

person’s mind and personality.

Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical

Indian dance form originated in the

temples of Tamil Nadu.

It is known for its grace, purity,

tenderness and sculpturesque poses. The

most exciting aspect of Bharatnatyam is

that it possesses the rich mythological

heritage of India.

Shubhaashree Senthil , A KGS student

from Grade 4 was always very keen at

dancing like any other child of her age.

Her mother took the initiative to put her

in Nrityasamarpan dance academy, Dubai

to learn Bharatanatyam when she was

six. Shubhaashree successfully completed

the Junior Diploma part 1 in

Bharatanatyam under the training of Guru

Mrs Kavitha Prasanna. Shubhaashree has

performed in number of events organised

across UAE.... and has bagged trophies

for her contribution to various cultural

festivals organised across UAE.

Her mother loves the positivity it has

brought to her daughter’s life. It has

helped her daughter develop focus and

coordination by keeping both the body

and brain active. As a parent she has

always been concerned about the

increasing obesity in children across UAE

and Bharatnatyam being a highly physical

form of dance helps in conditioning the

body. Dance has also given her daughter

opportunities to perform in stage shows

including the one at Global village which

KGS Times, August 2014 | 3

FULL NAME...

BARIBIE’ S Full name is

BARBARA MILICIENT ROBERTS

which has helped her overcome social

anxiety and stage fright. Children can

learn this important life skill through

dance.

Dancing has also helped her break the

monotony of studying by reducing

academic-related stress. Being an expat,

we often miss our Indian culture and want

our children to acquire them through

some way or the other. India has a

tradition of respect for elders and

especially a teacher. This attitude gets

induced automatically when you are a

Bharatnatyam dancer. Students have to

be humble enough to be willing to

emulate the teacher’s very movement.

Some Important Benefits of dancing:

Physical benefits: Helps tone the body,

improves posture, balance, coordination.

Mental benefits: The art of dance helps

to focus, be creative and disciplined.

Emotional benefits: Dance helps develop

self -confidence and self- esteem in a

stimulating environment. Coordination

benefits: Increases hand-eye

coordination and improves fine motor

skills.

Since last year, dance has been

introduced in Grades 4 and 5 as a part of

the curriculum. KGS offers a plethora of

opportunities to children to develop their

skills in music, dance, drama, sports and

digital learning.

Humility and respect towards the

teacher, the tradition and the art all

comes across in the performance. There

is no doubt that dance is an enhancing

activity for a child’s creative, musical

and artistic development and studies

have shown that there is a strong link

between involvement in the arts and

increased educational achievement.

KGS Times, August 2014 | 4

s India celebrates its 68th Independence Day on 15 August, we asked the KGS

parents to share their views on how they keep the patriotic spark alive in the littleminds....

‘Am planning to take my

children to the Indian

consulate Dubai to

experience the flag

hoisting Ceremony

during the Independence

Day and understand the

significance of the day.’ -

Raji

AWAKEN THE SPIRIT OF Nationality

‘This Independence day I am

planning to involve my

children and introduce them

to the significance of this

day by watching a patriotic

movie. Make them wear

some traditional dresses like

kurta-pyjama for my son

and chudidar for my

daughter. We will also send

'Happy Independence Day'

messages to our relatives

and friends.’ - Shabnam

A‘I am proud to be an

Indian. But being an expat

it is very difficult to make

the little ones understand

the value of independence

and how our great leaders

struggled to gain that. So

we took our daughter to

Rajghat, Theen Moorthi

Bhavan and India Gate

during the summer

vacation. She had a lot of

questions in mind but

after viewing these places

and hearing the stories of

sacrifices she now knows

there were many people

who are the True Heroes

of our Nation.’ - Shiny

KGS Times, August 2014 | 5

What is in name? The word salary comesfrom the latin word sal ..meaning salt. Romansoldiers used to be paid asalarium .. an allowance tobuy salt.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Mohammed Irfan & SangeethaGrade 2 H & KG2 W

s the summer holidays are

close to an end, back-to-school anxiety

will be soaring in most homes. Routines

need to established, books, school bag

have to be bought, schedules need to be

checked and planned accordingly.

