Caring - Arjun Rohila

Arjun Rohila of Grade 5 Gyanshree School Noida shares a beautiful story to explain the Value of Appreciation. This story is about trust and betrayal, a fable about animals and how they have extra-sensory perception and live in harmony with nature. #JoyOfLearning

How Blubber Keeps Animals Warm - Dhwani

 

My Experiment to Show - How Blubber Keeps Animals Warm

Dhwani is a grade 4 student from Gyanshree School. She is an enthusiastic learner who seems to enjoy school. She shares personal experiences and opinions in her style. She is fond of making interesting videos on science experiments and sharing her joy of learning with everyone.

How Fizzy Drinks Can Cause Harm to Our Teeth - Dhwani

My Experiment to show - How Fizzy Drinks Can Cause Harm to Our Teeth

Dhwani is a grade 4 student from Gyanshree School. She is an enthusiastic learner who seems to enjoy school. She shares personal experiences and opinions in her style. She is fond of making interesting videos on science experiments and sharing her joy of learning with everyone.

Caring - Anisha Gaitonde

Caring is something that all of us experience at some point in our lives. Most of the time we do not see it or understand it. When our mothers cook yummy food for us despite their busy schedules when our grandparents ask us how we are feeling today when our friends ask ‘kaisi hai’ or ‘what’s up' when our fathers tell us not to ride a bicycle without a helmet – all of these are because they CARE about our well-being. Our response generally is ‘what’s the big deal?’ ☹ and we forget about it.

Well, one of my experiences where I felt very strongly that people CARED for me, was when I fractured my foot. In short, I had what the good doctor referred to as a ‘hairline fracture’ in my foot when I was dancing Kathak (of course, at the wrong speed and wrong technique) last Dussehra. The pain was unbearable, and I was extremely scared of how I was going to walk again (though it wasn’t that bad, then it was good either 😊).

Apart from the physical pain, I was also quite depressed that I would not be able to dance for few weeks and that I would have to make a lot of adjustments (for example, preventing water from falling on the plaster). That is where my family members came to my rescue. My Mumma and Baba spent quite some time making sure I was able to move around, my grandparents kept me engaged in different discussions to forget the pain. My cousin Aashay played a lot of board games with me despite having a lot of homework 🥳. Even my friends in school were very considerate and kept sharing the daily work and notes for the lectures that I could not attend due to doctor appointments.

When I recovered after three to four weeks, I realized how much everyone had CARED for me without expecting even a thank you from me. If you are one of the people who helped me last year, a big THANK YOU to you from me, and a SORRY as well if I did not tell you earlier 😓.

Anisha Gaitonde

Grade: 5B

Billabong High International School, Thane

Books are man's best friends! - Bhakti Gupta

 

Bhakti Gupta is a 9-year-old girl of Gyanshree School who is cheerful by nature. She does her work with a lot of effort and sincerity. Bhakti loves to read books and do artwork. She writes her own stories as well. She wants to become an artist when she grows up.

Caring - Anushri Palnitkar

Listen to my story

When I Started Caring For Trees

Anushri Palnitkar

Grade - 5A

Billabong High International School Thane 

Global Warming- Aanya Kumar

Global warming is the rising of temperature on Earth. It rises by about one degree Celsius each year, but it is a significant change. It is caused by carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

These pollutants can stay for centuries and trap the sunlight bounced off to the Earth's surface. This light could bounce out to space, but the gases trap the light. They are known as greenhouse gases and cause the greenhouse effect.

Global warming is harmful to human beings and the Earth in many ways; for instance, it can cause many natural disasters like- storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts. It would be challenging to live in these conditions.

Global warming can be reduced in our houses with few simple steps. We should always turn the lights and fan off before leaving a room. We should use energy-saving light bulbs, and gradually global warming will reduce.

