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!

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. 

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

​It was a typical circle time for the Pups and Calves until we decided to continue the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle from the previous day. Today was 'Recycle' discussion. From the previous discussion, we had arrived at not using the same dustbin for all the waste and to use different dustbins for different wastes. 
F: What are the different dustbins you think we should have ?
K: cardboard
An: Plastic
H: Paper
F: What all goes into the 'Paper Waste' dustbin?
H: Tissues
Av: Paper
F: What is cardboard then?
K: Plastic
F: Why do you think it is plastic?
There was silence. 
F: Is paper hard or soft?
Collectively: Soft. 
F: How about plastic?
Collectively: Hard. 

To further deepen the thought processes, they were asked two prompts:
1. What makes something plastic and what makes something cardboard?
2. How does one know something is plastic? Do we touch and find out? How do we find it?

Since we didn't arrive at anything convincing or conclusive, we decided to take it a step further through a small experimentation: How about we take plastic and cardboard and poured water on both? 

Our wonder questions were: 
What will we get? Will they both stay the same? Since our bottles are hard, will cardboard also stay hard? Will our bottles become soft like paper if we put water on them?

​To find out, children who didn't have plastic water bottles were given plastic cups to experiment with. They all got into their chu-chu trains and marched to the taps. One by one they all poured water on their bottles and cups and got back to class. 
K: Mine is fresh now. 
S: Mine too!
H: Mine is soft
Av: Mine is also soft now (in a very playful manner)
​
They all went back to class and sat on their mats to feel the texture further and collectively discussed and agreed that the bottles and cups were still hard. So plastic doesn't get soft after putting water on them. 
Then they were each given a cardboard piece. They followed the same routine of putting water on each, came back and sat on their mats. 
There were lots of giggles and surprised expressions on their faces when they realized they could bend and tear the big pieces of the hard cardboard. 
H: This is soft ma'am. 
Ab: Ma'am see I can tear
S: look ma'am there's one line here on the cardboard 
F: So if the cardboard is soft and we can tear it and bend it, is it plastic or paper?
K: Paper!

​So the conclusions made were,
1. When we put water on plastic, they still remain hard and we can't bend or tear it. 
2. When we put water on paper, it bends and tears. 

Post this, we all agreed that we will have 3 dustbins:
A) Paper waste (tissues, paper and cardboard)
B) Plastic waste 
C) Food Waste
​
It's easy to give away the information to children rather than letting them experiment and figure it out for themselves. When they are given the freedom to experiment and figure it out for themselves, they learn so much more than when they are just given the answers. They will learn things more deeper than usual because the learning happens right in front of them. And that journey is exhilarating and fun! Isn't that what learning is all about?!


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanwonder
#everychildcanexperiment
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning

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

Today's interesting challenge for the 3 and 4 year olds at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool was to make anything they want BUT with only two white coloured pipe cleaners!

They took on the challenge with so much enthusiasm and out came a river overflowing with different kinds of play.  They all started the play by sitting on mats on floor, 
S: Ma'am look I have horns!

​And they all pretended to be animals and roared around a little.

When the facilitator saw that they all got up and started running around , pretending the pipe cleaners to be guns and shooting fire, it was clear that they didn't know the pipe cleaners could bend too! 
F: Did you know I could make anything I want to with these by bending it too? 
This caught most of their attention and they each started bending it, trying out different things. 
At: Fire!
K: Look, I made a 'M' (he used both the pipe cleaners and joined them)
An: I made a knot. I curled it. 
And she unknotted it and looked proud of her discovery. 

Suddenly Aa comes and says," I want to connect it", touching the tips of both the pipe cleaners. When asked how could he do that, he walked away as if in deep thought. 
While this happened, Av came around playfully and poked it on the facilitator's face and walked away to join the others who continued to run around pretending to be animals with horns.

Suddenly T screamed at her friends," I don't like this game!" and made a sad face. 
Nobody seemed to have noticed it. She screamed again. No response from the others. 
Finally the facilitator asked her why she seemed angry. 
"They are all screaming. My ears hurt!" replied T. At this point S was watching T and he visibly used soft voice. The amount of consideration, understanding  and compassion he showed towards T was immense for a 3 year old. T was very touched by this and suddenly calmed down and went ahead to play with the others. 

