Letter to Parents : Class 10

Dear Parents (students of Class 10),

I am sure that you, more than me, are relieved that the more than a month long closure of educational institutions has now come to an end and that your child’s education can continue. This letter will show you how we have worked it out that your child’s education will not have suffered. 

I wish to thank you for your patience while we waited anxiously for school to reopen. Your son’s educational well being was always on my mind.  All the teachers tried their best to help your children through their blogs. While it was challenging both to write and use the blogs, this month’s experience has surely made all of us more computer literate! I am also grateful to the teachers who continued the education of the class 10 students during most of this period.

While we cannot deny that there might be agitations in the future, we are confident that with the improved Teachers blogs and your son’s better capability in using them, we can continue the education of your children. We have taken steps to look after the boarders in school with the help of the staff both residential and others.

Besides The “Teachers Blogs” your children had been invited to attend classes informally from the 19^th August.

Taking the above statement into consideration, your sons have lost a total of 10½ class days (counting two Saturdays as I full class day, and not counting the 15^th. We were able to have the Fitzpatrick Tournament on the 29^th & 30^th July as most of the teams were resident). That means they have missed 3465 minutes of class time. We shall be making up the time in the following ways:

·         Increasing class time (Monday to Friday) by 40mins. We shall be getting 46 such days (according to the regular school calendar (Sept : 12, Oct : 15, Nov : 19).  Thus we will be making up 46 x 40 = 1840 minutes.

·         Saturdays will be full class days. We shall thus be adding 200 minutes of class time, each day, to the 9 Saturdays left (according the regular school calendar - Sept : 3, Oct : 2, Nov : 4). Thus we shall be making up 9 x 200 = 1800 minutes.

·         We need to also increase the class days by

o   Restricting the Puja holidays from the 10^th to the 16^th October. Boarders will leave, as scheduled, on the 9^th afternoon. Classes will resume on the 17^th October. Boarders will return on the 16^th October evening. We will gain 3 days here or 1110 minutes.

o   Sunday, 3^rd Nov is Diwali and not 2^nd and 4^th Nov will be a class day, not part of a Diwali / Bhai Tika holiday : 740 mins

·         We shall thus be getting through the above means 5490 minutes. We will have an extra 2025 minutes, :

·         Please note that in order to focus on your child’s studies we have only earmarked two days for co-curricular events. Though these days are working days we have not counted them so ! Preparation for those events shall be done during the co-curricular activities periods and after school. :

o  Sports Day on the 9^th October. The schedule of day will be as follows :

§  9.00 – 10.00am : Parent-Teacher Meeting & 2^nd Card Test Results

§  11.00am – 1.00pm : Sports (Mainly athletics, though Classes 1 & 2 will have drills too).

o  Children & Teachers Day on the 14^th November. The schedule will be as follows :

§  9.00am : Teachers Felicitation & Annual Prize Distribution

§  11.00am : Class 10 Reminisce Programme

·         Please note the following School calendar for remaining part of the year :

o    10^th Sept : Boarders return to school

o    11^th & 12^th Sept : Boarders Revision

o    13^th Sept : Classes Resume (school time 8.45am to 3.50pm : Monday to Saturday)

o    26^th Sept to 5^th Oct : ICSE 2014 Selection Examinations commence

o    2^nd Oct : Gandhi Jayanti : Class Day

o    3^rd to 5^th Oct : 2^nd Card Test (Classes 1 to 9 and 11) commence

o    9^th Oct : PTM / 2^nd Card Test / Selection Exam Results & Sports Day. Boarders go home for Puja holidays after Sports.

o    16^th Oct : 5pm : Boarders return from Puja holidays

o    17^th Oct : Classes commence after Puja Break

o    3^rd Nov : Diwali

o    4^th Nov : Class Day

o    5^th Nov : Bhai Tika : Holiday

o    14^th Nov : Children & Teachers day; Annual Prize Distribution; Class 10 Reminisce Programme

o    21^st Nov : Class 10 Final Examinations commence

o    30^th Nov : Class 10 Final Examinations end. Class 10 Boarders go home.

o    19^th Dec : 10.00am : Final Examination Results

o    20^th Dec : Christmas holidays commence

Letter to Parents Classes 1 to 9 and 11

Dear Parents (students Classes 1 to 9 and 11),

I am sure that you, more than me, are relieved that the more than a month long closure of educational institutions has now come to an end and that your child’s education can continue. This letter will show you how we have worked it out that your child’s education will not have suffered.  

I wish to thank you for your patience while we waited anxiously for school to reopen. Your son’s educational well being was always on my mind.  All the teachers tried their best to help your children through their blogs. While it was challenging both to write and use the blogs, this month’s experience has surely made all of us more computer literate! I am also grateful to the teachers who continued the education of the class 10 students during most of this period.

