Seema Joshi

The budding writers, poets, orators of AVM

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As the school campus draped in a green covering after the monsoon-showers, the freshness and vivacity became fast prevailing, the palpable verve spread all over as if accelerating learning with conducive environment. Hence, the school retrieved its rhythm in academics, activities and incorporated competitions.
As a matter of fact, at AVM, learner’s delight comes unbidden in activity based learning. However, the implementation of the unique multiple intelligence based competition approach in the school, provides a rich backdrop where students make exuberant discovery of embedded content resulting in the most stimulating learning experiences. This time in the first week of August, Linguistic Intelligence was at work when students showed their fascination for words, reading and writing. A competition for Verbal and Linguistic Intelligence was held for classes 1st to 10th.
Poetry Recitation: 
In this academic competition, students of classes 1st, 2nd were guided by Kavita Ma’am to perform in Poetry Recitation or Action Song depicting importance of fruits and vegetables. Through this competition, the tiny tots got an opportunity to improve their clarity of speech, understanding and using apt words for needed expressions and remaining calm, focused and polite on the stage.
Story Presentation:
Here, students of grade 3 were encouraged and guided by Vaishali Ma’am to narrate a story through dialogues and enactment. In this story telling competition, students were exposed to some significant language skills of expressing their story through dramatization. The young participants of this competition gained confidence to present themselves on the stage in front of an audience.
Crossword Puzzle:
Linguistically smart students of grade 4 savoured and enjoyed arranging words and alphabet for the word puzzle and were on check for complicated words and rich vocabulary. Renuka Ma’am arranged for these interesting activities for grade 4th, 5th and 6th.
Parts of Speech in Sentences:
In this competition, grammar was on check, as the students of grade 5 appreciated and enjoyed the challenges in the complexities of sentence structure in which they required to identify parts of speech and collect them in their respective bowl with the labels of Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb, Interjection and Preposition, etc. 
Story Writing: 
This competition was for students of grade 6th who are linguistically intelligent possessing a knack of writing. The story writing competition was to enhance the skill of appropriate usage of words and grammar for writing a particular text type.
Poetry Writing: 
Writing in the native or the mother tongue is an important part of language learning. Mukesh Sir and Rekha Ma’am organised this competition to assess students’ aptness and precision at linguistic contest, students of classes 7th and 8th were guided to compose poems on the given subject. 
Persuasive Speech: 
Chirag Sir and Saumya Ma’am arranged for this competition for students of grade 9th and 10th where students were given exposure to show their oratory skills. The participants persuaded the audience with their impressive speeches on the topics like ‘Money is not everything’. The elegant speakers of all houses created a tough competition amongst themselves:
In this way AVM students, participated in this Verbal-Linguistic competition to enhance their oratory skills and hone their writing skills. It has definitely created awareness for vocabulary and grammar.
Thus the future poets, novelists, journalists, bloggers, speech writers, editors and linguists are in the making at AVM!
AVM Teachers

Inter-house Carrom Competition 2014-15

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Monsoon brings life to nature and fills the lives of millions of people with happiness and joy. But it also often restricts the outdoor activities. Therefore, at AVM we always start the inter-house sports competitions with Carrom.

Like many sports, carrom also requires focus and determination to succeed but, in addition to that, carrom also requires a good knowledge of geometry and angles to put the difficult coins in the pocket. Even though students don’t play carrom when the outdoor activities are possible, the spirit shown by the students indicates the enthusiasm especially amongst younger students.

 

The competition was divided into three categories: Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior. Each category had two pairs of students from each house for a knock out match.

In the Sub-Junior category, Sundaram House took the first and the second place while Satyam House took the third place. Harshilbhai and Vrajbhai became champions by beating the other Sundaram House team of Pranambhai and Aryanbhai.

Sundaram House continued their good showing with taking the second place while Shivam House took the third place. However, Satyam House duo of Gauravbhai and Dhruvbhai won the category by beating Sundaram House pair of Shreemadbhai and Shivangbhai.

The Sundaram House pair of Rajveerbhai and Mantavyabhai won the senior category by beating Shreybhai and Harshbhai of Satyam House. Shivam House took the third place in the category.

Here is the brief summary of the final score:

Reported by: AVM Sports Team
AVM Students

Medical Camp at AVM

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On 27th July 2014 the students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir were privileged to have a medical camp organised by Vijaybhai, (our resident medical assistant) and Pranav Sir, (our senior hostel incharge) with support of the school management. It was an honour to have qualified doctors on our campus to help us with the medical check-up of students and suggest solutions to challenges if any. The team was divided into three groups:
  • Eye check up held by Dr Popat Lunagaria
  • Skin check up held by Dr Jagdish Sakhiya and Dr Talpesh Vaghasia
  • Dental check up Dr Karishma Patel
The camp started at 9 AM with a disciplined approach of each standard completing check up at one facility and switching to another, all together, so that there was no chaos and doctors could document suggestions accordingly and order wise.
It started with junior hostel from grades 1 to 6 and then to senior hostel for grades 7 to 12 after lunch, where mentors guided the students in the process and particular didi/housemaster sat with facilitated doctor and students when they performed the check-up individually, discussing their concern and challenges.
All the doctors had come very well equipped with their medical kits. The eye specialist, Dr Lunagaria discussed more about how to keep the eye healthy and infection free. We gained new insights about how to take care of minor infections, irritation, what kinds of vitamins are necessary for eye to be healthy, etc.
The skin specialists, Dr Sakhiya and Dr Vaghasia minutely examined the skin, scalp and hair. They also discussed about allergy, irritation due to dryness or damp skin, how to control acne and pimples and how to keep skin clean. It was really satisfying for the students to talk to the doctors open heartedly who responded enthusiastically to all the concerns raised. While checking hair and scalp, they also answered various queries regarding dandruff and hair fall.
Dr Patel, the dentist, was very patient and also very responsive to the queries of students. She discussed about health of teeth and gums, how to protect teeth against cavity and ways of cleaning and brushing teeth.
It was a day to learn many things about dental eye and skin, doctors were very enthusiastic and didn’t hesitate giving their services till the last student. Students were very happy, satisfied and learnt how to tackle challenges if occurred and were satisfied with the solutions and advise of the doctors.
Reported by: Parth Amipara (Class 12 Science)
AVM Students

To a Research Laboratory – an overwhelming experience!

