I heard a parent in one of our Parenting as a Skill Workshops say, "My child at Sparkling Mindz is not just a roll number".

The moment that I captured there seemed to have awakened something within me and took me to remembering the days when I was perhaps just another number in my class all through the years of my school and college years.

This led me to wonder, does our education system look at children as just another roll number, another head to count in the attendance register? Or another business number? 

I wondered some more. What about each child? What about their capabilities, curiosities, imagination, wonder, sense of belonging, identities? Are we raising children for them to be chiseled according to someone else's dreams/choices/perspectives? What about the individuality? The choices that they can make? Or truly hearing each of them out- their voice? 

In May, children at SM had created the first edition of SM Times, our student-led newsletter. The process of creating these newsletters was challenging and fun - just the way any true learning process is. And it left all of us with a feeling of growth and inspiration. The second edition of the newsletter is about just that. About how the children have continued  to grow and stay inspired despite the lockdown. 
At the start of the lockdown, Sreeja ma'am had asked the children "No virus can stop us, can it?" They answered with a wide-eyed, open-hearted 'Yes!" The newsletters below are a compilation of some parts of their journey of learning, growth and inspiration... 

​

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


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#youngachieversacademy
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#everychildcan
#21stcenturylearning
#buildingownershipinchildren
​#gamebasedlearning

Yet another conflict comes up in the 3 and 4 year olds' class today. This is what happened,

T is visibly upset and is stamping on the floor in anger and tears in her eyes. 
F: What happened? 
She gives no response. After a few moments, she says, "A is not my friend!" 
To which A said with a surprised expression, "That's not true. I am."
T seems surprised. But still crying. 
Suddenly, A jumps in to explain, "She hurt me."
T calmed down and said, "But I said sorry."
"No, she didn't!", said A, defending herself. 
"I said it very softly but", T explained, and stomped off to the corner to cry saying, "I am very upset!" 

Now everybody in the class is quiet and watching the entire thing. 

H and A were sitting next to each other at this point. Suddenly H stands up for the situation, feeling responsible, and tells A, "A get up and go talk to her."

A follows suit. She goes to T and gently tells her, "You say sorry to me."
T doesn't budge. After a few seconds of trials, A looks around and calls everybody to them. Without any more intervention from A, everybody gravitates towards them both and hugs T as a way of consoling her post which T flashed everybody the widest smile. She said sorry to A after this and the entire problem was solved.

When children are shown how problems are solved, they naturally start picking up the habit and show problem solving skills even at the youngest age of 4. When trust is established with them that they are capable individuals who can solve their problems, they reach a whole new level of confidence in themselves with the belief that they are capable of solving their own problems.  They, then show us what anger, crying, distrust and fear can't do - a little bit of love can magically solve!

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

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcansolveproblems

An interesting conversation that took place with a 4 year old today during their usual library hour where I was issuing each of them books:

Me: K, come on up with your book. 
K (screaming with excitement): Ma'am I got 'Princesses are not just pretty' book this time!!
Me (surprised): WOW! How did you know the name of this book?
K (smirking, without a pause): That's because I am a clever clock!

K and I were having a moment of the witty comeback when H came up beside him and said, "Ma'am I only told him the name of this book".

To me, the witty comeback was a sign of K's growing confidence and his ability to make a good connection with what his friend.

​ What kind of wit or humour have you heard from your child recently? Do they make you laugh or cringe in pain knowing that they are shining a mirror onto your behaviour sometimes?

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

As children we are natural Kinesthetic learners. As adults too, we may not realize it but many of us feel drained and are unable to think of ideas unless we move our bodies around. Our mind-body is a connected system and for many of us restricting our body movements can lead to an inefficient learning experience. So, then, why are classrooms, conference rooms, training rooms designed the way they are? Well...that's an interesting question best answered through an interesting design that we used for our classrooms. Keeping in mind that children needed multiple kinds of learning experiences and not merely "Auditory or Visual" lectures we chose minimal furniture and a design that let children move around, dance, huddle in groups and achieve maximum learning through movement. We chose to use stories, role plays, drama, experiential and hands-on activities to engage students through multiple modalities of learning outcomes. Most importantly, we chose learning outcomes that would engage their whole being in the learning experience - developing a positive attitude, perseverance, focus, deep engagement and multiple connects with prior knowledge, a thirst to learn more, perspective to look at problems as challenges and more...

