NewsletterVol : 0905
Introduction.....
www.fountainheadschools.org, email- [email protected],blog-fountainheadschools.blogspot.com
MELAMELA
Come..See..Get conquered.. said the invite.....
Our efforts to continuously learn
and evolve saw Vardan
and Ankita along with teachers
Runa Nath, Hasina Saifee and
Sanjana Amarnani attending
PYP – Regional Workshops at
Mumbai. The focus of these
workshops was the ‘Written
Curriculum’ and ‘PYP in the 3-5
years’. Zahabiyah Shaikhmahmood,
Grade 1 class teacher, attended
a workshop, ‘Connecting up the
brain, body and emotions in the
learning process’, organized
by DPS –Tapi.
We are also happy to announce, that we are having our Pre-authorization visit, by IBO
officials, on the 7th and 8th of December. This visit is an important one in our jouney
towards becoming an authorised PYP school. Well, more news of happenings at school
waiting for you in the following pages. Enjoy yourselves.
Happy Reading!
festive season. Embroidery artists
also gave a brilliant display of their
work for which Surat is known for.
Apart from these artists from outside,
Fountainhead School had some
great artists among its staff who
displayed their creative side with
demonstrations of warli painting,
origami, nail art, mehndi, tattooing,
rangoli etc. Works of the visiting
artists and the creative
CREATIVE
Dear friends,
Vacations are over, students are back
and we are back, with one more edition
of our newsletter coming to you. We
have hoards of news about happenings
at our school, field trips and other events.
Various activities related to our UOIs,
Maths and English were conducted and
along with these, we also celebrated
Navratri, Hindi Week, Gujarati Week
and organized an Art Mela.
The Dangs Trip organized for the 3rd,
4th, 5th and 6th was thoroughly
enjoyed by the students and teachers
alike. The ‘PRAYAS’ team needs to be
appreciated for making all the
arrangements and making the effort to
bring the people and nature together.
They have been involved in various
activities at school and enjoy interacting
with students.
Noble, Vairagi and Raguveer had
organized a splash painting activity
for the students where they would use
leaves, spoons and brushes to splash
paints onto a plain surface. It truly was
an activity that students thoroughly
enjoyed. Kinjal Shah with her rangoli
designs gave a lot of ideas for the coming
Gowri
It was an invitation to a “Creative Mela”
held at the city’s Fountainhead School.
It sure was a mela, but with a dif ference.
Various artists from the city had been
invited to share their talent with the
students & guests and they also had a
fabulous display of their creations.
Tejas Danecha’s pencil sketches were
awesome and so were the water colours
by Naisargi Dave. Ankur Desai and
Jwalant Patel with their sculptures and
Maharshee with his clay modelling were
very inspiring. Tejas Shah’s caricature
drawing was enjoyed by all. Stela Patel
and Swati Vachhani encouraged the
students to be part of their Kutch art
display.
Creative mela
Decision making
Air all around
My big book of school
Connecting with nature
Machine making life Easier or Difficult
Exhibition
Share the planet
Health and Hygiene
Experience to share
Marketplace
Let’s enjoy the weather
Nation Reading
works of the students were on
display. There was also a display
of paintings on Gandhiji. There
was a talent corner where
parents, visitors and their
guests could try their hand at
sketching and painting. It was the
first of its kind held at the school
and it promises many more to
come.
Gowri
Air….Air….Air…. all around us!
Grade-1 teachers.
Creative Mela
My big book of school.....
During the activity they came to know not only about the
work done by the school’s staff but also they came to
know about their daily routine and how they are balancing
their life style. Thereafter students made a book with all
the interaction done by them and they presented in front
of the class (individually) We believe what makes
Students have shown great persistence in
learning and have always been active to take
part in inquiry. Our 2nd unit was “My school”
in which they have learnt not only about
the school but also about the people of the
school. We had done an activity called
‘guest speaker’ in which some of our school
people came and student were interacted
with them. The activity evolved into a
wonderful age-appropriate and spontaneous
discussion on caring for their own
school and it’s people.
holding a big news paper and then
discovered “ when we are going along
with the air, the paper is flying and when
we go against the wind, air is pushing
the paper”.
