Christmas Card Making Activity 2

Day 3 – 13^th December

It’s almost a week and I am pretty near to my target. I have completed about 6 cards in total. Today in school, I showed the cards to Deepshri Ma’am, she was happy to know and see that I have completed 6 cards and that they are beautiful. Only four cards were left, so Ma’am gave me some good ideas and told me to make some quilling cards and taught me how to make pop up cards and some more quilling skills. And then we made cut-outs of Christmas symbols like Christmas tree, socks, gifts, candies etc. making many cut-outs would then help us to decorate the cards and wouldn’t take much time to make them. It would be simple and beautiful. While I was learning to make pop-up cards, I learned new cutting skills too. It’s it fun when you explore one and learn more skills and get to know yourself and ones abilities. Learning these skills now, I hope I use them in the other cards while making them. Till next time then!

Day 4 – 18^th December

I have completed my target yesterday and ready with my cards today with all the finishing done. I am happy that I had completed my target a day before. I was proud of myself that I have completed the task and could explore and aware myself and my abilities. It’s the best feeling when you’re exploring and knowing yourself more and your skills and abilities too.

Now that all of us have completed our target, what left is selling these cards! Our coordinator Ms.Vijayalaxmi Ma’am informed us that we were allotted a blank spacious room and we had to decorate it a bit to make it look attractive. We were done with the labeling of the cost of the cards and we arranged them according to their prices. Now what left is decorating the room, display board and main board which would be outside the room? Deepshri Ma’am gave some ideas on how to decorate the boards and we started working on them. Once we were done with all the painting work, we started pining up the articles and cut-outs of creativity, action and service on the board. We also decorated the boards which was to be kept outside the room, mentioning about the card exhibition. All of us worked together and helped out each other. We made a great team as we worked collaboratively and enjoyed doing it. Now just waiting for these cards to get sold. Till next time then!

Day 5 – 19^th December

Finally the day had arrived, when these cards of ours were going to be sold. My friends Tanmay and Shafqat were responsible for the entire treasure trunk, or the money matters in other words, and everyone else were allotted one table each. It was really good to hear those appreciations from people. I was pretty happy with myself that I got to discovery many thing and skills and I did complete the task. It was really fun working with my classmates in this activity.

Christmas Card Making Activity 1

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same pattern”

                                                                                                                                                         

It’s almost 4 months doing CAS and now it’s December. December means Christmas! I was just hoping for some fun activity as it was Christmas time. Christmas means fun, celebration and what not. All these four months doing CAS activities was really fun and now that’s its Christmas time, I am expecting a joyful activity and hoping that I’ll enjoy.

So today we had our meeting with our CAS coordinator Vijayalaxmi Ma’am. We had no idea what ma’am was going tell. Ma’am gave an idea of making cards. Seasonal greetings! And since its Christmas we should raise funds. Though this is a 21^st century and now we have e-mail, e-cards etc. But every festival has its own tradition and we follow the tradition and celebrate it. So why not Christmas? Ma’am instructed and explained that we have to make 10 cards each, so in total we will have 100 cards and we can make more money than last time. Ma’am said we can make more than 10 but first we should complete 10 and then go ahead. Ma’am gave us deadline of 18^th December. We almost had 2 weeks to make these 10 cards.

I have made cards before, it is not a new task for me. I make them for my friends on their birthdays. I prefer making cards on my own than buying one. That is because it’ll always be remembered with respect and love for it. I was all set for this task and was hoping I would learn a lot from this.

Day 1 of candle making – 5^th December

We had to wait for the materials to arrive at school, so I decided that I would make one card today at home. I had the materials at home, so I dint worry much about the materials. As soon as I reached home, I finished with my ablution and took out the materials I needed likely 3D outliner, papers, stickers, glue, coloured stripes etc. As I am ready with the material, I did some research on cards, so that I can get ideas. Once done with all the research, I first make a blueprint in my mind of the card and then start working on it. Making a blueprint gives an idea how will the card look. It was time consuming but the fun part is you get to discover your creative side and so am I. I completed my card and was very happy and excited. Excited because if I am having fun by making one card now, then what about the 9 cards left. Just waiting for the time to make cards in school with my classmates.

