Form Tutor....tuts

The  old gave way to the new year , we give way to our new  young leaders . New thoughts sprout from fertile ground, so we let them grow their own plants and shrubs in their live's gardens! While the New Year beckoned us with many promises,we never  forgot to give the old year its due.  While we  teach them to live on their own, Our children teach us  to celebrate each moment of life; yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
welcoming the new students to class  we celebrate the presence of the love and strong bond that  exists amongs the students of the class.
                                                                                       
                                                                                                Ms.Gayatri Singh

The book I read was Alex Rider: Skeleton Key. It’s an action, thriller, mystery and science fiction. Basically Alex is a talented 14 year old boy who knows karate, 4 different languages, he’s smart, flexible and very talented but he wants to be a normal school boy. He knows what he is capable of but he just wants a normal life and normal friends like every other school boy. His uncle dies and Alex finds out that his uncle was a spy working for MI6, and now MI6 is forcing him to take his uncle’s place. Alex is assigned a mission where he almost gets eaten by a shark, shot in an ambush and getting cut in half. General Sarov is planning to drop a nuclear bomb in a country and starting world war 3. Alex has to go to the island called Skeleton Key and stop the General with his fellow agents. He has to act like a son but he has no experience and his agents hate him, then how will he manage? How will he stop the evil General? He has to risk his life on a strange island to save the world. Alex doesn’t want to do this but MI6 is forcing him to.  The author is Anthony Horowitz. There are many series to Alex rider but this is my favorite. 

Pritish (Grade 8)

Practice: Sports Day

                                               The Sports Day Practice

Earlier , if I even heard the words “Sports Day”, I never used to have a very good feeling about it, but since I started school here I enjoy sports.Now I am excited about the day, the activities, and the competitions between people.  Also, I have improved at sports since I started. The activities seem very easy, but when you start learning, you have to follow specific rules, and that becomes hard. This idea of the Annual Sports Day is just great! I can’t wait until this day comes, and until then I will practice and practice and practice, and that is what matters…for now.

                                                                                        Swagatalaxmi Gr 8

Music Lessons

                                                                      We love them .......

                                   The peaceful sound of the perfect music in the class and coming from the hearts of the students. It is one of the Best classes in this school, and if there was nobody on this earth who does not like music has no compassion for anything. You may be thinking what is so special about music? It has a big impact on me and my class because what we do is very nice, peaceful, relaxing, and FUN!  We not only are given liberty to perform independently but when we are working as a group we are at our best.  I say it is the best way to enjoy and interact with everyone. So if you ask me if music is fun Of course it is FUN! I love my music lessons and teachers … I love the freedom with which we are allowed to be the in the classes.
  CLICK BELOW TO SEE WHAT WE DO IN OUR CLASS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9dFiFpPTZM

                                                                                                         Karan  (Grade 8)

What I feel......

                                            REPUBLIC DAY

                                                              

Someone truly said – “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage “. 
26^th January the day when the India “adopted” its own new constitution in the year 1950. It has been 62 years since we have been celebrating this day.  Every year the national flag is hoisted by the President at Red Fort.  I love to watch the parade, some it’s boring but to me it’s something I eagerly wait for. Through the parade I realize that we are a very powerful country, and if we work together there is nothing that can stop us. I feel ashamed to know that some people in India take it as a holiday which means a day off from office or school. Many people don’t even know the significance of Republic Day.  In my opinion, every citizen of India should know the significance of this day and take pride to be members of a great and developing nation.

Parth (Grade 8)

Holiday Experience

When our holidays started, I was very excited about what I would do in the holidays.  I had decided that I’d have fun the whole day and not study. After spending a couple of days doing that, Christmas came and then New Years and I did have a lot of fun in those special days.

In 10 to 12 days I had to go to Hong Kong and Macau. First I went to Macau and enjoyed our hotel stay a lot. There were so many things to entertain yourself in the hotel that you didn’t feel like going out.

I then went to Hong Kong, My mom and dad had their business fair so during the day I just spent my time playing my Playstation. In the evenings I did a lot of shopping and saw many interesting things. After 3-4 days in Hong Kong I returned to India.  I had a very nice time , the malls and the shops and all the people were so nice .i wish we can keep going back to Hong kong    

                                                                                                                            Tanish (Grade 8)

Transition from England to India

The Transition I made from England all the way to India was not the easiest of them. Even though my family had always made it a habit to come to India as part of the holidays meant that were always up to date with what was going on within the family and in India itself. Though after living in England for 8 going into 9 years, I felt my future always lay in England, friends, education, and job. To me, England was my future and I couldn’t see myself going anywhere else.

