An educational excursion

Learning beyond the boundaries of four walls of the classrooms is one of the aspects of teaching methodology at Atmiya Vidya Mandir. To embark on the same path of learning, the students of grade 7 visited the Anjana Sewage Treatment Plant in Surat on 20 February 2015.

 

This excursion was to further aid their learning of the concepts of waste water management. Surprisingly, people are generally unaware about the source and destination of the water which they use daily. Such ignorance could very likely lead to less concern about the need as well as optimum utilization of such natural resources, furthermore unnecessarily contributing to the problem of scarcity of water resource in the future. Fortunately, AVM students of class 7 were exposed to this knowledge very closely by this visit.

Primary treatment and secondary treatment stages convert the collected waste water from its initial black colour due to the wastes present to transparent. Students were amazed to see this conversion happening in front of them! They understood how biogas was extracted from sludge and also learned how sludge was used as manure.

Furthermore, a surprise ice-cream treat in the plants garden gave a different flavour of excitement. Students had fun in their break time playing in the garden.

Overall, students were able to appreciate the efforts made by the government to purify water and simultaneously to keep our environment clean. They also became aware of their responsibility, as enlightened citizens, towards usage and prevention of waste of water.

The students were then taken for dinner and finally returned to school after a highly educative day

Written by: Anand Sir

A day out at a farm (Std 1 to 8)

Outing means a trip taken for pleasure,
especially one lasting a day or less.

But AVM students define it as –

Outing means – Lots of Fun
Outing means - a day full of enjoyment
Outing means – unlimited excitement
Outing means –a lot of laughter
Outing means – games, play, rides,....entertainment
What if cricket is added in it. It is like icing on the cake.

Outing helps us to imbibe some values also.

It helps us to come closer to each other.
 Outing gives us a chance to experience how much pleasure we get by giving, by sharing, and by caring each other.

For the students of Std. 4 to 6, swimming in the pool was enthralling and added more fun to the trip.

And thus outing fills us with the joy of contentment.
So, we did when we went to Capital Farm
for just half day outing.

Written by: Students of AVM

SARANSH: the Closing Ceremony of 2014-15

No sooner had the humdrum of prolonged study hours of February month settled in, amazingly, exhilaration extended its reaches and fatigue sneaked away. Hardly a few weeks after the recent sports fiesta, it was yet another gala time for AVM family members as they gathered to celebrate ‘SARANSH’ the closing ceremony of the year 2014-15.

 

On the evening of 14th Feb '15, all students, teachers and mentors assembled at the well-adorned ‘Atmiya Prarthana Hall’ to commemorate outstanding performances of students in academic and co-curricular activities throughout this year. The programme started with evoking God’s blessings through Thakorji’s pujan. Quite significantly, this year marked a change in the slogan of the programme: "We are ONE". Afterwards, the formal announcement of the closing of house activities (competitions) was made with the marching off by the student council members and office bearers. The evening grew extremely engaging as the school’s orchestra and choir group presented Naad Brahma, an enthralling musical treat to the audience. The amazing fusion of various musical instruments: octopad, drum-set, congo, daf, dholak and tabla being played by the students set the stage on fire. It was an incredible synchronization of various musical instruments attuned in a melodious rhythm. Hats off to the maestros Jaimin Sir and Himanshu Sir.

The excitement and fervour surged when the awards for individual categories were announced. The flourishing talents in singing, acting and dancing and the budding percussionists were honoured. These young artists (the winners) have showcased their distinctive flair in different competitions and cultural programmes held in the school during this academic year.

The nifty and sprightly hosts of the programme, Shubhbhai and Devarshibhai entertained the audience through their witty remarks and apt dialogues.

The ‘Atmiya Prarthana Hall’, the venue of the event, reverberated with much clamour and cheers when the awards for house activities were being announced. All the four houses: Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram and Suhradam bagged a prize in one or the other categories which included Best Sports House, Best Republic Parade, Best Debating House, Best Softboard Display and Best Creative Assembly.

Quite instantly, solemnity set in, as the audience listened with much attention the speeches of all four house captains and the Vice Headboy. Some of them shared their learning experiences and memorable events with their house members while the others extended their gratitude to their other house members and teachers for their support, encouragement and guidance.

The next category of award was the most prestigious (individual) award of the evening, the ‘Best Student of the Year’ award. Once again the lively students burst with cheers when these special awards were given to the students who had consistently demonstrated exemplary conduct in every aspect of their life.

