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From the Director’s Desk

Dear Parents,

DBIS is just alighting into the arena of inter-school team games! Our young and spirited players have been practising earnestly – even during the Diwali vacations – and are now eagerly looking forward to displaying their prowess, be it in football, basketball, handball, hockey or cricket. As our teams take their first baby steps, we know that these will grow into giant strides over the years, bringing grace and glory to the school!

It is a well-known fact that games and sports are an integral ingredient of the Don Bosco system of education. In fact, when our founder Don Bosco began working among boys on the streets of Turin in northern Italy, way back in 1841, one of the first activities that he engaged in was to gather these youngsters on a playing field and organize some fun games for them. It was only several years later that he began establishing the first educational institutions for them. Thus, in the Don Bosco annals, first came the playground and only much later the school! No wonder then, even today the playground holds pride of place in our pedagogy!

Well, as our teams set out to play their first tournaments, I wish them all success. But above all, I pray that the sports culture of DBIS be ever led by these golden principles – self-discipline, fair play, team spirit, unstinted effort and universal respect. It is these qualities, that beyond winning trophies, will win true greatness for our school.

Fr. Savio Silveira

From the

Director’s Desk

Page 01

Associate Principal’s

Message

Page 02

Newsletter DBIS

Volume: 3 Issue: 4 October 2016

Diwali Festival

Page 04

Navratri Celebration

Page 05

World Space Week

Page 06

Florence Art Studio

Page 08

Black Day

Page 11

Field Trip –

Grades 1 & 4

Page 10

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Associate Principal’s Message

BIG DANCE

DBIS has had many a festival in the past and each festival has been a celebration of life and learning. One of the festivals we had in the recent past was the Big Dance. The objective of this dance festival was to encourage team spirit and cooperation amongst students. In order to reach the full potential of the group, there must be Cooperation at all levels – working together in all ways to accomplish the common goal. And to get Cooperation, you must give Cooperation. With this thought in mind, all the DBIS teachers, who also belong to different houses, took charge and set out to come up with novel ideas for the festival. The theme for the school this year is ERA’s; accordingly, each house has been given an era ranging from 60’s to the 90’s. The students and teachers did extensive research to understand the culture of the particular era, especially the popular music and dance of that period.

The outcome was quite overwhelming, as students showed team spirit by sacrificing personal considerations for the welfare of the team. Older students were involved in choreographing and training students across grades. The ambience of the school was truly joyful, as the students literally put their best foot forward to bring glory to their respective houses.

Well, it did not matter who won in the end, as it is rightly said that,

“you must derive pride not from the accolades from outsiders, but from your own efforts and achievements!”

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BIG DANCE PHOTO GALLERY

A splendid performance by all our students!

Bravo!!

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Diwali Festival

The festival of Diwali, perhaps the best known of the Indian festivals, is celebrated throughout India, as well as by India communities throughout the world. This ‘festival of lights’ is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.

We at DBIS celebrated Diwali with great joy and pomp on 26th October 2016. The celebration began a week earlier, with the Grade 6 students presenting a skit during the assembly, which threw light on the significance and rituals of the festival. During the Diwali party, children enjoyed painting diyas with beautiful colours and decorated the entrance with a vivid and vibrant rangoli. Students enjoyed playing on the ‘Jumping Jacks’ organized by the school. As part of the celebration, the students also relished eating chaklis, laddoos, popcorns and other mouth-watering snacks.

The colours, fragrances, flowers, rangoli, attire, music and dance filled our senses and immersed us into a very rich and old Indian Culture.

Music, Dance, Colours and more fun to come..

Colourful rangoli, Yummy Snacks and

Jumping Jacks!!!

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Navratri celebration The nine day fast festival of Navratri is celebrated in honour of Goddess Durga. People worship the nine forms of the Goddess during the nine days of Navratri and wear nine different colours. The nine nights have come to be known as Navratri; the tenth day brought the triumph of good over evil. People The sticks used for playing dandiya represent the Goddess’ sword. Although dandiya raas is a custom that originated in the state of Gujarat, people in Maharashtra too enjoy dandiya raas and celebrate Navaratri festival in a unique style with great pomp.

While inquiring into ‘Celebration’, we wanted our students to develop an understanding that celebrations are expressions of culture, tradition and belief. We also wanted our students to understand the different features of a celebration and festival. Accordingly, the students, parents and teachers of Kindergarten played garba/dandiya to celebrate the festival of Navratri. This celebration provided an opportunity to understand and appreciate a different culture and folk music. It also helped the students to develop their social skills. The students dressed up in traditional wear and displayed great enthusiasm as they participated actively in this learning experience. Learning can take many forms, celebrating this festival was one such way.

We now look forward to celebrating some more festivals, so that our students can develop a deeper understanding of different cultures and traditions.

Students, parents and teachers of Kindergarten, celebrated Navratri with a Dandiya Festival

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World Space Week

Education and competition are two universal ingredients of all human cultures, in fact, of almost all animal life. Humans have always considered education and competition important issues, both in the past and in the present. Of course, there have been fluctuations in emphasis and much has changed throughout the centuries.

A quiz is a game that can also be called a mind sport, wherein the participants, either as individuals or in teams, attempt to answer questions posed to them correctly, in order to win a prize. I’m sure that we are all familiar with popular quizzes like the Limca Quiz or the Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC). These are but just a few examples of popular quiz competitions that are held. Over the years people have been fascinated by these quizzes that have been broadcasted on television and are still watched and enjoyed by children and adults alike even today!

The students of DBIS too were recently engaged in a quiz, which was focused on ‘Space’. This quiz was conceptualized to lay emphasis on the ‘Space Week’. Since this was the first time that we organized such a quiz, the students were provided with topics to research and study on. Further, they could also contribute at least two questions on the given topic per student.

