Read-a-thon

          “Reading for a cause, Reading for Goonj” 

Middle school is presently in the midst of their second Read-a-thon. Reading for Goonj started on 27^th November 2012 and will end on 7^th December 2012. We took pledges before we started with the Read-a-thon. On 29^th November we had a guest speaker from Goonj with us. She talked about the organization for which we were raising funds. I like the process of Read-a-thon in which we get to read books with our friends and donate the money to the NGO called Goonj. It’s fun reading with everyone in middle school, we sit anywhere we want to and read books peacefully.    

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      Muskaan Srivastava

- 7B

Academic Honesty

 “Academic Honesty”, all by itself, these two words hold utmost importance in the life of any truthful person. However, “Academic Honesty” is even more instrumental in the lives of students taking higher level exams or doing extended projects. In our case, Grade 8 is doing an extended project, our Personal Project. But what is “Academic Honesty”?  “Academic Honesty” is the way that students can prove that the work submitted is their own through methods like referencing, linking, using quotation marks, citing resources and having a bibliography. Ms Geeta Verma, the IB coordinator of our school, gave us, 8^th Graders, an introduction to the guidelines, with a talk on this subject and how we need  to cite our resources in our Personal Project. Nowadays, people who plagiarise are severely penalised.

-Karan Pandanda

 8A

History

History is not a subject for me; it is a reflection of who I am.  Since I was a kid, history and knowing about what happened before I came into existence on Earth always interested me.  If history didn’t exist, then none of us would have known who we are and how we are what we are.  In my opinion, before knowing about other nations or people, it is important to know about one’s own nation and so, after being taught about India and why it is the way it is, we continued with World History. Studying about The World War 1 helped me understand myself and those around me, better. Debates, Videos and Reference people coming in got us much more interested in the topic than we had ever expected ourselves to be. I wait for the History class to start and hope for it to never end but eventually it does, leaving me with the curiosity of learning more. “History is not old and torn, it is as precious as Silver and Gold”.

-Taapsi Kohli

8A

The World Watches..

These days, most kids spend their time watching television till their eyes ache. All day long, all they do is watch T.V. Television has a major influence on children, because before the television was invented, children used to go and play outside, read books, or participate in many other activities. Now all they do is sit, watch TV and eat. Often parents think it keeps their children busy and entertained, so they don’t disturb them. However, these parents have to realize that watching so much of television affects the children’s eyes. It also affects other aspects of their health since they don’t go outside to play anymore, but instead they just sit and watch or play on the T.V. People also get obese due to long hours of watching television, and it makes them lazy and clumsy. People have to wake up to this fact and stop watching too much television.

-Rhea Agarwal

 7A

Poetry and Debating

To think more deeply about this topic, we students read the poem, “Television” by Roald Dahl during our English lesson. The poem was basically about the negative influence of television on children. One of my favorite lines was that which said,“television makes our brain as soft as cheese”. We followed it up with a debate on this topic about the influence of television. I was in the group which was in favour of the topic which means I talked about the positive influence of television. There were four teams, two teams against the topic and two teams for the topic. We all had our own points and tried to rebut each other’s point too. At the end of the debate, we didn’t care about whose side we were on, we just started to debate on the issue as a whole. It was a new experience I had got a chance to go more deep into the topic while debating. It helped me to speak more confidently. Still, I think I need to practice to speak more in front of everyone because I was feeling so nervous when I was speaking. Even if I speak in front of my classmates I feel nervous. But debating really helped me to speak out my thoughts and I think I spoke three times more than I did before!

-Soohyeon Na

7 B

Physical Education in Middle School

Soccer!

The 7^th grade recently started soccer practices during PE lessons, and it's a lot of fun! We get to learn more about dribbling, shooting and other aspects of soccer. The class starts off with a very, very tiring round of the field which is then followed by exercises and sprints. This is the more athletic part of the lesson, but it is very easy. What we do next tests one’s body as well as one’s mind, because we are put in a one on one situation with a partner. We have to take the ball past him/ her and stop the ball on the line. After that, we generally have a match for the rest of the lesson, and it is often very difficult to determine our teams. The classes are very tiring. It is amazing though, how we can have fun and learn so many things at the same time. 

