My First Immersive VR Experience - Reveda Bhatt

Image courtesy readwrite.com

In 2019, almost all of us saw the launch of Chandrayaan 2 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre by the Indian Space Research Institute (ISRO) on television on 22nd July to circle the moon and provide information about its surface. Still, we never got to feel it in reality just because we were not there, in that particular place, at that specific time!

But in today’s world, a technology called Virtual Reality, VR for short, has been introduced wherein you can feel what had happened even if you weren’t there then. Initially, VR could be experienced just with headgears at home or, at most, the headgears with the moving chairs at malls. But these days, a technology known as immersive virtual reality is coming into view, yes, the one showing at our school!

We watched the show the day before, and it was really breathtaking. You see the control room’s architecture, the satellite being prepared for the launch, exiting Earth, going into space, the satellite being detached, Lander Vikram landing on the Moon and Pragyan Lunar Rover coming out of the lander and onto the moon’s surface. Then with the help of the controllers in your hands in your real world, you walk solo on the Moon in your virtual world, feeling like when Neil Armstrong became the first one to walk on the moon!

There were moments when the screen went black due to the transition between scenes, and we were literally praying that it should not finish right now, but luckily, it didn’t finish then and crossed the boundary of our expectations up towards the space!

Hoping we all get to cherish moments like this and make the sky our limit!

Thank you! Reveda Bhatt Class 9, The Aryan School reveda0311@gmail.com

Empathy - Rishona Chopra

Empathy is understanding others' feelings and reacting accordingly. It is to feel what they are feeling, to be in their shoes.

We often misunderstand Empathy and Sympathy. Sympathy is when we feel pity for someone, while Empathy is feeling what the other person thinks and helping them out. If your friend won a basketball match, you can understand his feelings and be happy for him and celebrate his happiness. Even if you hate basketball, after being happy for him and by making him happy, you feel good too. This is where Empathy connects with Making Others Happy. 

The above picture shows how two people can connect and understand each other as one. This is all because of Empathy.

Here is a poem I wrote on Empathy:

Empathy is something so strong, 
It senses when something is wrong.

It connects us together,
And we become as calm as the weather!

I know how you feel,
And we can together heal.

I feel your pleasure and pain,
But empathy is a feeling, and it's hard to explain.

Understanding each other's feelings,

makes you look appealing,

it helps you make friends,

and makes fights end!!

It might be a bit difficult,
but it's nothing different.

Everyone should understand it,
at least a little bit!!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

How sports has helped me to build hope - Arav Agarwal

Playing sports has helped me to build hope. Whenever we are standing on the ground, we have that ray of hope which inspires us to believe and never give up. In life and sports, anything can change at any moment, so hope helps us to keep on going.

I was bowling the last over in one of the practice cricket matches, and the other team needed only 1 run to win in 4 balls. But still, we kept hope and stretched the match to 1 run to win in 1 ball. Though we lost, it was a great learning for my team members about the power of hope and me.

As rightly said that hope means hoping even when things seem hopeless. Sports have taught me to keep hope alive in any situation and have faith and trust. 

Name: Arav Agarwal
Grade: 6A
Billabong High International School, Thane

Poem on Hope - Arav Agarwal

 

Poem On Hope

Hope is the light in the dark
It always gives us the motivation to shine our spark.

Never lose hope and belief.
In any challenging situation, hope is needed to conceive.

Hope is the faith when we need one
It tells you that with me, you have always won

So remember that hope is the key.
It assures that I am always there whenever you need me.

Name: Arav Agarwal

Grade: 6A

Billabong High International School, Thane

Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window - Amaira Bhati

                                                                 

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is from Japan. She was born in 1933 and is 88 years old. She wrote Totto-chan in 1982. On May First, we started reading the book. This story is about a little girl named Totto-chan, who is strong-willed yet kind-hearted, compassionate yet unwavering in principle. Totto used to go to a school where she had a strict teacher, and the teacher often observed her very carefully. Totto-chan always used to shut her desk; she would bang it with a big noise. Totto never used to sit on her chair; she would stand near the window every time her teacher was teaching. One day her teacher held an activity of making the flag of Japan and the teacher kept roaming around the class looking at her students' drawings, but when she saw Totto-chan’s drawing, she was very disappointed. Totto had made her flag in many colours, she made strokes and flinches around the flag, and her flag was so big that she drew some flinches on the table. It took them some severe trouble to rub it off. 

Another day Totto-chan went out of the window and started talking to someone. When her teacher leaned out to see who she was talking to, the teacher caught her talking to birds who were making their nests. Her teacher was so frustrated by Totto's behaviour that she held a meeting with her mother, and the teacher told everything about Totto-chan’s mischief. The teacher told her mother that she didn't want to make a nuisance out of her class, so she had to expel Totto-chan from the school. 

Totto-chan’s mother didn’t tell her anything about being expelled from school. She told Totto that she would be going to another school, which would be even more fun. So they went off to a new city, a new school, and a new beginning. Toto was so excited about going to her new school by train. She sat quietly on the train, but when the ticket collector came and asked Totto-chan for her ticket instead of handing in the ticket, questions had now popped up in her inquisitive mind, but the ticket collector snatched the ticket away from her. Totto-chan’s mother was very worried about Totto’s admission. Her mother took her hand and said that they couldn't be late because ahead of them, the gate of a small school was gradually coming into view in the distance.

