sathya sai school - mrpandgrade3.camrpandgrade3.ca/newsletter.pdfparent-teacher interviews ......

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“Our deeds reveal our motives; our motives design our habits; our

habits decide our character; our

character determines our destination.”

~Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai School Toronto, Canada

Bi-Weekly Parent Information Letter # 4 | Oct 21, 2013

Pizza Day Oct 24

Food Drive till Nov 1

Progress Reports Nov 1

Uniform Purchase Days Nov 4 & 5

Parent-Teacher Interviews Nov 4-8

P.D. Day (No School) Nov 8

Remembrance Day (No School)

Nov 11

Blood Donor Drive’s ‘Liquid Love’

On Saturday, October 5th, the Sathya Sai School of Canada's dedicated Parent Council organized a Blood Donor Clinic in partnership with the Canadian Blood Services. Thanks to the school's wonderfully supportive community of parents, volunteers, and supporters, the Blood Drive was an enormous success, yielding 27 pints of blood. Each pint of blood has the potential to save three lives; thus, we may have effectively helped 81 patients in need of blood!

A huge thank you goes out to all those who made this possible, contributing their blood, time, energy, and delicious food to ensure that all the donors remained upright after donating blood. Your efforts help connect the school's mission to the community so that we can put into practice the five human values. Here's looking forward to next year's Blood Drive! ~ Reported by: Ms. Bhavani Munshi, Grade 2 Teacher

(continued on page 03)

Teamwork in Parent Council Elections Congratulations to the newly elected members of the Sathya Sai School Parent Council and continuing members, and a tremendous “Thank You” to those parents stepping down from their completed 2-year term.

Our school is very fortunate to have such a committed and hardworking Parent Council. Though many Torontonians exit the city early on a long weekend, many Sathya Sai School Parents showed their love and support for the school by attending the Parent Council Elections on Friday evening, October 11, 2013. The spirit of the event was warm and friendly, and the non-competitive atmosphere was apparent to all.

(continued on page 04)

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Pizza Day: Oct 24 Pizza lunch will be served to students who have pre-ordered. Halloween Food Drive: Oct 1 – Nov 1 The school is collecting non-perishable food items to be donated to the community Food Bank. Progress Reports + Science Fair Packages: Nov 1 Progress Reports + Science Fair Packages will be sent home for Grades 1 to 7 (see details to right). Uniform Purchase Days: Nov 4-5 Uniforms will be available for purchase from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm on Monday, Nov. 4 and Tuesday, Nov. 5. Parent-Teacher Interviews: Nov 4-8 These important Interviews are mandatory for all parents (see details to right). P.D. Day (No school): Nov 8 No classes for students. Parent-Teacher interviews in the morning; staff meeting in the afternoon.

Progress Reports & Science Fair Packages: Nov 1 Progress Reports and Science Fair Packages will be sent home on November 1, 2013 for Grades 1 to 7. According to the Ministry of Education guidelines, Kindergarten students do not receive a Progress Report. They will receive their first Report Card in February 2014 along with the other grades. Parent-Teacher Interviews provide an excellent opportunity for parents to gain an understanding of their child’s strengths and areas for improvement, in order to better support the child’s learning at home. Your positive involvement in your child’s education is a key factor in his/her success. It is for this reason that Sathya Sai School has made Interviews mandatory for all parents. Parent-Teacher Interviews for all students, includ-ing Kindergarten, will be conducted on the days shown below – teachers will be sending home notes to parents for selecting appointment times.

CONTENTS Blood Donor Drive’s ‘Liquid Love’ ......................... 01,03 Teamwork in Parent Council Elections .................. 01,04 Upcoming Events ....................................................... 02 Dynamic Value Parenting: Transformative ................. 05 Dynamic Value Parenting: Get Together .................... 06 Students and Seniors Enjoy Time Together ................ 07 Human Value for Sept/Oct: Right Conduct ................ 07 Academics & Human Values JK: .......................................................................... 08 SK: ......................................................................... 08 Grade 1: ................................................................ 09 Grade 2: ................................................................ 09 Grade 3: ................................................................ 10 Grade 4: ................................................................ 10 Grade 5: ................................................................ 11 Grade 6: ................................................................ 11 Grade 7: ................................................................ 12 Multi-Faith Festivals around the World ..................... 13 Uniform Purchase Days .............................................. 13 Important Dates ......................................................... 13

Upcoming Events

School Building Project

Phase 1

Completed

Phase 2

Jun 2013

Phase 3

Jan 2014

Phase 4

Jul 2014

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Blood Donor Drive’s ‘Liquid Love’ (continued from page 1)