After a few minutes, H was done with her play with the pipe cleaners ,"I don't need it. It's ok", and went and neatly kept it in the cupboard where it belongs. And one by one they all went and kept their pipe cleaners and were done with their play for the day. 

There was a lot of imagination, pretend play, problem solving and movement that were involved here where they were playing with just two pipe cleaners. It's amazing where things can take them when they are not restricted. Each child has a story to tell with everything they do. Once we observe and get to know their world, it will not only create sparks in our imagination but also is another chance for us to embrace play in our lives as us adults forget to play too. 


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

​#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcancreate

​It was around 10:20am and our 4-5 year olds were setting their class up for snacks. Just then, the facilitator spotted Ad and Sh fighting for the red chair. The class had just one red chair and this was not the first time children were fighting over it. The facilitator intervenes and takes away the red chair from both of them.
 
F: Okay! Looks like we have a very serious problem.
Ab: Because of all of us!
F: What do we now? There is just one red chair and so many of us want to sit on that one chair.
Ash: I’m sitting on a yellow chair, Everyday I’m sitting on different, different chair.
F: People sitting on different chairs everyday, that’s great! Now, how can we solve this red chair problem?
Ab: No red chair (He meant, taking away the red chair)
(Ad, visibly very upset, takes a chair and sits away from the circle, making angry gestures.)
F: (To the class) Ad will calm down and tell us how he wants to solve this problem.
 
F (now addressing the whole class): Do you all have any suggestion for Ad?
Sh: I have! Maybe he can say sorry to the red chair and not fight with the red chair.
F: Was he fighting with the red chair or was he fighting for the red chair?
Ab: He was fighting for the red chair.
Ar (Raises his hand): Take away the red chair!
An: He can take the chair some of the days, he cannot take the chair tomorrow.
F: So you are saying, Ad can take the chair on some days and some days he can give it to others?
Ab: I have a solution, we can paint the red chair in different colors.
Ash (Interrupts): If we paint the red chair, all the paints will be over.
Ab: We can stick paper on the red chair and paint the paper.
F: Hmmm… Ad loves the red chair, if we change it to another color, would that solve the problem?
M: We all love the red chair. All of us love all the chairs.
F (To Av): Do you have a solution?
Av: The solution is when Ad is going to take the red chair, somebody else should take the red chair.
F: Do you think Ad will like it?
Av: If Ad wants red chair, we can just cover it with white.
F: How will that solve the problem? He still loves the red chair isn’t it?
Ab: Maybe we can get more red chairs.
Ta: Ma’am, I’ll give my red chair to Ad and take a different one.
F: You could do that, but Ad likes only that Red chair (The bright one).
Sh: Ma’am, all the other chairs are saying we love Ad.
Ad (still angry): (makes roaring noise)
T: Maybe I’ll tell everyone that Ad wants the red chair and please can you let him take the red chair?
F: Do you think it’s fair to let Ad take the Red chair everyday? Sh also likes the Red chair and she also wants to sit on it sometime.
T: Maybe, you can let him take the Red chair today.
F: OK, how about we agree on An’s idea? She said Ad can take it some days and give it to others on some days, Would that work with you Ad?
Ad: Today I’ll take it, tomorrow I’ll give it.
T: Maybe Sh and Ad can keep on exchanging.
An (Raising her hand): I should also get it.
 
Everybody else in class also started raising their hands one by one saying “I also want the Red chair”, and we decided to make a timetable and put it up in class so that everybody gets to sit on the red chair. Ever since then, there has not been a conflict regarding the Red chair.
 
Taking away the red chair would have easily solved the problem but that would have been momentary and would have robed the opportunity form children to discuss and arrive at a solution. Here, they not only displayed their reasoning and problem solving capabilities but also, in the process felt that their voices mattered. Encouraging or involving children in decision making and problem solving will help them build trust in themselves as well as creates a sense of ownership as the child feels understood and listened to. 

Contributed by Yashika CG, Learning Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcan

The 5 year olds classroom had a problem: Take homes were not being brought back regularly. As we gave them work that could help them connect with their learning and tried to make it as interesting as it could be. We figured the motivation levels with self-work at home seemed to be low and how might we increase it?

