Newsletter_MiddleSchool_October

GEMS HERITAGE INDIAN SCHOOL

Insight…..

A Sneak -Peek into the New Age
Learning at GEMS Heritage

Middle School Newsletter
October, 2020 Issue

FROM SUPERVISOR’S DESK

Dear parents,

Insight, this month brings you a glimpse of a beautiful month of learning at GEMS
Heritage. October is a sagacious month of wisdom and maturity and this definitely
reflected on our students learning. As we continue with blended and online learning, it
was overwhelming to see our students actively involved through out the month both in
curricular and co- curricular activities. From observing Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
to celebrating United Nations Day, students enriched themselves through researches,
debates, discussions, connecting their lessons with SDG and geared up for greater
participation as tomorrow’s citizens on the global platforms.

The safety and well being of our students always remains our priority. The entire school
is regularly cleaned and sanitized ensuring the students in campus are safe and enjoy
their learning.

Assessments are just a way for both teachers and students to plan the way forward and
continue to walk on the path of excellence. Students have taken their assessment of the
Term-2 Cycle 1. I am sure it has helped our students to assess their learning, to make
self-evaluation of their own performances and reflection on steps for improvement.

The highlight of this month was the Life Skill lessons across middle school. Students
excelled in their presentations on ‘Cooking without Fire’ event. They amazed us with a
variety of recipes and health-filled preparations of salads and desserts that spoke of their
patience, interest and dexterity. It was indeed a sense of gratification to witness our
children gearing up for a life of independence and survival skills.

October also saw the new inclusion of ‘Happiness Hour’ in our daily school timetable.
This has been designed in line with the Dubai Fitness Challenge and with detailed and
deep thinking on the students’ wellbeing. The 35 minutes programme scheduled during
the week includes physical fitness activity, Yoga session to keep the children agile and
Speak Easy sessions where the students get an opportunity for social interaction and to
opine their views on relevant topics for their age groups. It also serves as a platform for
them to shed their inhibitions to speak and enhance their oratory skills.

A sneak peak into our newsletter will surely regale you of our stories, feats and
achievements in big and small ways at Heritage and give you and us ample reasons to
celebrate life, in October and months ahead with the spirit of festivity already bringing
in the air of happiness all around. I would like to thank my wonderful team of teachers
for their passion, dedication and for going that extra mile to give the best to our students.

Thank you to our parent community for your immense trust and continued support
which keeps us motivated to do our best for the students under our care.
Middle School Supervisor
Reshma Shoukath

October is a symphony of permanence and change. - Bonaro W. Overstreet

Class Assemblies are not just daily rituals. They are also the
learning platform for learning beyond the text books. October
assemblies focused on Gandhi Jayanti, World Handwashing
Day and Celebrating Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Birthday coinciding with
World Students’ Day, World Habitat Day and last but not the
least the UN Day.

World

Students
Day

World Students Day is celebrated today, on
October 15 that marks the birth
anniversary of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Theme
of World Students Day 2020 is ‘Learning for
people, planet, prosperity, and peace

Hand
Washing

Day

Global Handwashing Day was
celebrated on 15th October to
motivate and mobilize pupil

around to improve their
handwashing habits.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9VjeIWLnEg

World
Habitat

Day

World Habitat day was https://padlet.com/shruthideek
celebrated on 5th October 2020. shith/6A (Padlet Link)
2020 Theme: Housing for all (A
better Urban Future)

Task 1: Task 2:
What are the aims and Evaluate UN’s achievements so far
objectives? Any 3 major
United tasks of UN in recent
Nations times.

Day Task 3:
The theme for UN Day
2020 is ‘The Future We
Want, the UN We Need:
Reaffirming our
Collective Commitment
to Multilateralism’.
Analyze the Statement

SPEAK-EASY sessions on Thursdays as part
of Wellbeing Program, are a novel ways to
hear children opining on a variety of
topics. Children voice out fearlessly on
choice of topics given to them from all
walks of life. They also get the freedom to
contribute what they feel relevant to talk
about, thereby making the session very
democratic.

Life-skill lessons under Ms. Jasmine were
indeed much fun this October. She made the
children to learn the greatest of survival skill
and in a healthy way. ‘Cooking without Fire’ is
healthy, fun-filled and appetizing lesson that
explored students’ ingenuity, creativity and
their zeal to learn a new skill. Children from
Grades 6-8 wore their chef caps and made
some of the most lip-smacking and
scrumptious dishes that are surely health
boosters for all age groups..