A child who can connect with learning outcomes higher than mere knowledge, use their entire mind-body to experience learning and work with others confidently to achieve desired results is going to be successful in any economy, any crisis, any situation that you put her in. In fact, she might be the one that chooses the toughest situations to spend her energy on because she can, because it is worth her while and because nothing LESS will do!

Seriously, as parents it is time for us to collectively decide, NOTHING LESS will do for your child. It is important that they experience learning in enriched visual-kinesthetic spaces with facilitators who understand the importance of visual-kinesthetic learning. It's upto you, you can choose to give them an EDGE today.

I often crave for new experiences. I do take out time to explore and experience new things. Whether it is trying my hands at a new instrument (I have no prior knowledge of music), a new cuisine, meeting new people or a genre of book I have never experienced. There is a myriad of emotions that one feels over new experiences. One feels a tinge of fear, a tinge of anticipation, a lot of excitement and so many unnamed emotions that gives you a feeling in your tummy. When we are born, everything is new for us. The excitement to explore and tinker is visible in the sparkle of our eyes.

Over time we start losing our ability of being so open to the new experiences and soon we start shunning them. The fear of messing things up and making a fool of ourselves overrides the sheer pleasure of doing and feeling something new. Having said that, what is so great about the new experiences anyway?

New experiences positively correlate to both creativity and enhancing learning skills. Having a diversified array of experiencing things forms a big pool of knowledge and experiences which can then be connected to make progress in Creativity and Innovation.

At Sparkling Mindz, we see new experiences as a culture. We ensure children get to experience new things and so do we. New experiences are not a luxury, they are a necessity. It is all around us, the world is full of them, we just need to see it with the curious eyes of a toddler!

When was the last time you experienced something new? How can you bring novelty as a part of your daily life?

With a lot of festivals coming up till year end, its holiday season!

While some take this situation with a smile on the face and peace in the mind, for many it seems to be a question of - What do we do now? So much free time!!!!

If one ponders over why such reactions to holidays, it raises more questions. Are we too busy being busy to be able to enjoy the free time we get? Do we get "bored" with the free time because we are habituated to our lives being run by a schedule?Are we unable to enjoy the holiday time unless there is a to-do list?


Lets leave the adults aside for a minute. Have any of us tried asking our children how do they feel about holidays? What is it that they want to do with the free time?
 
If their response is anywhere close to the points listed above, we know where its coming from and need to do some serious thinking.
 
If not, its a great opportunity to help them/guide them/lead them to manage their free time to make the most of life! 

• Try a new game/class together that you have never attempted before
• Try to reverse roles at home - you can make your day's calendar together and take their 2 cents in terms of managing time
  
• Have them read you a story book before you go to sleep

We have a lot more creative and whacky ideas to share in terms of engaging the children during holidays and quite a few engaging games to offer. Contact us at +91 8095267849 if you are interested to find out :)

By Anubha Jain - a Learning Facilitator with Sparkling Mindz

I was at a children's book library recently when i glanced upon a book with an intriguing title and cover page.
Thought of giving it a shot and little did i know i would stumble upon something so entertaining yet full of learning for children in the 8-13 years age group.
 
The book i am talking about is called "The Diary of Amos Lee - I Sit, I Write, i Flush" - written by Adeline Foo.
 
The bold title may turn some parents off due to its apparent setting, but in reality it offers a lot of lessons to pre-teens without being preachy. It is written as the diary of a 9 year old boy; Amos and is set in Singapore. The book has gained huge popularity among the Asian audience and here is the author's summary of the book for those unfamiliar with it: http://www.amoslee.com.sg/home.html

In simple but engrossing language, the book shows that the everyday life of child like Amos is laced with opportunities and challenges and how he uses various thinking skills to tackle them. Amos helps his mother with her writing assignments and demonstrates creativity and communication skills in his own writing. He is faced with challenges at school in the form of a bully and trouble with best friend and after some hiccups, he resolves them by using interpersonal skills and making the right decisions in line with his values. Throughout the book he takes up interesting assignments and even tries his hand at entrepreneurship - all of which require him to be resourceful, apply critical thinking and work in teams.
 
