Chairman’s Message

He who learnsbut does not think,

is lost! He who thinksbut does not

learn is in greatdanger. -Confucius

Activity Based Teaching-Learning (ABL)A Chinese proverb says, “Tell me, I will forget; Show me, I may remember; Involve me, and I will understand and learn.”

Learning in its broad sense can be defined as a process of progress from ignorance to knowledge. From someone incapable of doing anything, learning gives competence. Education can be defined as the means by which we organize all learning material, tasks and conditions so that learners are able to think, feel and do things differently.

Unicent School has been encouraging Activity-based teaching-learning. What is Activity-based teaching-learning? Activity based method of teaching is a child-centric method through which students participate pro-actively and bring about efficient learning experiences. The child is involved mentally and physically. Learning by doing is the main focus in this method. This method leads to successful learning by students, as the more they do the more they learn and the longer the retention. In the process of learning, they experience, memorize and understand. The different activities that we do in our school develop many skills like: Creative skill; critical thinking skills, it also enriches vocabulary; develops happy peer relationships; enhances expression; builds confidence; enhances effective communication, to name a few.

This method gives reality for learning and uses all available resources. It provides varied experiences to the students, which is necessary to survive in the extremely competitive world outside school. ABL promotes acquisition of social skills by providing opportunities for learner to work co-operatively and collaboratively. It encourages the union of work and play and it uses child friendly educational aids to foster self-learning.

The mission of our school is to ensure that we impart knowledge which will enable our students to become global citizens and enable them to not only compete globally, but also open up windows of opportunities in the global market.

Dear friends of the Unicent community,

It is always a pleasure to address you, share my vision for the school and seek your cooperation towards realizing the same.

John Dewey, the famous educationist said, “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.”

Values, skills and habits shape up children from a very young age, even before they start going to school.

Imbibing ETHICS, developing the commitment and instilling the love for learning makes students grow up into responsible and ambitious young adults. ETHICS is the acronym for Emapthy, Team-work, Humility, Integrity, Courage and Self –discipline. Unicent strives to ingrain these values in children. This is a long and never ending road and can be travelled on successfully, when parents reinforce what is taught at school.

A research project approved by the University of South Florida Institutional Review Board(USA) for the protection of human subjects carried out a survey and listed the (following) topmost skills that are required for children to be successful in their personal and professional life: communication, problem solving, being inquisitive and curious, being creative and computer skills.

An environment to facilitate the development of all this has to be created both in school and at home. My experience in parenting teaches me that parents have to be active partners in the process and have to be involved in all the everyday activities that children participate in.

Inculcation of values, skills and habits is a journey that children pick up as they go through their school life which inturn takes them ahead in life.

The guiding philosophy at Unicent is child-centric education to ensure that children spend their childhood in a happy and positive learning environment. Learning will happen automatically. Parents and teachers must create the environment for learning and work consistently and relentlessly with the children and I am sure we will have an alumni that makes a mark for itself.

Our first Class X batch passes out this year. Good luck to them! May you be the best and realize your dreams!

Warm regardsPratap Kantheti

-Geeta Jois

CBSE Affiliation No. 130333

Academic Year 2015-16 (March)

PRE PRIMARYACTIVITIES

The bestpreparation for

tomorrow is doingyour best today.

-H.Jackson Brown Jr.

Flowers Day

Yellow Day

Grandparents Day

Pre primary celebrated flowers day on 7th Nov. 2015. Children were asked to bring natural flowers and the classes were decorated with flowers. Each child spoke about the flower they had brought.

Pre primary celebrated yellow day on 27th Nov. 2015. Classes were decorated with yellow coloured balloons. Children were asked to bring yellow coloured objects and yellow coloured snacks. All children wore yellow colour dress and classrooms were decorated with yellow balloons and yellow coloured objects.

Pre primary celebrated Grandparents day on 4th Feb. 2016. All grandparents were invited for the celebrations. Just- a- minute games were conducted for

the grandparents. Presentation was done by the children and they also performed a group dance for

their grandparents.

Karate CompetitionRecently, I went to a karate tournament, where different patterns of punches and kicks were displayed. All the Karate Academies in the city participated in the tournament. There were five coaches and points were given to all those who participated. I performed well and was able to win a Silver medal.

