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Are Bottles The Only Thing You Can Open With Your Strength?

9/6/2021

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Picture
P, a 4 year old, came to me to open her water bottle. It's usually a little tight for her to open by herself, so she asks for help. Yesterday, Ak, another 4 year old, helped her voluntarily. He considers himself strong and he was excited to help the moment he saw her struggling. 

Today when the same scenario happened, S got to P first. Ak also ran to her, causing a tiff. Now S and Ak were at it, wanting to open the bottle. Eventually S opened it and Ak was visibly upset. I called him to ask what had happened,

F (Facilitator): What happened?
Ak, with teary eyes: S opened the bottle. But ma'am, yesterday S opened Ad's bottle also. 
F: Okay, but yesterday you also opened P's bottle all by yourself too. 
Ak: But ma'am, he opened so many bottles. 
F:How do you feel when you saw him opening bottles?
Ak: Sad. 
F: Why? 
Ak: Because he opened Ad's bottle and so many bottles. 

I figured he was upset because he considers himself quite strong but he was failing to see that his strength could be used anywhere he wanted to and not just opening the bottle. After acknowledging what he felt was okay to be felt when he did not get a turn, we continued our conversation.

F: Hmm, Ak, you know you are super strong right?
Ak: Yes. 
F: And that helps you open bottles for others. Right? 
Ak: Yes ma'am. (Slightly smiling)
F: Are bottles the only things that you can do with your strength?
Ak seems to be thinking. 
F: What else can you do with your super strength?
Ak: Climb ladder, draw...

His options went on and on, and so did his mind. The more options he came up with, the more calm and content he seemed. 

F: Ah, see you can do so many things with your hands and strength. So next time you get upset about not being to open somebody's bottle, what can you do? 
Ak: Find something else. 
F: Awesome!

We finished out conversation with a hi five and off he went to sip water. 

When children feel stuck one way, building the skill of creative decision making could help them shift their emotional states into productive states that can help them bring in the flexibility to handle situations differently, just like how Ak started seeing how he could use his strength in multiple other areas too himself, and not just use it in opening bottles. Flexibility is a muscle that can be built overtime which can enable decision making in creative ways, also helping one to see multiple pathways when one feels stuck. 

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

#reggioemiliainspiredlearning
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
​#inspiringconfidentlearners
#facilitatordiaries
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#problemsolving



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Visualizing a Perfect Evening

1/9/2020

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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.

Visualization


In our overly materialistic world children struggle to see the value of effort and connection, and focus on winning and results instead. This fixation of results as a form of validation vs. the process and the connection gets children stuck with a form of fixed mindset where they find it hard to deal with failure and eventually don't pursue learning as a journey anymore.

The tool, visualization, helps children open up and share which reveals their current status with respect to locus of control and process vs. result orientation. It's through awareness and open communication that we can reach out and help children see the beauty of their own effort and human connection that is hidden right under their noses.

As we embark on the journey to impact more lives through our Young Achievers Academy we invite applications from the ones who are interested to create deep, meaningful impact in children.

#youngachieversacademy
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
​
Written by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Co- Founder at Sparkling Mindz Global School & Preschool.
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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. 
​
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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Make music with no instruments?! No problem!

24/1/2020

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The Pups and Calves were given a challenge in the morning for their morning ITP (Invitation To Play) where they were asked to create music. The twist was, they needed to make music with no musical instruments. 
The reaction was priceless - excitement, curiosity, eyes sparking up with wonder, confusion, lost...
F: Go ahead and make music! You can do it!
Picture
Picture
Suddenly they were everywhere. The facilitator wasn't prepared for their reaction. Some started clapping, some were trying to whistle, some banged the tables, walls, tables, some stomped, some made sounds with their mouths, some banged on beds, some took chairs and banged against the wall...needless to say there was a plethora of sounds that arrived as part of their experimentation. Some wanted to sing, so they did. 


Picture
Picture
Suddenly T says, "Let the girls sing and boys make music!"
And that was what happened. With a little help from the facilitator, girls got together and sang our school's anthem while boys clapped, stomped, whistled, etc. And vice versa. 
All in all, children had a gala of a time making music today with absolutely no instruments! 

Who said we need instruments to make music? As long as we have our imagination, we can achieve anything!

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

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#everychildcancreate
#everychildcanplay


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When we look at the sun, why do we get tears?

