Field Trips and Workshops

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” (Saint Augustine)

These are not merely words to be read and forgotten. We at Billabong believe in this dictum in its true spirit by encouraging students to take the path less travelled. The school recently organized an aspirational 12-day educational tour to NASA for a group of 10 students (Grades 6 to 11) who returned with a life-changing experience and loads of memories.

Students were awe-struck to explore the spacecrafts up-close at the Kennedy Space Center (Orlando, FL), learn about the secrets that hide in the dark, and the level of planning, design precision, and innovative thinking that goes into launching any space shuttle. The trip included visual treats at IMAX 3D, Atlantis Shuttle Exhibit and an enriching opportunity to interact with an astronaut over lunch.

These young and inquisitive children also enjoyed to their heart’s content at Disneyworld and visited the Statue of Liberty, Madame Tussauds,Times Square (New York), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Harvard University (Boston) making their trip truly exhilarating.

Schools play an effective role to connect the youngsters to their history and culture. With the above objective, Grades 1 and 2 visited the State Museum situated amidst the lush greenery of Shyamla Hills.

The various avenues of the museum viz., displays of archaeological discoveries from the Stone age to the Bronze ,the Coins and finally, a gallery devoted to the Bhopal Royal family  the Portraits and the Artefact collection revealed everything thing about the history of our city.  

The field trip to bakery helped Jr.KG students explore the making of chocolates and vegetable puffs, icing of cakes and dressing of doughnuts. 

Under "A Random Act Of Kindness", the students of Grade 4 went to "Aasra", an old age home in the city. The visit and the interaction between the senior citizens and the students was emotional as well as enjoyable.

The Regional Science Centre , Bhopal{RSCB} located at Shyamla Hills, Bhopal, aims at popularizing science and technology among people particularly students.

The children of Grade 2 got to experience and gather the basic principles and wonders of science and technology at The Regional Science Centre , Bhopal{RSCB} located at Shyamla Hills, Bhopal,  . Under the concept of Earth and Beyond, having studied about artificial satellites and their solar panels and the SLV rocket the students felt drawn towards the models displayed in the centre. A bonus of the visit was an exhibition devoted to The Future of Food: Pulses.

Billabong High’s Grade 6 students went on a field excursion to the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya or the National Museum of Mankind, as an extended learning activity beyond the classrooms for the History Unit: Early Civilization.

Junior KG students visited Natural History Museum that helped them to recapitulate the concept of extinct animals, endangered animals, why animals are poached and killed and also concepts like food chain and food web.

As children were learning about wild animals, they were taken to the Van Vihar National Park so that they could watch animals in their real habitat and also learn about their general movements and habits.

Junior Kindergarten children visited a car showroom to get first hand information about different brands of cars.They were excited to see so many different types of cars. The session was quite interactive as discussions were held on different parts of the cars, how do they work, what role they play and how to take care of the automobiles.

In accordance with the monthly theme of the curriculum, ‘Life Underwater’, students of Preschool visited Government Fish Aquarium (Machhli Ghar, Bhopal) to watch and observe different types of fishes in their native habitat.

Students of Grade 4 set out on a three-day adventure-filled excursion to the Panna National park and Tiger reserve on 9th February 2017.

The trip also helped to sensitise children towards issues like poaching, deforestation, endangered species, loss of habitat, extinction etc.

To understand the job of a fire man, the Nursery students were taken to the Fire station. The fire man explained the parts of a fire engine and played the siren too. How fire is extinguished in high rise buildings was demonstrated. Use of fire extinguisher was explained.

Jr.KG students were taken to the Gymnasium where the gym instructor explained the importance of exercising every day to remain healthy and fit. The aim of the special day was to recapitulate the concept of how to keep the body fit through exercises and healthy eating habits. The gym instructor showed and explained various exercising equipment to the students.

The students visited Gym 24 Dance Studio. The dance instructor apprised them with the importance of dance in one’s life.

