The Human Body

The Human Body is truly the most wonderful machine on Earth. It performs so many complex and complicated tasks, that we cannot understand them well as a whole. So, we divide the body into various Systems in order to aid our understanding.


1. Nervous System: The central nervous system consists of the Brain and the Spinal Cord. The five sensory organs – Eyes, Ears, Skin, Nose and Tongue provide outside information to the Central Nervous System. The Brain is an amazing computer, that controls the whole body. The left side of Brain control the right side of the body and vice-versa. Spinal Cord is the Brain’s assistant, and is connected to the body via 32 different nerves. In cases of danger, Spinal Cord acts on its’ own (Reflexes), thus allowing immediate response.


2. Skeletal System: Bones form the framework of our body. Our Bones are very light, yet strong enabling us to move around safely. Bones protect the soft internal organs, and manufacture new blood too. Blood is made in the soft insides of a bone, called Bone Marrow. Bones are made up of a mix of chemicals, most important of them being Calcium.








3. Muscular System: Muscles form the bulk of our body. They join the bones to each other, and thus result in movement. Brain directs muscles for any desired movement of the body. Muscles also act involuntarily (without your control), to digest the food, to shut the eyelids etc. Even your Heart is actually a very strong muscle!!








4. Respiratory System: Breathing is essential to life. We breathe to take in Oxygen, and take out Carbon-di-oxide. Our Lungs are the organs that are used for breathing. They expand and contract like a Balloon in order to breathe. This oxygen is then mixed with Blood, and thus reaches the cells of our Body.








5. Circulatory System : Blood forms the core of the Circulatory System. It moves around in millions of tiny tubes, taking nutrition and oxygen to all body cells, and collecting toxins in return. The Heart pumps the blood all around the body. The oxygen rich blood is red in colour, while the oxygen poor blood looks blue. Heart has four chambers, Arteries(to carry good blood out) and Veins(to bring bad blood in.)









6. Digestive System: We eat, because our body needs nutrition to grow, to function and to sustain itself. But the food we eat has to be broken down in very basic, small units to become really useful for our body. The process of breaking down the food into small, useful pieces in called Digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth with our biting and chewing. Saliva plays a major role too. Then this chewed food goes down the Esophagus into the Stomach. Esophagus is like a one-way slide. The Stomach stores all the food you eat in one meal, and then sends it to the Small intestine. Small intestine does the most of digestion, and the big intestine further absorbs the remaining water and nutrients left. Liver, Our largest organ, has a major role to play here. It removes the Toxins from our body, and also controls the amount of key nutrients that go in our blood, storing the excess for future.


Isn’t the Human Body a marvellous thing? Let’s be thankful to the God for providing it, and let’s take good care of this wonderful machine we have!!!

The Magic of Stories

The magic of stories, For the UniWorld Gardens Batch fifth class.


The Magic of Stories

Stories are our windows in the worlds unknown. Stories teach us language, culture, history, morals and imagination.

Classics Stories :
Some of the stories that a must for a child to know are :
Cinderella, SnowWhite and Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Shoemaker and the Elves, , Pinocchio, 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Rabbit, Alice in the Wonderland, The little match girl, Little red riding hood Hensel and Gretel and Thumbelina.

In addition to these, some exposure to these well-known story collections is desirable:
1. Panchatantra: Written by Pt. Vishnu Sharma to educate dimwit sons of a king, these tales provide practical knowledge and rules to live life by.
2. Aesop’s Fables: Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. His collection of stories is one of the most popular in the world, with stories like The Hare and the Tortiose and The Boy who cried Wolf.
3. Arabian Nights: The stories told by the intelligent wife of the Iranian king Shahrjan, in order to escape her execution in the morning. These contain classics like Alibaba and 40 theives, Aladdin and Sindbad.
4. Jataka Tales: The stories from the previous births of Gautam Buddha.

The Art of StoryTelling:
Storytelling is a subtle art than we can use to captivate anyone’s attention. In fact, once you master the art of storytelling, you’ll find it of immense value in day to day conversations as well.

Some key pointers:
1. Know your Story : not necessarily by heart. But you should know the start, the end, and the basic plot of the story for sure.
2. Know your audience: Is it only your child? Is it a group of young kids. What age?
3. Make sure they fit : The Story should be suitable for the target Audience.
4. Amplify emotions in the dialogues: Speak the sentences with appropriate emotional dose. The emotion (happy, angry, sad, disgusted, disappointed, hopeful..) should be clear in the tome you use.
5. Accent your voice according to the character : An old witch would sound very different from a little boy, no?

