AN ORGANIC TALE!

When Composting brings a whole school community together…

What's good for the environment is good for the soul! DRSIS believes children learn best when they learn experientially. DRS International School, recently took up composting as a joint initiative by our student community as part of their Value Education Programme and CAS Programmes. 

 Over a period of four months, our students have undertaken the process of composting the kitchen waste and dry leaves in-house, in a completely organic manner to create organic vermi-compost. The students worked collaboratively for the planning process, from deciding the location of the cubicle, setting up collection and segregation points for the diffferent types of organic waste from different sources including the kitchen, the lawns and gardens etc. The students also facilitated the inclusion of coir, earthworms and cow-dung to speed up the decomposition process. They were actively involved in the layering and mixing stages for the creation of the compost, and ensured the compost was mixed and aerated every week diligently.

Organic Vermi Compost

Taking ownership of the process, they also brainstormed to find organic solutions for the challenges they faced- such as the arrival of the red ants. The students ensured the composting process continued uninterrupted by using coffee grounds and natural repellants such as turmeric.

After the process of composting was complete and produced a good yield, our students filtered. bagged, sealed and labelled the compost for distribution and sale during the Open-House Meet held recently.As the proceeds from the sales of compost were being given to charity, our parent community as well as our faculty supported the students’ cause by purchasing the organic compost in generous amounts.

Question it all!

How do you know the world you live in is real? Are our identities a work of art? Is accidental ‘art’ even ‘art’? DRS InternationalSchool explored these questions and more during the TOK Day Celebrations held at the school recently.

Theory of Knowledge or TOK, as it is popularly known, is a part of the DP Core and helps students made transdisciplinary connections across the different subjects to examine how we know what we know. The school celebrated the unique nature and scope of the subject with a series of thought-provoking activities organized by the DP student community.

The day began with ‘Spectrum’, a gallery walk which invited viewers to challenge their assumptions of what art is and where the boundaries of art lie. Students, faculty, parents and invitees throughly enjoyed the interactive displays that made them wonder about the thin boundaries between Art, error, trash, coincidence, vandalism and cruelty, among other concepts.

The Gallery Walk was followed by ‘Game of Realities’, a collaboratively scripted and directed play by the students that explored the illusions that both reality and virtual reality blurs in the gaming world. The play was a modern day adaptation of Plato’s famous Analogy of the Cave. The students’ performance demonstrated their depth of understanding of the classic riddle- how do we know the world we live in is real?

Finally, the day came to an end with the screening of the cult film ‘Inception’, which is also based on the same Analogy. The students watched the film with a new-found appreciation of its nuances and left with more questions than they came with.

The day certainly succeeded in deepening the school community’s understanding of TOK as a core subject and piqued their interest to pursue its questions further!

IB PYP Exhibition- Class of 2018!

To celebrate the culmination of their IB PYP learning journeys, our Grade V students presented their exploration of the theme ‘How The World Works’ through the Exhibition held today! The students proudly presented the projects, models, displays and posters they have collaboratively created to explore the central idea ‘Human Intelligence and Technology continue to evolve and influence our lives’.

The students made their exploration of the central idea visible, and embodied the attributes of the IB Learner Profile as well as the Approaches to Learning as they explained their findings and conclusions of each of the lines of inquiry. The vibrant exhibits and 3 D installations drew curious parents and interested peers alike from across the school.

The students insight fully explored the evolution of technology, its role in our daily lives and the spectrum of its scope in relation to their learning in Personal, Social & Physical Education, as well as Music, Visual & Performing Arts, besides Mathematics, through the Languages through their performances as well as their demonstrations.

The school community truly enjoyed the experience of thinking aloud about technology and added more meaning and depth to the exhibition by interacting keenly with our students.

Leading Learning!!

