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CAMPUS

PLUS | WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY 2015

MIA visit

The children of Pearl School West Bay Campus were taken to the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) recently for a study trip. The children were accompanied by teachers and
all were enthusiastically listening to the museum guide. Children were also found to be taking notes and asking relevant questions. They also spent time in the MIA park,
playing and having snacks.

Traffic awareness programme at SIS

ommunity Policing, working

under the aegis of Ministry
of Interior,
organised a
seminar on traffic awareness at
Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS).
The students of SIS were enlightened with the traffic rules followed in
the country. Faisal Al Hudawi, coordinator of the Community Reach
out office of the Public Relation
Department of the Ministry of
Interior, presented the set of traffic rules that people need to follow and maintain while driving in
Qatar. In this interactive session, the

students got the opportunity to learn

many set of rules that are mandatory for driving. Many students won
prizes for answering the questions
correctly.
School teachers also showed keen
interest during the session as they
acquired a lot of information on traffic rules and safety measure that one
need to follow.
The School Management thanked
the officials of the ministry of
Interior for organizing this Traffic
Awareness Programme.
The Peninsula

Faisal Al Hudawi answering a question by one of the students.

Bridging classes through music

Q
atar Academy Dohas Grade 8 students taking
up music classes this semester have a very
interesting and interested audience for their
very first live performance: grade 1 students who,
like them, are learning the ropes of orchestra and
specifically, the strings family of instruments.
According to Middle Years Programme (MYP)
Music Teacher Benjamin Tomczak, who introduced
himself as Mr T to the young spectators, This strings
demo for first grade is a collaborative project between
Primary School Single Subject Academic Coordinator
and Music Teacher Jeanne Peloquin and I. We first
met about it as her students were about to begin a
unit about the strings family of the orchestra, connected with Community focus of the Primary Years
Programme (PYP) curriculum. We quickly discovered
this link between the first and eight grade classes and
we began planning a way to bring them together.
On stage that day were 8 violins, 4 violas, 5 cellos, 2
basses and 19 students quite eager and nervous at the
same time to play using the orchestra expressions
method which represent musical genres around the
world and through many historical periods.
Tomczak said: These songs were selected to represent versatility and accessibility of instrumental
music; they show great variety and can be played
using just two strings of the instrument.
Mr T kept the audience engaged by sharing information on the pieces being played and key facts
about the instruments as well. The students actively
answered the questions and correctly identified the

instruments in use which put into action the lessons

Jeanne Peloquin taught them.
In my lessons, students watched a video where
they saw an orchestra in action. This allowed us
to ask and answer questions about what they were
seeing and hearing. I borrowed instruments from
the senior school to show students what the actual
instruments look and sound like. They were given the
opportunity to try an instrument as well.
More importantly, she relates, the unit reinforced the concept of communities, shared roles and
responsibilities and interconnectedness within the
communities.
For the Grade 1 Unit of Inquiry of How We
Organise Ourselves, their learning was centered on
the understanding that in a community, people share
roles and responsibilities and depend on each other.
This idea transferred well to the concept that an
orchestra is a large community, made up of instrument families which in turn work as small communities. Each instrument and instrument family has a
role to play and they are all interconnected.
Based on the Grade 8 students interpretation of
Rockin on D and Two String Salsa and the corresponding enthusiastic response from the Grade 1
classes, Tomczak asserts, This presentation reinforced our first graders learning in music and community, and offered an opportunity for our 8th grade
students to share their skills and to help students
inspire each other by bridging the PYP and MYP
curriculum.
The Peninsula

One of the students playing her violin.