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Learning never stops!

1/4/2020

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Who said learning has to ever stop even when we are quarantined? 

Today we met our 5 to 6 year olds on Zoom for a year end reflection session. As discussed, they all waited for their turn to share, learned to speak by independently, talked about their favorite memories from their class. They also bid farewell and sent love and good wishes to those they will not be seeing next year as they move to Dolphins (1st grade) and mostly, they held space for each other.

They learned that learning can happen anywhere!

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearning
​#everychildcan
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Choosing Empowering Stories

29/3/2020

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We are all storytellers. We are constantly creating and recreating stories that we then go on to tell ourselves and believe as true. Stories we tell ourselves start to define who we are.

I once told myself a story of being a victim when it came to love and friendship. Saying that to myself was comforting. It helped me blame others, fate even and define who I was in that light. It made sense, if you have been victimized, to withdraw, to withhold and to be invulnerable. To be there for people but not present yourself fully.

What's wrong with it you may ask? We have all been victims at some point and if you are a victim what other story can you tell yourself?

Well...there lies the problem. If your story is that of a victim you have a need for sympathy, to be taken care of, to be protected and you will attract people like that in your life.

If, on the other hand, you are a survivor, you have lived through harshness and survived, you have learnt lessons, you don't have a hole or a gap, you don't need sympathy, you don't need protection.

You need humaneness and you know what it looks like, you know what it takes to stand up for your rights, you know what it feels like to live life on your own terms, what it means to love yourself to be able to give and receive fully.

Stories define who we are. Choose empowering ones constantly.

Written by Sreeja Iyer, CEO and Co-founder of Sparkling Mindz Global School.

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#ichoosetogrow
#everychildcan
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TEAM-spiration!

28/3/2020

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In tough times like these, how can one learn to remain inspired and committed to the greater vision, mission and purpose? As the saying goes, 'Tough times don't last, tough teams do...!' 

This is how we choose to stay together, our SM community. We hold the fort down, we got each other. And we invite you to explore your life and share with us how you stay inspired and joyful.


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspirationstandup
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#buildingcommunity
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Overcoming Fear of Failure

19/3/2020

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Creating change makers of tomorrow needs children to learn to deal with successes and failures in their own terms. In one of our visualization games, the prompt given to the child reads 'overcoming fear of failure'. The visualization process helps a child become aware of moments when they have faced failure and how they have perceived it will determine what they have learnt. 
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One of our 10yr olds, R, is a proud recipient of this prompt. R attends our  After School Program, Young Thinkers and Achievers, developed to create inspired, independent and confident communicators. This is achieved by developing various skills such as creative and critical thinking, emotional and self- awareness skills, communication and interpersonal skills, decision making skills, and values. These skills are imparted through designed games which are considered to be the highest form of experiential learning; visualization games being one of the many that we play with children in the course of the program. 

Sharing R's visualization output.
"Doing something that I'm comfortable with is okay, when I'm doing something I've never done before and coming out of my comfort zone is overcoming fear of failure. In the baking committee I took on a challenge to make a cake which I hadn't done before. It was something completely new for me! I had never switched on an oven, or broken eggs. I had a 100 questions and was worried that when I break an egg, are egg shells going in or the yolk, should I put the vanilla essence a little bit or too much, then I was wondering will people like it or not? I told myself, "I'm going to do this and learn" a 100 times. It was a success, everyone loved it at school. But, the part where I baked and stepped out of my comfort zone is the part where I overcame the fear of failure!"

R is also a 4th grader (Leopards), at Sparkling Mindz Global School. Children were given a challenge to move beyond their comfort zone by opting to do something that they would like to  but have never done before, and R chose to bake a cake!

Raising challenges and building the sufficient skill set is imperative in raising a generation of inspired and confident learners and achievers. We at SMGS believe that every child is capable of anything that they put their mind to, all they need is a little push in the right direction towards creating the change that they want to make, to enable them towards a brighter tomorrow.

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcan

As narrated to Sreeja Iyer by Poonam Pradeep, Facilitator Young Thinkers and Achievers Program at the Sparkling Mindz Young Achievers Academy. 
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Creating Caring Community Of Learners

18/3/2020

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The 4 to 5 year olds pretend played being doctor and nurse.

It was G and P's turn to be the doctor and nurse. P goes and sits on the doctor's seat, G wants to be the doctor too. 

F (Looking at P): Do you want to be the nurse?
P: No I want to be the doctor

Both G and P sitting quietly waiting for the other to let go.

F waited for a while and respectfully tried giving them a suggestion after seeking their permission saying, "Since you get to attend 2 patients do you mind taking turns being the doctor for each of them?"

G immediately says, "Ok then I'll be the nurse"
And they took turns happily.

When shown fair chance children immediately expand their horizons and can see possibility of a different kind of interaction. One that involves being caring and empathetic towards each other and not just grabbing opportunities for self. 

We believe children are respectful individuals who deserve to be respected the way adults do and by modeling respectful behavior they pick up cues to respect each other.

Contributed by Grace Veronica, Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool

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I ran a 12K marathon!