Student Led Conference

Our IB PYP students from across the International Kindergarten and Grades I to IV eagerly demonstrated their learning throughout the year at the Student Led Conference held today. Proud parents were amazed to see their young thinkers and communicators confidently demonstrate their learning from their inquiries and showcase the development of their transdisciplinary skills. Through presenting their portfolios, using hands-on learning engagements, sharing their personal projects, as well as display boards that captured their journeys through the units of inquiries in the year, the students actively made connections to the their learning by taking action. Parents gave the students their feedback, and together, the learning community reflected on the progress made.

A Splash of Colour!

                              The ResidentialWing of DRS International School celebrated colour and joy on 2^nd March, 2018 on the auspicious occasion of the festival of Holi. All the boarders gathered in the sport’s ground for the exciting celebrations. They were given safe and organic dry colors to celebrate with. The celebration began after the completion of the regular study hours. Students leaped in joy over the prospect of celebrating Holi and moved to the tune of their favorite songs and music in background. The Festival enhanced their mutual friendship and respect and helped them bond with each other. The boarders enjoyed the celebration for a solid three hours until they were exhausted. They freshened up after a long day.

                                           Holi certainly brought everyone together, increased their joys, and enhanced the bright side of DRS Residential life as a whole. It was indeed a satisfactory experience which further fueled their motivation to prepare for the exam season ahead.

Heads or Tails?

                                Probability is the likelihood or chance of an event occurring and its an important concept in Mathematics. At DRS InternationalSchool, our facilitators believe in bringing lessons to life through hands-on activities and student-led presentations which deepen their conceptual understanding. The students of Grade IX of DRS International School were divided into groups and each group successfully created their own experiments and made presentations to explain their understanding of the concept of probability. One group of students used a coin to demonstrate the probability of getting Head or a Tail and another other group students brought 'Uno Cards' to explain the concept to their peers. Yet another group experimented with the concept by playing a live game of ' Rock Paper and Scissors' .

Get-Together!

It is time for the academic year to end, time to say goodbye to the present class and move ahead. To end the academic year on a happy note, the IB PYP wing of DRS International School organized an ‘Informal Get-together’ for students. The children bought homemade food and were actively involved in the preparation of the item they wished to bring to school. The foods bought by children were shared among their friends and classmates. The students embodied traits like Sharing & Caring IB Attributes in the get together party.

Prologue to 'Salaam Jaadugar' at the 15th Annual Celebrations at DRS International School.

Word Of The Day!

'The Making of Dhyan Chand' at the 15th Annual Celebrations at DRS International School.

Quote of the Day!

Traffic! Traffic!

The students of IB PYP, Grade- III of DRS International School were taken on a Field Trip to the ‘Traffic Training Institute, Begumpet’. This trip was a part of their inquiry, ‘Communities build facilities to meet our needs’. The students inquired and understood about organization & interacted with the traffic police.

The students learnt about different signs and symbols and the safety rules to be followed while driving.

DRSIS House System

Circles of View-points!

Exploring International Mindedness in the PYP Classroom.

This Saturday saw our PYP and IK Facilitators deepen their understanding of what it means to nurture International Mindedness in an in-house professional development session organized for them!

The session saw our facilitators explore how the IB Learner Profile, Transdisciplinary Themes and Multilingualism enable both facilitators and students to go beyond their own perspectives, and environment to look at global issues and differences with a unique, global ‘lens’.

Facilitators explored how diversity of perspectives deepen understanding through an Image-analysis activity. They examined what shapes their own beliefs and knowledge by creating their own ‘lens’, that invited them to reflect on their own perspectives. The facilitators recreated Ekalavya’s story to explore how multiple and diverse perspectives shape what we know. The facilitators also reflected on the school’s policy on International Mindedness and how each one of them could continue to contribute to its implementation. After these activities, the facilitators explored different thinking routines that can help thing bring alive International Mindedness in the classroom, such as ‘Circle of Viewpoints’, ‘What Makes You Say That?’, ‘Tug of War’ and ‘Step Inside’. These strategies will definitely help our students understand that ‘other people, with the differences can also be right!’

Exam Anxiety? Few tips on how to reduce exam anxiety!

Thought of the day!