The creative illustrations help keep up the entertainment quotient of the book and its a delightful read for the young and adults alike.

As the Junior Masterchef's end drew closer and competition intensified, lots of clarity in 'thinking' and 'strategies' began to emerge.

Jack, every time he faced a challenge, put on a 'creative hat', decided to do a twist on a recipe like 'snail porridge' that had taken the original chef himself over 10 years to perfect and came out in flying colors! It was because of his creative thinking capability that he was able to score 3 times 11/10 in the final challenge, a feat that not even someone in Masterchef has achieved, so far!

Isabella, on the other hand, every time she was faced with a challenge used her 'critical thinking' abilities. She fell back on the time-tested recipe's of her grandmother. Something that she knew she could execute to perfection, something that she knew that only she knew, something that would stand her out. It stood her too in good stead. However, for the final challenge, she was able to win it only when she combined her 'critical thinking' ability with a more open-ended 'creative thinking' process to achieve a perfect '10' from 5 of the judges and become the first ever 'Junior Masterchef' in history!

If you ask me, even Jack had to use his 'critical thinking' abilities to approach his 'creative problem' and execute it to perfection but his lead system was always 'creative' and Isabella's was always 'critical'! It stood them apart in style and brought their individuality out, so well! 

It was not just this, in the final moment when the results were announced, Jack showed such a unique interpersonal skill that not even adults show! He told Isabella, "You deserve it, Izzy. Friends going in, friends going out!" What better sportsmanship can a child, all of 13 years, aspire to show? 

Shows like this help create good role models for our children in India and don't miss the next show as it rolls in the next season!

We have been watching Junior Masterchef with a lot of glee. First, it validates the age group we work with 8-13 years. Next, aren't the kids doing an exemplary job? It is all about trust and preparation and children never cease to amaze us. We know it and we have seen it, the show exemplifies it to such a degree that I could not prevent myself from posting here!

Not sure, how many of you are fans of the show yourself. But, I've watched Masterchef previously and when I started watching Junior Masterchef, I noticed how differently they were handling the children and it once again, proved our approach with them. This is exactly how we approach the children in our sessions, trusting them, guiding them where required, letting them be creative with resources, appreciating their unique talents and moving them forward positively. Parents ask us, what will you do when a child gets stuck, what do you do when a child does not perform. We don't have such issues, in our sessions - the child comes up with an idea, the child presents and they know how much effort to put in to make it happen too!

Anyway, coming back to the point, the major differences I noticed with the way Junior Masterchef was handled is a lesson for all adults and parents who deal with children, so here goes:

1. Every single child's dish was appreciated for something good they had in it, not even in the expression did the chefs given out what they really felt about the dishes! If they didn't like it, the praise was on the low side, that's all, but it was praised and their expressions were amazing. For children, your expressions and body language hurts more than your words itself, so you know where to create the change first! All those who have attended our communication parent workshop know this for a fact now and are implementing it. Now, you know it too.

2. When they did a MasterClass with the children, they didn't just gather them around and show them how it is done. They got them to do it along. Exactly how children learn new things well. By Doing It! It is simple: Don't Preach. Don't Teach. Guide, just show them how. Let Them Do. 

3. When it came to selecting a team, in MasterChef generally, the team leaders choose the team. Knowing very well that the children may not be ready for it, they created a random team selection game for them. No fighting, no complaining, no politics. Simple, effective way of dividing the children into groups! Wow!

4. Next, the taste test. They brought in a HUGE, GIANT 8.5m pizza for the children to dig in and taste at the same time. Children love to do work, when it is done in a fun way. They love to apply thought and learn, when the fun is not taken out of it. Loved this test!

Overall, at every point, they took so much care of the children's feelings and how to not hurt them or show them that they were inferior in anyway. Every single elimination, children got mementos and takeaways. Kudos to a show well done! Do observe and let us know if you found any other nuances of how they dealt differently with children than adults and how we can apply it in our day to day lives!