Riverside School Blog

Collection drive for Goonj-Initiative by Grade 5

2009-09-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hi team

We all are aware of the joy of giving week and the goonj initiative .let me just share what g5 has started to do in that respect.Parul came to our grade and gave all of us an opportunity to be a part of the collection drive for goonj Parul shared her goonj visit and a story to inspire students. So today 4 students of g5 went to spread awareness of the collection drive to 3 local schools.

The first school was Xaviers ,Hansol.The principal graciously obliged us and called g8 students for the interaction .g5 then got to know that they had to speak in Gujarati as the students were
guj.med.students.Dhrumil took over the charge and spoke well while the rest chipped in.

Next was Rachana school.The principals were on leave but students managed to interact with g5 who were having their sports time.Sejal and Kshitij were the speakers here.

The last stop was Rosary school. As they had exams students talked to the principal .She was pretty happy and appreciated Riverside for all what is being done!!!!!Shubhangi spoke here.

They all came back smiling and shared their experience with the rest of the class.It was a question .How would people believe the efforts of goonj ?have they visited the center ?(A teacher in one of the school had asked them )It led to a discussion and a collective understanding was built.

As i had accompanied the students ,i witnessed teamwork,collaboration,patience,persistence,confidence,improvisation,and
rigor spread in front of me..........am in awe of my students
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They are real gurus.....

Sulekha
Grade 5

Grade 8- Mock United Nations Organization

2009-09-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

The last week saw Grade 8 doing a mock United Nations Organization, where the students represented as delegates from various countries, talking about their country’s stand on Euthanasia.
For teachers who are not familiar with the term Euthanasia, it is famously also called Mercy Killing. By definition, Euthanasia is painless killing of a patient suffering from a terminal incurable disease or irreversible coma.
Euthanasia was taken up as a Global Perspective topic. The discussions we had in class led to talks on suicide, God, the purpose of life and dignity in death. The best thing that came out from these sessions was the discussions that happened on beliefs of life and death in different religions and countries.
The mock U.N was basically Kiran’s idea. And Raag came in to detail the protocol that is followed in the U.N.O. The students had to prepare for the U.N.O within 3 days. The class was broken up into groups, each working on deciding the rubrics for evaluation and designing the format of feedback forms for teacher, self, parents and peer evaluation. They also had to write a formal letter to their parents on behalf of Riverside inviting them for the event.
For me the challenging part was to coordinate the working of all the groups and ensuring quality output. This was the time I was online for hours on end, students mailing me their Position Papers, Invitation Letters or Speeches, me sending them feedbacks and then again, they reworking on their work and sending me the same for feedbacks.
The mock U.N. was held for 4 days. Each day, 6 candidates presented their Position Papers on their respective countries. Strict rules were conveyed to them regarding their dress code, conduct with the house and the chair. Kiran acted as the General Secretary while Raag was the Chair for the delegation. And it was really their presence that added the level of seriousness and sophistication to the event.
My Learning:
I absolutely loved seeing my kids perform so well. I was so so so happy the first day of the delegation that I could not stop smiling! It was real hard work for me also, as there were times when grade 8 would be chatting to me regarding their work till 11 at night. But seeing them so enthusiastic made it worth so much more.
The idea of consciously creating avenues where students are pushed to learn, grow and become better became clear to me during this event. Even though students, teachers and parents were the same…the students were so serious about the work because we made it so. It was us who set the tone such that they were pushed to do their best. So basically, I don’t really have to go out of Riverside for authentic experiences for everything that they do…I can create it within Riverside!
This was told to us during the workshops. But at least for me, I get the hang of things only when I actually see it happening. My learning pattern, I guess! J
I would absolutely love to be of assistance to anyone who might think of doing a mock U.N. in their class as well.
Thanks Kiran, Raag and Saher and my dear Suja for everything! Next time I will make sure I tell you all in advance if something interesting happens in Grade 8, and I am sure there will be, soon!
Vishwa
Grade 8

Grade 7 pitching for “DESIGN FOR GIVING" SCHOOL CONTEST

2009-09-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

This friday four children from grade 7 and myself went to S.V. Institute in Gandhinagar to help the school to go ahead with their story of change. We were going to explain to the children how to go about it through our own expirience. When we reached there, the principal called for grade 7 to settle in the auditorium (three sections - 150 students) , then she remembered that grade 6 and 8 can also be a part of the contest so she asked if all of them could come together, that meant nearly 400 students in all. I looked at the children and they sais " We don't mind, we will be fine". The principal was zapped and I was sitting there with a smile like a proudy peacock.Our chilren were amazing, they just managed everything even though we were not provided with a projector etc.In all a great public scrutiny for children.
Thanks to Kiran ma'am for creating such opportunities.