After finding out 4 months prior to the moving, I was totally against the idea of us moving back to India. I say this because my father had a choice whether to go or not. I did everything in my ability to convince my father to reject the offer, my effort was to no avail as I found out 1 month later ... WE WERE MOVING! After creating a strong relationship with my friends in and out of school, I felt so sad to leave them just as we were about to begin a year that was bound to be filled with fun as my cricket tour was about to come up in the summer and Duke of Edinburgh expedition was also quickly approaching so I felt bad having to leave events in which I would have many more memories with my friends.

Although a great positive send off from my friends was what I would’ve loved and it was exactly what I got with a great day out with my friends taking ample memories which I’m sure they won’t forget and neither will I. My 8 years in England would never be forgotten by me or my friends, I accept the fact that I would learn more about my home country and be more exposed to the big wide world.After missing my House Rugby event for the 2^nd time in October, I left  for India to find out what would become of my schools, at first my choice was the British School as they had an exact copy of the British curriculum so I thought it would be a much easier choice. But due to some difficult situations I was left to resort to Pathways which I do not regret. After coming to Pathways I was put off straight away by the ongoing construction. I later noticed the small number of students in the school in comparison with the size of the school campus, this came as a big surprise as my previous school in England had a fairly small campus mainly comprising of the sports field but the rest held 1200 students.

After filling the forms and walking right into the door of my future classroom, I was greeted with big smiles and happy shouts of joy as to the new addition of their form. A warm welcome is what every student needs when they enter a school at any time during a school term. It was a day I will not forget as I quickly made friends and was overjoyed to hear how close everyone here was, relationship-wise and distance-wise too.
On the whole, it was a successful transition as far as my social life was concerned but now the work starts and my school begins. It is going to be just as big a rollercoaster ride as my last school. I’m sure.

Advitya (Grade 8)

A tweet from the Form Tutor

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and most patients of teachers. -  Charles W. Eliot

There are a number of pathways to learn the essential lessons of life. One of the most enjoyable ways is through books. The school organised Literary Week, Read-A-Thon and a Book fair in the last fortnight to emphasize the importance of reading books. It was heartening to see the full fledged support of the parents for these activities. We hope for the continuation of such support in the future as well.Now is the time for festivities and resolutions as the New Year is approaching. New Year is the perfect time to look back into the past and make plans for the future. I wish, one of your resolutions is, to be continuing reading.

Wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. 

-Gayitri Singh (Form tutor of Grade 8)

Mark Inglis’ trip to Pathways Noida

On 12^th December 2011, Mark Inglis visited Pathways School Noida.

If you don’t know who Mark Inglis is, he is the world’s only double amputee to climb Mt. Everest.

Mark Inglis’ talk to the school was very inspiring; I was presenting him along with Aash. It was nerve-racking to talk to the whole school because I hardly ever talk to big crowd like that, but I think I managed fine. JAash and I know Mark very well as he is a close family friend of ours. And it felt very special introducing him to the school.

Mark did a short one hour talk to the school about aspects of the journey to Mt. Everest and the lessons learnt from it. He also talked about how he got his legs and fingers amputated and the goals and challenges he has now set for life as a result. Mark is really inspiring; because even though being a double amputee is a struggle, he’s put this disadvantage into an advantage, and carries a positive outlook in life. There’s a lot one can learn from Mark – about having a goal, staying focused, taking calculated risks, working as a team, researching and planning our paths, and more than anything, ensuring a positive attitude.

-Aana Kambhoj (Grade 8)

A word from the world of Design and Technology

 In all my life I thought being a teacher wasn’t  hard but I was completely wrong. From what I have earn about Design & Technology , it is a very complex job.  Some of the objectives of the lesson are     learning technical drawings on computers, and big paper sheets. The most  interesting activities to me  are  the usual wood crafting.  I realize  design and technology  is very important for our lives , our grade and for our  career.

THIS IS WHAT WE  LEARNT , when we met Mr Roger  our D.T Teacher ...                  

what do you think about pathways school by its self?

Pathways, it is a very unique opportunity for Indian students to get education in a different way, more creative way.

So what does it take to be good in Design & Technology?

 It take practice, accuracy, Skills, and effort.  

Well, how do you feel when you interact with students, do you enjoy it?

Yes, as a teacher of course I enjoy it, it is very interesting to get to know different personalities.

 what do you expect from the students next year?

That students should be punctual and more attentive ,  a little more organized . 

Swagata and Karan Malhotra 

Anita Roy’s interview

On 5^th of December, a famous Indian author named Anita Roy visited Pathways Noida. I feel very lucky to have gotten such a wonderful opportunity to interview her.