Towards the end of the event, the prayer hall resonated with much more hullabaloo, applause and cheers when the name of the ‘Winning House of the Year’ was announced. The entire arena echoed with calls of ‘Sundaram’ as the members of this house were invited on stage to collect the coveted trophy. Thus, once again, fun and frolic spilled in abundance, once again AVM family got a reason to enjoy together, once again studies got an occasional dodge and once again feast followed the fest.

The awards won were as follows:

Students of the year:

• Darsh Darji (Std 5)
• Madhur Modi (Std 7)
• Dhwanit Tamboli (Std 10)

Debating Champions: Satyam House
Best Academic House: Satyam House
Best Sports House: Satyam House
Annual Athletic Meet Champions: Sundaram House
Best Softboard: Shivam House
Best Creative Assembly: Shivam House

House of the Year: SUNDARAM HOUSE

Truly! Atmiya Vidya Mandir is synonymous with celebration…

Learning by Farming!

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Ancient Chinese Proverb

Students of class 7 were exposed to yet another experiment in which they got involved themselves in the process of learning rather being mere spectators! In order to get some hands on experience on the concept of "vegetative propagation", they carried out the farming of potatoes themselves in the small botanical garden of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. Developing the same, it also provided them with the experience for a higher level concept of "crop production" that they will encounter in grade 8.

Each student participated in the process, from sowing till harvesting with soaring enthusiasm. Though less in quantity, the potato plants instilled in students a greater amount of responsibility. Responsibilities like taking care of plants, watering them in a timely manner and protecting them. These almost became a part of their daily routine! It went on for a couple of months starting from 12th December 2014 to 13th February 2015. All these activities were lovingly and willingly done by students.

Not only that, but the students also took joy in observing the daily growth of the plant, in touching the fresh leaves, measuring the height of their plants, guessing the size of the potatoes developing in the ground and so on. In turn, it resulted into an inquisitive process which led to the development of keen observation skills.

On the day of harvesting, these very excited students invited their other subject teachers also, to share their joy in relishing the fruits of their long and continuous efforts. Over all, they enjoyed the process of learning through doing.

Written by: Anand Sir

Interhouse Volleyball Competition 2014-15

4th February was one of the most electrifying days of this year at AVM. The interhouse volleyball competition was announced in the Sports assembly and all the students were thrilled by the news! Many students came up to participate in this competition which was a very good sign already. That day’s sports time was used up entirely in selecting the students for their respective house teams.

The very next day, on the 5th of February, the school volleyball coaches, Ritesh Sir and Pritesh Sir, discussed with the house teams, various facts and the rules about volleyball. After this, the house teams played in turns till the end of the day.

On the next day, on 6th February, our coaches explained to all the rotation rule by taking help of the students who had represented AVM in the CBSE Cluster Tournament. After this, each team practiced the service skills for some time and then played two practice matches which ended the third day.

7th February was the last day for practice and all the houses looked very determined and were very excited about the competition. On this day also, many practice matches were played and even those students who had not selected volleyball as their main sport, participated very enthusiastically. Now all the houses were ready for the tournament armed with the necessary skills and enthusiasm.

On 8th of February, the first day of the competition, the following matches were played within the respective groups.

Sub Junior Group:

• 1st match- Suhradam v/s Satyam: Suhradam won by 2-0.
• 2nd match- Sundaram v/s Shivam: Shivam won by 2-0.

Junior Group:

• 1st match- Sundaram v/s Satyam: Sundaram won by 2-0.

Senior Group:

• 1st match- Suhradam v/s Shivam: Suhradam won by 2-0.

The day ended here with some very exciting matches witnessed by all.

Next day, on the 9th of February, the following three matches were played:

• In the Sub Junior group, there was a third place match between Satyam House and Sundaram House in which Satyam House secured the place.
• In the Junior group, the group’s second match was played between Suhradam House and Shivam House in which Suhradam House won the match.
• In the Senior group, the group’s second match was played between Satyam House and Sundaram House in which Satyam House won the match and thus ended the day.

On the 10th of February, the final match in the Sub Junior group was played between Suhradam House and Shivam House in which Shivam House won the final which entitled them as the champions in the Sub Junior group.

In the Junior group, there was a third place match between Satyam House and Shivam House in which Shivam House took the third place encouraged by the house team’s victory in the Sub Junior group.

