Roadmap to Empathy 2018-19 Empathy is the cornerstone of Emotional Intelligence. Practicing it the right way results into phenomenal positive transformations in life. The Counselling section of the Udgam School for Children, Thaltej organized an interactive workshop for teachers on effectiveness of empathy. The aim of the workshop was to sensitize the teachers towards practicing empathy and the positive effects of it on personal and professional life. It highlighted the following points: · Significance of empathy for teachers to help maintain happy, satisfying relationships personally and professionally · Importance of an empathic teacher on student’s heart and mind · Tips and techniques to help teachers develop empathy for students · Tips and techniques on how to train students to develop empathy · Success stories/examples of empathizing showing fruition in the learning environment. The workshop dedicatedly aimed to help teachers develop the skill for empathizing and helping them realize the magic of the quality that empathy is. Not enough can be stressed about the importance of empathy, Vidhi Ma’am, Counsellor of Primary section, ended the session saying, “Empathy paves the way to the Road for Future Success” and believing it precisely, practicing empathy in the workplace or anywhere results in happy, successful relationships.

Enlightening Talk Shows on World Health Day Zebar School in cooperation with My FM 94.3, on account of the World Health Day, 7Th April, Saturday, celebrated the day by organizing informative and soul-stirring talk shows, at Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Auditorium. Beat Breast Cancer Talk show, by Dr Shefali Desai, of Samved Hospital, was held in tandem with an invigorating talk show by the very renowned Gujarati writer, Kaajal Oza Vaidya. The talk shows were exclusively women based and meant and hence, the event witnessed many women coming to attend the talk show. The event was graced by the presence of leading ladies of the Zebar and Udgam School, Ms. Radhika Iyer & Ms. Pratima Patell, Director and Academic Adviser at Udgam and Zebar School respectively, Mrs. Daksha Desai, Trustee at Zebar School and Mrs. Bhumi Choksi, Assistant Director at Udgam School, along with My FM 94.eradio channel’s Programming Head, Ms. Krupa Trivedi and RJ. Nimisha, and Gujarati film industry’s lead star actresses, Esha Kansara and Deeksha Joshi.

Class 2-English Activity Grammar games make language more fun and that is the purpose of the first two activities conducted in English in Class 2. These activities on ‘Alphabetical Order’ were conducted to inspire imagination and creativity in the minds of the children regarding words. In the first activity ‘ABC Fun’, children were divided into groups and given a flashcard to arrange themselves in alphabetical order. It was fun watching kids identify words and alphabets among themselves and this encouraged team work. Another activity ‘Do the Dice’ was conducted wherein children in pairs/groups rolled word dices and arranged the dices in alphabetical order. Children took turns to roll the dice and arranged the words according to the alphabetical sequence. This activity would help them in practical applications such as dictionary usage, correct spelling among others. Flashcards or dice, alphabetical order is just the first step to building strong linguistic skills in children.

From anxiety to paranoia to even being excited, the first day for  toddlers and their parents is a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

Defying those standard first-day-to-school jitters, the Primary section of Udgam welcomed the kids of Grade 1 with utter patience and support. Director of the Primary Section, Pratima Ma’am, with Vice-Principal of the Primary section, Meetika Ma’am along with other primary teachers warmly welcomed the kids and ensured their parents of a happy and fun-filled first day at school.

The corridors and classes of the school are spiffed up with caterpillar theme along with doremon, spider-man, batman, and many of  kids' beloved characters dazzling with colourful balloons. They were so intrigued by the welcome decoration that they had no signs of nervousness, in fact, many kids were seen posing besides their favourite cartoon and entered the class with a big, bright smile on their faces. The parents too left the school with a satisfied smile.

SOF-1^st Level NSO Winners

Students with Medal of Distinction and Medal of School Rank.

The students of grade 1 had a Drama activity in oral expression. The drama selected was GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS.

The whole drama was divided into 8 scenes and each scene was performed by different groups to incorporate all the children. . Each group had 5 students , playing  5 different characters ,that is, Narrator, Goldilocks, Papa Bear, Mother Bear and Baby Bear. Chairs, bowls, spoons, hairband, bench and placards were used as props .It was indeed a pleasure to see  students immerse in their characters and enact to the best of their ability.

The aim of this activity was to set the stage for playful learning. Through this, the students enriched their vocabulary and enhanced their story comprehension abilities.

“Best out of waste” is one of the most enjoyable activity that children can be engaged in. This activity was organized for grade II, to explore and encourage creativity in children and to offer them a platform to showcase their skill. The motive behind such an activity is to make children learn and progressively understand that resources should be used carefully. They can reuse waste materials and they should not always depend on new things. A variety of waste materials like pistachio shells, coconut shells, ice-cream sticks, plastic bottles etc were used to make useful things like Pen stand, Toys, Lanterns, Pencil boxes, Bird feeders, Bird house, Aquarium, Dice, Flower etc. Articles prepared by the children were a treat to the eyes. This fun filled activity witnessed an enthusiastic participation by all the students.

Environmental Science is an interesting subject with variety of topics concerning our day to day life. We do our best to make the concepts clear by doing hands on activities. One such topic is making of cloth (WEAVING). Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or a cloth. To clear this concept, grade II children did the paper weaving activity. The whole weaving process was taught by the teachers using two papers which were cut into strips. The strips of paper were woven together to form a mat. The students finally coloured their hand made mats, decorated and laminated them. All the students thoroughly enjoyed this activity and worked with great enthusiasm.

Combination of brain storming and vocabulary-building turns into an amazing activity. Students of Class 3  had a  spectacular Riddle Competition in Gujarati. In this, the students were divided into four groups i.e. Kairi (mango), Gulab(rose), Mor(peacock) and Sinh(lion). There were total five rounds i.e. Common round, Buzzer round, Call a friend round, Visual round and Rapid fire round. There was a very interesting round for teachers also. Riddles were put up to teachers and they had to rack their brains to answer them . From the starting till the end, students learned a lot and increased their vocabulary bank.

WINNING TEAM- Kairi ( Saumya M Shah(III B), Naitik B Desai(III C), Dhyani J Trivedi(III E))

RUNNERS-UP TEAM -Sinh ( Kahaan T Shah(III A), Paridhi R Dave(III C), Yug P Patel(III B))

Winners and participants were applauded and awarded with certificates.

Cricket is a game played  throughout the world. It is a thrill both to play the game and to watch it. Students of Class 5 (both boys and girls )were taught the basic rules and given training in playing cricket by their PE teacher.  The Inter Class tournament started with the selection round. Then, there were the quarter final matches between the sections followed by the semi – finals. Finals were amongst the 2 best teams and the winners were declared. The winning teams were awarded with gold medals and silver medals were given to the runners-up teams. The series of matches between the sections  gave students a chance to cheer their fellow mates. We could see lot of zeal and competitiveness among the players as well as the spectators. Children left no stone unturned in cheering their favourite teams!!

The game of cricket encouraged team spirit, fostered discipline, helped build up character & brought out the quality of leadership in the students!!!