The Blood Donor Drive (BDD) required three days of work (pre BDD, BDD and post BDD set-up). We thank the following parents, teachers and volunteers of Sathya Sai School for their selfless and loving service, including the cooking and serving of food to everyone (in alphabetical order):

Mrs. Kathleen Aguilar, Mrs. Leematee Badrinarain, Mr. Sukumar Balasubramaniam, Mrs. Selvaramani Chandradhas, Mr. Sivaguru Chandradhas, Mrs. Gupta, Mr. Andre Harricharran, Mrs. Rajni Kapoor, Mr. Vaughn MacDonald, Mr. Arjoon Mahadeo, Mr. Kesh Maharaj, Mrs. Lalitha Manoharan, Mr. Suri Metla, Mr. Siva Mohanraj, Ms. Bhavani Munshi, Mrs. Sruthi Parayil, Mrs. Thabo Ponnampalam, Mr. Shiras Rajendran, Mr. Manish Rughani, Dr. Navdeep Saggar, Dr. Ruby Saggar, Mrs. Sanghvi, Mrs. Renuka Sivasubramaniam, Mrs. Lakshika Srisatkuru, Mr. Kiruparan Thangavelautham, Sudhakar Voora, Mrs. Sulekha Voora, and Mrs. Geeta Vora.

Please accept our apologies for any names that may have inadvertently been omitted.

OCT 5 2013

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Newsletter # 2 September 19 2013

Teamwork in Parent Council Elections (continued from page 1)

It is noteworthy that this year’s JK parents set an admirable example of teamwork and humility when four parents were nominated for the position of JK Class Representative. Almost as one mind, they

decided to work together and choose one person to be the lead and the others would be the supports, and they quickly and quietly exited the room to confer with one another to establish their roles. This year it was decided that each Class Rep would have a person(s) appointed to shadow the Rep, in order to get on board for next year.

Parent Council Membership 2013-2014:

Position Name

Principal Dr. Revathi Chennabathni Co-Chair Mr. Sudhakar Voora Co-Chair Mr. Kesh Maharaj Treasurer Dr. Navdeep Saggar

(Shadow): Mrs. Lakshmi Kandavel Secretary Mrs. Thabo Ponnampalam

(Shadow): Mrs. Narmatha Sinna-Baskaran

JK Rep

Mr. Jaswinder Marwaha (Shadows): Mr. Debasis Bilas, Mrs. Karima Hashmani, Dr. Sudhanshu Rahane

SK Rep Mr. Shiras Rajendran (Shadows): Mrs. Ahalya Ganeshan Mr. Peter Saverimuttu

Grade 1 Rep Mrs. Narmatha Sinna-Baskaran (Shadow): Mrs. Mala Sihota

Grade 2 Rep Dr. Navdeep Saggar (Shadow): Mr. Hitesh Lad

Grade 3 Rep Mr. Vetrichelvan Kasinathan (Shadow): Mr. Ramakrishna Kuntamukkala

Grade 4 Rep Mr. Sukumar Balasubramaniam (Shadow): Mrs. Malathi Yogaraajah

Grade 5 Rep Mr. Siva Mohanraj (Shadow): Mr. Jignesh Shah

Grade 6 Reps Mr. Sudhakar Voora, Mr. Kesh Maharaj (Shadows): Mr. Jayakumar Harinathan, Mr. Wayne McLennon

Grade 7 Rep Mr. Arjoon Mahadeo Teacher Rep Mr. Vaughn MacDonald Community Rep Mrs. Geeta Vora Community Rep Mr. Nathan Sritharan Trustee Mr. Subramaniam Premachandran

Thank You for Your Contribution

We thank the outgoing members for their dedication and commitment to Sathya Sai School. They are selfless workers who are always on hand to help with planning, organizing, and carrying out the school’s many programs. Mrs. Kathleen Aguilar spoke words of appreciation: “The mentorship and guidance of the Parent Council and Dr. Revathi has been amazing. It was a wonderful gift and opportunity to serve and I am very grateful. I am stepping back, but will be supporting.” Mr. Manish Rughani said that he was grateful for the chance to play an active role as a Class Rep and as Co-Chair for the Walk for Values. He is taking a step behind the scenes now and will be focusing on the preparations for the new school building. Mrs. Lalitha Manoharan was not present at the meeting, but her contributions to the Parent Council are much appreciated.