In the Senior group, the third place match was played between Shivam House and Sundaram House in which Sundaram House won the match.

On 11th of February, the last day of the competition, two final matches were played. In the Junior group, the final match was between Sundaram House and Suhradam House, in which Sundaram House won the final and hence closed at the first position in the group.

The last final of the competition was in the Senior group, between Satyam House and Suhradam House, in which Suhradam House managed to win the match and secure first place in the group.

The overall results of the competition were also declared on the same day!

Satyam House and Sundaram House jointly occupied the third place. Shivam House stood second and Suhradam House was announced the winning house in the competition. All the students, participants and spectators, and the onlooking teachers, celebrated during the award ceremony. This competition was the last interhouse competition of the year 2014-15 and hence it also concluded a very memorable year full of some very keenly competed events.

The overall points table of the competition is given below:

Submitted by: Rahul B. Patel (School Sports Captain) and the Volleyball Team

Window of Wisdom

Under the guidance of our English teacher, the 7th grade students enjoyed an activity of making display board based on stories from our long reading book. First of all, we were given stories from the book ‘How I taught my grandmother to read and other stories’ written by well-known author Sudha Murthy. This book, which is a part of our English syllabus, is based on life values.

 

 

 

We were divided in groups and were asked to present each story on the allotted display boards. Working as a team, we read and developed an understanding of the main aspects of the given story in depth. Then, we made a rough draft of the layout of the display. We included root values, wisdom sentences, characters and their traits and the summary of the story. We finally displayed the content with the material provided by our teacher. Finally, all the groups gave a presentation of our group displays in the class.

It was truly an amazing learning experience and an opportunity to discover the creativity within us. This activity has been very beneficial for us as we were able to comprehend and present the stories with ease. This display board activity has opened a new window of wisdom in our life.

Written by: Anshul Gohel & Taarak Trivedi (7A)

An inspirational trip!

Being an integral part of the Indian economy, industrialisation has shown remarkable achievements and continues to bloom.

We remain excited & enthusiastic to get to know the comprehensive processes of the giant industries that lead India on the path of development.

Once again destiny knocked the door, to acknowledge our curiosity in the midst of the busy schedule with upcoming board exam. Our dedicated teachers arranged a wonderful educational tour to several industries.

 

 

On 7th February 2015, students of 10th grade left the school in the morning with lots of excitement about the field trip. First we made our way to Asia’s biggest sugar industry, Bardoli Sugar Factory. There we witnessed the incredibly large scale process of making fine sugar from sugarcane that was straight out of the fields.

Lesson we learnt: Creative use of the by-products was an appealing process of the sugar factory. The waste generated from sugarcane can either be used to produce electricity or be utilised as manure. By-products of sugar industry such as molasses are also used to generate an important laboratory chemical i.e. ethanol.

Continuing the journey, we visited Vimal Agro Products Pvt. Ltd., Bardoli, the company that manufactures and exports over 80 different food products ranging from Canned Vegetables, Fruit Pulp & Slices, Pickles, Chutney, Papads and Ready to Eat Foods. Here, we learnt about the food packaging processes of pickles and mango pulps. A vast godown with uncountable cans arranged in a systematic manner was a memorable sight.

Lesson we learnt: It has been a privilege to know about the owner of the industry. His life is a living example of a very inspiring journey from being an ordinary person to such a successful, self-motivated entrepreneur! Though difficult, he proved that setting up a huge Food Plant is certainly possible through hard-work and determination.

"Absolute hard-work gives Absolute Success".

After a delicious lunch and dessert, we moved on to the Dhanodhar Textile Mill, Surat. Their power generation process using coal and oil with the help of huge boilers was quite interesting and we also received knowledge about dying process in detail.

At the end of the day, we went to a yarn processing unit where we were enlightened by the amazing story of service and dedication. The owner Mr. Dinesh Solanki shared how he transformed himself from a salaried worker with the income of Rs.1700 a month to a notable entrepreneur of an industry worth of crores of rupees.

Lesson we learnt:
"Nothing is impossible if we have strong determination and self-confidence" was the punch line of the day’s visit articulated by Mr. Dinesh Solanki, a man living with simplicity and high thinking, who remains receptive to the sentiments of his employees.

Thus, this tour turned out to be not only educative but also an enlightening experience for us. We whole heartedly acknowledge the time and efforts spent by all those involved to arrange such a wonderful field trip for us.