Shraddha
Grade 7

2009-09-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

Grade - 5 is heading towards an Authentic Experience of putting up a juice lari on the street of Ahmedabad along with a street play.

Our understanding goal for this Authentic Experience is :
(1) ' Students will understand how power of words help us to visualize and create mental image.'

(2) Students will understand how power of words help us to convey / translate our thoughts to others. '

Students did a Survey of 276 people to find out the preference of people between natural drink v/s artificial drinks. Through their survey they realized that most of the people prefer drinking natural juices, but are unaware of the ingredients of cold drinks. They collected data, which helped them to create the story line for the street play. They were empowered and wanted to increase their circle of influence.

They worked on the script of the street play and then tightened up their play with help of Deepa. ( Thanks a lot )

Today we went to the market to get an experience of buying fruits. Students were in total control while shopping. They checked for the prices at 2 different places and then decided where to buy fruits from. They inquired about the prices and then estimated how much fruit will be required to make juice for all students. They bargained with the shopkeeper and got the prices low. Then they checked the fruits and made informed choices. It was great to see them, when they asked the shopkeeper to cut the watermelon and allow them to taste it. After tasting they bought 3 watermelons.

They got different experiences of real world too. The lady fruit vendor was very impatient to see kids at her stall, but her husband was very polite and allowed them to get this experience. Students were calculating the prices per kilograms of fruits and got to know that sweet limes are sold according to the rate per dozen.

It was amazing to see how every body was working as a team. Some were talking to the fruit vendor, some were busy selecting fruits, some were noting down the prices and some were bargaining for the prices. A super team work !!!!! Sulekha and me were just facilitators and they owned up the whole experience.

Then, as Deepa had suggested we did our first Street Play. This was done to get feedback and tightening up our play. We got a good feedback. Students were happy with the experience and we both were thrilled as this was our first experience to be on the street. We will be working on our street play to give the best output.

After lunch, we had teachers and our conductors come in as our tasters for the lemon juices made by students. Half of the class made lemon juice with sugar and other half made it using jaggery. Overall feedback told us that teachers preferred lemon juice with jaggery and ginger as it adds to the nutritional values.

Math skills became our natural fallout along with the use of power of words to convince the shop keeper. Students developed attitudes like patience, respect and confidence. Skills like communication, adaptability, calculation, estimation and logical thinking were developed through this experience. ( Thanks Veena ma'am for suggesting )

Students used Power of Words..... true empowerment !!!!!!!!!!

Sulekha and Nikita
Grade 5

Design for Giving Contest

2009-08-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

The Design for Giving Contest promises to be the largest collection of stories of child-generated change anywhere in the world!

The final aim is to document 100 powerful stories of change into a curriculum for our children - as we would have spanned the entire demographic of schools from all over India.

The School 'Design for Giving' Contest!

The contest is a part of the ‘Joy Of Giving’ Week, a concept of the GiveIndia Foundation, which has the sole purpose of inspiring people to give.

The week of 27th Sept to 3rd October!!

During this time the Riverside School aims to reach out to 30,000 schools and over 1 million children across India through over 40 NGO partnerships to participate in the largest 'Design for Giving' competition in the country.

This competition focuses on the 10 to 13 year olds and hopes to change the perception of children being 'helpless' to seeing children as 'drivers of change'. In simple words - you don't have to 'grow up' to make powerful change!

Children's simple, bold ideas will touch hearts and teach us how we can give. We hope the ideas will be implemented all over the country with the sole purpose of changing a billion lives.

What does such an idea look like? - It could be anything from a shoe drive to a mass donation to charity or even a “smile at strangers” day.

We are pleased to share that Rahul Bose (actor/activist) has agreed to be the brand ambassador for the contest and Disney and CNN IBN will be supporting with media coverage.

For this, Riverside is working with Stanford University’s Design School, The National Institute of Design and world renowned design experts Ideo on India’s biggest school contest.

For more on the contest - please log onto www.designforgivingcontest.com and REGISTER!!

Riverside Philosophy

2009-08-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

COMMON SENSE IS COMMON PRACTICE Riverside is the amalgamation of an approach to learning that is embedded in common sense and a vibrant research center for school education. At Riverside, insights from cutting-edge research are turned into working models of pedagogical practices with a single-minded focus - student well being. Over the last 9 years, Riverside has developed, implemented and shared a unique curriculum that is proving to be the benchmark for providing a no-compromise school education of the highest quality. By developing and sharing such a research-based, practical curriculum, Riverside is providing schools with an alternative model which focuses on excellence and still works in different economic and cultural contexts which make it possible for children all around the country to have access to a true education.