Day 2 – 9^th December

Today in school our activity supervisor Mrs. Deepshri told us that the materials have arrived and we should start as soon as possible. I did show my first card, which I made at home. She liked it and appreciated my work. We had many papers and few readymade cut outs too. So to start, ma’am told us to cut the sheets into small card size shaped. All of us dived the work, so it wouldn't consume much time. We worked together and collaboratively as one team. Everything is an art. So cutting too is an art. It was fun and I did enjoy it, as I did learn to cut properly and many other cutting skills. Once done with the cutting, we made few cut outs of Christmas trees, gifts, Santa etc. Now that we have made the cut outs, we could start decorating our cards. I decided to keep my cards beautiful and simple. Not too much glittery or fancy. We came to know that along with Deepshri ma’am, the IGCSE students are also contributing in this activity. We all were very happy hearing this, as we would have more cards and more money for the fund. As we did not get time in school for making cards, ma’am suggested that we should make cards at home. We could take the material home, make the card and bring it to school and give it to ma’am. Since we have a big target, it was bit difficult for me, making so many cards at a time. But then I HAD TO AND SO I did. Staying determined in the task would help me a lot. So I set a target of how many cards to make at home and work on it. Till next time then!

Photography Activity

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” - Berenice Abbott

What is PHOTOGRAPHY?

Definition: Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor. Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. The result in an electronic image sensor is a charge at each pixel, which is electronically processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing.

We were informed that we will be having a photography learning session for two days yesterday. We all were very excited especially me that is because I always wanted to learn photography. So I had a chance to learn and hope that I will become a good photographer someday. I was really excited and also informed my father about it and he was happy to know I up taking this challenge and showing interest in it.

So today classes from 9 till DP-2 were gathered in the multi-purpose hall. We all were ready and were just waiting for the person who was going to teach us photography. Hemant Dixit was the one who was going to teach us photography for two days. When he came in, we all welcomed him. After all this he introduced us to himself and photography. He told us that there are many fields in photography too, likely food photography, wild life photography, landscape photography etc. He told us he was specialised in advertisement and object or product photography. So he explained us what is subject? What is focus? What is shutter speed? How do we manage it according to our subject? After all his explanation, he told us to go outdoors and click some picture. Sadly I didn’t bring camera first day, so me and my friend vaibhavi shared the camera.  We together clicked really good pictures. After the task was completed, we gathered again in hall. Hemant sir told take give anyone’s memory card so vaibhavi did. He then took out our faults and explained us and made us understand how to do it again. I was fairly happy with my performance. He gave us homework of clicking 10 pictures. So let’s see how I do this. See u until tomorrow.

Mr Hemant telling us about different photography techniques.

Day 2

Last and final day of this session. Was not really happy that it’s ending. But I have learned do or die is old concept and do it before u die is new. I had to accept it and let it go. Today he told us to click pictures again of the infrastructure, flowers etc. After a while, he taught us how to click portraits. He gathered us on the pathway entrance of our school. He took Mrs viji as a volunteer. He then taught us how to click portraits, how to take care of the sunlight, the exposure. And surprising I was the next volunteer. I was nervous, n feeling weird. That is because I don’t like to be clicked. But it was fine. He took a sheet of poly and explained us again how to manage the exposure and stuff. It wasn’t easy for me. Why? That’s because of my friend, they were making me laugh all the time, but I certainly managed. Anyways it was time to say good bye now. So before going he gave us some tips on how we should improve ourselves. And wished us good luck with it and hoped that we would surely practise and improve at photography.

Photography blog: http://photography-by-ruchaverma.blogspot.in/ 

I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.”- Ernst Haas

True said. There are beautiful things around us we just have to see. And it is said beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Will be practising and waiting for the next activity. See you till then!