With the guidance of teacher, students
made pinwheel, paper plane and sail
boats and observed how some shapes
moved faster. Students performed all
the given experiments very
enthusiastically and made inquiries
about it. At the end of the unit the
students had with them answers on
various applications of air such as
jumping bags, glider, pichkari, hot air
balloons and sailing boats etc and this
was an evidence of their understanding
about the different properties of air and
its related applications.
The teacher of grade 1 had to start
a new unit of inquiry and to “tune in”
the students, filled the
classroom with objects which
displayed varied properties and
applications of air. After entering the
room, children got excited to see
different air toys, flute, whistles,
bubbles etc and started playing with
them. After sometime, they started
inquiring as to why those things have
been kept in their classroom. Then
one of them pointed out that all the
things have relation with “hawa”.
After that inquiry started, aided by
the questions put forth to them by the
teachers. To see how air pushes and pulls
things they ran in the school campus
The students of Grade 5 presented a
short skit to explain the “Steps to make a Decision”
& put up displays on “Tips to
” & “How to take a
decision under pressure”. The skit was enjoyed by all
students and the teachers found the “Tips” & “Decision under pressure”
especially useful.
make a Decision
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE A DECISION?????
meaningful context and therefore everybody wins.
this style of education work is that
it plays to a child’s strengths in a
Runa (Nursery Light)
The students of Grade 5 presented a
short skit to explain the “Steps to make
a Decision” & put up displays on “Tips to
make a Decision” & “How to take a
decision under pressure”. The skit was
enjoyed by all students and the teachers
found the “Tips” & “Decision under pressure”
especially useful.
Well, Grade 5 can teach you how & they
did exactly that on Friday the 13th of
November. Decision Making encompasses
all age groups , gender & class of people.
It involves reasoning & analysis of situations
& therefore considered important enough to
include in our UOI-Who we are?
Grade 5
27th November 2009- it was a day when
Fountainhead School, Surat joined
schools all across the country to
celebrate reading as a pleasurable and
enriching activity and the best part of this
event organized by Scholastic India was
that it had a noble cause attached to it.
Right from Nursery to Grade 6, the whole
of Fountainhead School joined hands to
be a part of this event. All the students
took the reading pledge (beautifully penned
by Gulzar) followed by a string of interesting
activities where we had the children
listening ardently to read- aloud sessions
and thereafter putting down their reflections
in the form of drawings; performing dramas
based on the attributes of the learner
profile; teachers putting up a puppet show
for the younger ones; students being part
of reader's theater where they showcased
their artistic capabilities by delivering
dialogues complete with expressions and
voice modulations; students having a
One Nation Reading Together 2009.....
reading game which had the element of
developing listening skills along with
having lots of excitement and fun;
students trying to identify verbs, nouns, etc
while reading a passage; preparing posters
highlighting the innumerable advantages
Monica
and joy that come along with the reading
of a book; compiling various stories
written by the children themselves; making
bookmarks and it was such a pleasure to
see that students could identify the
different genres of literature and prepared
bookmarks according to genres, for e.g.
a horror story had a bookmark with a
danger sign on it.
It has been a wonderful and great
experience for Fountainhead School to be a
part of this event where one such act of ours
is in turn going to help so many needy
children have access to the reading of books
and benefit from the same. We certainly
look forward to being a part of such noble
events in future as well.!
Our grade 6 students experienced
this when they had been on a Nature
Camp to the Dangs Forest. The
camp was organized by the
‘PRAYAS TEAM’ and the whole trip
was truly a very enriching one.