While we cannot deny that there might be agitations in the future, we are confident that with the improved Teachers blogs and your son’s better capability in using them, we can continue the education of your children. We have taken steps to look after the boarders in school with the help of the staff both residential and others.

I wish to state that we will be ensuring that every minute of lost time at class shall be made up before the end of the academic year – yes, every minute! I explain how, below:

Classes 1 to 9 and 11 have lost a total of 30 class days (counting two Saturdays as I full class day, and not counting the 15^th, 29^th and 30^th Aug which, according to the school calendar, would not have been class days. We were able to have the Fitzpatrick Tournament on the 29^th & 30^th July as most of the teams were resident). That means we have missed 9900 minutes of class time. We shall be making up the time in the following ways:

·         Increasing class time (Monday to Friday) by 40mins. We shall be getting 46 such days (according to the regular school calendar (Sept : 12, Oct : 15, Nov : 19).  Thus we will be making up 46 x 40 = 1840 minutes.

·         Saturdays will be full class days. We shall thus be adding 200 minutes of class time, each day, to the 9 Saturdays left (according the regular school calendar - Sept : 3, Oct : 2, Nov : 4). Thus we shall be making up 9 x 200 = 1800 minutes.

·         We need to also increase the class days by

o   Restricting the Puja holidays from the 10^th to the 16^th October. Boarders will leave, as scheduled, on the 9^th afternoon. Classes will resume on the 17^th October. Boarders will return on the 16^th October evening. We will gain 3 days here or 1110 minutes.

o   Sunday, 3^rd Nov is Diwali and not 2^nd and 4^th Nov will be a class day, not part of a Diwali / Bhai Tika holiday : 740 mins

o   Continuing school till the 14^th December. We shall gain 12 additional class days or 4440 minutes.

·         We shall thus be getting through the above means 9930 minutes. We will have an extra 30 minutes.

·         Please note that in order to focus on your child’s studies we have only earmarked two days for co-curricular events. Though these days are working days we have not counted them so ! Preparation for those events shall be done during the co-curricular activities periods and after school. :

o   Sports Day on the 9^th October. The schedule of day will be as follows :

§  9.00 – 10.00am : Parent-Teacher Meeting & 2^nd Card Test Results

§  11.00am – 1.00pm : Sports (Mainly athletics, though Classes 1 & 2 will have drills too).

o   Children & Teachers Day on the 14^th November. The schedule will be as follows :

§  9.00am : Teachers Felicitation, Annual Prize Distribution

§  11.00am : Class 10 Reminisce Programme

·         Please note the following School calendar for remaining part of the year :

o        10^th Sept : Boarders return to school

o       11^th & 12^th Sept : Revision days for Boarders

o       13^th Sept : Classes Resume (school time 8.45am to 3.50pm : Monday to Saturday)

o       26^th Sept to 5^th Oct : ICSE 2014 Selection Examinations commence

o       2^nd Oct : Gandhi Jayanti : Class Day

o       3^rd to 5^th Oct : 2^nd Card Test (Classes 1 to 9 and 11) commence

o       9^th Oct : PTM / 2^nd Card Test / Selection Exam Results & Sports Day. Boarders go home for Puja holidays after Sports.

o       16^th Oct : 5pm : Boarders return from Puja holidays

o       17^th Oct : Classes commence after Puja Break

o       3^rd Nov : Diwali

o       4^th Nov : Class Day

o       5^th Nov : Bhai Tika : Holiday

o       14^th Nov : Children & Teachers day; Annual Prize Distribution; Class 10 Reminisce Programme

o       9^th Dec : Final Examinations (1 to 9 & 11) Commence

o       14^th Dec : Final Examinations End : Boarders leave for home 4pm

o       19^th Dec : 10.00am : Final Examination Results

o       20^th Dec : Christmas holidays commence

For Cl XI Com (9th Sept) and XISc (11th Sept)

Arms and the Man pgs.39 to 41

We start off today's matter at pg.39 from where Paul says : "Come, it's time for us to get to business."

Shaw has allowed the element of conflict to enter the plot. It has not reached a crisis. It will play on the minds of Catherine and Raina and reach the crisis at the planned time. However, Shaw allows the action to continue.

It is Catherine who controls the action - she steers her husband away from involving Sergius in the continuation of the outcomes of the war. We see her dominating character at work.

Look up the meaning of the word 'forage' and write a sentence of your own with it.

Paul considers it impossible for Catherine to help him "settle about the regiments" why ? Why does he feel that she cannot help him in that work ? Was it because it was so technical ? Or was it because he felt that 'war' was a a man's occupation and a lady had no place in it ?