Singing CompetitionWe went to a solo singing competition organized by Andhra Balananda Sangam. There were many children who participated in this competition. There were many categories like Annamacharya keerthanalu, Ramadasu kirtana etc. Chitaranjan and Prakash were the judges. The competition was very interesting. We enjoyed this competition. This was an encouragement for little singers.

Skating CompetitionThere was a South Zone district level competition in Skating, held in the DRS International School. 10 students were selected from our school and we all tried our level best. The skating ring was very huge. More than 3000 students participated in this competition. The players were divided into categories namely Under-19, Under-16, Under-14, Under-12, Under-10 and Under-8. We had to complete 501 laps by overtaking each other. Whoever comes first was declared the winners of 1st round. Next they qualified for the 2nd round. We learned sportsman spirit from this competition.

K. Sai Tejas : Class 7

K. Srijita, Neelambari and Prajwal Class 6

C. Sheshank : Class 7

The artist of our school, D. Neelambari of class 6, won the first prize and her painting was selected and printed in a calendar by Mangrove Action Project.

Dance Program for All India Doctor’s ConferenceOn 28th January, we( Prathishta, Charita & Trilokya) performed a dance program in Hi-tech city. Doctors from all over the world attended the event. The chief guest was Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, the honorable Chief Minister of Telangana. We performed a ballet named ‘Naa Telangana Koti Rathanala Veena’. The program started at 6.30 pm and ended at 1.00 am. It was really a wonderful event which included dances, music and other cultural programs. There were thousands of people who attended the program. I had a great experience participating in that event.

-D. Prathista-Class 8

Aatreyee of class 4, performed in a Kathak recital "Convergence" at Our Sacred Space [a cultural platform for Art], Hyderabad on 1st Nov., 2015, which got huge media coverage in different news papers.

Go Green Campaign

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As Global Warming is a topic which is given utmost importance by the global community, our teachers had designed a program under the Microsoft vision, to inspire us. We have started a campaign in our school named ‘Go Green’.

The campaign has made us aware of the importance of contributing in conserving or saving our ‘Mother Earth’. It is designed in such a way that, we did a survey in the communityto check our current status.Under this program, we had done activities like-

Energy audit Water audit Waste auditPaper audit Valuing Bio-diversity Calculating Carbon Foot-printDesign for Environment Signature campaign Petitions on Water Pollution

The idea or the vision behind this campaign is to spread awareness among today’s youth and tomorrow’s society. As a result of the efforts put in by our students, we have been recognized as one of the ‘Go Green’ school which has been rewarded with a certificate.

Hence this campaign has become an intimate part of our lives; we are not going to rest on our laurels, but take this initiative as the beginning of the goal. The best experiences that the students felt were e-waste collection and participation in Annual Day on the theme “Existence or Extinction”.

We all pledge to contribute our bit to save our environment.-D.Mohith Reddy-Class 9

ACHIEVERS OF OUR SCHOOL

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. (Vince Lombardi)

We had celebrated our Annual Day on 11th December, 2015. There were many events which were conducted on that day. The Chief Guest for this year was Mr. Golani, Deputy Director General and Head Mission V, Geological Survey of India. The event started with a guard of honour for the Chief Guest and the lighting of the lamp. All were excited to perform well before the audience, comprising of parents and other dignitaries. The whole event was based on the theme “Existence or Extinction”. Apart from song and dance, there was also a play put up by the class X students- Julius Caesar- which was the highlight of the show.The programme lasted for two and a half hours and was spectacular.

ANNUAL DAY

K. Rahul and J. Vishal; Class 9

Put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. (Swami Sivanand)

All the World’s a Stage Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar: In order to play the role of Caesar, I had to turn myself into an arrogant, self centered and a cold military general, who is killed at the hands of the conspirators. I had a lot of fun playing Caesar.

Cassius: I was given the main role in the drama, the inspirer and organizer of the conspiracy, Cassius. The role of Cassius had different shades to his character. I was nervous about the role at first, but afterwards I accepted it. As for my part it was a great experience.

J. Rohith: class 10

K. Poorna Kashyap : Class 10

Calpurnia

A. Harini :Class 10K. Sushanth : Class 10

Mark Anthony

The students of Unicent school went to a historic place ‘Borra Caves’ on 22nd December,2015. The guide showed us many things in those caves. He told us the history of the caves. There are many myths and beliefs related to the caves. He showed us a cave wall which was in the shape of Lord Hanuman. It is also believed that Goddess Sita had once bathed in the river and the turmeric which she mixed flows through the cave. The caves also had limestone formations – stalactites’ and stalagmites. It is believed that , a cow that belonged to the tribal people went missing and when they came out to search for it, they heard the cow’s call from the pit right above the present cave. Then they found out this cave had a big hole and called it ‘borra’. That is why the government has named it ‘Borra Caves’. There are many steps in the cave for tourists to move about and it is also made attractive by adding lighting and other facilities.