Ever lasting impression we parted with:

"One should determine a goal in life, and strive hard till the goal is achieved'."

Written by: Class 10 Students

AAM 2015 ends with a beginning... “We are ONE”

The most momentous part of the 11th Annual Athletic Meet was the Day-3. The playground battle saw records being rewritten, new champions attesting themselves in different track and field events and the participants raising the standards of their performance with much perseverance. The young athletes gave their best for the last few races and other final events, showing utmost skill and grit, as could be seen by the many striking finishes.

 

The most spectacular sight to behold was those of running events. Breaking the monotony of their tight study schedule, the XII Std students participated in a relay race. These senior most students of the school sent a verve among all when they ran and set the track on blaze in the race.

As the bright sun glided down gradually from the sky, eagerness to know the winning house soared. The pleasant evening descended and the sparkling lights around the ground started shining. All members of AVM family gathered to witness the award ceremony of this AAM. All students and teachers were sitting in the group of their respective houses.

Quite remarkably, this evening brought a pertinent juxtaposition of nail-biting eagerness and elated spirits as saints from Haridham: Param Pujya Prabodh Swamiji, Pujya Suhrad Swamiji, Pujya Sugney Swamiji and Pujya Shasvat Swamiji graced the occasion with their benevolent presence. A flash of joy ran across the audience when they received Param Pujya Swamishree’s blessings conveyed by Pujya Suhrad Swamiji. When the result of different events were being announced, the delighted winners, filled with great joy came on the stage to receive the certificate and medal. At this moment the playground air was laden with cheers and applause.

The final points tally for the top two houses were:
Sundaram House: 350 points
Suhradam House: 306 points

The group-wise athletes of the year were:
Group A (Std 1-2): Advait J Patel (Std 2)
Group B (Std 3-4): Darshil P Patel (Std 4)
Group C (Under 13): Shivang N Patel (Std 7) and Param A Dubey (Std 7)
Group D (Under 15): Rahul B Patel (Std 9) and Dilan N Patel (Std 9)
Group E (Under 17): Sagar A Patel (Std 11)

Though Sundaram House claimed the coveted trophy this year, yet the most prized possession of this evening was the sutra “We are ONE” given by Param Pujya Prabodh Swamiji to make everybody the champions for life hence AAM ended with a new beginning……softly, slowly and smoothly the gear was adjusted, interest redirected, attention accelerated, fuelled with much confidence and delight, the cogwheels moved ahead and AVM buzzed back into order of academic activities.

A very splendid Day 2 of the AAM 2015!

It was a day full of fun and frolic as the students, brimming with enthusiasm, assembled in their respective track and field arenas. The morning was bright, the playground wore a festive look as the colourful flags across the field gently fluttered in the morning breeze.

Along with the running and jumping events, throwing events completed the ‘Track & Field flashes’. The throwing events were the discus throw, shot put and ball throws. As with many athletic events, the limelight was on the participants of high-jump and shot putters who were toiling hard to win the competitions. The huge playground had many spectators all around hooting and hollering for the best crashes and distances.

The events for primary wing were interspersed with the fun races besides the novelty races of 50 m & 100 m distance and relay races. The senior children participated with gusto in various track and field events which comprised of sprint races, relay races, long jump and high jump events scheduled for the day. The combination of different races set the tracks blazing.

It was noteworthy that the team of our ICT team members: Ambrish Sir, Rakeshbhai, Roshan Sir and Sarvajit Sir were moving around with their cameras traversing the length and breadth of the field and capturing every triumph and hilarious gestures of the students. One could see Prabhumagna Sir standing tall with his i-Pad for the photo-finish judgment of each event.

The pulsating-jazzy music was well blend to the booming and shrieking of the students and teachers cheering the participants. Amazing tunes were being played by Hirenbhai and his group. Different committees like dining hall staff, medical personnel, field officials, time-keepers, scorers donned in dedication and devotion, were working tirelessly to make this fiesta even more fun-filled. The intensity and the spirit of the competition could be judged from the excitement of all the house members cheering for their respective house contestants in different contests.

The school principal Dr. Vijay Patel was spotted being one with the students kindling their spirits and inspiring them with the belief of true sportsmanship.

In the company of their teachers, enthused with much moral support, the young athletes unleashed their athletic skills in various events on the second day of a very splendid AAM!