Gold and Bronze in Taekwondo for T.Asira

Congratulations to T.Asira of Al Qamar Academy for winning a Gold and Bronze in her category at the State Taekwondo Championship held today.

Visit to an Archeological Site

Wish I had learned History like this...

Al Qamar Academy students visited a real archaeological pre historic site to see a dig in progress, courtesy Sharma Centre for Heritage Education.

The children learned how the site is demarcated into sections and saw how the workers were carefully sifting through the debris to fins the minutest sign of a pottery shard or a stone tool.

The children handled samples of skulls (probably the most thrilling activity). They made drawing of what they saw and wrote poetry.

Talk about interdisciplinary and meaningful work!!

THANKS Shanti Pappu and Akhilesh Kumar for really going out of the way for the kids. You made a memorable history for them.

Tholpavai Koothu performance on Saving our Wetlands

Tholpavai Koothu is a 400 year old shadow puppet theatre. Kalaimamani Muthuchandran and a group of environmental activists developed a show on saving wetlands.

 The children watched with rapt attention. They laughed their heads off at the funny antics of the puppets. At the end of the show the artist, Mr Muthuchandran, spoke about the tradition of shadow puppet shows. He explained how the puppets are made, the intricacies of light and colour, how he is able to use different voices to play different characters.

The activists explained how unfettered construction damages wetlands and leads to ecological disasters like floods.

The children had several questions and comments at the end. Which they shared with  parents once they returned home. One parent reported "My kids shared their puppet show experience... they were just overwhelmed...! 😄😄😄"

Definitely an event they're going to remember lifelong.