Archives - Last Week's Class

WHAT WE DID IN CLASS

By Shreya Parikh

Last time in class (March 10^th 2007) for the first half an hour we discussed our articles [current news].

Then we learnt what a limerick and haiku is.

A limerick is a funny poem with 5 lines. The 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th lines have to rhyme, and the 3^rd and 4^th lines have to rhyme.

A haiku is a Japanese form of poetry. It is very short, and only has 3 lines. The 1^st and 3^rd lines have 5 syllables, and the 2^nd line has 7 syllables.

Then we wrote our own haikus and limericks. If you would like to read them, please go to the “Writing” page on this website – and tell us what you think of them !

Today is Republic Day, and we celebrate with a painting by Aadya Jajodia, using the colours of the national flag.

What We Did in Class - April Fool's Day 2006

By Anushka Kapur

Last week we played a lovely game where you have to choose a partner and one of them will be blindfolded and the other has to take his or her partner around the whole house without letting their partner get hurt.

We had a blast so we played it twice. After that we spoke about it. There were questions like “How did you feel when you were blindfolded?” and many more. There were lovely answers as well like “I felt like how a blind man would feel” etc.

Last week’s class was very exciting. The Roly Poly Saturday wants to have such exciting games for ever. We all hope to have so much fun like this for ever in the ELS class with such lovely teachers like Miss Madhulika and Miss Vidhi. Thank you.

The editor adds ….

The object of the game was to demonstrate trust and co-operation, but we all learnt so much more.

Apart from understanding how blind people felt, the children also realized that their concept of space changed when they could not see. Several of them pointed out that although they knew the rooms, and the objects in them, they lost their sense of distance when they could not see, and thought that objects were nearer or further away than they really were.

Also, other senses were heightened when sight was taken away, eg. they knew that they were in particular rooms because they sensed a change in the atmosphere. Hearing, smell and touch became more important when they could not see.

And finally, yes, they realized the value of trust. Most were apprehensive when they began the exercise, but relaxed when they realized their partners were taking care of them and would not let them get hurt. And a fun time was had by all !

Last Week's Class - March 18th 2006

By Vedant Parikh

First we gave our articles for the website. Then we discussed. We had written good things about each other, so we discussed how we felt about it, and discussed why friends are important.

The editor says ….

We tried to make the class aware of the value of “positive strokes”. We asked each child to write down something good about each of the other children in class. Then the kids read what had been written about them.

We then discussed this exercise. Some of the questions we asked the children were:

1. What did you feel when you were asked to write something nice about each person in the class?

2. What did you feel when you read what people wrote about you?

3. Did you learn anything new about yourself from what people said about you?

4. Many of you did not want the papers read out aloud in class? Why?

We then emphasized how important it is to think and say good things, rather than negative thoughts, about people. We asked the children to be aware of their negative, or unkind, thoughts, and try to be positive instead. We also discussed the value of friendship and why friends are important.

Last week's class

By Vrinda Gangwal

On Saturday, we discussed an article about a dog and his owner. He was moving from moving from Kolkatta to Mumbai with his dog. When he reached the airport, the airline people told him that he must put the dog in a wooden box with four small holes.

"But why?" asked the owner. "He's in a box and asleep , how will he bark?"

"It's the rule of the airline" said the people. The owner said okay and went into the plane. When they reached, they saw that the dog had some white stuff on his mouth, wheich meant he was dying.

"You have killed my dog" the owner said to the people.

"No!" they replied.

"I know of a vet" said one of the airline men "I have called for him." So they waited for an hour.

The owner of the dog decided to go to the vet, so the airline man and he took a taxi. They told the driver to take them to the vet, but when they reached there, they found out that the vet had been closed for two years. The taxi driver had some sense and took him to another vet. The vet tried to pump air, but the dog had already died.

And Meghna Bajaj's writeup ....

One day there was a man who had a pet. He loved his dog and wanted to take it along with him while he was traveling on Jet Airways. As he reached there, the people told him "You need to give this dog sleeping pills" So he went to the vet and told him to give the dog enough sleep medicines. He went back and told them that he had given the medicine. Then they said that he would have to put a muzzle on the dog. The man said okay. They put the dog in the baggage place. When the plane landed, the dog was dead.

The editor says .....