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Dynamic Value Parenting:

Transformative

The Dynamic Value Parenting (DVP) workshops offered by the Canadian Institute of Sathya Sai Education (CISSE) have a profound impact upon parents and their families. The facilitators are volunteers who serve the community, offering their expertise and compassion to assist participants. Following is feedback received by Mr. Dev Taneja, National DVP Coordinator, which really touched the facilitators and encouraged them to continue this wonderful program.

“We cannot thank enough the DVP Team for having such a wonderful and informative program. We consider ourselves very fortunate to attend, and to be a part of Dynamic Value Parenting. Hats off to all your efforts, time and dedication in making this program a great success. Thanks for sharing the true knowledge and wisdom for making a better future based on sound and healthy societies.

These parenting classes have made a huge difference in our lives as well as children’s lives and a family as a whole. We’ve made many mistakes in the past, in ignorance, thinking it is normal and it is the right thing to do in regards to Parenting. Now that we are aware about the consequences, we would choose better options in terms of Parenting and work towards a happy and successful family and social life. We are more involved in our children’s day to day activities now and it gives us immense joy and happiness and a sense of accomplishment.

I would definitely recommend this to all the parents and grandparents and all the members of our family to attend these DVP sessions. I can assure you that you will not regret it. It was an eye opener for me and has changed my perspective about parenting altogether. We cannot change the past, but we can definitely change the present and make a better future.

Thanks again to the entire DVP Team, the facilitators and the volunteers for a great job.

Keep up the good work. God bless us all and give us more strength and

courage so that we can fulfill our duties as parents to the best of our ability.” ~ Mr. Karim Damani

“Thanks for the workshops you [Mr. Dev Taneja] and Mrs. Geeta Vora facilitated over the course of last year and this year.

The DVP program has had a positive impact on me and has set me/Vinaya in the right direction at an early stage of parenthood. We all grew up in a different social setting (autocratic, like the book calls it) which is a different way of upbringing. I have come to realize the bad sides of it and how it affects the self- esteem/confidence, etc. in children.

If not for the DVP progam, we probably would do the same with our children, without knowing any better. It is our responsibility as parents to not just give good food/clothing/toys to our children, but also grow them mentally, and develop them into men/women of great self-esteem, confidence and character. Effective parenting plays a very critical role in this. I strongly feel programs like the DVP will set this foundation for everyone who participates. We have greatly benefitted from this program individually and as a family. Many Thanks” ~ Sudhir Thuppale, Vinaya, Devika We were skeptic as we went in to the Dynamic Value Parenting (DVP) workshop, especially considering it was thirteen 2 hour sessions that would take up our Saturday mornings. After all, we had brought up our son for 5 years, what more was there to learn.. We were proven wrong and it was glaringly obvious on the very first session! It was captivating and every class we attended left us wanting more. The time was well spent and the learning we took away from it was extremely valuable and helped remake our attitude towards our children. Our father, who was visiting us, also attended the course and he says it was the best thing he did in Canada. He practises his new found learning with his grandchildren back in India. We think DVP is not just a course, but a wholesome experience which is a must have for every parent, irrespective of the background. Thanks for the opportunity, it is one of those great things that comes with being a Sai School parent.. We are not taking it for granted, we know how much effort and personal time goes behind it. ~ Shiras Rajendran & Sruthi Parayil

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DVP Get Together: Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013 at 9am

A get together was organized for the participants of last year’s Dynamic Value Parenting workshop. The participants and the facilitators (Mr. Dev Taneja and Mrs. Geeta Vora) spent a fruitful morning recapping their experiences from the past year since they completed the DVP workshop.

Special thanks to Mr. Manish Rughani for following through on the promise of having a follow up get together. Some feedback comments below:

Light houses are constructed at various places in the sea, to enable the boatmen to avoid rocks and dangers, and make them sail safely. Similarly, attending Dynamic Value Parenting “Get Together” was important and we all needed replacing parents’ bulbs to shine and make sure we guide our children on the correct path and avoid dangers - very valuable and I would suggest every parent to have a refresher get together. Looking forward for next one at our new school.

Thanks – Manish Rughani Attending the Dynamic Value Parenting (DVP) course is a must for all parents. It provides the basic tools and guidance in helping us become better parents and raise spiritual children. We had the privilege to attend a follow-up session this weekend where we got to meet all the other parents and share our challenges and successes. It is important to continue to practice and learn the principles gained from the DVP course. Meeting with other parents periodically after the DVP course ended was very helpful, insightful and inspiring.

