A level 3 Young Achievers Academy Class. A game is laid out and a discussion ensues just prior to it.

​N is a 12 year old who doesn't like rules.

N: I don't like rules, rules are bad.
F: When you are at a traffic signal do you tell your mom to keep going even if it is red light because rules are bad?
N: No!
F: What about in Nikhalasia (his fantasy land), what will you do there?
N: I'll build a bridge for people to walk above vehicles. So no traffic signals.
F: So then people have to walk above and vehicles have to go below - aren't they rules too?
N: Yes
F: Are they bad?
N: Well, no they keep people safe and moving happily. Not all rules are bad :)

In yet another 10 year old child's case: his prompt was "a perfect evening". Sharing his visualization.

"I've been struggling to watch a particular angle of the moon for several days, got a picture uploaded it onto a forum that I've been following. I won a cash prize of $1000! Yayyyy!

When I told my dad in the evening, Dad and I decided to go for a celebratory walk (mom not joining...yay!!!). I saw a t-shirt at discount and bought it! Day was made!"

Facilitator: What was the perfect part S?
S: Of course, the cash prize and the new T-shirt! Duh!!!
F: In your visualization.

S is looking at external and materialistic things as making up a perfect evening and not seeing the satisfaction in his own effort of getting the snap of the moon or his evening spent in his dad's company.

The Covid-19 took the whole world by surprise. Before we knew it, the entire world went into lockdown. The regular life came to a pause. It started to show up in everybody's lives differently. When we look back at it a few years, decades and centuries from now, what will people see or talk about?

​As the children in the school embarked on a newsletter project on - No Virus Can Stop Us, they asked Sreeja Ma'am to write a column about it. She chose to write a poem in her role as a mother of all children in the system and it's an exploration of the mother and child together of the situation that they suddenly find themselves in as well as a promise of hope to the ones who can't see the light.

 Let's read on.
​

The machines came to a grinding halt
The morning rush no longer the default
People scared, holed up in no virus can stop us listening to me homes
A sight one heard of only in tomes

Did the virus win? What happened next?
Mummy, please don't stop just yet
How did everyone live like that?
In fear of a virus from a bat!

Did everyone put down their arms?
What about workers and the farms?
Did everyone stop everything?
From factories to market gathering?

No one went out to play?
Or on a holiday?
No one strolled in the park?
What a sad story with no spark!

Sonny boy! Not all that meets the eye
Is the truth or what we should buy
Let's Look further and beyond
To see how humans respond

There were doctors and nurses
Who without a care for themselves
Served every needy sick and patient
Despite lack of equipment

Tough decisions they had to make
Who to save and who to forsake
It broke their hearts and soul
Yet, they focused on the goal

To prevent loss of life and reduce pain
They tried hard, sometimes in vain
What made them not give up
Mummy, of what are they made up?

Pain and adversity have their way
They go deep within to find a way
Through the hurt and the pain
To build out the power within

Some families drew closer together
A few others broke altogether
Industries, workers had to heed
Very harsh realities indeed

Less fortunate were losing homes, 
Migrating by foot, hurt by stones
Hungry for food, blisters on feet
Breathing their last on the street

Briefly, students cheered
No exams that they feared
Soon boredom and despair loomed
Everything seemed to be doomed

Through these times, a few discovered they could
Work from home
Work on their own
Do house chores 
Cook
Dream
Sing
Dance
Tell stories
Play
Connect
Be generous
Serve
Discover themselves
Generally, do with less

Mummy, do tell me more
Did they forget how they lived before?
My dear boy, people didn't forget
But people didn't regret

They ventured forth to create - 
New ways of being
New songs for dreaming
New dances for creating
New books for seeing
New forms of working
New norms of serving
New connections for making
The world a better place
And each of our lives worth living.

It's your turn to reflect on how you are taking this pandemic, and how you are choosing to spend your time. Let us know in the comments. 


Contributed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Co- Founder, Sparkling Mindz Global School and Preschool.

#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#youngachieversacademy
#covid-19
#deepthinking
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#21stcenturylearning
#reggioinspiredschool

T is visibly upset, screaming and crying, sitting on her pink mat, "I want H to sit next to me not Ash!!!!!!!"

Now both the classes, Cubs (4 - 5 y/o) and Joeys (5 - 6 y/o) were staring at the scene, wondering what was happening. 

T was then reminded to use her words and that we couldn't help her if we didn't understand why she was so upset. After a few seconds, when nothing seemed to help her calm down, the facilitator (F) stepped in, "Can T please come with me? Let's go to our calming corner."

This was done so that her emotions could be addressed with her calmly and to help her calm herself. 

