BEAT THE SUMMER WITH CHILD FRIENDLY CAMPS IN KOZHIKODE

Various organizations in Kozhikode city is all set to welcome hot summer with diverse mix of activities built into a multitude of camps to engage children during the months of April, May;2012.

Does summer and water go hand in hand?

It seems so; by the way all swimming pools in Calicut city prepare in advance to handle an anticipated rush during the vacation. Old students who have learnt to swim previously refresh themselves during this period.

Freshers also join every year; says Mr.Ratnakaran of Cherooty Nagar Rotarian Pool. “Children need a minimum of 36inches height to join such classes. It’s better if they are 8years or more. He adds. There is a lady coach for girls and separate timings also for the lady members. However, they can opt for mixed timings;” he concludes. 

"How Ambili teacher follows each student amidst the rush during peak hours is a surprise for most Mammas"; admits Mrs.Rema Balagopal,one of the grandmothers who accompany their ward for daily lessons. She gets help from girls who are already aquatic champions, at times of extreme necessity. Her own daughter Ammu, a short kid to join Class I, is an amazing swimming wizard. Her demos are truly an inspiration for the new students.

"This is a lady swimming coach for ladies and children and we presume the only one in Calicut city, " said Dr. Gayathri of Beach Hospital. Her son is an enthusiastic beginner during this vacation.

Children learn fast, says coach Satyan of Chakkorathkulam swimming pool. Kids take less then 10days to pick the basics, he continued. Swimming gives all round coordination and is a wholesome exercise.

Cosmopolitan Club, near beach and Exclusive club near Civil Station also offer coaching camps in swimming for children as and when they join during this vacation.

Timing is an hour a day either in the morning from 6am to 9am or in the evening from 3pm to 6pm. Sunday is mostly a holiday for beginners. Monday is a general holiday for almost all pools in the city.

Fees for a 30day coaching vary from 1000 to 2000 INR depending on the pool.

Sports shops also join the spree with adequate swim suits, caps, ear plugs and goggles.

Concentrating on Music during the vacation…

Ragadeepam, children’s music club of Kozhikode has announced daily classes in instrumental music and choir singing during this vacation. This is in addition to their regular classes during weekends. The classes are offered for about 2 hours at IYA Hall and Chavara Cultural Centre.

Children can choose to learn keyboard or electric organ, guitar or violin; either eastern or western music. They can also join the children’s choir and practice singing in group. The fast and medium pace learners, including beginners get a chance to display their talent on stage on 19^th MAY 2012 at Town hall, Calicut; says L.Sasikant, Director, Ragadeepam. For more details contact 9387480029 or watch the video uploads of their former programmes at the You Tube ID : Ragadeepam100.

A TASTE OF FULL DAY CAMPS FOR CHILDREN…

SK Pottekad cultural centre at Puthiyara is offering a short term 3 day camp for children on April 2^nd ,3^rd and 4^th of 2012. As always this is the first camp of the season in the city with specialty of maximum participants numbering to hundreds. Snacks, lime juice, tea and lunch for all participants at reasonable rates are an added attraction. Generally the programme begins at 9am and goes up to 4 or 5pm. Drawing, colouring, arts, drama, movie show, music, origami, are all clubbed into the 3day show. Please contact 0495-2741252 for registration.

Vacation classes are also proposed during two months on various activities like Chess, Instrumental music, Drawing and colouring, etc.

Chavara Cultural Centre, Amalapuri.

Kaliveedu, is a half day camp for kids of class I to IX at Amalapuri. Beginning from April 9^th it has a timing of 9am to 1 noon for a fee of Rs. 1200 per head. The camp ends on 4^th May. From Monday to Friday, children are engaged in various activities from theatre arts, anchoring, magic, ventriloquism, games, aerobics, soft toys, etc. To register call 0495-2769021

Those who wish to spend the afternoon also at the centre can opt for additional coaching on any of the following items of their choice, for an extra fee of Rs.500 per head per month. The available choice is quite a beautiful range from skating, bolly wood dance, instrumental music, classical dance or music, drawing and colouring, voice dubbing etc.

                                                                                         

Radcliffe School near IQRAA hospital is planning for their annual camp from 21^st to 31^st May, 2012; says Mrs. Susheela, their Principal. From 9am to 4pm daily with pick up and drop facility (transport) for all participants with a mix of diverse activities and outdoor trips, it is a camp that kids look forward to eagerly. For details call on 0495 – 2536139.

Miscellaneous Programmes

Apart from the activities listed above, coaching on various sports items like table tennis, badminton, chess etc are offered at various centers in the city.

