Assembley activities

The assembly programme marks the start of the day at GEAR. Accompanied by the School songs and bhajans it comprises of a refreshingly different kind of line up, which are thoughtfully planned to serve as a tonic to the senses. Each House is provided with a thoughtful topic and programmes are planned with great enthusiasm by the children under the guidance of their captains and house teachers. This helps to build leadership, team work, responsibility and a competitive spirit in the children.

Each month is devoted to a Human Attribute like Motivation, Instiution Building, Leadership and so on

Vertical grouping of students and teachers into Houses-Cauvery, Ganga, Krishna & Narmada. Children research and present topics assigned to them.

Other than our regular assembly activities we have assigned everyday of the week to a particular subject. The assessment is done House - wise. These include activities based on:

Vocabulary Building (Monday) - Using the "Right Word at the Right time"; tests an individual's proficiency. And this proficiency grows out of a wide verbal repertoire. Every Monday morning interesting vocabulary activities await the students in the form of Word Search, Word Ladder, Crosswords and the like. The students grouped in their Houses cudgel their brains to solve and fetch points for their houses.

Events (Tuesday) - Every week a date is announced. Students research on the date and come up with all possible events related to that date. The idea is to visually display interesting events for to help in retention and to add to their knowledge. Children research on the internet and refer to various books to note down all the available events.

Divergent Thinking (Wednesday) - As our school is rightly recognized as LWF (Learning Without Frontiers) we give, every now and then, opportunities to our learners, in the spheres of lateral thinking, convergent thinking and divergent thinking along with the usual vertical thinking. As a part of divergent thinking, we give our Cubs an opportunity to come out with innovative questions. As a result the students put on their thinking caps, and gear up for serious thinking..

Objective:

To get students enjoy reading and develop a reading culture along with making them think `out of the box'

Vision:

Every student to think beyond and widen his/her thought process so that learning takes place naturally.

Activities:

A problem is given to the students every week where in children are given an opportunity to think divergently.

A quiz is undertaken every 5th Saturday where students are vertically grouped and assessed according to their ability to think divergently.

A few questions:

• In the process of evolution, let us say, living organism did not evolve from water but did on the surface of the earth. In that process our body evolved to have the same percentage of air instead of water. Imagine the world full of such human beings. What are the differences we are likely to see on the earth now? Why would they be so?
• Imagine a scene of a group of people sitting on the surface of water - lake or ocean, for a community meeting. Sketch such a scene.

Definitions and facts (Thursday) - Children write their definitions of one scientific word every week, class-wise. Children also collect facts based on a given topic. A few topics dealt with are water, cars, flight, and plastic. These facts and definitions are compiled and discussed on a weekly basis.

Constants (Friday) - The concept of mathematical concepts has been generated to help the children recognize the various relationships in nature. It is a known fact that mathematics has evolved to this extent as seen today due to serious and careful observations of patterns in nature and generalizing these results into statements.

This activity focuses upon helping the children observe patterns and research on generalising these relationships into mathematical ratios or statements.

Every Friday morning is dedicated to constants .The children await this activity with eagerness to announce their constants and sometimes explain them to the children in the lower classes.

• the ratio of length to breadth of the basketball court = 28:15
• any triangle inscribed within an other triangle such that the mid-points are joined then the area of the small : big is 1:4.

Academies

Academies at GEAR are a pioneering effort to provide that extra bit to those children with special interest in various fields. They are evolutionary. Our school is inclusive and academies are exclusive.

One day a week after school hours a few selected children stay back for the various academy classes. Academies are a special feature at GEAR where in various coordinators take charge of different fields and facilitate student learning in the same. An effort made to provide exposure to children beyond stipulated syllabi, course books, marks, tests, exams etc. One needs to qualify to be a member and has to contribute to the activities of the academy to continue to be a member. Both the co-coordinators and the academy members work towards gaining an experience of unbound learning; an in depth study in various fields.

The academies started of with a small no: of just three -The RCI-A(Raman Cub Inventors Academy),The RML-A (Ramanujam Math Logical Academy),The Creative Writers' Academy. During this year there were a total of ten academies including the three mentioned above. Others include:

I-Tec (Information Technology) Academy

B-Tec ( Biotechnology) Academy

U R A Writer Academy

A-Tec (Art) Academy

Entrepreneurship Academy

Laurie Baker Rediscovery Academy

Salim Ali Naturalist Academy

• Plan of the Fatehpur Sikhri and Indus Valley Civilisation studied during the Re-discovery Academy classes
• An exhibit of art work created during A-tech ( Art and Craft Academy) classes
• A scientific article on nuclear medicine discussed during RCI-A(Raman Cub Inventors Academy) classes
• Children performing Kirigami activities during the A-tech ( Art and Craft Academy) classes
• A model of DNA being created by a student during the B-tech ( Bio technology Academy)

Raman-Cub Inventors Academy

- A researching aptitude could be cultivated in the young minds by providing them an opportunity. Students study about the stories of the Nobel prize winners, write research papers, understand scientific news, study inventions and the innovation process.

GEAR chess academy conducts monthly open chess tournaments for the children of Bangalore.

MITA: Multiple Intelligences & Talents Activities

After school hours students/parents can choose any activities based on their interest and their strength areas.

Objective:

To give students a firsthand experience with experts- be it basketball, chess, karate or performing arts.

Vision:

To make students excel in their areas of interest.

Activities:

Some examples of MITA activities organized are:

• Performing Arts
• Basketball
• Chess
• Sculpture
• Music
• Tennis
• Squash