Space Workshop

A workshop on astronomy and science was organized for the students of Grade 4 as a part of the ongoing unit, How the world works, on Thursday, 14^th February, 2013. The theme for the workshop was “Ways and means of space exploration”. Anju Khanna, regional manager, Neetin Gusain, client relationship manager, Pooja Kumar, assistant scientific officer and Sakshi, the educator from a company ,“Space” based in New Delhi lead the workshop.

Pooja led the Pathwayzians on their journey to explore the frontiers of space further. The session started off with an interesting quiz based on the  prerequisites to be an astronaut. Students then undertook a lung capacity test to test their endurance to breathe in the thin air that exists in space. This was followed by a low gravity balancing act wherein they skillfully balanced balls in the spoon. Chosen few were given a chance to show their dancing skills in vacuum and viola; the best ones were given an opportunity to be an astronaut. The students dwelled on the nitty gritties of the space suit and the difficulties faced by the astronauts in space. Shreyans and Aryaman from our Grade were the two lucky ones to become astronauts by wearing the astronaut's suit and Aryaman finally won prizes for winning the competition.

Students displayed their ingenuity by building rockets individually assembling the components given. The mechanism used to propel a rocket into space was explained. They experienced the launching of a rocket into space in a virtual simulated environment and the ones whose rockets travelled the maximum distance were rewarded. The enthusiasm and excitement was palpable in the air. After a refreshing lunch break students used another technology to propel the rockets through the air, the pop method.

Later on they watched a video on ‘International Space Station’ where a live recording of the actual station and the cosmonauts was shown. They were briefed about the lives of cosmonauts in space.

Overall students learnt about how the astronauts are trained, rockets launched and further exploration conducted to understand the mysteries of space.

Amid the chaos and din of the day, the students had an enriching and enlightening learning experience. They took space mementos home to continue with their journey of exploration further.  

International Mother Language Day Celebrations

We celebrated International Mother Language Day today. We actually began the celebrations a week in advance with 'WORD OF THE DAY' activity and the students making Picture books in their own mother languages, translated to English. The students were excited to find a new word put up everyday and equally excited to find the meaning of the word in their own mother languages. In the class Grade 4 came up with tongue twisters in different languages and presented a song or a poem in their own mother languages. The day ended with a special assembly in which the Boarders of Grade 4 presented a PPT on the importance of International Mother Language Day and read a prayer on world peace in six languages- English, Spanish, Russian, Nepali, Hindi and Bengali. A few students from Garde 3, 4 and 5 also presented a few songs and poems in their mother languages. We had Vedika from our class sharing a song in Bengali. The special assembly ended with a Quiz on Languages and the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves taking part in the quiz. Shashi Tharoor rightly said ' If we lose a language, we lose a part of ourselves.' I am sure the students learned something from the assembly about appreciating each other's' mother languages and making an effort to learn how to read and write in their own mother languages. 

Here are a few glimpses of the day gone by. 

Learning Eclipses with Oreo Biscuits

The students were quite amazed to see me with Oreo biscuits in my hand this morning. They were even more amazed when I called them to a table and asked them to gather around and watch me eat the biscuits. What they did not realize was that they were about to be introduced to Lunar Eclipse through Oreo biscuits. I broke the biscuits apart and ate part of the white cream on them carefully to create Crescent Moons and Gibbous Moons in their waxing and waning states. Then I laid them in front of the kids and they were quick to identify them as the phases of the moon. We had a class discussion on the phases of the moon and how Lunar Eclipse takes place.

I also explained the concept of day and night to them using a torch light and a globe.

I asked the kids if they knew of another similar phenomenon and they knew I was talking about Solar Eclipse. It was good fun having a discussion and making our understanding clearer. This was followed by the viewing of a video which helped the students understand the Lunar and Solar Eclipses better.

Research on the Solar System

The Solar System- the closest to what we know about the Universe. The students researched to find information about the nine planets including Pluto as a dwarf planet, comets, asteroids, meteors, meteorites and the Sun. They came up with the list of things they would like to find out about these heavenly bodies. 

They researched about the characteristics of the heavenly bodies, their rotation and revolution speed, number of moons they have, etc. They did a good job on their presentations. All the information on each heavenly body has been compiled in a data collation booklet so that each child has all the information about all the heavenly bodies.

Here are the proud students with their excellent work.