-Akshit Singh

7B

Frisbee Workshop

On Fridays, the first two lessons are PE classes and I love those two lessons because I get to play basketball. But on the 2nd of November, there was a workshop on a sport that is newly introduced in India known as Ultimate Frisbee. It was held by a group who worked for USHA fans. I got to know about this workshop just the day before it. I became quite upset that I wouldn't get to play basketball that Friday and didn't feel like participating in the workshop. On Friday, though, when we were split into our houses and made to practice Frisbee catching and throwing for the first time, it turned out to be quite fun! Often, people would throw Frisbees in the wrong direction and almost hit people. This made the whole workshop thrilling and everyone enjoyed it a lot. We were playing with the Frisbees the whole time. I don't think anyone even took a water break. Well, the whole experience was amazing and I really would have regretted not participating in it!

-Sanya Chawla

8B

Our Planet Earth

The world is changing. Day by day. Minute by minute. Second by second. Our planet Earth is going through a huge phase of global warming. It is a grave problem in today's world. We are technologically advanced and very populous, but with great power comes greater responsibility.

Since the invention of the automobile, the world has been facing immense challenges due to green house gas emissions and oil resources. Fossil fuel reserves are depleting and wildlife is disappearing: fast. The many things our world is now going through are mostly to be blamed on us.

We are the ones, in the name of technology, who use automobiles. We are the ones who own the factories that pollute the world so much. We are the ones that are responsible for the destruction of the ozone layer. There is so much that we are responsible for, yet so less we are doing.

Today's science is still a baby compared to the problems it needs to solve. We are the ones who started it, and we need to be the ones to end it as well. Every citizen of the world needs to do their part. It may be just as small as walking to work, or as big as finding more renewable resources.

We need to stop wasting our precious resources, and learn to sustain them for longer. We need to learn how to save our planet, save mankind. This is not something we need to take lightly. It is the solution to a better future. We need to do something, and we can. We just need to put in a little more effort. Where there's a will, there's a way.

It's still not too late to do something. We still have time, and we need to use it wisely. Focus on sustaining ourselves and our planet for eons to come.

-Divya Vijayakumar

8B

Book Review “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks

A man with a worn out notebook open in his lap, a man who believes in magic, and a man who believes love is strong enough to make miracles happen. This is Noah who, fourteen years ago, one summer, met Allie. They began to fall in love. Allie’s family though, did not approve of this relationship and forced them apart. Despite that, they promised to keep in touch. Noah wrote 365 letters to Allie every day, each going unanswered. Noah now tries to move on but is haunted by the ghost of the girl he loves. He eventually tries to keep his mind off her and ends up going to war. Meanwhile, Allie waits for Noah’s letters everyday but her mother is hiding them all. She tries to move on too and finds a man. They get engaged, but Noah is unaware. One day, Allie realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time and she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again. Still, the divide between their worlds is too vast to ignore, especially with Allie’s marriage only a few weeks away. The epic tale of Allie and Noah has just begun. ‘The Notebook’ is a romantic book and the story stays with you forever.

-Mehak Diwan

 7A

Samsung Galaxy S3

We all know the cell phone is getting old and is not going to stay in the market for long, as Apple’s much awaited iPhone 5 has arrived. Earlier in the year, in May 2012, the Galaxy S3 was released and is one of the biggest upgrades expected to be made to the Galaxy series after the Note 1. Now let’s talk about the phone:

Samsung Galaxy S3:

The S3 has a 4.8 inch display and it is certainly big. But since it is a slim phone, it easy to use. Actually, what helps more in terms of comfort is the gloss finish. A matte finish would have felt good though.

Some more about the Galaxy S3:

·        - It has a quad core processor

·        - The motion feature added in the galaxy s3 is one of the best features I would say

         -It has a super HD Amo-LED display with ‘gorilla screen’ (This protects it from scratches on the screen.)

·        - It has the S Voice feature.

·        - It also has new features like ‘smart stay’ and ‘smart call’.

-Shreyas sadh

 8B