Amaira Bhati,

Grade 3 - F,

Gyanshree school

Honesty @ My Good School - Podcast

My Good School Season 2, Episode 3
“I am Anvesha, and I am Simar, and we will be hosts for the event!” Yes, you guessed it! Anvesha and Simar are back as hosts in the My Good School podcast. And this time, they will be discussing an extraordinary topic - Honesty. 

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. Honesty, by definition, is always speaking the truth, but what does it mean to you? Is it good, or occasionally can it be wrong? Have you been in a situation where being honest was the only way out? 

My Good School celebrates Honesty and has developed a podcast made and produced by our interns!

Please tune in to listen to Anvesha and Simar discuss their thoughts on honesty with special guests Angad Singh Bedi and Arav Agarwal.

Comment below and let us know if you liked the podcast. If you want to be part of similar podcasts, join us. We hope to meet you again when we return with a podcast on Hope next month.

Please find out more about My Good School: www.GoodSchools.in

Listen to our podcasts on www.DilJeeto.com

Totto-chan: The Little Girl At The Window - Rishona Chopra

 

She looked out of the window,
She is a cute little fellow,

Opened the desk drawer again and again,
But she had a smart brain!

She called the street musicians,
Talked like a bold magician.

She was extraordinary indeed,
And did everything at top speed

Talked to Swallows,
And she was smart enough to find hidden barrows!!

This extraordinary girl is none other than Totto-Chan,
She is always ready with a plan! Rishona Chopra Grade VI Gyanshree School

Totto-chan - Anvesha Rana

 

On the first day of May 2022, we started reading the book Totto-chan, the little girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. This book is based on actual events, and the real-life Totto-chan is today a celebrated television actress in Japan. During World War 2 in Tokyo, a different school with railroad cars as classrooms was opened by an extraordinary man Sosaku Kobayashi, the founder and headmaster of the place. The school followed other teaching and learning methods; consequently, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi wanted to tell everyone about this place through her book 'Totto-chan'. 

The characters that we have met till now are Totto-chan, her mother, her teacher and the stationmaster. Totto-chan is a young, chirpy girl who is full of life. She is bursting with curiosity and an eagerness to learn. Totto-chan is different from most other kids who want to just lead a simple life, whereas Totto-chan is never out of options about who she wants to become. Still, her lovable personality is always supported by her mother. Totto-chan's mother is a calm and composed lady who lets Totto-chan be who she truly is and wants her daughter to always be happy. Totto-chan gets expelled from her school, and her mother doesn't tell her about this since she doesn't want to alter Totto-chan's confidence. 

The teacher at Totto-chan's previous school was a young, focused and practical lady though she was rigid in her terms and observed Totto-chan only as a pest in her class. Totto-chan and her mother met the stationmaster collecting tickets; he was a considerate and helpful fellow. He proposed that Totto-chan could work with his son since both wanted to work at the station.

The author of this book is a Japanese actress, voice actress, World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. She is well known for her charitable works and is considered one of the first Japanese celebrities to achieve international recognition.

If I ever have a book about myself like Totto-chan, I would want it to be an autobiography because only I am aware of many things about my life. Also, certain personal aspects need to be added to a book. So, I would love to have an autobiography about myself. 

Anvesha Rana, 
X-B, 
Gyanshree School

The Railroad Station - Rishona Chopra

The best thing in children is probably their innocence and curiosity to explore. Their cute naughtiness can be annoying but is done so innocently!

In this chapter, Totto - Chan and her mother are going to a new school. Getting off the train at the Jiyugoaka Station, Totto-Chan was fascinated by the ticket collector's tickets. She wanted to be a ticket seller but at the same time a spy too!

Isn't it wonderful to see that children can be so imaginative and excited!

For me going to a new school is the worst thing! You have to make new friends, but for Totto-Chan, it is slightly different. She is a jolly person seeing the world with eyes filled with love and innocence! This chapter indirectly tells about her personality. 

How fun it would be to be a ticket seller who is really a spy?

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

Real world learning - Aadya Sharma

We learn by doing. There are many examples and situations wherein I felt the same.

We go on vacations during summer break every year. Before the lockdown, we went to Rohtang pass in Manali. I have read in a book that we face dizziness and breathlessness at high altitudes but never experienced that. On that day, I had experienced this feeling, and from that day, I understood the concept of low air pressure. To date, I remember that. 

One more incident that comes to my mind is….my Mama's (uncle) daughter Saanvi who has never been to school due to lockdown and studied online like we all did. Now she is in KG, and I always tell her about the classroom, school, teachers, friends, classroom rules, etc. But she was least interested in listening as she was so small and had never been to the school. She has started school, learned many things, and imbibed the items nicely. This proves that until and unless we experience the situations and explore them on our own…we can not know well.

So, we should always try to learn more and more from our experiences and, of course, from God's beautiful creations in the universe.

Aadya Sharma

III-C

Gyanshree school