Precious feedbacks of parents of our old and existing students. Opinions welcome.
Read More......Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
FAQs About Class Apart.
Q. What is Class Apart?
A. As the name suggests, It is a class that stands out from others. Infact, calling it a class is perhaps a mismoner. It is a one hour programme for your child, that aims at expanding his mental horizons. At Class Apart, your child will be exposed to a new topic every week. The topics might range from Solar System to Human Evolution to Olympics to political systems. Basically, The whole gamut of information that a child is exposed to, but never properly explained, would be explained. The topic will then be reinforced via a story and a hands on activity. Children will also be required to assemble and present weekly news in front of the class. The news will then be discusssed and deciphered for the benefit of kids.
Q. How do I know what's going on?
A. The Class Apart is a community, not only of kids, but of parents as well. The Parents will be kept in the loop, through this blog. It would be updated every week, right after the class. You will also recieve an email about the class every week.
Q. What does my child need to bring along?
A. We request that you make a seperate 'Class Apart' bag for the child. She must have the following in it:
1. A Scrap book big enough to paste A4 size papers.
2. A pencil Box with shaperned pencils, eraser, scale.
3. A box of oil pastels
4. Kid Safe scissors and Camlin krafty glue.
Q. What is the age criteria for Class Apart?
A. We are accepting children from class I to class IV.
Q. Do all the children attend the same class?
A. I believe that we should not control the level of information reaching the child, for we may err in judging his/her capabilities. So, Though the children will attend the same "information session", their grasp and understanding of the material would obviously vary with the age. They may be given different activities according to their skill levels. For example, if the activity for the day is crossword, the difficulty level of a grade 1 child's crossword would be different from the older kids.
Registration for Class Apart Open
A Class Truly Apart.
For Uniworld Gardens, Gurgaon.
Starting in January, a class for children of grade 1-4,
For stimulating their Mental Aptitude,
General Awareness, Public speaking and Lateral Thinking Skills.
A Fun-Learn Way to Current Affairs and GK.
The Advantage of Knowing More
A different topic each week, spanning science, history, General interest, Current Affairs etc.
Classes of just an hour a week.
Detailed Handouts on each topic for easy recall.
A dedicated Blog with additional information on each topic for parents and children.
Each session to have information, related story time, mental activities and weekly news.
Quiz competitions as the class progresses.
Class by :
Garima Gupta, T 5 /1004
ex- Times NIE consultant
Times columnist for childrens’ section
IMS faculty.
Call 987 116 3330 or mail at garimako@gmail.com for registration/ more information. Limited Batch size.
Garima Gupta
The Person called Garima..
I am a versatile person, a little bit into everything. I am on a journey ( the one you call life!) to find my calling.. Still searching.
I graduated in 1997 from Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Govt. Engg. College,. Bhopal. I subsequently worked for CDoT for 4 years in Telecom Software development. Soon found out that my calling was definitely elsewhere. I appeared for MBA entrance exams in 2002 and was selected in every school I applied to, namely IIM Ahmadabad and ISB Hyderabad. I subsequently took up teaching at IMS (India’s leading Coaching Institute). I also worked as a columnist for an e-zine, and later with Times Of Oman. My weekly column - "StoryTime with Garima Aunty" was extremely popular in Oman. I conducted freelance workshops for Students on behalf of Times Of India NIE gp. I have been a prize-winning debater, poet, table-tennis player and fashion model. I have compeered live TV shows, choreographed events and published articles on the web and in print. I have also won individual and team first prize in Table Tennis at the district level for three consecutive years.
And More: I now live in Gurgaon, with my husband, a son, a daughter and a laptop.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Magic Of Stories
The magic of stories, For the UniWorld Gardens Batch fifth class.
The Magic of Stories
Stories are our windows in the worlds unknown. Stories teach us language, culture, history, morals and imagination.
Classics Stories :
Some of the stories that a must for a child to know are :
Cinderella, SnowWhite and Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Shoemaker and the Elves, , Pinocchio, 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Rabbit, Alice in the Wonderland, The little match girl, Little red riding hood Hensel and Gretel and Thumbelina.
In addition to these, some exposure to these well-known story collections is desirable:
1. Panchatantra: Written by Pt. Vishnu Sharma to educate dimwit sons of a king, these tales provide practical knowledge and rules to live life by.
2. Aesop’s Fables: Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. His collection of stories is one of the most popular in the world, with stories like The Hare and the Tortiose and The Boy who cried Wolf.
3. Arabian Nights: The stories told by the intelligent wife of the Iranian king Shahrjan, in order to escape her execution in the morning. These contain classics like Alibaba and 40 theives, Aladdin and Sindbad.
4. Jataka Tales: The stories from the previous births of Gautam Buddha.
The Art of StoryTelling:
Storytelling is a subtle art than we can use to captivate anyone’s attention. In fact, once you master the art of storytelling, you’ll find it of immense value in day to day conversations as well.
