August edition
Foreword
Curiously Enough
Dear children, On the occasion of Independence Day, here’s an extract from Ramji Raghavan’s podcast, Learning From The Mavericks, on a great national leader: Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Jane Mooney went to see the former president of the Ahmedabad municipality and said, “You’ve led a great and interesting life. Why don’t you write a book about it?” and Sardar Patel, now independent India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, who along with Gandhi and Nehru had led India to her independence smiled and said, “We do not write history. We make history.” These words so inspired me that when we produced the first brochure for Agastya Foundation in the early 2000s — a lovely blue brochure with an orange A on its cover — the back cover carried the Sardar’s quote: We do not write history. We make history. People call Patel Sardar, or chief, and India’s Iron Man. Patel had made a stupendous commitment to serve his country, to help it win its independence from a great power. Julius Caesar famously said of his great rival Pompeii, “Pompeii has merely done something. I stand for something.” Patel stood for his people and their independence from colonial rule. As Patel said, “our delight is in doing service to people.” Patel had a genius for detail. He got information from on the front lines and often from walking on the streets and villages. This helped him build his intuition and his feeling for a situation. He could see something at the smallest level and imaogine what it might become, and take actions to preempt a problem or seize an opportunity. We hope you take inspiration from this patriotic stalwart and focus on serving the people of our nation, even in small ways. Until then, go Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! Ramji Raghavan
Did you know that scientists used potatoes to help increase Wi-Fi signals in aeroplanes?! That’s right, simple potatoes were used in a highly evolved technological space to test weak spots in wireless signals. Humans and potatoes have quite a few genetic similarities. Because of their water content and chemistry, potatoes absorb and reflect radio wave signals the same way humans do. Thus more than 9000 kilograms of potatoes were used as test subjects on a Boeing aircraft. This allowed the company to create a proprietary system that has allowed them to fine-tune signals and ensure they don't interfere with the plane's navigation and communications equipment.
Get In On The Action! Primary School Materials:
Procedure: 1. Take two balloons and inflate them. Now rub them with a dry cloth. 2. Bring the two balloons close to each other, observe. 3. Bring one balloon close to your friend’s hair, observe. 4. Now bring the other balloon close to the wall, observe.
Middle School
High School
Materials:
Materials:
Procedure:
Procedure:
1. Collect at least 5 flowers for this activity. 2. Draw the following tabular column in your notebook. 3. Observe the flowers and fill observations in the tabular column.
1. Take a bucket and fill it with clean water. 2. Take a small bell in one hand. Shake this bell inside the water to produce sound. Make sure that the bell does not touch the body of the bucket. Place your ear gently on the water surface.
Questions: 1. What did you observe? 2. Were you able to listen to the sound of the bell when you placed your ear close to the surface of water? 3. Compare the sound inside and outside the water. 4. Do you think sound can travel through liquids?
Note:
- A complete flower is one that consists of sepals, petals, stamens and pistils. - Flowers in which any one or more whorls are missing are known as incomplete flowers.
Chandu
Varshani
Kiran
Darashan
What do you need to make a home butterfly garden?
Would you like to create a butterfly garden in your home? Butterflies are one of the indicators of healthy surroundings. They play a vital role in our ecosystem. 30% of pollination is done by butterflies. Butterflies are losing their habitat due to rapid urbanization. - Butterfly life cycle has 4 stages –Egg, caterpillar, pupa and butterfly - Mostly butterflies are day flying - Butterflies have 3 pairs of legs, 2 pairs of wings,1 pair of antenna and proboscis - They migrate 100 km - Average Life span is 15 days & some can live for 3 months
All you need is to plant butterfly-attracting host plants and nectar plants in your garden. Nectar plants: Butterflies feed on flower nectars. Ex: Pentas Zenni, Xora, Thulasi, Leucas, etc. Host plant: Specific plants on which specific butterflies lay eggs, and the caterpillar eats the plant. Ex: Oleander, Lime tree, Curry leaf tree, Milkweed To start a butterfly garden in your house, plant the host plants given. If you are unable to plant, observe butterfly larva in the plants close to your house or in your garden.
All children have the potential to be leaders like Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru. You can help nurture the qualities required to be a good leader. Here are five ways one can inspire leadership qualities in children. Encourage teamwork through sports and group projects: Let your children play team sports or work in groups whenever possible. This helps them learn how to work as a team – an important aspect of leadership. Embrace failure: Many think being a leader means the child should do everything successfully. However, to become strong-minded, they must learn how to deal with failure and learn from their mistakes. Thus, the next time your child fails at something, talk to them about recognising where they went wrong and how they can always improve. Encourage creativity: Innovation is another trait of a good leader. Always encourage your children to try new things and find new ways to do something. Nurture their creativity through hands-on activities. Encourage dialogue and debate: Children need to learn how to listen to all sides of an argument before jumping to conclusions. Thus, the next time they fight with their friend or sibling, encourage them to talk through the issue and make compromises where needed. Instil empathy and compassion: Seeing differences and different viewpoints also allows children to develop empathy and compassion. Always encourage acts of kindness.