In our first session she introduced herself and we got to know more about her. You could probably write what she has written about, and name a few books. After that, she read a wonderful story for us which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. As part of the Editorial Board committee, I also got to interview her with a couple of other students. We asked her several questions; my question for her was– “While writing a book do you think before writing every paragraph?  Like do you think about where to put the plots, settings and other major parts of a story or you just keep writing and these things come to you automatically?” She said that she thinks before writing every single part of her book, which I thought was very sensible. This experience has helped me a lot for my personal project as I am also writing a book and I would like to thank Mrs. Anita Roy for clearing all my doubts.

-Parth (Grade- 8)

Studying is not Everything

In the 21^st century people consider being good is studies is one of the many paths to being successful in life. I believe that getting 97% in your board exams and getting into one of the collages like SRCC is not the only path for becoming successful. I mean Sir. Sachin Tendulkar might not be good in studies but he is a role model for millions today. Similarly other activities like acting, singing, dancing, athletics can take you very far in life. We have great examples like- Michael Jackson, Usain Bolt and many more. I don’t mean to offend anyone of you who wants to make a career through academics but I just want parents to let their children do whatever they want to do. They have their own life to live. Parents should just monitor what their children do and guide them if they’re not on the right path. Today several children are forced by their parents to study and leave other activities such as dancing, singing, acting. I am proud to have parents who are always encouraging me to do what I like and I salute all the parents who do the same with their children. This is how our country will progress and this progress needs to happen as soon as possible. There are a few people who are not very rich, don’t have big houses or luxurious cars but they are happy because they get to do what they like. They don’t need anything else from life; they have a reason to live. After all, money can’t buy you everything. Money can’t buy love, happiness and other things which are more important and satisfying.

-Parth (Grade 8)

The Read-A-Thon experience

Read-A-Thon was a very good experience for me because I read for fun and for the benefit of others. This Read-A-Thon  experience is something that I will remember for a long time.We organised this event because all of us in the Middle school wanted to fundraise and collect money for the children who don’t have any clothes. 
All the money collected will go to a Non government organization called Goonj. Goonj aims to make something useful for the people by using old and used material.

Through the Read-A-Thon fundraiser, we plan to donate money for some stationary of Goonj so that it can provide  for the poor children who cannot even by an eraser.  This event taught me  that people can change someone’s life just by putting in some effort.

I would have never thought that I would have to read a book  for charity but I had fun because you could read anything you want. I have already finished a book by the end of a week (which I thought would be impossible for me to achieve) which was pretty interesting and this event made me read the book.  Now I have already ensured that I have some money to give to Goonj.

'Readathon  build a wall' 

I think I had a great opportunity to help them. And I really, really hope that we do this every year in this school.  And even though I am going to go to the Senior School next year I would love to do this event again and again just to help those people out there.

-Swagata (Grade 8)

Yuvraj Singh visits our school

The Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh visited our school on 5 December on Monday somewhere around 2:00 pm. Everyone in the school assembled in the MYP Atrium.  He had come to our school for the opening of a cricket academy called Yuvraj Singh, centre of excellence.  My schools experience was good with him because we all were disciplined. The selected ones asked him different types of questions about cricket and about his childhood. Everyone was excited to meet him and wanted to ask different types of questions related to cricket.

 He told us that he was unlucky because he didn’t have such a good school to study in like we have here in Pathways. He told us that he used to play tennis, was excellent in skating and wanted to become an English teacher if he was not a cricketer. We asked him questions like if he still gets butterflies in this stomach before batting in a cricket match, we also asked him that if he ever gets a chance to become the captain for India’s cricket team would he accept it or not? We all enjoyed hearing him answer our questions. I hope he comes to our school regularly.

Pulkit (Grade 8)

  

   “When you're a little kid you're a bit of everything; Scientist, Philosopher, Artist. Sometimes it seems like growing up is giving these things up one at a time”

Dear parents

Don’t we all know how fast our own days went past; Growing up was  never easy. I still want to  hold on to things that were as I  wonder what's to come. But as Abraham Lincoln said “You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” so GROW we all did and I guess ,are still …….

As stakeholders of our childrens' world ,lets  help them grow into perfect rounded personalities ;who retain the bit of the Scientist ,Philosopher and Artist in them. They are blossoming into young ladies and gentlemen ,all set to make us proud .lets peep into their world of experiences and see what they have brought forth his time  .




Aprajita Ralli 
 Co-Form tutor

                                                                                                                                                                             

British School Trip

we enjoyed  what we did ...

Mr. Anil  -  our mentor 

our creation

great minds at work !!!