Experiences of our children:
Vibhuti Rao from Grade 10.
Keep your mind alert and awake to the message sent by your senses. Become aware of change and development inside and outside yourself. Sometimes small learnings evolve into important future developments…
Since the age of eleven I had been yearning to grow up into a “mature teenager”; one who was extremely responsible and sensitive. How I wished that my life would become as cool as that of my seniors at the school. However, by the time I reached grade ten I realised teenage life wasnt so cool after all and that I had managed to impel myself into a deep pit of several and unnecessary complications. All these thoughts disturbed my peace of mind and hindered me from working to my fullest potential… I needed to ostracise things that held me back from exploring my inner self and the world outside. I wanted to become newer and fresher with each passing day and it could not happen just like that.
We were a bunch of aggressive rebels, much as harsh as those words may sound, they were true as we didnt know how to channelize our positive and negative energies. It was high time we learnt to calm ourselves down and refuel ourselves with pure felicity and contentment. My mother was also of the opinion, that I should be capable of striking a balance between my studies and every small thing that is important and makes me, me! That day had felt completely ordinary like any other usual Friday, except the announcement made by Samina maam that we would practice organic farming in the school premises itself. She explained to the importance of even one grain of food. She wanted us to learn what a herculean task it was to grow crops and to respect the efforts of every farmer who selflessly shed his sweat and blood to produce crops. The same day I sat on the dinner table and comfortably wasted a bit of chapatti and two spoons of dal, that I was too indolent to finish. There were no signs of penitence on my face. To me, it hardly made any difference whether I finished everything on my plate or not, as every day I got a platter of food adorned with lip-smacking delicacies without putting any effort.
After a really short and hectic weekend, the most un-awaited day arrived- Monday. It was the day we were going to begin the organic farming. We were agog to view our fancy pieces of land ready for seed sowing. To our utter disappointment and dejection, we saw completely barren and uncultivable lands and reconfirmed with our teachers if they hadnt made a mistake with the location. Hands that held i-phones and tablets to update Facebook status were now compelled to lift heavy “pickaxes” aka “ghentis – in the farmers language.” The harder we hit the cracks in the soil, the soil became even more coarse and scratchy. From that, I learnt that some things in life that annoy, bother and worry us should not be picked on and on as those things heal by themselves with the passage of time.
One day, then two, then three and then we didnt even realise when it became fifteen and we had developed the love for our own small farms, having toiled there every day beneath the searing and scorching sun, to see it bearing yield. Having hurt ourselves with the burdensome implements that tested our patience and perseverance every time we held them, we were now in enlivened by the sight of those very implements and the infertile land which now bore tiny green sarson plants. We called them our babies. Thats when I realized why my mother didnt allow me to go to out sometimes, to certain places, with certain people, not because she didnt trust me enough or felt over protective about me, but because her daughter was her greatest masterpiece and she did not want anything to impair the beauty of her creation.
Our tiny plants continue to flourish and shine the brightest as they have borne the seeds of pure love and care of their mothers who trusted them the most when the world shoved them into darkness and despair. We as a team had learnt that even a bull puts a lot of power but a lion puts power and technique both, which makes it the champion. The transformational story of the farm and me does not here end but gets carried to the majestic city of Orchha.
A woman of few words and mostly silence… Era Madams simplicity was as profound as the scenic beauty of her farms which she had created with immense care. Each day was a new opportunity to know the farm and oneself. We never returned empty handed from our wanderings but with a plethora of new findings.
The cool breeze that blew at the farm kept us connected to each other. We roamed in the wilderness trying to find our way through the thorny wild oats and large heaps of feathery fodder. This enabled us to distinguish and pluck out the “cheena millets” which grew along with parthenium. I had grasped that the path may be dark and dingy and there could be moments of doubts and anger but with patience and faith, I could achieve my goal. We would soak our tired feet in the freshly watered “ashwagandha” crops whose enthralling smell tickled my nose as I stepped on the laterite soil my body began to sink downwards. The lines from a famous poem “… Dust thou art and to dust thou returnest” rang aloud in my mind.
While meandering across the fields we also came across baodis or step-wells primarily used for irrigation and also as an indicator of the amount of rainfall but during the bygone era it served as a place from where the king could collect information about his rule and kingdom from the people. While at Orchha I feasted on local rustic cuisine like “thikkad”, “kaccha baigan” and “ber ki chatni” the food relished by farmers.
I might not become a farmer myself but I can safely say that I have learned something new and expanded my horizons. Now, I feel indebted to each and every farmer because of whom we sleep soundly and without growling stomachs. I feel pity for those who waste food and disrespect farmers. I feel ashamed of myself when I recall all those incidences when I have wasted food on my plate. Being able to grow something on my own gives me a feeling of satisfaction and self-reliance and makes my mind more steady and focused than it was ever before.

