On the morning of 21st Sept., the SMIS 360 club jumped with exhilaration and anticipation as Ms Reetu Karmarkar took us through a Zumba ride with some feet thumping music and heart-pumping moves.

Apart from being an internationally certified trainer for Zumba and other Latin dance fitness and cardio routines, Ms Reetu is also the recognised Instructor (Saurashtra region) for Skill India - an Initiative by Hon. PM, Shri Narendra Modi. She is well known for keeping the city's fitness quotient in check and on the 21st she also made children more aware of their fitness responsibilities.
 
The sessions started with an ice breaker where through interaction children became familiar with their guest for the day. They indulged in a warm-up full of monkey jumps, ab-crunches in pairs, and mountain climbers. They also recapitulated the four pivots of fitness - food, rest, exercise and hygiene. The warm-up was followed by a rigorous Zumba session in which children danced the hour away to some high energy music. Later, children were made aware of the importance of a cool down discipline. For the closure, children performed some stretching and breathing exercises for muscle relaxation.
​ 
At the end of the first term, children are consciously aware of the varied choices that lie before them; Zumba dancing being one of them courtesy of Ms Reetu Karmarkar.

The first term is at its closure. Through the last few months, MS English or MSE, as we fondly call it, served as a significant contributor to the skill development and practice of English as content and as language.
 
Not only has MSE helped most children to practise and some to master English, but it has also been a wonderful source of some very relevant and intriguing information and insights. More than anything else, we marvel at the wide variety they offer children in the form of reading and listening material.
 
"Mom, how small is a whisper?" is an innocuous little question from little Mark who insists that he has a "need to be tiny in a whisper sort of way". The grade 4 passage in which these words appear is written by Savannah Hendricks, who is a renowned author as well as a social worker. 'The Creature in the Classroom' is a humorous fifth-grade fantasy poem by Jack Prelutsky.  Over  and above the fiction that is otherwise uncommon in a child's life, MSE also offers informational passages on various subjects like Music, History, Medical Findings and Scientific Inventions. The Audio passages are accented and often portray dialogues on meaningful subjects between two or more people, depending upon the grade level. They equip children  with skilled listening (active and comprehensive) as well as an insight into the art of communication.
 
Like Vladimir Horowitz profoundly said that,   "the difference between ordinary   and   extraordinary   is   practice",   we   can't   repeat   ourselves sufficiently that it is only through consistent and focused practice does one master anything ever! In the same breath, we are glad to recognise that Prerak Sata from Grade 3, and Mann Ruparelia and Naitry Dudhagra from Grade 4, demonstrated their prowess in language acquisition through consistent  high  accuracy,  week after week, during the period of July to September 2019. We take great pride in having with us these wonderful little champions who play hard and practise (English) harder! 
 
We look forward to another term full of exciting passages from MSE and participation from children.