On the 1^st of December 2011, 6 members of Pathways School Noida from Middle School went on a trip to the British School for an art project. We left at 7:30 in the morning and arrived at 8:30. We were sent to the assembly hall for an introduction to all the schools that came. There were at least 15 schools that came to the British School. They started the day with singing, they sang songs about peace and gave us a presentation of what peace means to them. They then told us what we had to do for the project and then we were sent outside to our table to start our project.

Our first project was to draw and paint something that resembles peace onto a kite; we finished it in 1 hour. After that, we breakfast. For breakfast they had really nice cake and samosa, along with different varieties of drinks. After that we had to paint a sculpture of a bird coming out of an egg; Sohini and Ketan did that and I helped a little bit too. That was a fun thing we did. After a fun day, we headed to the buses back to school.

-Aash Kambhoj (Grade 8)

Interview with Mrs. Sunanda Sandhir (Principal of the Middle School

How much progress do you think the school has made?

The school has made a progress in many ways. I am mentioning the physical part. Building contruction work has been completed and  now we have a  Cafeteria and separate  Sports block.. Our sports facilities have alos bettered .The students are actively using  swimming pool and there is horse riding facility too. Number of midddle school students have grown to 41 this year from 21 last year.  

Do you like the idea of being responsible for the student's safety?

 I like taking responsibilities of  my students. Their safety is one of the most essential aspect.

Do you find that being a middle school principal is hard?

There are challenges but because I love working with children I do not find it hard.

Can you give us one of the challenges that you’ve faced up till now?

One of the challenges is to motivate students to meet deadlines and while doing so, use all learning opportunities that are provided to the students .

What was your career before coming to this school?

I have always been an educationist Mathematics and ICT have been my areas of specialization. In my last job before joining this school, I was an education officer in an organization that sets up new schools and also manages them. 

How many years have you been practicing to achieve this career?

I started my career 19 years ago.

Do you love the students here in Pathways School Noida?

Of course! I really love the students here and I connect with them a lot.

-Swagata & Aana (Grade 8)

Sports in Our School

Sports in our School:

Sports activities  in our school are very  nice, we get to be involved in many games for  e.g: Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, Cricket, Table Tennis, Golf, Squash, etc.

Past two weeks we have been busy with  the inter house basketball for senior and middle school, they were great fun ! In the senior school, Earth House stood first(boys) and Air house ( girls)came first. In Middle School, Water House  stood first, and the second and third position was bagged  by Fire House and Air House. There was a great team spirit we all saw and experienced on the ground that day .  I scored 14 points and  can proudly say that I was the third highest scorer of the game.

We really enjoyed the game and would be very happy if many more such matches are organized in the school . I love  all the sports activities we have here at Pathways

Team  discussions!

Three cheers to Pathways ,Noida

Teachers' support 

teams in action

Mr Deepak ...our  motivating force 

-Tanish (Grade -8)

Math Lessons

“Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky - or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time.”

Carl Sandburg

 Yes that what the concept is. I have always believed - try-try and you will succeed. All that is required to be good in Mathematics is practice. After all, practice makes perfect. Well our Maths lesson is not like any other Maths lesson; in fact it is one of the lessons we look forward to. There are many reasons for  that. - One being the fact that we get to use our laptops. We all love to work on our laptops, I mean we’re in the 21^st century and we don’t want to write on paper when we already have laptops. Miss Sunanda (Our Maths Teacher) uploads assignments on Moodle. For those who don’t know what Moodle is, it’s an online document where you can upload assignments. Miss also uploads videos on Youtube, and trusts me it’s a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get to learn new things. We can watch these videos again and again till we understand the entire concept .We do a lot of self-studying, which enhances our comprehension skills. I personally have learned new things like uploading videos on Youtube, how to print-screen files and how to use the calculator to its optimum use.it always exciting when we can do things on our own and our Math lessons give us that opportunity

-Parth (Grade 8)

Trip To Red Fort

the walk ....

The Monument

our resource Person : Ms. Smita Vats  from Itihaas

On the 29^th of last month we the students of middle school went for a field trip to the Red fort or the Quila-e-Mubarak. It was an educational field trip organized by Itihaas. It made us realize that architecture of the time was way ahead . The resource person Ms.Smita Vats not only  focused on architecture but also went into history and battles of Shah jahan’s reign . The Red fort was first named Quila-e-Mubarak. It was first made out of red sandstone then given a coating of white plaster. On this plaster there were rare jewels and gems. But after the decline of the Mughal era there were raids that took place and the jewels and gems were stolen. When the British arrived they saw nothing miraculous in the fort and thus named it the red fort. This field trip made us realize that we Indians had the basic technology even before the west did. We had a long and tiring but a very thrilling walk through the monument . I wish we had many more such trips !

-Tanmay (Grade -8)