Experiences of our children:
Maanasi Pidke from Grade 10.
Reaping what we Sowed.
When I write that I wasnt really interested in organic farming it would be an understatement. Not only because I am lethargic but I honestly thought that it would be boring. But I was proven extremely wrong.
Our plot of land, as my group first saw it was barren, empty and bare. But when I saw the spirit of my group Biodynamic Believers, I was awestruck and matched my enthusiasm up to theirs. We all worked very hard and went on from never having picked up a pickaxe to using it like a pro. Along the weeks it taught us to collaborate, bound us in amazing friendships and made us realise the sometimes working hard isnt as boring as we imagine it to be. We even laughed as we worked, wiping the sweat from my brows and temples never discouraged me, au contraire, it made me proud of my hard work. There was always a small doubt lingering at the back of my mind, regarding my success, but encouragement from Manish Sir and Samina Maam kept me going. Never in a million years could I imagine that the barren field could be covered with countless tiny little mustard saplings as it is today.
When Manish Sir complimented Vibhuti and me that we had the best body language and we encouraged the group with our positivity, my heart surged with pride. It showed me how far I had come.
To discover the connection between farming and our lives we were given certain topics to write on. For example, the removal of weeds teaches us that we also should do away with the negative influences in our life. Our form is like the Earth, and the seeds we plant will either bear fruits grown with love and care or rot. And along the way, if we become careless with that seed, the plant would definitely wilt. My heart soared higher when I got to know that we all will go to Orchha to learn more about farming and our connection with ourselves and with everything around us.
At Orchha we met an inspiring pair, Jyogi Sir and Ira maam interacting with whom made me realise that life is not only about books and achieving marks, on the contrary, it is all about pursuing your dreams and bringing peace and contentment in your life.
They inspired us with every word they spoke and working on the farm connected me to my roots. We plucked Ashwagandha from the soil, removed the weeds from Cheena millets and collected samples of almost everything. We also went back to the heritage of India; the Baodis which are still used for irrigation and were earlier used for social gatherings. I learnt the importance of food, and how our lives are affected by the hazardous toxins present in the soil. I also learnt why so many suicides were committed by the farmers. Now I could fully empathise with their disappointment and helplessness on seeing their crop getting destroyed and not being able to do anything about it. I developed a profound respect for people who labour selflessly for the others. And I pledged that I would never knowingly waste food.
Transcendently, I realised how deeply lost humans in this present world are, gone astray with selfishness, superficiality and greed. My connection with farm was instantaneous and almost spiritual. Weve interpreted survival of the fittest wrongly and our suppressing others to rise gloriously. Ultimately, we, being desperate to succeed will do anything to accomplish it, even if the stakes are too high and the price too exorbitant. We all have overlooked that this is affecting the world negatively and in a century or two, there will probably be no plants to water, no air to breathe and no water to drink. Organic farming conserves plants, maintains the natural beauty and produces crops free from the toxic effect of chemical fertilisers. Were all dying in our foolishness and if action is not taken soon, the earth will have to surrender into the abyss of the universe. We have to conserve before we get what we really deserve. After all, conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. Respect the land, respect yourself. Ira Maam shared with us that she ventured into organic farming when there were two consecutive droughts and everyone was fleeing away. She realised that to change something you cant wait for others but you have to be the harbinger of that change. She toiled for years and has achieved so much today. The reason behind her success is her patience, perseverance and no fear of failure.
My journey to Orchha and the lessons learnt are unimaginable. I realised that if we dont want our universe to suffer through damnation and succumb into ruins then we have to redeem ourselves. In this journey of lost humanity, I just discovered myself. Like Wendell Berry claimed, “The earth is all we have in common.”

