EDUCATION

Riveting annual day at St. Xavier’s
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 2
Fun and frolic marked the first day of the annual day celebrations at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44.

On day one, a ‘Dance Fiesta’ was presented by the junior wing of the school. A Micky and Minnie show was put up by the tiny tots of the schools which was followed by Himachali folk dance.

An Egyptian dance showing the queen Cleopatra, the Sphinx and Pharaoh was highly applauded by the audience.

The Tamil Tigers also set the feet of the audience tapping,. An Indo-Lankan fusion dance by both boys and girls was also appreciated.

Not to forget was the mix and jive performance of the late sixties by the students.

The function was presided over by Krishan Mohan, IAS, Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, and concluded with the award giving ceremony to the teachers and the employees for their dedicated services.

The best teacher award was given to VV De Rozario. A lecture on the overall development of a child was delivered by the Chairman of the school, Andrew J. Gosain.

Rediscovering the romance of reading
World Reading Day celebrations in schools
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 2
As an attempt to inculcate the habit of reading among schoolchildren who are fast growing to be E-citizens, a number of events were organised in schools all over the city and in Panchkula and Mohali on the occasion of World Reading Day today.

Libraries wore a festive look and for a change the students were seen carrying books and not in front of computers.

At The Gurukul, Sector 20 Panchkula, realising the dire need to generate love for books among the students, the entire week was devoted to book reading. In addition to this a number of related competitions were also organised by the school authorities. The award for the ‘‘Most Avid Reader’’ from each class drew enthusiastic participation by school children.

In order to make the above activity more meaningful, students were asked to write short reviews/synopsis of the book read by them during the week. For students of senior classes of the school, the students were made to critically analyse the storyline and characters from famous novels.

Various other contests like book mark making, slogan writing' and cartoon making on the theme ‘Importance of Books’ were also held. In addition to this a book fair by Scholastic India, a publishing house, was also organised in the school to enable students to browse through the latest reading material available.

A few books were also presented by the Gurukul students to children at Bal Sadan. A rally promoting book reading was also taken out by the Gurukul students.

Similar celebrations were also held at the Blue Bird High School, Sector 16. Parents and grandparents of the students were invited to the school to read stories. A reading pledge was also taken by the students of all classes to promote the habit of reading. Speaking on the occasion Principal of the school R. Bhatnagar said more such events should be organised so that the students developed love for books and healthy reading habits.

Students’ pledge to develop reading habit

Panchkula, December 2
Hansraj Public School conducted a “Read for 2006” activity in which all children of Classes I to XII participated.

The students took an oath in the morning assembly and pledged to become avid readers and enhance their knowledge. The school Principal, Mr Vijay Kumar, said that even though “books were considered the best friends, the reading habit seems to be vanishing”. TNS

Tiny tots enthral parents
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 2
For the parents it was a peep into the dreamland of their little ones at the two-day colourful function organised by Smartkids Kindergarten which concluded on the school campus in Mohali today.

The show began with the children depicting the alphabetical meaning of what Smart Kids stands for, followed by a dance of tiny tots on a popular song of yesteryears,”Rona, Kabhi Nahi Rona”.

The evening saw almost every student of the school coming on the stage. The dramatic enactment of the song, “There’s a hole in the bucket” by Simon and Garfankle drew laud applause.

Boys and girls of Class I and II enthralled the gathering with Julie Andrews’ song “Doe, Re, Me...” from the film ‘The Sound of Music’.

Senior students exhibited their dramatic skills through the skit “Who stole my strawberrys” depicting the moral of sharing in this self-centered world. One could clearly see the efforts of the staff members in every aspect of the performance. The creators, Mrs R.H. Singh and Mrs G.K. Bindra, said the show was purely an in-house production without any professional help and with self devised props to let the small children feel quite comfortable.

The grand finale was the dance on the latest Punjabi number by Babu Mann “Mitran Di Chatri.”