Vacation means two things being on a

foreign land. 1st either let the kids go to

India and be carefree so that they can

meet up their olds friends and relatives

including eagerly waiting grandparents

back home. Or else let them be here with

you in Dubai. Its challenging as the kids

have practically nothing much to do here

which means I have to invest lot of time

on them. We decided this time, on the 2nd

option. Unlike every year, we had

Ramadan and vacation starting around

the same time. So managing kid’s

expectations along with getting done with

Apreparations for Ramadan was a

daunting task. However, I did have lots of

fun this vacation as it helped me bond

better with my kids and understand them

too.

It’s going to be hectic for each one of us

once the school reopens. The entire

schedule has to be realigned from that of

vacation wherein, kids had a far too

relaxed schedule.

Few suggestions to help ease the

transition after a long gap of two

months:

Ease “Back to School” stress

Most children panic because of

incomplete holiday homework. Always

plan and help them to complete their

homework at least a couple of days

before the school could re-open.

Fun Time

Plan some fun activities with the family

KGS Times, August 2014 | 6

or with the child alone as school time

approaches. Activities that involve a

little physical exertion are usually best to

dissipate the feelings of stress.

Buddy time

Helping them connect with their class

mates is a good way to distress the

situation.

Breakfast

The old saying “breakfast is the most

important meal of the day” is never more

true than when you’re going to school.

Students are more alert and perform

better in class if they eat a good

breakfast.

Stick checklist

Use poster checklist to get your child into

a smooth morning, after school and

bedtime routines

Sleep –

Studies show that students need at least

8 1/2 hours of sleep each night to feel

rested. Sleep deprivation can lead

children to fall asleep in class and can

make it hard to concentrate in class. So

make our children get enough sleep at

home.

Resources -

Keep all the resources (school’s) in one

place so you don’t have to go off in

search of printer paper, a stapler or a

book you know you saw around here

somewhere. This is all applicable for any

books, supplies, notes, research sources

etc.

EXPRESSION IN VERSEBy -Shabnam Irfan

You can teach a student for a day,but if you enhance his curiosity,then the learning process willcontinue all his life!!!

xpression in Verse for KG2 was

organized at the school, in the month of

June. The teachers practiced and put in a

lot of effort to help their students learn

the poem with proper expressions.

The students recited clearly, distinctly,

and with appropriate and varied pitch

and tone modulation. Every student

participated and was given the

E

KGS Times, August 2014 | 7

EXPRESSIONIN

VERSE

KG2 A - Oo

KGS Times, August 2014 | 8

LESSONS LEARNT FROM HISTORY

by Rama Devi

THE SECOND WORLD WAR …

ll war is a symptom of

man's failure as a thinking animal“ -

John Steinbeck

AUGUST 6th and 9th …The entire world

shook as the two nuclear bombs– the

first of its kind ever used in history, were

dropped as consequences of World War

II, which the Japanese empire was facing

due to its attack on Pearl Harbour on 7

December 1944 – an event that pulled

the United States into the great war.

Coming just two decades after the last

great global conflict, the Second World

War was the most widespread and

deadliest war in history, involving more

than 30 countries and resulting in more

than 50 million military and civilian

deaths (with some estimates as high as

85 million dead).

opportunity to stand on the stage and

recite in a group in front of the audience.

The cheers and praise from the

supervisors was a great encouragement

for the teachers and the students. The

parents were also invited to witness and

motivate their children. It was an

assessment of the co-ordination,

expression and discipline among the

children. The judges were impressed to

listen to the little participants reciting

with full confidence and perfect

pronunciation. To further inspire them the

winning group was announced. The

winners were awarded a certificate of

participation along with a winning trophy

for the class. It was a well-organized show

put up as a combined effort by the

students, teachers and supervisors.

A

KGS Times, August 2014 | 9

World War 2 Atomic Bomb

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the cities of

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed

by the first atomic bombs used in warfare.

The first atomic bomb ever to be used in a

military operation was dropped on the

city of Hiroshima, Japan On August 6,

1945 at 8:16:02 a.m. Hiroshima time. The

bomb, affectionately named "Little Boy,"

exploded 1,900 feet above the courtyard

of Shima Hospital, with a force equivalent

to 12,500 tons of TNT. By the end of 1945,

140,00 people had died as a direct result

of the bombing. Within the following five

years, another 60,000 would die of bomb-

related causes.