Experiences of our children:
Poojita from Grade 10.
MY FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO FARMING Farming is an occupation which can directly or indirectly be called the basis of life. What we are today is due to the hard-work done by the farmers with mud dripping off their feet and their bodies burning underneath the scorching sun. The food cycle would be incomplete without them. In Orchha, we were given a glimpse into the wonders of farming.
The experience of the soft soil under your feet and growing your own food is unparalleled. Amidst the vast expanse of green, you not only feel freedom from the prison digitalized life but also a oneness with nature.
The ability to observe is inbuilt in all human beings, that is how a child learns to open a bottle lid or a scientist is successful in his project. But, due to lifelong exposure to busy city life, we have lost this ability. In Orchha, we practised OBSERVATION. We returned to the roots of our innate ability to observe.
Most of us have caught a fleeting glimpse of farms from the moving trains or while travelling by road but none of us really understood the story behind these farms and farmers. The main aim of the Orchha trip was to develop a connect with our own self.the art and science of farming. At Orchha, we met Ira Maam, the owner of a huge organic farm.
Ira Maam does not hail from a traditional farming background but her different experiences in life drew her towards organic farming. Farming for her is not just a profession but a calling in life. It gives her peace of mind and energy to move on.
Along with Ira maam, we also met Yogi Sir, a designer and an amazing photographer. One of his beautiful teachings, which would forever remain with me, is “your ruled sheet of paper is like an empty piece of land and like a farmer you need to sow your thoughts into it. Make notes, so that your questions and answers are never forgotten.” For this reason, I have started carrying a little notepad to jot down all that I observe.
From the Orchha trip, we learnt about many crops, weeds, water bodies, tools and different soils. As a student, I tried to absorb as much as I could. Now, I am familiar with some key processes of farming like tilling, sowing, watering, de-weeding etc. During the trip, we got to taste some authentic farm food – from something called Tikkad to Dals and Subjis. The experience of sharing room with friends and teachers and sightseeing was amazing. To conclude, the Orchha trip has changed me tremendously. Particularly the stories of Ira Maam and Jogi Sir are very inspiring. Ive understood the mysteries of nature and the role I play in it.