Catherine manages to sway Paul's attention by offering to show him the 'electric bell' ! Do you remember the previous conversation Paul and Catherine had had on this topic ? Remember it was about 'civilized' behaviour ?

What is it that we were told about Paul's character that he would now be willing to leave his important work and go to see an 'electric bell' ? While most probably Paul followed his wife's suggestion because he might have known from experience that it would have been pointless in trying to dissuade her, we feel that the such trappings are significant to him as they might feed into his sense of importance in his society.

Sergius and Raina are left to themselves. What transpires between them, will be called by Sergius on pg.41 as "higher love" which he admits is "very fatiguing to keep up for any length of time." If it has been "fatiguing" or tiring for him - it must be a pretence ! What do you feel ? Is the brief interaction between Sergius and Raina, artificial ? Why might you think it so ? Why might you not think it so ? Write down your opinion.

FOR GMS ICSE 9TH SEPT

Ch 22 : Surface Area and Volume (continued)

Ex.22 (C) : Nos.3, 4, 5, 6

In sum nos. 3, 4, 5 we are either dealing with a common volume of a sphere which is divided into smaller spheres or we are dealing with smaller spheres which are melted into one large sphere. This is similar to sums which you did in the previous two exercises in this chapter.

In sum no.6 you are asked to compare two spheres.

Ex.22 (C) : Nos.7 and 8

In sum no. 7 we have a comparison of the surface area and the volume of a sphere

In sum no.8 a sphere is melted into a cylinder - we will doing a lot more of these types of sums in the following exercises.

Do try the above sums.

Remember to read the sums well and keep the working out towards the end - most often, the sums do not involve so much of calculation and you see that what seems a comlicated amount of numbers can be simplified. You will save time.

All the best !

My next blog for you will be for the 11th Sept.

For Class XI SC (6th Sept) & XI Com (7th Sept) Eng Drama

Arms and The Man pgs 38-39

Have you wondered at the title of our play : Arms and the Man ? What does the title signify ? Write your ideas !

In this section Paul and Sergius continue sharing their story of the Swiss Captain they had met. The conversation becomes more and more uncomfortable for Catherine and Raina as it becomes quite clear to them that the person who is being talked about is none other than 'The Man' who climbed into Raina's room  - when ? can your remember ? go back and refresh your memory ! What is the date on which the events we are reading take place ? Why do you think Shaw has given us an exact date ?

Well, getting back to Catherine's and Raina's discomfort Raina and Catherine are able to stop the two men short in their story stating that they the ladies are affronted by such conversation ! We wonder how convincing they are. Do you think that Paul and Sergius might be even faintly suspicious that the two women in the story could be none other than Catherine and Raina ?

Paul calls the conversation "strong" and Sergius states that the war has made him 'cynical' !

Read down through the section and consider these ideas.

Make sentences with the word : thorough, enchanted, coarse, abominable, seamy, cynical, flinch

Happy reading and working !

FOR GMS ICSE 2014 6TH SEPT

Ch 22 : Surface Area and Volume (continued)

Before we proceed we need to revise the formulas we have learnt. Can you remember the following formulas :

• Volume of a cylinder ?
• Curved surface area of a cylinder ?
• Total Surface area of a cylinder ?
• Volume of the metal (or material) of an open cylinder ?
• curved surface area of a cone ?
• total surface area of a cone ?
• volume of a cone ?

Now that you have revised those, please remember that we need to regularly revise these and other formulas we need to keep in mind - just trying t study them before an exam or test will mix things up in our heads !!!

Let us now move ahead to a Sphere ! A basketball is a sphere, to is a tennis ball and a football. So what will be a hemisphere ? I'm sure that you have come across that word in Geography - in which subject it refers either to the Northern or southern half. Is the earth a sphere ? NO ! It's it's own shape !!!

There are two formulas to be learnt here :

• Surface Area of a sphere : 4πr²

• So, what will be the total surface area of a hemisphere ? It will be 3πr²  - half (curved surface) of the sphere : 2πr² and the circular section πr²

• Volume of a sphere is 4/3 πr³

• So what will be the volume of a hemisphere ? half of a sphere which is 2/3 πr³ 

So, let us try and work out the following sums : Ex 22 (C) : Nos. 1, 2, 9 and 10

TEACHERS DAY !

Dear Students,

Good Morning !

Unfortunately, you will not have the opportunity of greeting your teachers on this day. Nor will we have the joy of experiencing your gratitude and affection.

However, you could thank God for the gift of your teachers. Remember, all your teachers, not only the ones at Goethals. Our parents are our first teachers and we thank God for them.

Please also pray that we can all soon get back to school. Your teachers are concerned about your studies and your development in the educational process.

In all circumstances we thank God who watches and takes care of us.

Bro.Miranda