Cooking
Without
Fire

Rupinder Kaur Bansal Sayeda Fatima

Arterium Artists and Painters
speak their minds

with paints and
brushes on the

canvas……

Budding artists of
Middle School.

Rashi Sharma Rebecca Mathews Rupinder Kaur Bansal

Art classes

Halloween glass-lamp Joyneel Bepari of
made by Grade 7 with his
Halloween hat
Rupinder Kaur Bansal

Music is soul’s feed and a relaxant
for mind. Albey John of 8A has an
unusual passion and skill for the
piano. He pours out his heart and
soul and dives deep into the beats

and strains of the music and
melodies he plays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtCV0do4Ijg

Enhancing creative writing skills during English lessons:
At Heritage, we all learn together, we explore various sources, we critically
analyze and we evaluate situations to form our own opinion and view points.
Our students lead their own learning, they collaborate in teams to dig
information, they discuss amongst themselves and then they share their
findings with all. Academic journey is indeed a journey of exploration, self-
discovery and skill developments.

‘Germs, beware!’ – A Poem When a student connects
biology lesson with Global
3 malicious germs were ready to play, Handwashing Day ! Cross-
But down came the water and washed one curricular connection
away! across lessons.

2 malicious germs tried to have fun,
Until the soap joined them and one had to
run!

1 malicious germ had no one to fight,
The rinse came along and washed him out
of sight!

Global hand washing day, let’s keep the
germs at bay!

Rebecca Anna Mathews – 8A

Connecting lessons with UN SDG Goals

Students
connect their
science lesson
with UN SDG

Enquiry Based Learning in Social Studies

Students connect
their Social Studies
lessons with UN SDG
Goals. UN Day on 24th

October was
researched upon and

findings shared..

Students develop an
enquiring mind on
historical events and
situations while linking
them with present
scenarios on protests,
revolts and rebellions.

Remembering Mahatma
Gandhi on 2nd October on
the Occasion of World Non-

Violence Day

Critically think,
communicate,
collaborate and share
their research during
tasks assigned to them.

Mathematics Made Magical!

Grade 7 has connected
Angles with real life
objects

Grade 8 students are engaged in
solving cross word puzzle for topic
direct and indirect variation

Math is fun with
code breaker
activity.

TECH TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES WITH
BLENDED LEARNING

Grade 7 is involved in
AFL in French lesson
through Quizizz.

Students of Grade 7
learning using different
apps during English
session. Making use of
padlet wall for sharing
their views. Break out
rooms were used
efficiently for discussion
in groups. Quizzes was
used for assessing the
students

The French
Connection with

the French
Language lessons.

Students honing their Teaching Malayalam
writing skills in Hindi using technology

Arabic

Students can design In reflection of the World
mind map reflecting Food Day students are
their understanding able to write
of use of TV their sentences/paragraph
lives.

Happiness Hour

Pandemic and social
distancing has taken a
toll on people's mental
and physical health.
Thus to ensure that
our students are able
to maintain a regular
fitness regime, a daily
Happiness Hour /
Session is allotted to
them to ensure that
they are physically fit
and alert. Physical
fitness and Yoga
sessions do the
needful for our
students, four days a
week at the start of
the day.

Parental
Engagement:

Our Parent Ms.
Varsha Lohia
conducting the Yoga
session for our
students.

Mental Health Matters

Mental Health is not mere absence of mental illness, but is state of
well-being in which an Individual realizes his or her own abilities,
can cope up with the normal stresses of life, can work productively
and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her own
community (WHO).

Posters made by students

“It’s so important that we all speak up on mental health” – Anne Marie

Heritage prides itself at taking care
of all its family members. The
Wellbeing and Counseling Team not
only works for the mental health
and life skills of students but also
holds regular session on the same
for staff and teachers. It is of
extreme significance that we take
care of our teachers as healthy and
happy teachers are able to deliver
their best lessons in the class and
engage their students into learning
within and beyond classroom.

Professional
development program

‘Getting better every single day’

Teachers at Heritage constantly hone their skill and upgrade their knowledge and
their best practices through continuous and comprehensive professional
development sessions. Each department conducts sessions that are of extreme
relevance to teachers improving and polishing their skills in various areas of
teaching-learning.

Upcoming Events in November

 Children’s Day
 World Cancer Day
 World Kindness Day
 World Diabetes Day
 International Day of Tolerance
 Term2 Cycle2 Assessment.

Reshma Shoukath
Uttara Mazumdar
Mubeena Parveen
Anjali Manoj

‘Make each day your masterpiece - John Wooden’