Experiences of our children:
Vibhuti Rao from Grade 10.
Keep your mind alert and awake to the message sent by your senses. Become aware of change and development inside and outside yourself. Sometimes small learnings evolve into important future developments…
Since the age of eleven I had been yearning to grow up into a “mature teenager”; one who was extremely responsible and sensitive. How I wished that my life would become as cool as that of my seniors at the school. However, by the time I reached grade ten I realised teenage life wasnt so cool after all and that I had managed to impel myself into a deep pit of several and unnecessary complications. All these thoughts disturbed my peace of mind and hindered me from working to my fullest potential… I needed to ostracise things that held me back from exploring my inner self and the world outside. I wanted to become newer and fresher with each passing day and it could not happen just like that.
We were a bunch of aggressive rebels, much as harsh as those words may sound, they were true as we didnt know how to channelize our positive and negative energies. It was high time we learnt to calm ourselves down and refuel ourselves with pure felicity and contentment. My mother was also of the opinion, that I should be capable of striking a balance between my studies and every small thing that is important and makes me, me! That day had felt completely ordinary like any other usual Friday, except the announcement made by Samina maam that we would practice organic farming in the school premises itself. She explained to the importance of even one grain of food. She wanted us to learn what a herculean task it was to grow crops and to respect the efforts of every farmer who selflessly shed his sweat and blood to produce crops. The same day I sat on the dinner table and comfortably wasted a bit of chapatti and two spoons of dal, that I was too indolent to finish. There were no signs of penitence on my face. To me, it hardly made any difference whether I finished everything on my plate or not, as every day I got a platter of food adorned with lip-smacking delicacies without putting any effort.
After a really short and hectic weekend, the most un-awaited day arrived- Monday. It was the day we were going to begin the organic farming. We were agog to view our fancy pieces of land ready for seed sowing. To our utter disappointment and dejection, we saw completely barren and uncultivable lands and reconfirmed with our teachers if they hadnt made a mistake with the location. Hands that held i-phones and tablets to update Facebook status were now compelled to lift heavy “pickaxes” aka “ghentis – in the farmers language.” The harder we hit the cracks in the soil, the soil became even more coarse and scratchy. From that, I learnt that some things in life that annoy, bother and worry us should not be picked on and on as those things heal by themselves with the passage of time.
One day, then two, then three and then we didnt even realise when it became fifteen and we had developed the love for our own small farms, having toiled there every day beneath the searing and scorching sun, to see it bearing yield. Having hurt ourselves with the burdensome implements that tested our patience and perseverance every time we held them, we were now in enlivened by the sight of those very implements and the infertile land which now bore tiny green sarson plants. We called them our babies. Thats when I realized why my mother didnt allow me to go to out sometimes, to certain places, with certain people, not because she didnt trust me enough or felt over protective about me, but because her daughter was her greatest masterpiece and she did not want anything to impair the beauty of her creation.
Our tiny plants continue to flourish and shine the brightest as they have borne the seeds of pure love and care of their mothers who trusted them the most when the world shoved them into darkness and despair. We as a team had learnt that even a bull puts a lot of power but a lion puts power and technique both, which makes it the champion. The transformational story of the farm and me does not here end but gets carried to the majestic city of Orchha.
A woman of few words and mostly silence… Era Madams simplicity was as profound as the scenic beauty of her farms which she had created with immense care. Each day was a new opportunity to know the farm and oneself. We never returned empty handed from our wanderings but with a plethora of new findings.
The cool breeze that blew at the farm kept us connected to each other. We roamed in the wilderness trying to find our way through the thorny wild oats and large heaps of feathery fodder. This enabled us to distinguish and pluck out the “cheena millets” which grew along with parthenium. I had grasped that the path may be dark and dingy and there could be moments of doubts and anger but with patience and faith, I could achieve my goal. We would soak our tired feet in the freshly watered “ashwagandha” crops whose enthralling smell tickled my nose as I stepped on the laterite soil my body began to sink downwards. The lines from a famous poem “… Dust thou art and to dust thou returnest” rang aloud in my mind.
While meandering across the fields we also came across baodis or step-wells primarily used for irrigation and also as an indicator of the amount of rainfall but during the bygone era it served as a place from where the king could collect information about his rule and kingdom from the people. While at Orchha I feasted on local rustic cuisine like “thikkad”, “kaccha baigan” and “ber ki chatni” the food relished by farmers.
I might not become a farmer myself but I can safely say that I have learned something new and expanded my horizons. Now, I feel indebted to each and every farmer because of whom we sleep soundly and without growling stomachs. I feel pity for those who waste food and disrespect farmers. I feel ashamed of myself when I recall all those incidences when I have wasted food on my plate. Being able to grow something on my own gives me a feeling of satisfaction and self-reliance and makes my mind more steady and focused than it was ever before.