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At the time, when the rain-God showered generously, the school management organised an educational trip to Rajkot and Junagadh. The main objective of the excursion was for Std 11 and 12 Biology stream students to explore the intriguing world of Biotechnology.
The voyage of set its sail in the evening of 24th July 2014. After getting fresh and having lunch at Yogidham, Rajkot the next day, we left for Junagadh, where we all arrived excited to learn and eager to satisfy our curiosity. We got an opportunity to visit the “Food testing lab – Department of Biotechnology at Junagadh Agricultural University”. The department has eight labs with different objectives, such as, to check adulteration in food, soil analysis, pesticides content in food, nutrient content, etc. We were delighted to see the high–tech labs where we were explained about the instruments and objectives by the research scholars from the department. And the cherry on the cake was the opportunity we were provided to have question and answer session. Dr. B A Golakiya (Professor and Head of Biotechnology Department) who further quenched our curiosity and appreciated all the students for their scientific enquiries. The day ended with lots of learning and fun, both.

 

On 26th July 2014, the other purpose of the trip was achieved when we reached the M N Virani Science College at Yogidham campus in Rajkot. Firstly, we were explained about different fields and careers in Biology like Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, etc. by Dr. Shivani Patel (Professor and Head of Biotechnology Department). We got an interesting insight into the widespread applications of Biology. The session was then taken over by Dr. Leena Ambasana for an experiment. The aim was to isolate DNA from plant material (spinach). She started with explaining the theory and then came the most awaited moment, to see all that description really happen in front of us! During the entire process, all the students enthusiastically and sincerely followed through the instructions given by her.The duration of the experiment was about 5-6 hours. Indeed, it was a long experiment but in between the waiting time of experiment, we were shown around the Department of Tissue Culture, Department of Biochemistry and Department of Microbiology. We also got a chance to visit the engineering department and were in awe while visiting the library there and looking at different labs, classrooms and auditorium halls.

Although the experiment was long, there wasn’t any trace of tiredness on anyone’s face and enthusiasm seemed permanent! And then the time was for results of the experiment and of course it had to be the best due to the Grace of Swamiji, efforts put by students as well as our teachers. We were very much satisfied due to the achieved outcome. In the evening, after a long day of learning and exploring the field of Biotechnology, the team enjoyed a delightful dinner at Subway.

On the 27th July, we were back to school with new learning, new experiences and satisfied curiosity, all due to the grace of Param Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji. And not to forget all the enthusiasm and support of Sarvajit Sir and Archana Ma’am (our Biology teacher) who patiently executed this wonderful educational trip in such a way that it could not have been any better. Their determination, dedication and devotion towards the academic welfare of students made such a learning process possible. We all express special gratitude to them.

This well planned trip taught us the important virtues such as Atmiyata, patience, hard work and a very essential scientific approach.

Written by: Het (Class XII Science) & Keyur (Class XI Science)
Seema Joshi

Glimpses from Swamishree’s Ideal Student Life

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Behind the iconic name of the school ‘Atmiya’ lies a noble mission of His Divine Holiness Param Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji. It is to nurture the qualities of compassion, harmony and devoutness in the students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. Swamishree is an epitome of these values and His student life is a perfect example of an ideal student life, hence in the third week of July, from 14th July to 20th July 2014, Sundaram House members presented glimpses of Swamishree’s inspiring student-life.

 

In this week, Sundaram House members discussed how Swamiji’s student life is like a road-map showing a clear-cut route to success and happiness. On Monday, Purvesh Sir explained that if we analyse Swamiji’s student life, we can find glimpses of the qualities of sincerity, hard work, devotion and compassion. On Tuesday, students were shown through a video presentation, how Prabhudasbhai (Swamishree’s childhood name) was obedient and respectful towards his parents. Wednesday brought forth a presentation on Swamishree’s school life in which students learnt how Prabhudasbhai excelled in his academics through constant hard work, full attention and being meticulous about his books. On the following day, students were privileged to relive, through a video, one of Swamishree’s visits to AVM. In this video, by giving example of His own life, Swamishree advised students to stay away from misleading movies and remain focused to the studies. On Friday, Mukesh Sir, elucidated how qualities of respectfulness, acceptance and positive attitude made Prabhudasbhai an ideal student.And then arrived the most awaited, most significant, eventful day of creative assembly where an incident of Prabhudasbhai’s life was enacted. A drama presentation explained the students about Swamiji’s unflinching focus on maintaining his positive attitude and harmony with others in spite of all unfavourable circumstances. This creative assembly was a source of insight for the students as they realised not to expend their energy in those matters which do not contribute in living an ideal life. The dramatization of ‘Dudhpak’ incident from Swamiji’s life brought the students to a deeper understanding of their purpose of life. Thus, with a better understanding of their goal, they can stay focused in fruitful work.

In a world which is full of alluring interferences for the students, they have a daily battle with the distractions to stay prolific and in such a scenario, analysis of Swamishree’s student life helps to create a firewall against all distractions. As a matter of fact, by this week’s presentations, students are highly inspired to maintain acceptance, forgiveness and harmony amongst themselves which further creates clarity of destination.