The children also learnt to manage
things on their own and be organized &
disciplined. They tried to be as close as
they could to the nature. The children
were very particular in keeping the
surroundings clean, used salt in place
of toothpaste, avoided the use of
detergents and it was so nice to see
them doing everything without cribbing.
connecting with nature.....
To sum it all, it was a great exposure for
everyone – students as well as teachers,
and we would certainly like to thank &
appreciate the ‘Prayas Team’ who looked
after every detail with precision, be it the
students’ learning, entertainment, security,
food and other requirements and made it
a memorable event for all of us.
Ever explored the breathtaking world
of nature?! It’s amazing to discover
that nature not only mesmerizes us
with its enthralling beauty but at the
same time, if given a thought, teaches
us ‘the way to live life’.
Just have a look at the rivers,
mountains, the trees, the animals,
the birds……and you can feel that
each component of the nature has a
specific purpose (aim in life), a
systematic and organized way to work
(discipline), everything complements
each other to work in harmony and
maintain the ecological balance
(team work & synergy) each
component so important to the ecology
& each one giving so much (making
you feel humble) & asking only for
UNDERSTANDING THEIR
IMPORTANCE. Isn’t that simply great!!
Students of Grade 5th & Grade 6th did a
commendable job when they gave support
to the 200 years old tree in the Dangs by
laying boulders around it – their way of
giving back to the nature. The star gazing
activity through the telescope was something
that thrilled the children. They all were quite
excited to see the moons of the planet
Jupiter. Their day would start with exercising
& jogging early in the morning and end with
having lots of fun. The children will definitely
remember ‘HONOLULU BABA’ which had
them in splits of laughter and will agree that
the experience they had in Gira river can
anytime beat the water parks we have.
The children had many experiences
ranging from learning to entertainment.
At one time they were trekking to find
out the source of the river Gira and next
they were out to reach the top of the peak
& have the exotic view of the Saputara
Ranges and Dangs Forest.
Monica (Grade 6)
Machines-making life Easier or Difficult ???We started the unit with the tuning-in activity
of provocation table, where we kept a large
number of objects like juicer-mixer, skates,
ladder, spoon, bat etc. The students used
their thought process to inquire the relation
between all the objects that they explored
and this activity tuned them for the unit.
The students had fun in their learning about
the concepts of gravity and friction, with the
help of monkey bars and slides in the Jungle
gym.
“ We have developed machines to make
our lives easier. “ was the central idea of
the last unit taken by Grade-3. But,
somehow we teachers felt that this unit
will make students’ life difficult ! The
reason behind it, was that we have to
teach our LITTLE ones the HUGE
concepts of simple machines, friction
and gravity. So, we decided to make it
interesting for them and their life easier !
The workstation activity for understanding
levers, provided them with hands on
experience and even helped them in
understanding the different classes of
lever. Students gave a very enthusiastic
and overwhelming response to the cart
and winch making activity. The list of
learning experiences in this unit was a
long one but we would like to mention
a few. They were: screw inspectors,
work-relay games, interviewing school
workers, making 3D-models of simple
machines, making lemonade and viewing
videos about complex machines.
Overall this unit, made the students and
the teachers, THINKERS and this unit
was so much enjoyed by the students
that even after completion of this unit,
whenever they come across any machine,
they identify the simple machines in them.
paintings, baskets from Africa, and a variety
of masks, all from different places around
the world. The students had good exposure
to different forms of art forms.
The visit to the exhibition was a new
experience for most of the children and
a good eye-opener into our incredible
world of Art.
This was the theme of an exhibition held
by Grade 5, on the 13th of Friday, in
November. The exhibition showcased
our Ecosystem; its biotic & abiotic factors,
its biomes, water biomes, trophic levels,
food chains & food webs. The exhibition
was well attended & the interest shown
by the visiting students was excellent. It
was of special interest to Sr.K.G.
students as they have a connected UOI
on “Habitats”.
