"A Book in 60 days", The Hindu Metro Plus

Stone age workshop

Another out of the world pre history workshop at the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education for Al Qamar Academy students.

The Elementary students learned about stone tools, then got to make their own tools. They used the tools to cut grass.

The high point of the workshop was where they went on a "dig" - working carefully, they brushed away the mud to find a skeleton. And some shells nearby. Like real archaeologists, the children had to reconstruct what happened to this old skeleton. From "He was murdered by a stone and died, to he was drowned (hence the shells), some of the explanations did take a macabre turn, but were accepted as valid by Dr. Shanti Pappu who didn't bat an eyelid.

"Awesome", "The only shortcoming - it was too short", "the best class ever", were some of the ways the children described the workshop.

Keep going Shanti Pappu & Dr. Akhilesh - you guys managed to make prehistory a fascinating subject for the kids.

Photostories with environmental themes

Another really fantastic set of workshops with K Ramnath Chandrasekhar which has inspired the children, got the wheels turning in their minds. How do you tell a story with photographs?

Ramnath ran a set of 3 workshops. In the first, he introduced children to elements of photography - long shot, close up, focus etc. In the second, he strung together photos to tell a story with environmental themes. Children went to the beach, the school playground to practice their newly learned skills - using objects and settings, they created photostories .

The final assignment - to think of a photostory they want to create to highlight any issue they see around them. Children came back with issues of food wastage, garbage dumping, ill treatment of animals, creatures around their homes.  These are work in progress. Hope to see the final results as children develop their ideas and photography skills further.

Book launch by Al Qamar authors

It's a proud moment for any school when their student becomes an author of a book. But there are no words to describe our feelings when not 1, not 2, but 12, yes, 12 students became authors. And their books were launched in a formal event on Sunday, 16th July 2017 at a Book Launch attended by representatives of NGO's working in the very areas the children wrote about.

The children worked with conservationist and nature educator, K. Ramnath Chandrashekhar for a period of 2 months. They wrote books on environmental and social issues to raise peoples' awareness and consciousness about the problems we are facing as a society. And in typical child fashion, they outlined innocent solutions full of hope! 

Ramnath's skillful mentoring helped students choose their themes,  imagine stories, pen down the words, and illustrate their books.  Books dealt with deforestation, honey adulteration, animals eating garbage, ruin of wastelands, dying trees, rainwater harvesting.

Books are available for viewing at https://issuu.com/alqamaracademy

Congratulations to Mariam Akbar, Anam Fathima, Abdul Majid, Ishal Abdul Azeez (Grade 4) 

Iman Akbar, Asfiya, Aayshah Maseerah, Asma Naser, Fathima Abdurraheem, Aathif Ahamed (Grade 6) 

Abdurrahman Jamal & Shaheeda Sathik (Grade 7)