Some key pointers:
1. Know your Story : not necessarily by heart. But you should know the start, the end, and the basic plot of the story for sure.
2. Know your audience: Is it only your child? Is it a group of young kids. What age?
3. Make sure they fit : The Story should be suitable for the target Audience.
4. Amplify emotions in the dialogues: Speak the sentences with appropriate emotional dose. The emotion (happy, angry, sad, disgusted, disappointed, hopeful..) should be clear in the tome you use.
5. Accent your voice according to the character : An old witch would sound very different from a little boy, no?
Choosing a story:
Books are one of the best investments, and the bookstores are full of materials for kids. Some books, though, are printed for adults to buy for their kids, and some books are for kids to enjoy. Know the difference. Choose a book that slightly challenges the present vocabulary of your child. Internet is a good source of some nice stories as well. The Apple story I chose for the class can be found here : http://www.thevirtualvine.com/thelittleredhouse.html
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Forces of Nature
The Fury and the force of Nature. For the Uniworld Gardens Batch fourth class. In case of Natural disasters, Prevention is just not possible. So, Preparation is the best course of action. One should always keep a 'survival kit' ready for such unforeseen circumstances. A basic Survival kit will contain -
The Nature is the biggest force. It’s fury can be devastating, deadly, and awesome! We discuss some key natural disasters in this class.
It is interesting to notice that many a times, one natural disaster triggers another, or they often happen together. Earthquakes can be accompanied by Volcanic activity, and they can trigger Tsunamis and Avalnaches. Hurricanes can spin off Tornadoes, Flooding or Fires. Each tiny change in the Earth’s dynamic and alive system can affect something else in the atmosphere.
1. Earthquakes: 
The ground shakes and moves, without warning. The buildings and trees fall; bridges break, and huge cracks appear in the ground.
Although the ground we walk on seems solid, it is actually moving!! The earth in divided into approx. 20 ‘parts’ called Tectonic Plates. The Tectonic plates are constantly shifting and moving, over a hot molten interior called mantle. The place where these plates meet is called a ‘fault’. When these plates rub together, the friction causes immense energy, that manifests itself as an Earthquake. Earthquakes generally happen along these fault lines. Epicenter is the place on Earth from where the vibrations spread out.
They are measured on the Richter scale – 1 being the mildest one that mostly goes unnoticed. An earthquake of magnitude 7 or more in a populated area is very devastating, resulting in huge loss of life and property.
2. Volcanoes: Volcanoes are also a result of Earth’s internal seismic activities, much like earthquakes. In fact, most of the Volcanoes are situated along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, which is on a major fault line. 
Inside the Earth’s core is hot molten rock, called Magma. When the magma rises to the surface of the Earth, it is called Lava. Volcano is basically a hole in the Earth that allows lava to come out. Volcanoes can be classified as active, dormant and extinct.
Volcanoes can be deadly- lava , hot stones, Lahar and the volcanic ash and smoke can kill anything that comes in their way. But volcanoes can also be useful; the early earth was shaped by volcanic activity, the volcanic soil is very fertile too.
3. Tsunami: Tsunamis are caused by Earthquakes at sea.
When a huge earthquake vertically jolts the seabed by several meters, a lot of water is displaced- which starts travelling towards the coast in a straight line. The Tsunami wave is huge by the time it reaches the coast and can cause a lot of damage. The only warning sign of a Tsunami is that the waterline retreats just before a Tsunami, exposing hundreds of meters of seabed.
4. Avalanche: 
An avalanche is restricted to mountaineous areas with a lot of fresh, loose snow. This snow can start falling at the slightest disturbance, and gains mass and momentum as it rolls down the slopes. An Avalanche can cover a whole village in no time.
5. Hurricane: 
Hurricanes, also known as cyclones or Typhoons, are large rotating storms, built around an area of very low pressure. They are accompanied with lots of rain and very fast winds. The center of the hurricane is called an ‘eye’ , which is rather calm . Hurricanes lose their strength when they make a landfall. The hurricanes are divided in categories from 1 to 5, 5 being the strongest hurricane.
6. Tornado: Tornadoes are an intresting phenomenon restricted mostly to a part of the US, called the Tornado alley.
Tornadoes are the most violent storms known to us, the wind speeds are so high that cannot be measured. A Tornado is a powerful column of spiralling winds, hanging down like a tail from the storm clouds. A powerful tornado can uproot trees and tear apart buildings that come in its way.
7. Floods: Wh
en a normally dry area is submerged in water, it is known as a flood. Floods can happen slowly, due to seasonal heavy rains, or hurricanes. They can also arrive suddenly, known as flash floods. Flash Floods can happen due to a dam burst, earthquake or Tsunami, or as in a recent case, sudden course change of a river.
Spoil-proof Food and bottled water for three days, Medicines, Blanket, Torch, Swiss Army knife, Whistle and Cell phone.
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