Anand Chess Academy at Kuthiravattom offers daily classes in chess, says Mr. Venugopal.

Indoor Stadium is also set to cater to aspirants in sports and games.

Drawing and Colouring classes are also offered by innumerable centers for 2 hours a day during this vacation. Universal Arts near Gandhi Park conducts classes in two batches from Monday to Friday from 10am to 12 noon and 2pm to 4pm, says Sebastian of the Academy.

Abacus and Mental Arithmetic training centres are also prepared to lure interested candidates into heir regular and crash courses during the vacation.

UCMAS is inaugurating their fresh batch for level I on 1^st April 2012, Says Mrs. Malini Varma.

Juniors try Nanma Nerum Amma

KOLAVERI ON KEYBOARD

Ragamalika

LET'S LEARN - HEALTHY FOODS AND BODY BUILDING FOODS.

Lets start this discussion with : WHAT IS A HEALTHY DIET & WHY WE SHOULD EAT HEALTHY FOODS?

A healthy diet contains adequate calories of energy to keep us active and for growth. It has a balance of major and minor nutrients derived from different types of food. It also includes proper quantity of water intake.

By following a healthy diet, we become physically fit. We can measure this using factors like height, weight, age, gender, dimensions of chest and hip(waist) etc.If we are below the prescribed standard rates, we are under weight.This is malnutrition. When we are above the standard range, we are overweight. This causes many life style diseases.An advance of overweight leads to obesity.

Healthy foods are those that give us sufficient nutrients, vitamins, minerals, energy for body functions and growth. This is not attained by one meal. So we have to arrange our daily intake over different meals and snacks so as to achieve this.

Carbohydrates, proteins, fats are components that give us lot of energy. So they are called macro or major nutrients. eg.cereals, millets, pulses, meat, fish, egg, milk etc.

Vitamins, minerals, anti oxidants, fibre etc are required by human body in small quantities and are called minor or micro nutrients.eg. fruits and vegetables.

BODY BUILDING FOODS:

Proteins, minerals and water are the components that are considered useful for body building. These help in development of bones and muscles. Generally, body building diets help in growth and repair of body tissues and internal organs. ( muscles, blood, skin, hormones and enzymes ) So proteins are required for good health. Minerals are inorganic substances essential for metabolism. We get them from tubers, fruits, vegetables and 'greens'. Water is essential for digestion, distribution, of joints, body cooling, waste disposal, etc.Children need to consume foods that provide 1 to 1.5 grams protein per kilogram of their body weight. There are many sources of proteins. Some of them are listed below:

                           

• Egg Whites:   

1. Purest form of protein.
2. Easily absorbed by body
3. Low ratio of protein to fat ( 60:1)
4. Good source of vitamins and minerals too.

•  Fish:

1. Especially small fishes that contain Omega-3- fatty acids
2. The fats in fish are healthy( Vegetarians Cod Liver Capsules!)

• Lean Meat:

1. Chicken lean or breast are high quality proteins. Low in saturated and trans fat.
2. Turkey meat has higher proteins than Lean Chicken meat. ( 73%- 48%) and is lower in fat content too(22% than 48%)                                      

YOUNG SPIRITS WIN

Vidya Kendra ; the school with a difference at S.K.Temple Road in  Kozhikode; celebrated its sports day at the Exclusive club near Civil Station on 21^st January 2012.

It was a very hot and sunny day just as the whole hearted spirits of young kids towards the sporting event.

Real sportsman spirit was expressed everywhere.

The event opened with a prayer. Commander G.P.K Sreekumar was the chief guest. Former Minister (I &PRD) and JaiHind Channel Chairman M.M.Hassan also spoke. Cine actor and comedian Mamukoya; Anwar, President, Exclusive Club; and President, Malabar Chamber of Commerce were special invitees.

Principal Santi Saidev welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest.

Commander G.P.K Sreekumar lit the Olympian torch. It was handed over to Ashish P.V who relayed it to Ahmad Moideen and in turn to Gautham Arangil who kept it on the pedestal. All these three children belong to class VII.

Then the chief guest broke the gas balloons. It was a very beautiful sight.

March past was led by Vidhya Vinod Kumar of class VII. All classes joined the march past. Each class had a leader. After the march past an oath was taken.

At VK, they have many EC activities like aerobics, basketball, yoga, karate, mass drill etc. The demonstrations of the same were performed by selected students.

Games section was most interesting. Every class had two games each, for the day. Two or three events were conducted earlier at school itself for every class.

