BalSandesh June Edition

June edition

Dear children, You are in charge of your learning! You should be involved in the process of your education.

So we came up with a newsletter for all of you!

We have many fun activities in store for you and exciting facts and subjects you can explore. While adding to your general knowledge, the newsletter is also a way for you to connect with Agastyans and share collective experiences. Because who says you learn only in the classroom? Your learning is beyond the four walls as well. There’s something for everyone in this inaugural version, whether you are in class 1 or 10!

We want you to ponder upon the environment this month and what you can do for our planet. Last month we observed World Water Day, and this month, World Earth Day. Both focus attention on the challenge of water scarcity plaguing many parts of the world, including India. Plastic and chemical wastage and pollution damage the environment. We must, therefore, be mindful of our actions in contributing to them and harming the earth. We have added a few tips and information on how to live sustainably. Be sure to check out the environmental corner!

We hope this newsletter stimulates and helps you grow as sensitive human beings and stay connected with Agastya.

Be sure to let us know what else you want to see in this space, and submit your drawings and activity results so that we may publish them in the next issue!

Until then, go Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! Ramji Raghavan

Did you know that paper from trees can be recycled up to 6 times?!

So the next time you don’t have any use for the newspapers or textbooks in your house, you can send them to a paper recycling station near you or recycle them easily at home.

To recycle paper at home, you need ice cream sticks, glue, a mesh straining cloth, scissors, a rolling pin, and the papers you want to recycle. First, shred the papers and put them in a blender to turn them into complete pulp. You will need about 2-3 cups of this.

Boil 2 cups of water, and while it’s on flame, make a frame for the paper. Stick the ice cream sticks in a square shape to make the borders. Stick the mesh paper inside the square to complete the frame. Once the water is boiled, blend it with the paper pulp till it makes a soupy mixture.

Place the frame over a large bowl and pour the pulp over it.

Use the rolling pin to spread the pulp evenly over the frame.

Let the water drip and dry completely for about 24-30 hours.

Peel the paper out of the frame and use it!

Materials

Materials

Procedure 1. Ask your mother and get a palm-size piece of old cloth.

2. Observe carefully how the fibres are oven to make that cloth.

3. Remove the fibres from it, and observe carefully how they are oven on each other.

4. Write the pattern in your notebook using two different colour pens/pencils/crayons.

Procedure 1. Collect different types of dals (toor dal, urad dal, black gram, horse gram etc) from your mother. You will need about a spoonful of each dal. Mix all of them and ask your brother/sister/family members to separate them.

2. While they separate, you observe how they are separating the mixture.

3. Now take a small plate and add a spoon of sugar and a spoon of salt. Mix both the sugar and salt completely and ask brother/sister/family members to separate them.

4. Can you help them in separating them?

Observe the above figure and count the number of triangles present in the figure.

Questions 1. What is the number you got?

2. Go through the following link to check your answer: https://cspathshala.org/2018/01/30/trianglepuzzle/

Questions 1. How did your brother/sister/family members separate each kind of dal from the mixture?

2. Separating the dals was easy or difficult?

Why? 3. Were you able to separate salt from sugar?

Why? 4. If the sugar crystals were a little bigger, would you have been able to separate the sugar from the salt?

V. Sakshi 8th Class

Urmila 8th Class

Srishant 7th Class

Rakshitha 7th Class

DNTW, Govt. School,Kudikothuru

DNTW, Govt. School,Kudikothuru

DNTW, Govt. School,Kudikothuru

Vepuru

How to Make Green Colour: Materials required: - Piece of cotton cloth - Paalak (spinach) leaves - Mordant: Iron nails or alum or vinegar

NATURAL COLOURANTS/COLOURS Natural dyes are dyes or colourants derived from plants or minerals. Most natural dyes are from a plant source like fruit feel, berries, leaves, roots, bark, etc.

Natural colours have been used since ancient times as colour, dyes, tints, medicine, foods etc.

ADVANTAGES OF USING NATURAL COLOURS: - Eco friendly - Unique - Free from carcinogenic - Used as antioxidants

How to prepare mordant: To get a mordant for dyeing your cloth, take a handful of rusted iron nails or any iron scrap pieces that are available at your home, soak them in half-litre of water for a day and use them.

Instructions: a) Soak your cloth in the pre-prepared mordant for an hour b) Add the smashed paalak leaves pot with one litre of wastewater and bring it to a boil for one hour, until you get the green colour. To get a darker green shade, boil it longer. Strain out the paalak leaves, dip the hand cloth in the dye, and let it stay for a day. Remove, wash and dry.

Disclaimer: Use only a handful of paalak leaves so as to reduce any wastage

Did you know that India produces around 62 million tonnes of waste each year and that household trash is one of the biggest contributors? Hence both parents and children must know how to reduce and manage waste so that together we can reduce the above number.

How do we go about this? One of the easiest ways to segregate waste effectively is to separate it into dry and wet garbage. Wet waste comprises kitchen waste, including vegetable peels, used tea, fruits, leftovers, etc. This is biodegradable organic waste that can also be composted. Dry waste consists of paper, glass, plastic, cardboard, styrofoam, rubber, metal, food packaging material, etc. Most dry waste is recyclable unless damaged. Segregating garbage this way will help them reach the correct destination and not rot in a landfill.

Another waste reduction method is reusing. Repurposing clothes, plastic bags and cardboard boxes help reduce the amount of waste thrown away. Making cloth bags out of old clothes and not using plastic bags provides cheaper alternative bags that can be reused and are more environmentally friendly.

So, the next time your child is about to throw something away, sit with them and see what can be salvaged or the best way to dispose of the thing that will not harm the environment.