Experiences of our children:
Arya Shukla from Grade 10.
As an individual, I am so habitual to the brick and cement that surrounds me, the honking of cars and beeping of phones that make up my mundane life that without these eerie aspects envelopes me, whispering in my ears that I have taken the wrong turn; thus ending up in Knock turn Alley.
I have engaged myself in hours of thought and ponder over why the blaring alarms and dinging elevators are the most habitual things for me. And honestly, the closest I have gotten to finding an answer is when I broke the intellectual thought and grabbed my book again.
The 2nd of March, however, shone the world in an all new light for me. A light that showed sprawling acres of green farms, the coolest wind in forever and essence of reality that had never struck me before. For three days I did not crave the comfort of my pillow or my bookshelf. That in itself is a testament to the plethora of possibilities that this experience opened for me.
I climbed the shuttle bus at 7 am in the morning, fresh and excited for the lessons that were to come forth. The farther we got from the city and into the unknown, unchartered terrain, the more unsettled I felt for some reason. The idea of having to forgo several comforts of my life comforts that I considered crucial to my survival troubled me and bugged me to the core. It is said that concrete jungles are what dreams are made of; however sprawling farms are where they are lived. And I truly realised this when we spoke to Miss Ira and Mr Jogi for the first time. It was 7 pm in the evening when we pulled up metal chairs around these two people who aided in my learning greatly for the next 2 days.
Most people when speaking about themselves start from the end, something not achieved yet and something completely tangible. Miss Ira, however, started from the beginning describing her journey to us. She then went on to speak of her farm, and the way her entire face lit upon mentioning it, was another joy all in itself.
She departed with us that night leaving us with a lot of food for thought. So much so that sleeping got hard and my roommates and I spent the night discussing all that we heard previously.
Waking up the next day we headed off to her farm. As we stepped off the shuttle the peace of the life around me strung me up, like a tuning fork in the core of my soul. The entry to the farm was through an archway, under which we stood speaking to her, introducing ourselves. When my turn came I told her the truth about how the activity in school scared me, how my interactions with the outside were limited to five-minute hellos when my mother insisted I leave the house and that after working on a field the sense of satisfaction that I got was surreal and left behind. It addictive crave to do more, to connect more.
With that she asked us to split into five teams of four and head off exploring the land, four us friends assembled ourselves and headed off straight when we were permitted to. Being the indoor type I did not run or frolic as my friends did ahead of me. I walked slowly, absorbing and observing. The leaves seemed a different green, the ground seemed softer to walk on, the peas and the berries tasted sweeter than ever before. A good hour had passed and surprisingly neither did my feet ache nor my mind with all the introspection that I subjected it to the silence around.
We then walked back to the rendezvous and sat chucking off our shoes and socks to get a feel of the ground for real. We sat and spoke of food, about growing it, eating it, about how fundamentally there was something wrong about the consumption of it today. We spoke to Mr Yadav who was expert in the organic agriculture and worked with farmers helping them realise the importance and necessity of using organic means to grow food again. With that, we walked on to lunch and ate delightful farmers delicacies. The food was sublime and we sure spent a great amount of time, eating it and then enjoying the fact that we ate it.
We then headed off to pluck out weeds. Weeds that signify not only the vices in our lives but also the fact that they needed to be gone without any trace for whenever we irrigate the land again those roots would pop out ruining all our efforts. I also realised that there were going to be different types of weeds in life, those that lay on the top just waiting to be picked and thrown, those that needed just a little pull to come out without a trace and those that needed to be dug around to remove without trace completely.
This lesson was followed by an unchartered hour that allowed us to collect samples and introspect upon the plethora of knowledge offered to us. We walked around cutting samples and wrapping them in butter paper. The sun had started to set and everything around had donned an orange hue. Orange candy and fluffy marshmallows lay scattered in the vastness above, as the sun set down, melting into the sky. I walked around, feeling things around me, experiencing them. I wanted to soak in as much as I could.
We were called back in the as the clock struck evening, we shuttled into the bus again and headed back to the hotel. With a half an hour break we headed out to the Raja Ram Mandir, a temple too majestic for words, the prayers in the temple still echo in my ears and the throngs of worshippers an image, still vividly etched in my mind.
Heading back to the hotel we indulged ourselves in music then broke off into our tents, eager to start the next day, but sad that it would eventually end.
The sun shone brighter on the 4th as the day began with the words a blank page if your field, indeed it is, cherishing it, filling it up and reflecting upon it is how to become the most productive person and the most efficient person. Having only a chartered amount of time, we learnt our last lesson for the day after plucking out the ashwagandha plant and truly understanding the skill required.
Sitting in a bamboo hut in the middle of the farm, we tested our knowledge of the farm and then indulged in mouth-watering food cooked by our most beloved Shanu maam and Samina maam. With a satiated hunger and happy belly, I listened with keen interest as Miss Ira concluded our visit, with the assimilation of the lessons we learnt both about the farm and life.
I was enveloped with a bittersweet sense of satisfaction, as our bus bound out of Orchha heading back home. What I felt was bittersweet because though this experience would forever be etched in my memory, I would not have any other trip like this. But isnt this what life is? No two things are same, you can choose to either feel happy about it or sad.