India offers a wide variety of tourist hot spots and Vishakapatnam commonly called as Vizag is one of its most beautiful tourist destinations. The students of classes V to X were taken to Vizag on 20th December 2015. We travelled all night and we had reached Vizag railway station at around 6:00a.m.. It was a beautiful morning, we had our breakfast and started our journey to Gangavaram Sea port where the port officials explained how the port works and about cargo. That evening at 4.00 p.m. we visited Red Soil Hills where we saw red-soil, which goes back to ancient times and the colour of the soil is due to the water’s reaction to soil. The next day morning we started our journey to Araku Valley, we had our lunchin a hotel and visited the tribal museum which displayed tribal life style and culture. The third day, we returned to Hyderabad and on the way we visited the Submarine Museum and reached Hyderabad at 8:00 a.m. after a overnight journey. It was great fun and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

The first level of Katha Writing was held in our school and was uploaded on the katha site. From that first round, seven students were selected to attend the regional workshop which was held in Bengaluru. The workshop was held at the PSBB LLA school in Bengaluru for three days. Many students from different schools attended this workshop. The students were divided into four groups and each group had a mentor. Our mentor’s name was Andaleep Wajid, a writer. On the first day our mentor taught us how to write a story and how we should present it. We were also taught about the do’s and don’ts of story writing.On the second day we did activities like story writing and performing skits. Each group wrote one story and presented it in the form of a skit. We had great fun. On the third day there was a competition held, where we wrote another story.The last round of Katha Writing was held in Delhi, where one student of our school named Pavani was selected to attend the workshop.

I had participated in the Katha Utsav 2015, which was a three day workshop held in Delhi. The event was held in Sanskriti School, Chaitanyapuri. I was the only student selected from our school. My mentor helped me to participate in the event. On the last day, we wrote a story and drew pictures. I wrote a story which was titled “An Adventure to China”. An American writer had come to the workshop as a resource person and asked us to draw a picture of a tiger sitting in a forest. I was awarded second prize for this. There was a cultural programme and certificates given out on the final day. There was also a book fair on the last day. I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot in the workshop.

Experiences Outside Our School

R.M. Ananth: Class 9

B. Srinadh: Class 10

CH. Yamini Guptha: Class 9

Ch. Pavani: Class 4There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. (Edith Wharton)

A Trip to Vizag

Katha – Regional Story Writing Workshop

Katha – National Story Writing Workshop

Borra Caves

Hobby is a pleasurable engagement in work at the time of leisure. It is a work of sweet will. So hobby is a social necessity in modern times. The present machine age has placed enough leisure time at the disposal of man. Everybody must utilize leisure time fruitfully. This is only possible by involving oneself in a hobby.Hobbies have the following educative values:They help in the development of innate power.They are the best substitutes to play at the adolescent and adult level.

• •• •••

Walk while you talk on phone. Use staircase instead of lift.Have sufficient liquids through the day to avoid dehydration. Avoid processed and packaged food.Reading a book, listening to music can help relax your body.Choose whole grain variants which contain fiber instead of starchy food.

There was an emergency fire-drill conducted in our school on 19th February,2016. When the fire alarms were sounded all the students filed out of their respective classrooms and assembled in the open ground. As the evacuation plan was already told to us, the students found it easy to go out quickly without any confusion. The fire-department officials had witnessed this drill and they also showed us how to use the hose-pipe and how to handle the various fire-extinguishers.

K.T. Sai Ravi Kireeti: Class 5

K.T. Sai Ravi Kireeti: Class 5

B.Srikar: Class 8

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. (Buddha)

Fire Drill

The Republic Day celebrations in our school were very colorful. There were spectacular programs presented on the day by the students. There were patriotic songs sung by the students; students performed really well in a skit which was based on our leaders uniting Hindus and Muslims. It also showed how the Constitution was drafted and implemented on 26th January, 1950. The celebrations ended with our National song and National Anthem.