17/3/2020

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Sparkling Mindz makes you do things beyond your comfort zone; gently nudging and pushing you to grow.  This one (as you must have guessed from the article) is about HOW I RAN A 12K MARATHON! Actually, how all of us at school ran a 12k Marathon?

Yes, we do run a marathon every year and this year on Oct 2nd, 2019 we all ran a solid 12 kilometers! While at any other place a marathon maybe about running and winning. Not at Sparkling Mindz. Here, it stands for everything that we as Sparkling Mindzians stand for -

1. Beating my best - it was not about comparing with anyone else but bettering our own timing
2. Being one with oneself - spending an hour+ running by yourself can bring out a lot of voices in your head - some that are cheerleaders and others that can be very discouraging
3. Finding my rhythm - running is all about discovering the rhythm in your breath, body and mind and each can find a different one

Something interesting happened on one of our last day of practice,. 
You must be wondering why bring up a practice session? Well, it was the day where we would run three rounds of around 4K each on site testing whether we could really do 12Kms or not! The moment of truth was here.
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As soon as we began stretching you could already see the different thoughts running through people's minds, "Yay! We are doing 3 rounds today!", "Can I really run 3 rounds.... [sighs]",  "Oh my, I am so excited! I am sure I can do it", and more.  All of us having different thoughts, all of them that affected our run. Thoughts affected run? Yes! Let's explore what I meant through this.

We began our run and the facilitator screamed a heavy ‘Ready.......Steady.......Go..!’ and all of us ran with our hands moving front and back, our lungs filling with air, our legs drifting across the surface and thoughts running across our minds. All that were there in front of us was the pitch black road with trees on either sides, rocks laying here and there and wind passing by. In the first stretch some of us stopped and some took time off, all based on what we chose to tell ourselves.
We all finished the first round like we were flying through air and when the second round began, things started to get different. Few had pulled themselves up, some had fallen behind, some were determined, some were just talking and others were just walking. All telling themselves different things - ‘I can do this I will finish .’, ‘What! Where is my friend I can’t run like this.’  and ‘[sighs]...I am so tired I am not sure if I can do this’. Throughout the second round there were distractions, motivations, goals and narratives all 
of them new and some, different. Well, all of us managed through the second round.

​You ever hear the words ‘strong determination’? Well now we witnessed it because in the third round, narratives shifted and patterns changed. Everyone who committed to the third round began and this round started off like a bird taking off with its wings wide open. All of us told ourselves, "We could do it!" All of us with a productive mindset. This round was as fast as the wind and everyone by now was very eager to finish this run and achieve their goals.

The run ended and everyone was stretching- when we closed our eyes and took a deep breath,  we could feel this energy inside of us, something that drove us for the rest of our day. It was a source of power within us.

Why is this so important? Well, because that day the amount of improvement all of us showed was huge, how some of us learnt to shift states and narratives was an achievement. That day was the day when we all gave it our best, the best that we could give then. 


What’s next? Well, we are from Sparkling Mindz...so we want to constantly do more and do better, and so we will! We will continue our practices diligently and continue growing and learning. This is just one of our milestones in the many coming ahead.

Contributed by Meenakshi Tanikella, Falcons (Grade 8), Sparkling Mindz Global School. 
Edited by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Founder Sparkling Mindz.
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We Celebrated International Mother Language Week!

10/3/2020

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We, in India, are uniquely endowed with rich cultural history and plethora of languages. So much variety and such great diversity is a fertile ground for creation of linguistic identities. The language a child learns to speak and listens to at home is the language the child primarily thinks in and is tuned to. What we call the Mother Tongue holds a special place in all of our hearts and minds. But, that's not all. Beyond the sentimental value there lies the rich cultural heritage, stories and generations of wisdom encoded in and spread across so many languages in India. How does one decipher it? Is there a key to these stories?

One the one hand children are excited about stories and on the other hand, children are not easily excited about learning to read, write and figure out grammar in YET another language most of the times. They all have their own comfort zones. What might get them excited about exploring languages and seeing the connections and vibrancy that each of the languages bring to our understanding, our being?

Learning a new language can often be as refreshing as opening a window. Through it, you can enter a new world. Imagine if we were to open not just one, but many windows. Imagine if we could speak, think and feel in not just one, but many languages. Children across grades, at Sparkling Mindz Global School, got a taste of what this way of being might feel like...

Friday, the 21st of February was International Mother Language day. Story-weaver, a platform of Pratham books, had called for individuals and organisations to celebrate this by reading stories in the different mother tongues of India. 


We took up this opportunity with a lot of excitement! It seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce children across grades to the wonder of languages and their exploration. We were excited about reading several stories and since stories are not merely read, they are experienced - one day was not enough! We were going to do an entire WEEK of it. Although, we all know that even a week is just not enough, as one of our students, Samruddha (Falcons, Grade 7), pointed out, "a week is better than a day"

We chose the common mother tongues from South India: Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada, and read the following stories respectively: Ammachi’s Amazing Machines (Tamil), A book for Puchku (Malayalam), Maths at the Mela (Telugu) and Anand (Kannada).  The story compilations sent by Pratham were all so interesting and riveting, we wanted to do ALL of them. But, time was short, we HAD to choose.