The second bomb, called "Fat Man,"

exploded over Nagasaki, Japan, at 11:02

a.m. on August 9, 1945. It exploded at

1,650 feet with a force of 22,000 tons of

TNT. 70,000 people lost their lives in

Nagasaki by the end of 1945 due to the

bombing. A total of 140,00 died within

the next five years.

LESSONS FROM THE PAST:

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more

important to organize the peace.”

― Aristotle

NEED FOR RECONSIDERING THE PAST

On 8 July 2014, an escalation of the

Gaza–Israel conflict began when

Israel launched Operation Protective

Edge On 13 July, the Israeli military

reported that more than 1,300 Israeli

air strikes had taken place on Gaza,

while more than 800 rockets had

been fired from Gaza into Israel

According to the Gaza Health

Ministry, 2,016 Gazans have been

killed and 10,196 have been

wounded (80% civilians) 1,976

deaths they documented were

civilians, of whom 698 (35% of all

deaths) were women or children. The

war is ongoing and thousands have

lost lives and many are homeless. It

would take another decade to rebuild

KGS Times, August 2014 | 10

the city and restore life. Thus it is evident

that ‘IT IS EASY TO DESTROY BUT

DIFFICULT TO BUILD.’

WE should learn from our history that

wars

result in human destruction primarily. A

victory is built on the grave of humanity

and loss of mankind. If this continues

there won’t be any one left to enjoy the

so called VICTORY.

It is indeed sad to see thousands of

innocent children of war dying, wounded

and scarred for life.

We need to teach our children the core

values of love, respect and peace so that

we can build a future that is safe and

peaceful, devoid of war. The seeds are

already sown at KGS as children enact

skits and present songs of peace during

assembly lessons. Students at KGS

understand and demonstrate with great

pride the core values of the school,

namely, ‘PRIDE – Perseverance,

Respect, Integrity, Discipline and

Excellence’, in all that they do, for

example, the charity drives, the

environment projects, the SEWA and

SAVE projects.

As parents we need to reinforce this

learning and strengthen the core values

in our children. To quote James Dobson,

“Children are not casual guests in our

home. They have been loaned to us

temporarily for the purpose of loving

them and instilling a foundation of

values on which their future lives will be

built. “

KGS Times, August 2014 | 11

o do something different.

We explored a new city Tirupati the

temple town of Andhra Pradesh during

our holiday visit. Tirupati is known for its

lush greenery, beautiful, mountains and

hot climate.

One day on our trip to the swimming pool

near SV university at around 5:00 AM, we

observed one section of the road blocked.

Children between the ages of 7 and 15

were skating in full speed. They were

around 50 in number. Some of them had

come to take coaching lessons for state

level championships while the rest of

them like us were keen on learning a new

skill during their vacations. In the evening

they all practiced inside the skating rink in

the municipal park. We got an

opportunity to meet wonderful coaches

there. The Skating coach Mr Siva Rajesh

was a young and passionate nationalist

and the children loved him for his jovial

Tand friendly nature. Our children

Anushka, Ananya and Anirudh

were motivated to learn skating. The

teacher arranged for temporary skating

shoes and they took to learning the art of

skating. Every evening around 6:00 p.m.

we would go to the skating rink to

practice skating. When they fell they

would get up and move on, there was no

fear or discomfort. It was really surprising

to see how Anirudh who was just in 2nd

grade pick up how to skate with great

Suchitra Naidu,

Parent - Grade 2B and Grade 4K

Skating Rink, Municipal Park

Tirupti, A.P

KGS Times, August 2014 | 12

agility in just 4 days. I would not be able

to even stand without falling. Ananya who

was in grade 4 started directly with speed

skates and enjoyed moving around in 3-4

days. Anushka who was in grade 6 just

loved any kind of outdoor games. The

teacher kept guiding her and she picked

up speed within a few days. It was

amusing to see how coaches dismantled

the shoes or repaired skates in a jiffy.

Children enjoyed every bit of it.

Children observed the different types of

skates and the techniques involved in

each type .The coach also enlightened us

about the the incredible price ranges of

the skates and some of them would cost

even up to 1.5Lakh or more….which

baffled us all!!!….

This was by far one of the most

memorable and engaging summer

vacation for all of us.

KGS Times, August 2014 | 13

Cool facts about Antarctica...

1. It contains 60-70 % of fresh water on

earth.

2. Single largest mass of ice on earth.