Last week, we read out an article from the newspaper to the children. Vrinda and Meghna have summarized it beautifully. We then asked the children for solutions to the problem, and they came up with some interesting ones, which included: a) A person from the airline should travel in the baggage hold with the dog; b) leave the dog behind with someone who would love and take care of him and c) let animals travel in the air hostess’s room or have a special section in the aircraft for animals.

We then posed a problem to the children. Suppose you were driving a car very fast, and a child suddenly ran out in front of the car. There is no time to brake, so you have to swerve. But if you do swerve, you will run over and kill your pet dog. What would you do?

All the children initially said they could not decide. But when they were pressed to make a choice, the answers were interesting. Six children said they would swerve and kill their pet. Three said they could not bear to kill their dog, and would run over the child. And three children said they would just close their eyes and drive, and let fate decide which one was to die.

Last Week's Class

by Meghna Bajaj

On the 11^th of February (last week) we met and enjoyed ourselves. What we did was: we sat in a circle and, turn by turn, we said what we wanted to change about our school. Everyone said something like this: to put cameras so that big children couldn’t bully small children, to have big playgrounds etc.

..... and Aadya Jajodia's writeup:

On the 18^th of Feb in Ms Madhulika’s class we had a blast as we always do. We talked about the thing we liked about our school and what we dislike about our school. We had many different answers about our school, and see what I said, “What I like about my school is that we have many activities like cooking and art, and what I dislike about my school is that when we go for art we have to clean up the whole art room.” So now you know all about this class, but do not miss the other writeups that my friends are going to make.

The editor says ......

Last week we decided to focus on education. We began by asking the children to name one thing they liked about their school, and one thing they disliked. The things the children liked included:

no boys (they litter the school !)
having audio visual periods where they can watch films and documentaries of their choice.
Lots of activities
Kind teachers
The school year beginning in January along with the new year
Brightly coloured uniforms
Mice (and cats) running around the classroom
Crows cawing outside the window
The fact that children are sent for international competitions and activities
The fact that they are allowed to watch a film on Children’s Day
Lots of holidays

The most common dislike was being bullied by older children, especially in the canteen where the senior students corner all the goodies. Other dislikes include:

A small playground
Too much homework
Very strict teachers – one child even mentioned teachers hitting the children.
Tests right through the year, so there is too much studying

Then we asked the children to name one thing which they would like to change about their school. There were many perceptive observations:

Introduction of CCTV’s so that the principal / teachers could monitor what went on in the school
Larger playgrounds
Teachers should not be absent, or if they were, proper substitute teachers should be brought in
Proper supervision by teachers during break, so that older children could not bully the younger ones
Younger children should be allowed to borrow books from the school library
Better furniture
Children should be allowed to keep their books in school so that their school bags would be lighter
Lollipops and sweets on the principal’s birthday !
Terminal exams rather than weekly tests, because the latter involves too much study
Banning of chewing gum during break in case children choked on gum while playing

And there were two suggestions that involved teachers:

Starting school a little later so that teachers who lived far away had more time to get to school, and
Allowing one period for teachers to relax !

Last Week's Class

Last week’s class I had a lot of fun while seeing everybody’s scripts. Everybody liked the website so much that we spent half an hour seeing it. After that, my teacher told us to sit in a big circle and we talked about feeling left out. She asked us about how we felt when we were left out. I put up my hand many times and shared all my stories about when I got left out.

December 3rd 2005

Report by Sanskriti Agarwal

Today is a Saturday. My teacher showed me and everybody our website. We just loved it. It was really good. And then she asked us what we would be when we grew up. Then she made us do a small show. In that show I had a partner. Her name was Vrinda. She was a shark and I was a dog.

THE EDITOR SAYS ......

We asked the children what they would like to be when they grew up, and why. It was remarkable to see that all the children had very clear ideas about what they wanted to be.

Some of the other aspects we asked the children to think about were:

- did you choose your profession because you are following either of your parents?

- have you always wanted to be what you have spoken about today?

- do you think you will change your mind about what you want to be?

- do your parents ask you what you want to be, or tell you that you should go into any particular profession?

- for those who wanted to be artists, singers, cricketers etc, do you want to do this because you want to be famous?

The most amusing comment came from Shikha who vehemently declared that she would never ever be an actress because “you have to hug all those dirty boys” !!