In order to understand the working of a Hotel, Sr.KG students visited one of the prominent Hotels of the city today. They observed the way reception and travel desk handle visitors and working of an open restaurant.

A Visit to Van Vihar helped them the Junior KG kids to watch the birds in their natural habitat. They were thrilled to see so many colourful birds flying all around.

In continuation with the ongoing theme of the month related with modes of transport, the Nursery students visited a nearby service station to observe and discover answers to various questions.

How petrol/ diesel is filled?

How does the meter work?

What precautions are taken to prevent fire at the petrol station? Etc.

In continuance with the theme ‘Countries of the World’, Senior KG students took a bus ride across Bhopal City to connect with the cultural heritage and legacy of the town. Other places that were observed and discussed on the ride were Bharat Bhavan , Moti Mandir and Raja Bhoj’s statue. 

Just,imagine about all the types of food one consumes and think of their source. There is only one right answer: PLANTS.Whether you favour Vegetarian or are a staunch Non-Vegetarian, you do rely on some part of a plant to add flavour and health to one`s life.

As young kids of grade 2 rarely realize the aforesaid as a fact of life, hence a field trip to Reliance Fresh was organised on 7-10-2016, for them to understand the importance of plants and the variety of parts of plants one consumes in our day-to-day need.

s expected, it was an eye-opener kind of a trip with many surprises in store: ...Like: "Ma`am,Sweet potato is a root but a potato is the stem of a plant. How funny!"

All the way to and fro, school kids observed the plants along the road side and shared their observations excitedly with the accompanying teachers..

A field trip well worth its visit.

Grade: 2
Subject: EVS
Unit: Plants

In continuation of the theme and for experiential learning, students visited a supermarket to observe colours and other features of various fruits and vegetables and to understand their storage. Children later purchased apples and the teachers assisted them in making the payment at the cash counter. 

To acquire knowledge,one must study but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

In accordance with the theme of the month ‘ My feathered friends and creepy crawlies ‘ , Nursery students visited a garden today and observed various creepy crawlies like ants, butterflies and also different types of birds.

In accordance with the theme of the month ‘On the Farm’, Junior KG students visited a Supermarket on 2nd September. The purpose of the visit was to explore the storage cycle of various food products. In the supermarket they understood the procurement and the storage of various farm produce like fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses and also the dairy products.

I’d rather have a passport full of stamps than a house full of stuff.

Although travelling as an experience has no substitute, there are constraints of time. Visiting a Museum is surely one of the best way to fill this gap. Students of grade 1 visited The State Museum on 26th August,2016 as a part of their Literature unit ‘My Wonderful World”. It was the first step to learning more about the world, with a peek into their own native state.

The inquisitive and curious minds got acquainted with the culture, tradition, history, monuments, and weapons of their home state: Madhya Pradesh. Their sparkling eyes roving around the museum in search of knowledge were a sight to behold. The amazing historical collection from all around MP, connected the kids to their own state and city. They truly admired and underlined the ‘Wonderful World’ they inhabit.

At Billabong High Bhopal, visit to Sanchi has become an annual feature for Humanities group of Grades 11 and 12 as it is an integral part of the ISC (Grades 11 and 12 ) History Curriculum under Project Report Writing.

The students started off their Sanchi excursion at 8:30 am on Saturday 6th August 2016.

Around 10 am, first they visited the Udaygiri Caves and discovered the history of Lord Vishnu and his incarnations.

On their way to Sanchi students visited Bijamandal a site that is truly an example of Unity in Diversity where Mosque and Temple share a common wall.

Next, they visited the architectural marvel, Sanchi Stupa. Thunder storm and heavy rains did not deter the enthusiam. After seeing the beautiful stupas, understanding inscriptions and discovering the history of the ruler, Ashoka the Great, they later visited the museum, where the sculptures from the stupas were preserved. This gave the students insight into the glorious history this nation has seen.

The visit to the Sanchi museum marked the end of the educational tour, leaving the students more enlightened and aware about the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanchi.

To enhance learning of the children regarding The Tribal groups of India, a field trip was organized for Grade 4 to ‘Tribes of India Museum’ under EVS concept on ‘India’.