Grade 2
Smriti Arora (Grade 3)
An added attraction to the exhibition was
an art activity for the visitors. The
Pre-primary students coloured lots of leaves,
fruits, butterflies, caterpillars, crabs, fishes,
sea-anemones, etc. while Grade 1 & 2 had
to draw any living thing of their choice.
Grade 3, 4 & 6 had to write a slogan or
draw a picture about conservation. The
teachers too drew lot of pictures with
messages on conservation.
Thota Vaikuntam’s paintings centered
around the traditional South Indian people.
The children explored the bright colours
and pictures of animals in the paintings
of Amit Ambalal. They connected Jogan
Chowdhury’s painting to Aboriginal
art, as he too used circles and dots in his
work. Following the art exhibition, we
visited the home of Anuradha Viswanath
(our librarian) to view her impressive
collection of art. She showed her
assorted pieces of pottery,
There was an art exhibition held at the
Regent Mall where displays of artwork
from a range of Indian Contemporary
artists were put up. Grade 2, as part of
their UOI –“Through the arts people use
different forms of expression to convey
their uniqueness as human beings”, had
an interesting and informative visit.
Paintings of different artists like Shri
Haku Shah, S.H.Raza, Thotha Vaikuntam,
Manu Parekh, Amit Ambalal,
K.G. Subramanyam, Jogan Chowdhary
etc were displayed. The children got to
explore areas of interest of each
artist’s work, and came up with their
own perspectives as to why a painting
was done in that particular way.
S.H. Raza’s work is mostly based on
abstract and geometrical patterns.
“HOW WE SHARE THE PLANET?”
Visit to Art exhibition......
Gowri (Grade 5)
The drawings across the age groups
were excellent & were put out on display
in the assembly for all to see.
This exhibition was truly a learning
experience for the Grade 5 students
as they were fully involved in the
preparation, presentation & winding up
activities related to the event. The
responsibility with which the art activity
was conducted, especially the organising
of students in groups, distribution of
papers & colours, coaxing & encouraging
the younger students to colour, collection
of material right up to the return of all art
material to the relevant department needs
to be appreciated. “Hats off” to the
students of grade 5 for a job well done.
The students also mentioned that apart from educating others they too had an opportunity to learn a thing or two from the younger students.
Truly, the opportunities to learn never cease to amaze me!
We could conclude that this UOI on healthy
lifestyles can help the children in
understanding the importance of making
balanced choices of the food, necessity of
sleep, exercise and recreation. Sr. KG
What do we mean by nutrition? What’s
this food pyramid all about? How do
different food groups provide us
balanced diet? Why sleep, exercise,
recreation, hygiene etc. are essential
for our physical and mental health?
These were some of the question faced
by the young inquisitive minds of
Senior KG during the second UOI on
“Healthy Lifestyle”.
They understood that as we need nourishing food and exercise for our body, similarly we need good amount of sleep and recreation for our mind. They got the a fair idea about different food groups and at the same time understood their respective places in the food pyramid including their favorite junk food which occupies minimal space as it can be eaten only once in a while.
Health and Hygiene .....
Visit by a dietician, Mrs. Anita Singh
further helped to broaden their
knowledge on balanced diet. Activities
such as Healthy Island wherein children
were able to place the picture of the
food accordingly in the food pyramid
were an enjoyable one. Other areas
such as oral hygiene as part of the
personal hygiene was highlighted so
as to make them aware of the cleanliness
of teeth in order to avoid unpleasant
experiences such as cavities, toothaches.
How to take good care of the teeth was
briefed by the dentist couple Mr and Mrs.
Shah. Children underwent oral checks
and were handed over the check-up
cards. Our PE teacher focused on
different types of exercises such as
Yoga, aerobics etc.and their
significance in our daily routines.
Shraddha Pachauri
Market Market everywhere.....
The unit was triggered off with a “Barter
Day at School” where the students
exchanged their old things with a better
one. This activity helped the students to
understand the failure of the barter
system and the emergence of markets.