Choosing a story:
Books are one of the best investments, and the bookstores are full of materials for kids. Some books, though, are printed for adults to buy for their kids, and some books are for kids to enjoy. Know the difference. Choose a book that slightly challenges the present vocabulary of your child. Internet is a good source of some nice stories as well. The Apple story I chose for the class can be found here : http://www.thevirtualvine.com/thelittleredhouse.html

Forces of Nature

The Fury and the force of Nature. For the Uniworld Gardens Batch fourth class.




The Nature is the biggest force. It’s fury can be devastating, deadly, and awesome! We discuss some key natural disasters in this class.




It is interesting to notice that many a times, one natural disaster triggers another, or they often happen together. Earthquakes can be accompanied by Volcanic activity, and they can trigger Tsunamis and Avalnaches. Hurricanes can spin off Tornadoes, Flooding or Fires. Each tiny change in the Earth’s dynamic and alive system can affect something else in the atmosphere.




1. Earthquakes: The ground shakes and moves, without warning. The buildings and trees fall; bridges break, and huge cracks appear in the ground.




Although the ground we walk on seems solid, it is actually moving!! The earth in divided into approx. 20 ‘parts’ called Tectonic Plates. The Tectonic plates are constantly shifting and moving, over a hot molten interior called mantle. The place where these plates meet is called a ‘fault’. When these plates rub together, the friction causes immense energy, that manifests itself as an Earthquake. Earthquakes generally happen along these fault lines. Epicenter is the place on Earth from where the vibrations spread out.




They are measured on the Richter scale – 1 being the mildest one that mostly goes unnoticed. An earthquake of magnitude 7 or more in a populated area is very devastating, resulting in huge loss of life and property.




2. Volcanoes: Volcanoes are also a result of Earth’s internal seismic activities, much like earthquakes. In fact, most of the Volcanoes are situated along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, which is on a major fault line.
Inside the Earth’s core is hot molten rock, called Magma. When the magma rises to the surface of the Earth, it is called Lava. Volcano is basically a hole in the Earth that allows lava to come out. Volcanoes can be classified as active, dormant and extinct.
Volcanoes can be deadly- lava , hot stones, Lahar and the volcanic ash and smoke can kill anything that comes in their way. But volcanoes can also be useful; the early earth was shaped by volcanic activity, the volcanic soil is very fertile too.





3. Tsunami: Tsunamis are caused by Earthquakes at sea.


When a huge earthquake vertically jolts the seabed by several meters, a lot of water is displaced- which starts travelling towards the coast in a straight line. The Tsunami wave is huge by the time it reaches the coast and can cause a lot of damage. The only warning sign of a Tsunami is that the waterline retreats just before a Tsunami, exposing hundreds of meters of seabed.



4. Avalanche: An avalanche is restricted to mountaineous areas with a lot of fresh, loose snow. This snow can start falling at the slightest disturbance, and gains mass and momentum as it rolls down the slopes. An Avalanche can cover a whole village in no time.








5. Hurricane: Hurricanes, also known as cyclones or Typhoons, are large rotating storms, built around an area of very low pressure. They are accompanied with lots of rain and very fast winds. The center of the hurricane is called an ‘eye’ , which is rather calm . Hurricanes lose their strength when they make a landfall. The hurricanes are divided in categories from 1 to 5, 5 being the strongest hurricane.







6. Tornado: Tornadoes are an intresting phenomenon restricted mostly to a part of the US, called the Tornado alley.


Tornadoes are the most violent storms known to us, the wind speeds are so high that cannot be measured. A Tornado is a powerful column of spiralling winds, hanging down like a tail from the storm clouds. A powerful tornado can uproot trees and tear apart buildings that come in its way.



7. Floods: When a normally dry area is submerged in water, it is known as a flood. Floods can happen slowly, due to seasonal heavy rains, or hurricanes. They can also arrive suddenly, known as flash floods. Flash Floods can happen due to a dam burst, earthquake or Tsunami, or as in a recent case, sudden course change of a river.

In case of Natural disasters, Prevention is just not possible. So, Preparation is the best course of action. One should always keep a 'survival kit' ready for such unforeseen circumstances. A basic Survival kit will contain -
Spoil-proof Food and bottled water for three days, Medicines, Blanket, Torch, Swiss Army knife, Whistle and Cell phone.