So, one day, the facilitator explored the option of giving points for take-homes that was done promptly, for better participation in class discussions, and for following the ground rules in the class. The idea was to motivate the children to complete their homework regularly, concentrate during class to ensure better learning and to maintain positive discipline.

After a while it was noticed that some children who usually followed all the ground rules started accumulating points very easily. Over a period of time, these children started getting obsessed over getting more and more points, though they did work towards it. Whereas, the others started giving up on their efforts to become better since the goal seemed very far away to achieve.

Obviously, the system was not working. A change was needed. While discussing with the team we figured that like we give them victory claps from their baseline and view their growth from their baseline​, what if there can be individual goals set for each child to work towards so that goals can seem more motivating.

To initiate this process, children were shown a video, ”We’re different, but we’re the same”.
This video talked about how our looks, appearances and nature may be different but still we all
belong to the same group. Based on the video, a discussion was held in class where we discussed
about how each of us have different strengths and challenges.  Children were
encouraged to think about how they can aim to become better by comparing themselves with
their our own previous performances rather than comparing themselves with others. This set the stage for children to work on setting goals for making themselves better.

​​Children started identifying areas where they need to improve and came up with their individual goals. 

Children who were just learning to read, or usually showed reluctance to participate in reading activities, came up with the goal , “I will learn to read”.
Avner identified that he gets easily distracted during discussions and came up with the goal, “I will not play in the class (during discussions)".
Ananya decided to challenge herself by coming up with goals to learn new words and share new
ideas.
Children who were not very regular in doing their take-homes decided to do their take-
homes regularly.
Naitik and Vineet identified specific topics or worksheets which they found to
be challenging and came up with goals like, “I will learn to do clock worksheet well", "I will
do syllabication worksheet well".

Daniel who was yet to learn to write in cursive, made his goal as, "I will learn to write in
cursive." 
Vineet who tends to cry and shout when he gets upset decided, “I will not cry and
shout”. 
Some children who seek their parents’ help for their take-homes, instead of attempting
to do on their own, came up with the goal to do their take-homes on their own.
Chirag identified that other children in the class get hurt because he tends to jump about in class and decided,” I will not hurt”. Children who usually prefer to sit, talk and play with only their friends, decided to make new friends...

​​The goals have been put up in the class and children have embarked on their journey in
MAKING THEMSELVES BETTER! Here all the children are equally challenged as they were
working on their individual shortcomings. And also, the goals seemed achievable to them. For example, the facilitator helps Avner by putting tally marks on the board every time he gets distracted, and every day he is now working towards gradually reducing the number of distractions. Rithanya, Nithin and Eden have started saving time for reading practice every day during the snack break. Mishka and Vineet have started working on doing their take-homes regularly. Mohammed is trying to make new friends by sitting with different children during activities and circle time.

​When given the opportunity, these 5-7 year olds proved that they were capable of self-
introspection, leading to self-awareness of their strengths and challenges, and setting goals for
self-improvement! How amazing?!

Contributed by Jennifer Christy, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

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.

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!

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. 

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. 

If you have ever wondered how many kinds of houses one can really make with those building blocks it’s time you see our 2 year olds in action.

We presented children with blocks during ship time and they immediately started making houses. One of the 2 year olds who loves blocks during ship time and is an expert in making different patterns with blocks, joined all the blocks one by one and named it “houshie”.

When challenged to try a different pattern she quickly removed all the blocks from the house she had made before and put some other colored blocks and pointed to her now improvised house and said, “Madam, houssshheee, big housshhee” and gave an adorable smile.

 Seeing her making a house with different patterns, Vihaan M who was continuously watching her pattern tried making a different pattern of house too and said, “Madam see, even I made a big house.” The house looked completely different from Sudiksha’s.

I wonder what they are visualisisng when they are making their houses? Do they really connect with the kind of houses they see around them or the ones they dream of - bigger, brighter and with all the amenities they want? Or is the whole activity about how big a house one can make?

What makes children create such a variety of patterns in their houses? How differently do they see the world around them that makes them represent it such varied and different ways?

Given a set of blocks, how would you make a house? How many different kinds of houses do you think you would be able to make? Something with a tall tower, or a flat large top or, something that looks like a house from another planet? What would your “houshees” look like if you built it differently?


Contributed by Neha Nag Choudhary, Learning & Innovation Engineer at Sparkling Mindz