Students then proceeded to explore
major markets of Surat. The unit on
“How we organize ourselves”
Places like Shanivari market ( a second
hand goods market), Dhiraj sons (retail
store), Textile market, Tarwadi market,
Mandi on wheels (vegetable and fruit store)
and Sahaj super market were explored to
understand the emergence of a need of a
market place, the supply chains that help
markets run efficiently and the unethical
practices going on in the markets.
was made exciting for Grade 4 as the
students had many field trips exploring
markets in the city of Surat.
clearing in the forest to play games and
after we returned, we all bathed in the
river for 3 hours. In the evening we went
for rappelling and rock climbing. As it
started getting darker, we headed back
towards the camp. In the night after a
hearty dinner, we had a star gazing
session. We were amazed to see that
the whole sky was filled with twinkling
stars. We saw Jupiter through the
telescope and that was the most
exciting part of the day. Students played
around the campfire and sang songs till
late night. The third day was sad for
children as they were not ready to leave
the place and go. They wanted to stay
and enjoy the nature. The trip was a
healthy mix of enjoyment and learning
as students learnt many facts about our
mother nature and how different animals
hunt each other and the way that they live.
The organisers of the camp “Team Prayas”
(http://www.prayas-india.org/) did a
wonderful job in organising this camp.
On the whole the trip was enjoyed and
will be cherished for the years to come.
The excitement roared through the
corridors of Classes when it was
announced that there was an
educational nature trip to Dang forest
that was going to take place. Students
got busy discussing the things to be
carried and the enjoyment they will
encounter there. There were a number of
questions that teachers faced when they
met the parents early in the morning on
the day of the trip. On the way to Dangs,
children enjoyed the journey where they
ate most of the times and played games.
We reached the campsite around 12
noon. When students saw the place that
they were going to stay, a glimpse of
amazement flickered on their face. It
was a beautiful scenario, almost surreal,
as if somebody is seeing a painting
hang on a wall. A place where there
were tents and nearby a river was flowing
with lush green woods around. The
chirping of the birds, the shining sun
on the water making it sparkle, the music
of the river nearby almost made it a
dream. On the first day, we did a short
trek inside the forest , inquiring
about many things like how the local
people used the land for farming, how
Dangs got its name, how people stay
here, what wild life one can find here.
It was quite exciting as we were told
many new things which otherwise we
wouldn’t be aware of. We also had a
bath in the river which was the most
enjoyable of all. The next day, early in
the morning we went to an open
Wonderful experience to share
Students also visited villages to see and
understand the demand and supply
chain. The field trips were engaging and
students learnt a lot by visiting the places
that they had never visited. Overall, the
unit was very well explored by the
students and the outcome in terms of
students’ inquiries and understanding
was much beyond our expectations.
Shraddha Pachauri
We feel hot in summer”, “we feel cold in
winter”, we use umbrella during he rainy
season”, “we come to school in the
morning”, “we sleep at night”, that was
the prior knowledge of Jr.kg children at
the beginning of the UOI- Our activities
are usually connected to the earth’s
natural cycle under the TDT- How the
world works? In order to provoke
learning, the classes were decorated
according to 3 seasons and day & night.
The children explored all the classes
and came up with various questions at
their level and made connections during
class discussion.
.
To further promote the
inquiry each class was divided into 3
corners. Each corner represented a
particular season i.e. summer, winter
and monsoon. The corner displayed the
objects brought by the children
themselves which was later used for
show & tell. Each child gave the
presentation about his/her object which
helped them to comprehend the activities
(summer & winter).
Let’s enjoy the weather
It was a great learning experience for both
the students and the teachers
Jr.KG Teachers
Edited by
Designed by
Gowri Murali
Bhavisha Parikh
and
C MN P SUO I G OONthSports Day - 24 Dec
Parent Teacher Conference - 8-9 Jan Annual Day - 26-27 Feb