27/12/2019

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During the snacks break 4 to 5yrs old wanted to sit outside and eat. We all went out and sat. 

While doing so a child pointed out the temperature and how she feels,
D: Ma’am it's hot here.
Facilitator (F): Why don’t you go and sit in the shade?
VR responded immediately to D, “I like to sit in the sun. Whoever wants vitamin D can come and sit in the sun!”
Aa replied to VR, clarifying her intentions: I want vitamin D but now I will sit in the shade and eat my snacks and then play in the sun.
VR, not paying heed to what else was going on: Ma’am, why do we get tears in our eyes when we look at the sun? 
F: Good question VR! Why do we get tears while looking at the sun, do you know?
D, overhearing this conversation, contributed : Because sun is hot!
And Dit added, “It gives light.”

A few others told him the same about sun being too hot. Then V agreed, feeling satisfied with the explanations he received from his friends.

He then reasoned out to himself, “Now I know why tears come from our eyes - it's because the sun is bright and very hot that's why... When we look at it water comes from our eyes.!”
​
Most of the children forgot about their food as their curiosity began to rise towards the sun. They all began looking at the sun with wonder, agreeing to what VR said.
Dit suddenly had an interesting thought to share, “After seeing the sun when we close our eyes why is it colorful?”
Aa jumped in with, “Because the sun is colorful that’s why!”.
C, hearing this, recalled the story from the book ‘The Day The Crayons Quit’ that they had read and came to the rescue, “You remember the Duncan crayon story, when orange and yellow were fighting, Duncan said the sun has all the color that’s why!”
 
They wondered about for a few more minutes what they heard, recalling the story, sun bathing, reminiscing over the conversation that just happened. Children, when left to wonder and experiment with their thoughts and words, can explore places that have never been explored before. 

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanwonder

Contributed by Sheela Peter, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
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Flexible brain muscles and the surpises!

21/5/2011

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It is interesting, as the children increasingly flex their brain muscles, they not only become more creative in solving their own problems, they also teach you new things. Many such incidents come to mind as I sit down to write this post...

We gave an open ended puzzle to children and asked them to solve it. Once they get started, we generally push their thinking horizon by saying, "There are at least 10 ways of solving it, so find as many as you can". Of course, it is creative thinking, so what did you expect? But, one of the children left me flabbergasted that day. I told them, "There are 10 ways to solve this" (forgot to mention at least) and the child went, "No". I was slightly surprised, "What, no? I know of 10 ways to solve this, how can you say no?". He says, "There are a million ways, not just 10!" and went on to find 25+. So much for flexing those creative muscles...!!!

There was another time we were teaching the children how to break through patterns of thinking to become more creative and they caught on to one of our patterns of saying "Awesome" for anything nice. They insisted that I use several other words to describe how I thought the idea/work was! Now, that is some direct application and feedback! Awesome, Excellent, Fantastic work by kids!!!

Just last week, we asked the kids to identify things that looked like fruits around the room. The room was surprisingly bare (it did not have the usual charts, paintings or any other adornments typical of a children's activity room). So the children took to the task. The button in the air-conditioner became a grape, bulb became an orange, speaker became a pear, TV power light became a pomegranate seed and more...

And so, the imagination looms large in their mind and spring surprises at us!
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Gearing up for the summer!

1/4/2011

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The summer camps are just around the corner and seats are filling up across our locations pretty fast. Before I say anything else, I'd like to take a moment to thank all the parents and our location partners for the faith they have shown in us. You have made our conviction to "create confident thinkers" amongst children in India, a very strong resolve.

As we huddled up to talk about our approach towards the summer camp, some things stood out. For one, we are not approaching this as a place for children to while away time. It will be fun, it will have a lot of games and activities but at the same time it will be a shared learning experience for the children and the facilitator.

Secondly, as we move them through the process of building the skill of thinking creatively, we are intently focussed on changing how they view the world around them. Especially, it is an attempt to move it from a view of limited possibilities to unlimited possibilities. This helps build a "never give up" attitude in the child and will help them stand in good stead through the ups and downs of life.

Thirdly, we want to work with them to be able to work towards a natural style of creative expression and help them be more imaginative and structured in their thoughts.

With these thoughts in mind, we are gearing towards a "sunny" and "creative" summer this year!
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