A timetable to cope with Boards

With the board exams knocking at the door, here are some valuable thoughts on how you can deal with stress. Experts say that over 80 per cent of students report significant exam anxiety before their papers. This at least means you are not alone!It is important for you to understand what you are feeling and learn to handle your fears in a constructive manner. Never feel swamped or overwhelmed by fear. Here are some suggestions that’ll help you to de-stress.
Learn to relax: All you need is 10 minutes of free time. This will help you unwind.
Focus right: Close your eyes and focus on your body. Think about your toes. How do they feel? Are your shoes comfortable? If not take them off. Now go upwards and concentrate on your legs. Are you sitting in the right position? Are you relaxed? Work your way up your body. If some part of it is aching, adjust your position. Soon you will find yourself feeling almost liquid. No more tense spots and no more worries.
Use your imagination: Shut your eyes and visualise yourself in the midst of a serene scene. Choose the setting of your choice and fantasise about it. Get into your fantasy. This is an excellent relaxer.
Play some music: Listen to your favourite music. No heavy rock or metal please! Something that really soothes the soul. “Music has the ability to soothe and calm, so you're bound to be less tense afterwards,” says Dr. Yatish Agrawal, National Consultant to the WHO.
Set routines: “Set a routine for yourself. A routine always keeps thoughts at bay and gives you a sense of control over your fears,” says counsellor, Pravin Kumar, adding, “use positive suggestions and statements.” If it’s revision-related: Here are some tips.
* Make a realistic revision timetable and stick to it.
* Revision should never be left to the last day.
* Suppose you are revising something you've never been good at. You don't really like the subject at all. What you should do in this case is to set a period of about one hour of intense study. Then take a one hour break. Then go back to it and take another break and so on.
* Underline passages of importance. Make notes. And try to practice your answers by writing them down. Writing always helps you retain things better. Many students study all night and day. This is really not such a good idea.
* Plan well ahead of the boards. Now is a good time. Make a tentative list of the number of days you would require in total after you have allotted days to each subject. Now write out a rough schedule with free days in between each subject to cater to any thing that may come up unexpectedly (you may have given yourself 4 days for Biology but you actually need five and so on).
* Do schedule your map work, diagrams etc into your work sheet. Remember maps can bring you 100 per cent marks. That is, if a map question carries 8 marks and you get everything right — that's 8 marks added to your total.
* Go to bed at a reasonable hour to get enough sleep. Being too tired will slow down your revision and not help your exam chances.
* Do a few sample papers.
* And finally, never study for hours on end. More than three hours of study must be broken up with at least half an hour of free time. “And if stress is still bothering you. Talk to a friend, your teacher, parent or even a helpline,” advises Kumar.

Winters mean sleep time

Have you ever wondered how animals spend the winter? Did you know that some sleep the whole winter away? While we spend time in houses that are warmed either by central heating or good old heaters, animals have no such luck — expect of course if they are house pets. Animals do many different, amazing things to get through the winter. Some of them migrate, others adapt and some hibernate. Today, we will take a look at what hibernation is about.
Hibernation is a very deep sleep that some animals, like bears, go into all through winter. During this period they need little or no food as this deep sleep allows them to conserve energy, and survive the winter. Most animals therefore, prepare for this period by storing food in their burrows or dens to eat when they wake up for short periods. Others stuff themselves with extra food while it is available in plenty.
Hibernators appear almost dead. Their body temperature drops and their breathing and heart beat slow down significantly. For example, a hibernating land beaver’s heart rate slows from 80 to 4 beats per minute, and its temperature drops from 980F to as low as 380F. Of course some animals do not experience major changes in temperature, heart rate and breathing. Animals such as skunks, raccoons and some chipmunks are light sleepers and thus, easily awakened. They may sleep during the most severe weather and wake up to eat during milder weather.
The largest hibernators are the bears. Their temperature drops slightly so that they awaken more easily. The grizzly or black bear, for example, is unique because it does not eat, drink, or excrete at all while hibernating, which can be as long as six months! Scientists have been wondering how animals know it is time to hibernate. But what is known is that animals that hibernate have something in their blood called HIT, or Hibernation Inducement Trigger.
Animals that hibernate
* Bears and chipmunks
* Frogs, snakes and even some bugs
* The jumping mouse, little brown bat, the eastern chipmunk, and some species of ground squirrels.

Create a paper-bag puppet owl

What you need
* Brown paper bag
* Brown construction paper
* Scissors
* Craft glue
* Orange, yellow and black craft foam
* One black chenille stem
* Black marker
What to do
1. Lay the bag flat, with the flap side up.
2. Measure the width and depth of the bag flap. Then, cut a rectangle of brown construction paper that same size. Cut rectangle shape into a triangle shape and glue onto the bag as shown.
3. Cut two brown construction paper triangles about 2 inches tall for the ears. Glue the bottom of the ears to the back of the bag as shown.
4. Cut out two yellow foam circles for the eyes, about 2 inches in diameter.
5. Cut two black foam circles for the pupils about ½ inch in diameter. Glue the pupils onto the yellow circles.
6. Glue the eyes to the center of the bag.
7. Cut two 1 inch chenille stem pieces and glue on as eyebrows.
8. Cut the beak from orange foam. (We made ours a diamond or kite shape about 2 inches long.)9. Glue only the top part of the beak onto the head, with half the beak coming over the flap.
10. Cut two three-toed feet out of orange foam. Cut one piece first and use that piece as a pattern for the second.
11. Cut three black foam claws for each foot. Glue the claws onto the feet; glue the feet onto the paper bag as shown.
12. Cut an oval shape of the brown construction paper and glue it to the belly.
13. To make a wing, trace around your hand on the brown construction paper. Repeat this for the second wing and cut out both pieces. Glue the edge of each wing to the back of the bag as shown.When you’re not using your owl puppet, you can place the owl over a plastic bottle to display.

Increase your vocabulary

1. Executive
2. Unnatural
3. Subsequent
4. International
5. Contract
6. Attractive
7. Consequence
8. Good-natured
9. Pursuit
10. Retraction
11. Portrait
12. Nativity
Match the twelve definitions below to the vocabulary words on the left
a. Contrary to the laws and course of forces; at variance with what is normal and expected
b. Having or showing a pleasant, kindly, agreeable disposition; amiable
c. The state of being born, esp. with reference to the place of being produced
d. Between or among countries; pertaining to two or more countries or their citizens
e. A painting, photograph or other likeness of a person, esp. one showing the face
f. Providing pleasure or delight, esp. in appearance; charming; alluring, arousing interest
g. To draw together; to settle or establish by agreement; to restrict; to shorten
h. Withdrawal of an opinion, statement or promise as inaccurate or unjustified
i. Person or group having administrative or supervisory authority in an organization
j. Act of following in order to overtake; effort to secure or attain; quest
k. Effect, result or outcome of something occurring earlier; conclusion reached
l. Occurring or coming later or after; following in order of succession

Answers: 1 - i; 2 - A; 3 - L; 4 - D; 5 - G; 6 - F; 7 - K; 8 - B; 9 - J; 10 - H; 11 - E; 12 - C

Catching food spider style

Navigating a sticky trap
Because a spider has only two body segments, it is technically not an insect. In fact, spiders love to eat insects. To catch food, some spiders use special glands to create silken threads and build a web, a task that’s usually done at night and can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. Some, but not all, of the silky strands are sticky and serve to entangle prey. If you’re wondering why spiders don’t get caught in their own webs, it’s because they tend to remember which strands are which, and just to be safe, they coat their legs with an oily substance that keeps them from sticking.