Hitesh and Manisha Lad

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Respect for right conduct

is felt by every body. - Jane Austen

Students & Seniors Enjoy Time Together Trips to Seniors’ homes are an important outreach program for Sathya Sai School students, providing them a chance to share their joy and love with the elderly. On October 11, 2013, the JK, SK, and Grade 1 students visited the St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre to bring love through song, dance and the giving of handmade gifts to the seniors. In appreciation, a Certificate was presented to “Sathya Sai School, in recognition of your excellent performance on October 11, 2013 at St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre.”

Human Value for Sep/Oct

RIGHT CONDUCT

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One of the distinguishing features of the Sathya Sai

School is the integration of Human Values into the

academic curriculum. Following are glimpses of the

students’ work.

By: Mr. Christopher Buccella, JK Teacher

APPLES & THE FALL

The Junior Kindergarten class has been exploring the theme of "apples and the fall" over the last few weeks. We made some fresh apple sauce that we enjoyed on a beautiful fall afternoon.

The students also completed an apple puzzle which they coloured and reassembled independently.

By: Mrs. Amala Regisanth, SK Teacher

This week the Senior Kindergarten students of the Sathya Sai School made special Thanksgiving Treats for the Family. Each student created a 3D Turkey craft, along with heartfelt cards for their loved ones. Students put full effort to colour, cut and glue the components of the Turkey and Card to assemble the gift ensuring it was made with 100% of love. The SK students would like to wish the Sathya Sai School Community a Happy Thanksgiving.

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Junior Kindergarten

Academics & Human Values

Senior Kindergarten

Senior Kindergarten

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By: Ms. Theeba Ratnarajah, Grade 1 Teacher

The Grade 1 Bumblebees took part in student-led ‘read alouds’ this month. This activity provided a chance for students to have a bit of fun and improve their literacy skills - reading, writing, listening and speaking – at the same time!

The Grade 1 Bumblebees have also learned a new song that teaches them about the value of determination and the importance of never giving up until their goals have been met!

By: Ms. Bhavani Munshi, Grade 2 Teacher

Our talented Grade 2 students worked together to create this patchwork to showcase the five human values of Truth, Right Conduct, Love, Peace, and Non-Violence.

Grade 1

Grade 2

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By: Mr. Parthi Kandavel, Grade 3 Teacher

On Friday, October 11th the Grade 3s, along with the Grade 4s and 7s, went to the Harbourfront Centre on a journey to create masks out of clay. The clay mask programme gave the children the chance to explore hand building techniques and discover the creative possibilities of clay. The far-reaching traditions of mask-making across a variety of cultures provided inspiration for our students to make their own unique mask. The children were greatly immersed and engaged in their creations, while having much fun.

Mr. Vaughn MacDonald, Grade 4 Teacher

! Harbourfront ! By: Aashi Parekh

We, the grade 4’s, 3’s and the 7’s went to Harbourfront on Friday, October 11, 2013. It was really exciting. Even though we went there in grade 2 and 3, each time we did something new. This year we made building beasts out of clay! Building beasts? What are building beasts anyway? You know on top of Old City Hall there are two kinds of monsters on either side. Yes, those are called building beasts. They have been put there so that when it rains, the water slides from the roof, goes onto the building beast, then goes through the open tunnel and goes out from the building beast’s mouth. I made my building beast half penguin and half bird. The grade 3’s were making clay masks. The grade 7’s were doing digital storytelling. Basically, they were taking pictures of things over there and making stories out of that. We had our lunch in a big open yard, which looked so beautiful, even though it was fake grass it was still so nice.

The Ontario Science Centre

By: Aravind Chintalapati

My name is Aravind and I am going to talk about our trip to the Ontario Science Centre. The Grade 6’s were also travelling with us on the bus. When we finally reached our destination, the Grade 6’s left to another branch of the Ontario Science Centre. We started by visiting an exhibit called The Living Earth. There were many things to see and play with. One thing I liked was the fish tank because it had many spectacular species of fish. Then we went to an exhibit called the Science Arcade. OMG! It was awesome! We stayed there for one hour. There was a Plasma Ball. It was a circular glass ball which was purple with white sparks of electricity shooting out from it in all directions. Next we went to the first workshop, Rocks and Minerals. I had a blast there. We saw many different types of rocks and we tried cool activities like using a streak board, and finding the real meteorite. After that we thanked our instructor Andrea. We had lunch and went to our second workshop, the Human Body. We

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 4

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used clickers to respond to questions. We learned about many interesting things like the Great Capillary Vein. After we returned to school I was very happy!