Every day of the week, one of the facilitators volunteered to read out a story to the children of one house in Telugu and Tamil alternatively. Children were transfixed and we could hear murmurs, laughter, connections from across the floor. One of the truest tests of a story telling or language class is when children spill out of the space and are still trying out new words or speaking to each other in the language. When we saw it happen, our happiness knew no bounds. 
The Malayalam story was read by a parent and storyteller, Aswathy during the children's library hours. This was read on two different days to the 6-8 year old classes. The children were amused by the words, framed and used them in their own context and like, the power that only stories can wield - understood the gist of the story based on the narrative by going beyond the barrier of the language. We culminated this incredible week with a story telling session in Kannada by a student from Grade 7.


Across the week, we saw children explore and engage with different languages, at different levels. They connected with the stories, the words and with each other in ways that can only be called inspiring. The values of our school: Deep, Wide and Connected Learning, Empathy, Growth Mindset, were not only reinforced through this journey but also were guides along the way for our children. All the children were curious to learn a new language, used connections from their known language(s) to arrive at meanings, thoroughly enjoying their experience! The stories themselves were amazing in the way they connected a language to a learning area (their subjects) to emotions to larger world issues. It was indeed such a pleasure to find such diverse and rich stories in these languages. 
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Both the story-tellers as well as the children were equally fascinated with knowing the specific words for technical terms such as screws, pulley, group counting etc., in regional languages. At the same time, we were able to make several connections between words from different languages, like ‘sahayata’, ‘surakshitanga’ and ‘ippo’ among others. Some words caught on for the sheer pleasure of the visual or aural feature it carried: ‘vattam samayam’ has caught on as a phrase for our cherished ‘circle time’, a time and space where children and facilitators come to discuss anything and everything openly in a safe space. And now, children can often be seen counting in various languages or expressing ‘nalla rusi’ during lunch! 

Stories are like rainbows - they encapsulate a range of emotions, learnings and cultural as well as universal truths. They engage, entertain, make you wonder and help you learn in so many different ways. Hearing stories in a vast range of languages, especially my own mother tongue, makes me connect to the story very differently. Hearing the story in a language different from what I'm comfortable with stretches my capacity for languages and expands my imagination. Learning languages is an enriching process, it should be seen as a joyous journey by children and NOT a burden to carry on their backs up until the exam.


Story-telling sessions. From left to right: Aswathy in Malayalam, Sriram in Telegu and Disha in Tamil
Towards the end of the week, we conducted a panel discussion on the ‘joy of reading in your mother tongue’. The discussion brought out various aspects, including the joy of learning new languages, the nostalgia and joy associated with mother tongues, how learning different languages opens up ways to think and feel differently, to take perspective and to enable empathy towards people who may be different from us, culturally and linguistically. 
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After the panel discussion on the ‘Joy of reading in our mother tongue'
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We are so glad that we chose to participate in this initiative. As a language facilitator, I can say that this week is how we envisage language learning… in fact, any engagement with language to pan out: enriching, deep, connected, meaningful! This week was hopefully just the beginning to what is much more than just the joy of reading stories in our mother tongue! 
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Now to the best part, the reflections from students: 

  1. “It was a really nice experience reading stories in our mother tongue. We found different connections between languages and I didn’t expect to learn so many new words in different languages! We loved how the stories were connected to the things we actually use in our day to day lives, like - counting, grouping, the love of reading books and a garbage collector… “ - Mahathi, Sphinx House
  2. “We had a story-telling session in Tamil and in that process we also learned the names of simple machines! Children really enjoyed figuring out the connections between tamil and their own mother tongues. It helped us look back at languages we have forgotten and realising how many forgotten languages India has.” - Neha, Pheonix House 
  3. “As the story began, the students raised their hands - some of them to guess words, some of them to make connections, some of them to share and some of them to listen… we listened to a story in Telegu - a language known to some and unknown to others. But none of us was hesitant. This was an experience we have never had before and we realised that we are not using our mother tongue anymore. We realised how much fun languages can be and how much they carry. By the end of the week, we had taken away a few new words, a nostalgic experience and most importantly, the inspiration to learn and explore more mother languages…” - Meenakshi, Pegasus House 
  4. “All the students were engaged trying to figure out the meaning of the words by decoding them as well as making connections to their own mother tongues. And that feeling was such a joyous one that you could see it on their faces! We took away a few learnings from this week - how words have an origin and one can see similarities between certain languages because of common roots, how learning a new language makes you think differently… We are now trying our best to incorporate the words and languages in our daily lives…” - Maya, Griffins House 

Contributed by Poorva Agarwal, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School.

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Admissions are open for 2020-21 batches. Limited seats remaining. Call us at +91 9900080331/2 for more details. Click here to register.

The season 3 of our TED-Ed Clubs are open now! As we are waiting for talks to get published, you can see past videos here!
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Next Trinity Communication Skills exam will be held in Oct 2020 at Sparkling Mindz. Our students have achieved distinction across grade levels in the exam the past two consecutive years! Enroll in our Young Thinkers and Achievers Program here today to participate. 


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