Art Club

Introduction

‘Art is the daughter of freedom’ – Friedrich Schiller Freedom from judgment, from insecurity, from fear, from non-love, from non-thought, is what art explores. It is neither limited, nor defined by aesthetics; it is a connection with the God within. Beyond the perspective of aesthetics, much beyond, art helps in Developing motor skills Building confidence Practicing clarity of thought Achieving emotional and psychological stability Exercising our mental faculties Exploring one’s creativity and imagination Expressing oneself Enabling Independent thinking Becoming peaceful Enhancing our observational skills Reducing fear of making mistakes, encourages learning from mistakes. The art workshops started with many children expressing their hesitation, as well as boredom when it came to participation. “Ma’am, I don’t like art ” ; “ I can’t draw ” ; “ I don’t know what to draw ” ; “Ma’am, what color should I paint? ” ; “ My work is horrible ” ; “Ma’am, art is boring ”. There were a few students who were comfortable with putting paint to paper, some struggled . Many children had a lot of internal noise – a fear of the unknown, of failing, of being mocked; insecurity; low confidence; of not knowing themselves, what they wanted/liked – A 9 year old child broke down because he could not draw his ‘prefect tree’, 12 year olds were angry, and sad because nobody would tell them what to draw. All this, coupled with the unspoken pressure of their paintings needing to be aesthetically pleasing and perfect, created very high mental blocks , barriers which limit our capacity to try, our capacity to be joyful and compassionate. But slowly, these walls have started to weaken and break down; joy, playfulness and creativity have flowed in, and how! A lion with a tennis racquet on his tail, a rainbow tree, a colorful shark are some of the few examples of what has been created, and quite a few images are being transferred from hearts and minds onto paper. A lot of famous artists have spent a lifetime trying to unlearn and then learn, so that they can draw like a child. It is crucial that a child learns how to retain his skills, while gradually maturing into an adult. As Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” The main intention of the painting classes at SIS is to reinforce a Truth – Art , any form of art , is not beyond anyone’s reach. It is inside each and everyone of us. It exists in the way we live this gift of life, the way we move through the various views it offers us , in the way we smile or hold someone along the way; it is in every breath of our living. It needs wandering inwards to discover this muse of life and extending one’s existence beyond survival – towards a joyful, compassionate, ever-expanding experience. “

“You didn’t need faith to fly, you need to understand flying.” – Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull’’

Eco Buddy Club

‘’Adopt the pace of Nature: her secret is patience.’’

AIM:

To understand the diversity and beauty of Nature.

To become aware about Nature and to study our roles, responsibilities and impacts as we explore our interaction with Nature.

To understand the processes and cycles seen in ecosystems around us, at different scales, from local to global.

METHOD:

Using Indoor and Outdoor activities

Using theory to understand, experimetnting to understand, test and predict outcomes, and using outdoor hands-on-activities to observe practically and to revisit / refresh our knowledge base.

INVOLVED ACTIVITIES (current and planned)

Painting / Sketching / Photography to build our oubservation skills.

Understanding types of habitats and ecosystems

Understanding and appreciating the diversity in the flora and fauna around us, locally and globally.

OBJECTIVE:

• Focus

• Humility

• Sense of responsibility

• Connection with Nature

• Connection to local culture (Example: how the Kutchi population interacts with their ecosystem, how consumerism interacts and impacts their lifestyles)

• Deeper understanding about the Earth and its biodiversity

• Increased curiosity

• A better understanding of concepts studied theoretically

• Exposure

• Ability to work independently and in groups

EXPLORATIONS:

Warming up and whetting up an appetite using documentaries like BBC’s Planet Earth Series

Shekhar Dattatri’s ‘’Nagarahole – Tales from an Indian Jungle’’

Visit to outdoor places – farms, lakes, untouched / undisturbed land, plants in the school campus, etc.

Connecting our ideas on low-impact lifestyles with the Practical Science and Art clubs

Practical Science Club

The best method to learn science is by doing experiments and understanding why it is happening or when a question arises from around your environment; find the answer by you or by the help of some one.

We have two types of lab periods one is we make models on the topic may be in our syllabus or may not does’ nt matter but we learn. This way child is becoming aware of technology.

The other is we do the experiments on the topics we are learning in our syllabus which makes the concept clear and it is easier to remember if we have done it ourselves.

Besides that by doing experiment they develop accuracy and confidence in themselves.

Juniors from KG to class four enjoy experiments of air, water and food colours with balloons, bubbles.

We can bring out the inner scientist in them by doing simple fun giving experiments and activities

Awareness is created regarding the deforesting and environment and its relation to reduce, reuse recycle and response To save our environment we all must use paper sparingly similarly energy usage if we waste anything that costs energy water and other resources.

We say that a litter of petrol costs us say 70 rupees. But that is only the labour charge we did not give anything back to nature.

By learning science in this way develop problem solving skill in them.