Candle Decoration

Decorating the candles.

Today I came to know from our CAS co-ordinator Vijayalaxmi ma’am, that it’s time to decorate the candles and sell them. I was really happy and excited because I was waiting for this day to come soon. And finally the day has arrived.

I was all ready for it. Decorating the candle is not easy. A person should put all of his ideas in and be focused while decorating the candle. As I have told before creativity lies within me, I had many ideas coming in my mind. Getting fresh ideas is the best thing. 

We had to decorate the candles using 3D outliners or acrylic paints. I choose 3D outliners. It had more colours and it was easy to decorate the candles with it. My plan was to be simple and sober while decorating the candles. Too much of designs on the candle does not look good. We did this activity approximately for 2hours. We did not do at one instance. Whenever we had free periods, we would go to Deepshri ma’am, our art teacher and supervisor of this activity. Ma’am always gave us a target to complete the decoration, so it’ll be fast to complete the decoration.

Packing them in plastic wrap.

Getting candles ready for fund raising sale.

It was a great experience for me, thought I didn't learn much. I simply learned to be more creative, I hope I’ll learn more in my next activity. Till then enjoy!

Educating tomorrow’s stars_5

Diwali is the Indian festival of lights. It is celebrated almost all over India. On this the lord Ram had returned back to his kingdom and the people of the whole kingdom had welcomed him by lighting diyas. Today also in every house Diya are lighted. The Diya represents the how the inner light of us protects us and fight from darkness.

As we could not take the classes for two week due to our exams, today we decided to take the last session. As it was the last session and in the last two weeks we could not take the classes, we could not continue with our old plan. All of us and Shaila ma’am decided and planned that we should make their last day fun and enjoyable. So as Diwali was near we decided that our theme would be Diwali. Our supervisor suggested that we should do a small diya making session for the kids.

All of us together decided that we would make paper lanterns and small paper baskets for the kids. And in the basket we would fill them with chocolate and give it away to the children. So all of us worked collaboratively and collected the material for making the lanterns and baskets. Our art teacher demonstrated us how to make the paper basket and we quickly started off with it.

 In the starting as my friend Shafqat was having in difficulties in making the basket I helped him out. Once we were done with the baskets and lanterns we kept them aside. The children arrived and they were really happy to see us again. All of us first sat together and asked them about Diwali and what is the importance of it. All of us explained one by one about Diwali and the importance of it. It was great to see the curiosity in them. As few of them did not understand the meaning of darkness, we had to replace the word with monster and explain them. My only goal or aim was to achieve the happiness of these children and make them happy before they leave. After discussing, we gathered outside and made  

a big circle. Asmita and Himanshu distributed glue, diyas and decorative material respectively. I realized that as I had become more confident with these children and was committed to them, I made few children understand and demonstrated how to decorate diya. And I told them once, they started to do on their own.  

It was great to see them to work on their own. I felt really good as a teacher, after the activity we made them see a short cartoon or animation which was based on Diwali. Poverty is one of the global issues which the world has been facing. And India comes under the list of most poverty in the world. The main cause of poverty is the lack of education. Education in India is not affordable for lower class of people, despite government subsidy. I felt that it is our ethical responsibility being a member of the society that we should help those members who cannot afford education. By teaching them I somewhere felt unfair. I am studying in the IB school,which one of the best curriculum and these children cannot even afford to go one simple school. I felt that this is unfair, since everybody has the right to education. So i felt that if i have privilege I should share it with them.  India is a developing country and it should contribute to this global issue and make the change in India. Even if we start from one place or city then slowly the poverty and illiteracy would disappear from the country. I realized that what I was doing in this activity is, I am contributing it globally. I understood how much education is important for a child. Due to this poverty and illiteracy the number of crimes have also increased. Throughout the activity, by staying committed, determined and by taking this new challenge helped me complete my goal.