Republic Day

On 15th February, we had celebrated farewell for class X students in our school. The class IX students were the organizers of the programme. That day morning blessing ceremony took place. The class X students lit the candles and all the teachers blessed them by showering flowers. They had taken an oath as a Unicentarian. In the evening we had conducted a few programmes, which started with class IX girls group dance and then there was a fashion show in which all the students of class X had participated. Then there was a treasure hunt conducted for all the 10th class students. They were divided into 3 groups and given a clue to start with. The three groups ran throughout the campus and enjoyed themselves. The winners were awarded with a few gifts. We then organized an antakshari game among the class X students. They had fun singing songs. The class X students then presented gifts to all their teachers and mentors.The day ended with, class IX students presenting gifts to class X .

Farewell

Unicent School celebrated Christmas Assembly on 24 December. The program started with a prayer, class II students performed a skit on the birth of Jesus Christ followed by a dance performance by the tiny tots of our school. There

Christmas Assembly

Hobbies

Health tips

-Md. Wajahatullah: Class 8

Naga Sivani: Class 9

was a surprise entry of Santa Claus. He distributed chocolates to small children. All were very happy seeing him. Santa Claus made small children dance with him. Each and every child felt happy. This was a wonderful assembly presented by the students.

School Activities

V. Srividya: Class 9

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow. (Helen Keller)

CBSE had conducted Math subject specific workshop for class 9 & 10 teachers at Obul Reddy School, Banjara Hills, on 21st and 22nd January,2016. In the history of CBSE workshops, it is the first time that the resource persons were exclusively from the Math Department.; i.e. the Principal of Jubilee Hills Public School and Ms. Deepa, Senior teacher from the same school. Around 110 math teachers attended the two day workshop. The workshop was about how and what type of activities can be conducted for FAs. The most interesting learning experience was that we can include gender sensitization also into our math content. The method of components of multiple intelligence for the chapters of class 10 was the focus of the

K.T.Sai Ravi Kireeti;Class 5

K. Jyoti: Mathematics faculty

Math Subject Specific Workshop for teachers

workshop. We were made aware of the solutions to the common errors done in math, through discussion with the math faculty present.

The ASL workshop for teachers of secondary and senior secondary school was held in Vijayawada. This was a crucial workshop, where teachers were told how to assess students and discussed activities to improve speaking and listening in students. This workshop was conducted by the CBSE, Chennai Regional Centre, which had sent two resource persons from Chennai who clarified all our doubts about ASL.

CBSE had conducted a workshop on ‘Capacity Building Programme’ on Scholastic aspects of CCE at CBSE, COE, Kakinada on 29/9/15 and 30/9/15. The workshop was conducted by the resource persons Mrs. Vasanthi-Principal of Maharsi Vidya Mandir, Hyderabad and Mr. Raghavan, Director of Education, Chennai.The workshop was divided into six sessions in which each session was conducted on Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation- (CCE) its features and concept, Formative Assessments- its meaning, tools and techniques, Summative Assessments- its meaning, features, tools and techniques, Areas of Assessments in Co-scholastic areas, Gender studies, Recording and Documentation.The session highlighted the most about Continuous Periodicity Aspect of Evaluation.

Geeta Jois; English faculty

-Mrs. Shakila Khanam, Social studies Faculty

Assessment of Speaking and Listening Workshop

CCE Workshop for Teachers

School Quality Assessment & Accreditation WorkshopSchool Quality Assessment & Accreditation WorkshopSchool Quality Assessment & Accreditation Workshop

A.Y. – 2015-2016 Term – II Literary and Cultural IHC winners list

S.No Month Competition Level Winners Class House

1. November Singing I G. Kasi Viswanath I Ruby

Elocution II M. Harsha Raj IVA Sapphire

Elocution III T. Hemalatha Reddy VI Topaz

Elocution IV N. Veda Samhitha Viii Sapphire

Elocution V S. Pranay IX Ruby

2. January Storytelling I A. Tanush I Ruby

Storytelling II C. Pragnesh III Ruby

Debate III K. Srijitha Choudary VI Ruby

Debate IV G. Venkata Panini VIII Topaz

Debate V U. Sriman IX Sapphire

Enrichment Programmes

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. (Willie Nelson)

Teacher EditorsMrs. Geeta Jois

Mrs. G. Varalakshmi

Student Editors

U. Srimann, C. Divyesh, E. Varun Reddy