They were given different topics like planets and sun, solar system and moon, asteroids and comets, personalities and space mission, gravity, life in the universe and NASA.

The questions contributed by the students would be their question bank. To our surprise, our truly motivated and enthusiastic students started researching and contributed many interesting questions. Since the participating numbers were huge, we decided to have three children per house per round. This quiz was scheduled for 4th October for Grades 1-4, and 5th October for Grades 5-7. There were different rounds, for e.g. Questions with options, Spell Bee, Audio-Visual, Audience, Fire Fighter, Jigsaw Puzzle (Online), Justify your answer and Teachers’ Round.

The event was conducted and managed by our students from Grade 7

Good Job Students!!

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The entire event was conducted and managed by the students. We had Kanishk who gave the welcome speech and vote of thanks, Mahek as the quiz master and Shlok as the time keeper and score keeper. These students were from Grade 7 and happily volunteered to take up these responsibilities.

Every round was filled with anxiety and excitement, as each house motivated and encouraged their team members to give of their best. It was thrilling to see the students cheer for their houses!! Although there was inevitable competition among the houses, the event was celebrated like a festival and the winning team was applauded for its well-deserved success. Hearty congratulations to Sapphire House and kudos to all the participants and audience for such an invigorating performance!!

Every child went home an achiever, as each one contributed towards the event and took away memories that will stay with them for a long time.

World Space Quiz Photo Gallery

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Opening Of Florence Art Studio

On 14th October, 2016 DBIS Matunga proudly inaugurated ‘Florence’ – its new Visual Art Studio. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Fr. Bernard Fernandes, Principal of Don Bosco High School, Matunga.

Speaking at the start of the inaugural programme, Fr. Savio Silveira said that the launching of the studio was not just the addition of one more facility to the school, but rather, the reaffirmation that art is considered to be of great importance at DBIS. Addressing the students next, Fr. Bernard Fernandes spoke about his own interest in art and photography, and then went on to reiterate the importance of art in our schooling years.

Fr Bernard Fernandes then blessed and opened the new studio, which will enable students to explore various mediums such as painting (water colors, acrylics, tempera paint ) drawing, pottery, sculpture, graphic design and other crafts. In addition to gaining confidence and proficiency in working with a variety of mediums, students will also learn about the history, interpretation and appreciation of art.

An elegantly designed poster at the entrance of the studio explains why the studio has been named Florence. It reads: “Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, has had an overwhelming influence on the development of architecture and the fine arts, first in Italy, and then across Europe. The artistic principles of the Renaissance were defined there from the beginning of the 15th century by Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio. It was in the Florentine milieu that two universal geniuses of the arts – Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo – were formed and asserted. Seven hundred years of cultural and artistic blooming are tangible today in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Church of Santa Croce, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi gallery, and the Palazzo Pitti. The greatest concentration of universally renowned works of art in the world is found in this city, which is fittingly known as the artistic capital of the world.”

We are confident that just as Florence in Italy produced some of the world’s greatest artists, Florence in DBIS will also produce artists of world renown!

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Field Trip for Grades 1 and 4

Field trips are recognized as important moments in learning; a shared social experience that provides the opportunity for students to encounter and explore novel things in an authentic setting. As a part of the ongoing Inquiry on Civilizations, students of Grade 1 and 4 visited Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya on 18th October 2016 to deepen and awaken their learning experience.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya is listed as a Grade I Heritage structure, it houses a world-class collection of over 50,000 artifacts, making it one of India‘s finest art and history museum. Students were thrilled to see the Natural History section where they saw many extinct mammals and birds. The collection, which also included the White Tigress, the Great Indian Hornbill, made students aware of critically endangered animals and birds. A major attraction for students was the Pre-history section. They were overwhelmed to see weapons, paintings, artifacts and exhibits that belonged to various periods as it reinforced their learning. Students participated in fun activities like stamping and printmaking, using a 16th-century-styled printmaker’s tool box.

This visit not only reinforced what they explored in the ongoing Inquiry but also paved a way towards exploring other civilizations like Indus Valley Civilization, miniature paintings and artifacts of different civilizations. They were thrilled to watch the planned city of Harappa. The tour also made students aware that rules and regulations of the museum were to be respected, as it housed many valuable and rare objects. Saving and protecting our cultural heritage is one of the lessons students learned through their visit.

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Black Day

Black symbolizes the combination of all colours of the universe. Black is required for all other colours to have depth and variation of hue. Black is a mysterious colour that is typically associated with the unknown. The colour black represents strength, seriousness, power and authority. Black is a formal, elegant, and prestigious colour.

Identification and recognition of colours plays a vital role in learning during preschool. The enthusiastic and energetic students of Don Bosco International School celebrated ‘Black Day’ on 25th October 2016. Students, along with their teachers, came to school dressed in black. The ‘Show and Tell’ was a learning experience as the students got to speak in front of their peers, enabling them to become confident and independent.

All through the month of October the students were involved in various types of activities, like colouring, dabbing and cutting related to the colour black. They enjoyed counting and sticking black stripes to make a zebra. Students displayed their creativity by making a black rectangular monster using a shoe box. Students also made penguins, which highlighted the important environmental message: ‘Save Penguins’. They learnt songs, viewed videos and played games related to the colour black. The activities were designed to enhance the fine motor skills of our pre-schoolers. Students enthusiastically participated in all the activities. At the end of the month, students were excited to take back home their own creative pieces that were made through the month.

Black Is Beautiful!!

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Black Day Photo Gallery

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Upcoming Events

1st December: 1st Term Assessment Grades 6 and 7

17th December: Sports Day

22nd December: Christmas Party

22nd December: White Day

23rd Christmas vacation begins