Here are some of the responses from the children:

Shreya Parikh: "I am Shreya and I want to become a teacher because my mother is a teacher and I also like to teach because I think it's fun and I like to write on the blackboard."

Vedant Parikh: "My name is Vedant Parikh. I want to be a cricketer because I want to be famous."

Abhishek Mehta: "I want to become a singer because I like music and love singing. And also, my hobby is singing. When I was young I decided to be a cricketer. Then I thought it was tough to play cricket. Then, day by day, I started liking music, and I decided to be a singer."

Meghna Bajaj: "I want to become an insect discoverer because I like insects." Check out Meghna's facts about insects on our Wildlife page.

Shikha Dhurka: Hmmm … let’s see … what shall I become when I grow up?

How about a dancer?

Naa … a dancer … no.

Oh ! I know ! An artist ! That will be nice. I really love drawing. Whenever I have nothing to do, I sit and draw.

What would you like to be when you grow up? A singer? A businesswoman? Or an artist like me?

* * * * * * * * * *

November 28th 2005

Report by Simran Gupta

We learnt about different animals – which animal we look like and which animal we don’t like but a good thing about it, and we saw the background of our magazine.

THE EDITOR SAYS .....

On November 28^th, we thought we would like to stretch the children’s minds by asking them to tell us which animal they thought they most resembled, and why. We seem to have a lot of dogs and monkeys in our class ! Here are some of the answers !!

Shikha: I think I’m a monkey because I always copy my elder brother. I’m very talkative. I even like to jump all over like monkeys. I’m very naughty, and, many times, I play tricks on my brother.

Sahaj: I think I am like a dog because I love my family very much and I am very friendly.

Eesha – I am like a dog because I jump a lot.

Swayam – I am like a monkey because I love bananas and I always jump from one place to another

Vrinda – I am a monkey because I am naughty and I like eating bananas.

Abhishek – I am like a monkey because I also like to eat bananas and I also like to jump

Simran – I am like a dolphin because when I’m asleep my grandmother says that my mouth is like a dolphin’s mouth

Meghna – I think I am like two animals:

The monkey because I like to eat bananas, I like to copy others, I like to climb and I always like to play pranks
The horse: because whenever I laugh, or cry, I sound a little like a horse and I jump and walk a bit like a horse

The kids then began talking about the animals they * didn’t * like. We thought we would try and turn this negative into a positive, and asked them to think about aspects of those animals which they did like. We tried to show them that there are no absolutes in life – even things you don’t like have a good side. Here are some of the children’s responses.

Shikha – I don’t like lizards but still, did you know that a lizard’s tail can break off? When a lizard is caught by the tail, the tail breaks off at the point where pressure is applied to it. There is one lizard that can run on water because of its flat feet. Most of them are harmless and don’t bite. They make good pets for people who are fond of them.

Eesha - I hate lions because they eat animals, but I like lions because of their manes.

Swayam – I don’t like lions because they eat people and animals. Some good things about lions are: I like their hair and their bodies, also how they roar, and how they hide and catch people and animals.

Vrinda – I hate snails because when I put them in my hand, something yellowish comes out. But I like their eyes.

Abhishek – I don’t like bats. They are blind so they cannot see in the light, but the bats’ wings are orange in colour and I like that. I also like the way they always hang upside down on trees.

Simran – I don’t like the crocodile because it eats things that it’s not supposed to, but it gives us light at night with its glowing eyes.

Sahaj: Come here, I’ll tell you the animal that I hate. It’s a tiger. But I’ll tell you something good about a tiger. It is related to nature, so when any person comes to cut trees or kill animals it will save the jungle or forest. That’s why I will tell you that no animal is completely bad – every animal is good for something.

Anushka – I hate lizards but I like their eyes and how they move their tails, but though I like these two points about lizards, I will still hate them for my whole life.

Aadya – I don’t like lizards, but I like the chameleon because when it is on something, it changes its colour. And when it’s on a multicoloured thing it looks amazing. Oooh what beauty.

Sanskriti – I don’t like tigers because they eat animals, but I love them because they have stripes. I saw a tiger and it has a beautiful body. I am scared of tigers.

Meghna – I don’t like the crocodile, but the good things about it are:

1. it protects itself

2. its sleepy look

3. it’s always in a group

4. it has a very slim tail

5. it has very sharp powerful legs

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