By: Mr. Peter Petrevski, Grade 5 Teacher

At the time of Thanksgiving we are all encouraged to think of the positive and be thankful. But what is the positive without the negative. In order for something to be considered positive, it must have a negative to be compared against; otherwise, everything just is. The grade 5s did an art project this term and were asked to consider the negative. What is the space behind the art? They chose something they were giving thanks for

this year and instead of writing the word, they coloured in the spaces around the word…the word appeared. Artists are trained not to see objects they are drawing as “the object I am drawing” but as shapes against a background. Focusing solely on the background is a great artistic exercise for freeing the brain from labeling objects as they are drawn.

Mrs. Meera Ganga Persad, Grade 6 Teacher

A Visit to the Ontario Science Centre By: Prem Atreya

The grade 6 students had a unique opportunity to visit the Ontario Science Centre on Tuesday the 15th October 2013. We all went by a bus to the Science Centre which was fun. We first visited the planetarium and then we went for lunch. After finishing our lunch we went to a hall wherein we were greeted by a scientist Mr. Russell. He gave us small remotes which were used to answer questions that were projected on the screen. One of the subjects he talked about was the Apollo 11 mission with a spaceship called Saturn V. He told us that it took 10 minutes to reach space and many days to reach the moon. When Saturn V left the atmosphere they ejected the bottom part of the space ship because it was not needed anymore, to save fuel. They kept on ejecting the other parts that were no longer needed only to save fuel. He also talked about how the rockets fly saying that when an object is pushed in one direction, there is always a force of the same size in the opposite direction which pushed the spaceship upwards as stated by Sir Isaac Newton. He showed us an experiment by pumping hydrogen gas into a metal bottle and lit the hydrogen. We could see fire coming out of the metal bottle, after a few seconds we heard a big thud and the bottle flew in the air. He said that the fire was the light energy, the thud sound energy and the bottle flying up kinetic energy. He said that rockets work with the same principles. He also told that there were heat proof tiles at the bottom of rockets. He showed us a heat proof tile and put a student’s hand on one side and a blow torch on the other side. The student could not feel heat. These heat proof tiles can withstand up to 3000 degrees Celsius. He also talked about astronauts in space. When they are in their space suits they can’t sneeze because the water will just float around in their space suits making it hard to see. Astronauts are trained not to sneeze and they have a piece of rug attached in their helmets so they can rub their nose on it if they are tempted to sneeze. Astronauts also have seven layers to protect them from extreme weather. He also said that urine

Grade 5

Grade 6

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and sweat is converted into water in the International Space Station. An excellent video presentation was used to allow us to gain a better understanding of how the spaceship was placed on the moon and how an astronaut’s suit works. We are thankful to him for giving us an insight into how the rocket ship and space suit work in a fun and educative way. On the whole we enjoyed this field trip.

By: Ms. Kerthiga Manokumar, Grade 7 Teacher

Literacy and language are an important focus in the Grade 7 class this year, and in an effort to rekindle everyone's love for reading, the students have been completing 8-box activities. This bi-weekly submission of an 8-box requires each student to read a new and

challenging book every week, and complete various critical thinking and language

development activities.

Students then draw an image of a scene from the book on the cover which is what you see here, and inside the 8-box, the students stick 8

coloured boxes, all with different challenges and questions. Students can choose ANY books they want and many have opted for graphic novels, while others aim for texts ranging from the Mahabharata to the Da Vinci Code. Reading is a personal pleasure and it is each student's goal to discover their own love for reading.

Grade 6

Grade 7

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Multi-Faith Festivals around the world

Oct 20

Birth of the Bab (Baha’i)

Nov 1

All Saints Day (Christian)

Nov 3

Diwali/Deepavali (Hindu, Jain, Sikh)

Important Dates:

Yours truly,

Ms. Recht, Admin. Asst.

Dr. Revathi, Principal

Graphics by Mr. Shiras Rajendran

October/November 2013 Oct 1- Halloween Food Drive Nov 1

Oct 24 Pizza Day

Nov 1 Progress Reports + Science Fair Package sent home

Nov 4-5 Uniform Purchase Days

Nov 4-7 (evenings) Parent-Teacher Interviews / Science Fair topics

Nov 8 P.D. Day (No School)

Nov 8 (morning) Parent-Teacher Interviews / Science Fair topics

Interviews mandatory for all parents

Nov 11 Remembrance Day (No School)

Nov 15 Parent Council Meeting

Nov 20 Human Values Day celebration

Nov 21 Founder’s Day Celebration

Nov 21 Pizza Day

Nov 22 Founder’s Day Holiday (No School)

Monthly Uniform Purchase Days Please note that the next dates for uniform purchases will be on Monday, Nov. 4th and Tuesday, Nov. 5th from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

Next purchase dates are Nov 4 & 5.

Oct 1 -Nov 1

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