Parikrma receives ISA award by British Council

On 16th and 17th of November, Guna Sundary (Principal of the Koramangala School) and Latha Selvan, (Principal of Jayanagar School) went to Chennai to receive an award by the British Council for their ISA project.

ISA is the International School Award and has the objective of nurturing global citizenship in young people as well as enriching teaching and learning. They experience a new concept of doing research on an international topic and become aware of the culture of other countries. 

It fosters team building, innovation, and project management. British Council has established ISA to promote development in schools that is holistic and adequately prepares students for the future. Since 2003, more than 1200 schools in India have participated. They are private or public, rural or urban. 

In the Jayanagar School, 8 classes have participated in ISA last year. They conducted 7 projects on the following topics: child labour in India and the world, safety and first-aid, hidden discoveries, nutrition and food, famous personalities, girl’s empowerment through sports, and currencies of different countries.  

The children were extremely creative and came up with great ideas on how to realise the projects. The teachers and children made a huge effort in preparing and doing research on the topics over the period of almost a year. The projects were presented to the other classes and even the parents. 

Guna Sundary had a great experience as the ISA coordinator. As she had to correct and adapt the documentation files for ISA several times, she did not imagine it would get selected. But finally, Parikrma School was selected for the ISA award along with 63 other schools.

Diwali Celebration

This Diwali, Parikrma children and teachers celebrated in a very lively way. Various traditional and modern dances were performed and a skit showed us how Diwali can be interpreted into the 21st century. The children were very happy to see Shukla Bose, who reminded us that Diwali should not be celebrated at the cost of others. Rather, we should think of the people and animals who are sensitive to sound. Thus, many children pledged they would not burst crackers this year.

The Koramangala school had the honour to have several guests this year, among them Paul from England and an alumni who works at Hilton hotel today.

At the end of the celebration, beautifully coloured lamps were sold to teachers and volunteers. These funds will be donated to earthquake victims in Nepal.

Mars class visits Hippocampus

Last week, the children of Mars class had the wonderful opportunity to visit Hippocampus library for a storytelling event. It was organised by Hippocampus, while their class teacher Vijayashree had taken the initiative to take her class together with Rashida from the school library. The event involved the book release of "Suraiya's gift" by Malavika Natraj. The Japanese-English author lives in Singapore and has been writing stories since she was twelve. Story teller Savi Sarin told the story and suddenly stopped in between. Then, it was the children’s task to invent and write down an ending to the story, about which they were very excited. This was a competition between the children from all the attending schools, namely NPS and Greenwood High. Saniya from Parikrma was selected among the top three winners! 

 

  

 

Let's focus on the health of mothers

On Saturday, October 31, a health check-up specially for the mothers of Parikrma students was held in Koramangala.

Society and the necessity to survive gives these mothers the main responsibility as care-givers for their families and often long working hours as servants or shopkeepers. In the process, they lack the time and attention to look after themselves. Their own health is not an issue they put first.

Registration process for the health check.

This is where the Community Development Service (CDS) at Parikrma comes in. CDS, together with the Indian Cancer Society, organised a health check-up only for the mothers. The focus lay on breast cancer as well as uterine and ovarian cancer and oral cancer. The mothers were educated on hygiene and the importance of reacting to early signs, such as itchy skin.

Detection of oral cancer. 

Three gynaecologists and two dentists took care of the women one by one. They conducted Pap tests and other methods of cancer detection. Once the results are out, CDS staff will talk to each of the mothers. For further treatment, KIDWAI memorial institute for oncology will be responsible. Should any major treatment be necessary, Parikrma will be raising the money with additional donations.

Kannada Rajyotsava

Today, we are showing you a few pictures of Kannada Rajyotsava, which celebrates the formation of the state of Karnataka on November 1.

When the Republic of India was formed, merely the southern parts of Karnataka were joined together as Mysore State. This was a relict from the princely state of Mysore. In 1956, all the Kannada speaking areas of India were unified to create the state of Karnataka as it is today. Surprisingly, its name was only changed in 1973 because the northern parts of the state did not agree with the name Mysore.

Umamaheshwari plays the 'Mother of Karnataka'

The Kannada flag, which has a yellow and red stripe, is not an official flag. Its origin lies in the political party named Kannada Paksha, which does not exist anymore. The yellow colour signifies peace, while the red stands for courage. Hindus also believe that yellow stands for arshina (turmeric), and the red for kumkuma (vermilion). Both these powders signify auspiciousness and well-being. 

Nanda and Rakshit from Pluto performed a lively dance!

Assembly with Shukla, Susan and Robert

This morning on November 2, a special Assembly took place in Koramangala. Susan and Robert from Scotland were visiting and were warmly welcomed by Shukla Bose, the founder of Parikrma Humanity foundation. Susan is a teacher herself and regularly trains fellow teachers in Hyderabad. She visited the school to get some input from Parikrma.

 The children had prepared various performances and were excited to go on stage. 

The Venus class children displayed a snowflake dance with beautiful masks. Dispite the fact, that they had never seen snow, they seemed to know exactly how it looks and feels. They liked the song and the dance, especially because they got to wear a beautiful dress.





Earth class had written a limerick and performed it in front of everyone. “My mom and dad run, this party is fun. I let a kangaroo to hop, it gone to the shop. I saw the sun and ate a cream bun.”

Even Sun class recited a rhyme about fruit salad.

Bhavana took the role of a teacher. 

Mercury children explained several professions: baker, soldier, nurse, teacher and doctor. All these professionals are community helpers that are of great value to society.

Manish is a cook.

Dhoni is a soldier.

Dharshan is a doctor.

Prathna explains the work of a nurse. 

Finally, Mars class performed a song that has helped them understand photosynthesis in their EVS lessons. Even the Earth class children had studied this topic, and later Rithik was able to explain photosynthesis perfectly well. 

Venus Class visits Bannerghatta Biological Park

In July 2015, the children from Venus class set off for a field trip to Bannerghatta Biological Park, which is located south of Bangalore.

As they have studied plant life and animal life in their environmental science lessons, the children were eager to see the herbs, different types of trees and animals in reality.

The children observed various animals such as cheetah and leopard, monkeys, giraffe, elephants, deer, and many birds like ostrich, emu, eagle and owl. They also saw snakes like the impressive python.



For some of the animals, the children could see them during feeding time and deepened their knowledge of animals' food habits.


The field trip ended with a visit to the playground, where they were excited to play on the swing, see-saw, slides and so on.

Growing up in Koramangala, seeing wildlife and various types of plants is not an ordinary experience for the Parikrma students. They were stunned to see what nature has to offer and went home with a refined understanding of animals' behaviour, their habitats, and food habits.

As they went back to school the next day, the children created a mini-zoo. They made all the animals they had seen out of paper and cardboard. It was a good opportunity to think of all the memories they had made.