Aanya Kumar
Grade 5
Gyanshree School, Noida

Say what you think

Disagreement and debate are the lifeblood of democracy

Alasdair McWhirter | McWhirter Foundation Chair

If you are one of our alumni and reading this, the chances are you are bright and may well go on to achieve great things in whatever career you choose. Whether that turns out to be in AI, fashion, medicine, politics, protecting the environment or something completely different, find the courage to say what you think about the things that matter to you, particularly when your view is different to that of your friends. 
Social media has its good side but it has also led to a world in which there is a ‘received’ view on most important social, moral and political questions for any given peer group. Disagreeing with that view can feel quite scary, so many people choose to go with the flow and not really think about what may be an important issue. The problem is that ‘accepted’ views can often end up being far too simplistic, leaving little room for nuance, let alone outright disagreement. 

Will putting pressure on museums to weed out exhibits which have a link to slavery really make this world a better place? Isn’t it more important that we understand what happened in our past and why – so we are better placed to guard against anything similar ever occurring in the future? 
On one hand, social media has turned many people into ‘sheep’, on the other it has also led to opinions becoming polarised, as like-minded groups reinforce one another’s views – even when they are highly dubious. Neither situation is either helpful or healthy for society.

Over the next 25 years the world will see huge changes and to make the most of them we need a constant flow of new and original ideas. In a small way, you will hopefully contribute to that flow and help to determine the path it eventually takes, by supporting views you agree with and questioning those you don’t – and speaking out. Choosing your words carefully will hopefully prevent you causing any offence and, far more often than not, earn respect rather than ridicule.

However, opinions only become worth listening to when they are informed by experience or knowledge and knowledge needs to be based on the truth, which, unfortunately, has become increasingly difficult to pin down. It gets buried by the avalanche of information that the internet and our mobiles, iPads, laptops and TVs now overflow with, much of which is inaccurate or misleading. Spinning a story has become standard practice for governments as well as the media and big business. A government pretending that money which has already been promised to its health service is some wonderful new act of benevolence, a newspaper always searching for fault and exaggerating every nasty little detail, or a food company presenting a fruit yoghurt as ‘super healthy’ when a fifth of it is actually sugar, are all simple examples. 

To work out what we do and don’t know, or believe in, we all have to pick our way through a swamp of selective truths, marketing spiel, sensationalism and fake news. Not easy. The depressing lack of accuracy and honesty makes it all the more important for us to talk to one another and share whatever conclusions we’ve reached. Listening to others and discussing a topic is one of the best ways to learn, to refine your opinions and encourage others to do same.  Expressing your views will also help you find your voice, discover who you are and work out where you want to go. 

No one should ever underestimate the value of their opinion. Having a good education is a privilege that adds an extra layer of responsibility to speak out. People who choose to just sit there and nod silently, even when they don’t agree, make it easier for those with power, or a particular political motive, to shape public opinion and set the agenda. 

Disagreement and debate are the lifeblood of democracy.

Say what you think essay competition

Our Foundation Chair, Alasdair McWhirter has below written the piece entitled "Disagreement and debate are the lifeblood of democracy". In the spirit of this topic, we are running a short essay competition, the winner of which will be published in the following newsletter. The requirements for the competition are as follows:

A 500 word essay on the topic "Disagreement and debate are the lifeblood of democracy". You may choose to submit a piece responding to some of Alasdair's points, or a completely new take on the topic. Pieces will be judged on strength of argument, creativity and 'outside the box' thinking. Submissions are due 15th November 2021. Please send your essay or any questions to eva@mcwhirterfoundation.org.au

We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

मेरा पसंदीदा फल - युग वीर सिंह

Image courtesy https://www.medicalnewstoday.com

आम मेरा पसंदीदा फल है।ये गर्मी के मौसम में मिलता है।आम फलों का राजा है। ये पीले रंग का होता है ,कई आम हरे रंग के भी होते हैं। आम का जूस बनाया जाता है। आम का अचार भी बनाया जाता है। आम की चटनी भी बनाई जाती है जो कि मुझे बहुत पसंद है। आम की बहुत सी किस्म है जैसे चौसा, दशहरी ,तोता परी, सफेदा इत्यादि। आम सबसे स्वादिष्ट फल है आम का मुरब्बा भी बनाया जाता है।फलों में से आम मुझे बहुत पसंद है।

युग वीर सिंह

कक्षा प्रथम

दि फैबइंडिया स्कूल

Appreciation - Darshil Sunil More

Name - Darshil Sunil More
Billabong High International School Thane
Grade - 5 A