T and the F then came to their class (Cubs' class) for further discussion,

F: What happened? 
T, still crying, at this point her words are not clear, murmurs something. 
F: You know I can't understand what you are trying to tell me. 
T, calms down and starts to talk after a few seconds: I wanted Ash to sit here (pointing to her left) and H there (pointing to her right). I didn't want Ash to sit here (pointing to her right). 
F: So what can you do about it?
T (now angry): I told her so many times. She didn't listen!
F: Okay, I hear you. 
T: NOOOOOOOO!!! (screaming and crying slightly) She made me upset. 
F: You're saying that she made you feel upset and cry? 
T: Yes.
F: What can T do about this now?
T, now calm: I can take a deep breath and go sit somewhere where there is space. I can make new friends also. I was upset because she made me. 
F: Hmm, so you are saying that somebody else has the power to upset you and make you cry?
T agrees. 
F: So you have given the power to make you feel angry or any other emotions, to people outside of you?
T: Yes. Only others can make me feel bad and happy. 
F: Interesting. So that's what you're choosing to tell yourself ?
T, now pondering, but also agreeing. 
F: Okay. Let's think about it this way, what does this power of yours look like? 
T: Like a mossy rock!
F: Awesome! And?
T: Yellow, bright like that sun (points at the ceiling, to show the sun in the sky). Oh, I don't need that sun, I can make a sun for myself!
F: WOW! And where is this power?
T points into the middle of her chest.
F: In your chest? Wow. So when you give your power away to others, when others have the power to upset you or make you happy, where does this bright mossy sun go? 
T, thinking. No response. 
F continues, "Next time you feel like others have upset you, can you look for that power within you and see where it is?"
T: Yes.
F: And if you that power is missing, what can you do?
T: Put it back in my chest! And I'll be powerful and bright like the sun! (does a little dance)
F: Awesome! Would you like to think about this and come back after a bit, so we can talk more about it?
T: Mm-hmm. 

And off she went hopping and skipping with the power of mossy sun within her! Who knows what hidden powers we carry when we don't stop to introspect or too easily hand over all our power to others to hurt, to anger us. What if, we chose to take back that power and work with it instead? What would your power look like? Have you wondered?

And off she went back to the class, happy as ever. Holding space for children to express their emotions give them the understanding that it's okay to feel what they are feeling without feeling judged. In this space, they feel safe to be themselves, and to be open to express and explore different parts of them.  

Now when T starts to get triggered, she can simply be reminded of the sun to shift it back to within herself and she's good to go. And that's all it takes, to emerge out as an empowered person, to realize and remember that we have the power within us to do whatever it is that we want to, that it is nobody but us who are responsible for our own lives. ​


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#socialemotionallearning
#youngachieversacademy
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#everychildcan
#21stcenturylearning
​#powerwithinme

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool

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

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

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. 
​
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. 

As I interact with children across age groups at Sparkling Mindz through our Young Achievers Program, through the TED-Ed Clubs, I see a shift in the attitude towards learning. Most of them trivialize learning, want to run away from it, don't think it is useful or meaningful in their lives and those who put in hours of effort too only know how to figure out the answers for questions in the text book so they could excel in exams. When you run on the treadmill of exams there is little time for anything else.


The world, however, has higher expectations from your child. The world expects your child to discover and nurture their uniqueness, develop an opinion, a voice that they can use to stand up for not only themselves but the community and world at large, to solve problems bigger than themselves and how are you training your child to develop these skills?


The classic moment was recently when I asked a bunch of children, "What do you learn English for?" pat came the answer, "for exams" and after a moment of silence I heard one of our Young Achievers voice, eyes shining, she said, "for communication." and the room lit up in awe. I would think every child should have thought of and known the answer to that question as most of them learn the English language for well over 16 years as a subject!


Another interesting conversation I had with a 14 year old. He was quite angry with the fact that his mother thought that video games were a waste of his time. He loved to play them and saw a future in the industry. However, according to the mother not wrongly so, no exams, no marks, no future so he should study and keep the video games aside for a while. He took it up as a challenge to prove to her that video games were not so bad. It took him a while to research the pros and cons, articulate what he felt, figure out what to use/discard from the research and eventually change his stance to "too much of anything is bad" and pick up and analyze examples of learning from games that he liked. Much of that too was researched data, the child did not yet know/understand how to add a layer of own insight into the research. Diving deeper into topics results in children discovering their own interests, passion and a sense of identity like nothing else does. Like everything else in life, it is a matter of choice to empower your child with the skills to go deep and discover themselves or skim the surface of learning where everyone else remains too.


At Sparkling Mindz, it's our mission to nurture and develop children's curiosity and make them confident learners. 

Can you imagine a child in kindergarten as an author of a story? Our children had been experimenting with visuals, words and sentences for a while now to express their ideas. We thought it would be a wonderful thought to ask them about stories. We saw excitement in their eyes when the concept was introduced to them. They had been hearing stories since they were babies and now was their chance to make one of their own!

 We explored the book, “The little Cloud” and we wondered aloud whether we could see more shapes in clouds. All the children volunteered to lie down and watch shapes in the clouds on our open terrace garden. Lying on the cool green patch, experiencing the light wind and the harsh sun they squinted their eyes to make out the clouds and the shapes within them. Finally something had caught each one of their eyes.

They stepped back and designed their own clouds on different colour papers of their own choice and traced shapes on it from their imagination. Then began the journey of their own little cloud which had a family and would listen to its parents and so on. In children’s eyes everything around us is alive and learning merges with imagination to breathe life into the stories they create.