Sac race boys - class VI

Miss Thanuja anchored the whole event with high voltage inspiration. Miss Bijula’s efforts over the last two years came to fruition. Student facilitators did a commendable job in aiding coordination of various games.

Competitions were held both in team and individual basis.  Sack race, frog jumping, lemon and spoon, running race, shot put, get ready to school, picking up stones, relay, book balancing, collecting potatoes, musical ring, skipping, paper tearing were among the kid-friendly games.

The performance of musical ring, sack race, frog jumping, lemon and spoon gave enough scope for fun and laughter to the enthusiastic onlookers. Get ready to school presented anxious moments to Mammas as they watched their kids prepare themselves in public; many for the first time ever!

The final event was exclusively arranged for parents. It was titled “Firing the shapes”. A vibrant participation of parents especially grandparents, with child like enthusiasm presented a memorable experience. Along with children the best performing parents also were awarded.

School Management also actively involved in the event providing guidance and support as necessary and distributing prizes to winners. Other distinguished personalities also joined the prize distribution ceremony. The event concluded with National Anthem.

Sports meet finally turned out to be a day where talented kids proved their mettle in all round development. International Spell Bee Anupam, National ranked Chess champion Pooja, Keyboard artist Fahad, Quiz wizard Ashish, singers Bharat and Fasna, along with most academicians of VK exposed their talent in sports too…

 For Class IV, it was a golden chance to cheer their peers; as most of them repeatedly climbed on to the victory stand. A class with a handful of gifted students; Afnan, Ektha, Fathima, Fiza, Shamil, Vaishnav, Amal all made the class proud with a string of victories. LABS students participated along with their peers and won accolades proving their competence. This made the day quite spectacular.

 

A day with sport, fun, spirit and definitely a study-off experience, children along with their parents enjoyed very well. The spirit of participation is equally or more important than just winning; that was the message spread across the event and thereafter. This successfully shows that the very purpose of conducting the sports day has been served well.

INSTILLING LIFE VALUES IN YOUTH - THE GANDHIAN WAY

Dr.S.Kulandaisamy, Secretary, Gandhi Peace Foundation, Chennai is an Engineer by profession. He has specialised in Gandhian thought and follows a mission to touch young minds and initiate them into Gandhian thought and culture through Peace Education. He believes in resolving conflicts through micro actions for peace.

As I read one of his write ups last year in The Hindu, Young World, I too had a personal feeling that non violence is on the hike among students and inclusion of Peace Education into the course module would definitely help mould our kids in a better manner.

Later I came to know that 51 modules on Gandhian values was published by him, with stories, quiz, quotes, anecdotes and illustrations. Further I understood that these are compiled and published as books and distributed among interested students. The simple material, well presented and suitable for students for various levels in an appropriate manner is definitely a choice to be utilised by the citizens of tomorrow.

Cover page of the book Gandhian Way to Peace

The Gandhi Peace Foundation, Chennai, conducts various certificate courses for students from Class IV. The modules are different for each standard. Attempting them would definitely influence one on the long run and thus are lessons that lasts a lifetime.

There are similar courses for college students, teachers, parents and women.

Gandhi Peace Foundation, Chennai offers these books to each student at a rate of Rs.200.Lessons are presented in such a way that they instill into young minds values in a very subtle way. There is a questionnaire at the end of the material which students can attend and score to avail a certificate. Toppers join together at the Foundation on Gandhi Jayanti day to share their experiences and ideas in a creative manner. It helps to build a network of like minded people.

Students can attempt these modules anytime of their choice and from the comfort of their home also.

The Foundation also conducts workshops to facilitate Inter religious understanding and Peace Education in schools.

To read an interview with the expert, please visit the following link:
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/07/stories/2011050763190200.htm


To know how to proceed to join the programme at school level, please follow this link:
http://www.hindu.com/yw/2011/06/21/stories/2011062150281100.htm


To get to know on how to form a youth forum under the aegis of Gandhi peace foundation, read:
http://www.gandhitopia.org/group/mgnd/forum/topics/youth-forum-for-micro-peace

Sandra Satheesh, a student from CMI Public School, Devagiri shares her experience on the course she attended in 2011 along with her viewson gandhian thoughts at:
http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article2520573.ece

For any other details, Dr.S.Kulandaisamy can be contacted at Gandhi Peace Foundation, 332, Ambujammal Street, Alwarpet, Chennai. PINCode: 600 018. Phone: 044-24993839/ 9962479005. On email : kulandhaisamy.gpf@gmail.com.