Covid-19 lockdown has visibly affected this entire world. We are literally all in this together. During times like this, it can get difficult to stay motivated and carry on as usual due to the obvious factors such as not being to get together with our friends, extended family, colleagues, and so on. When we couldn't even go out to get our groceries, it can definitely take a toll on our wellbeing in general. How can we stay inspired so we come out of this lockdown stronger than ever?!

​Well, at SM, we have our morning Inspiration Stand-Ups to keep us up and going throughout the day. One of those days, our morning inspiration was to do something creative and share how that inspire us. Here's the results,

Sheela inspired herself by reflecting on nature, writing a poem,

 Nature  

Nature is everywhere, Nature is everywhere
With beautiful trees and plants, with different shades of green, some yellow, some brown that make them grow every day 

Nature is everywhere, Nature is everywhere 
With beautiful birds and animals, flowers and fruits, human, and all other things that grow.
It attracts everything around to admire it.

Nature is beautiful in every way that you have ever imagined off 
its wonderful, exciting and home for all of us 
it needs our care to survive forever 

So listen, learn, and do your part to keep nature alive and beautiful forever.

Here's what she said, "Today's prompt was to do something different that you have not done before inspired me to write a POEM. 
I choose Nature
In this lockdown, we are locked inside our house and facing our own challenges.
But the nature around us is free without any pollution and it's alive, as there is no one to cut it down or to hurt it. That is making it grow green and blossom too.
 This is inviting all the animals and birds to rest and move around it without any fear.
This inspired me to write a poem about Nature when I looked out and saw all this beautiful things around."
​

Neha got inspired by two of our facilitators and wrote a poem.

"I attempted expressing what I feel through a poem.. inspired by Yashika ma'am's article about Shiva, and one of recent INSPU (Inspiration Stand-Ups) thoughts by Happy Sir."

 Extremes of ME

Sometimes I am this cool person who knows a lot of things and at times i am the dumbest of all,

I long for all the luxuries in the universe and sometimes I just need is two meals,

At times I contradict all what I say, and sometimes I stand by my side as firm as a rock,

There are a few times when I want to burn the world in my anger, and most of the times I feel to fill every heart with love,

I wish to drop all the identities and just be clean slate and at times pick as many as I can and be one in all,

I become an open book and at times I am the darkest secret,

Am I this or that...

Our team constantly find ways to inspire ourselves and each other. Tell us about what you do at times like these?


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspirationstandup
#teamwork
#teamspiration
#youngachieversacademy
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#covid-19

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

**Long Post Alert**

If you think of the word interview and the words ‘nervous’, ‘scary’, ‘dread’, ‘boring’ or any of those come to your mind, it is clear that you have probably not had an interview at Sparkling Mindz Global School. At SM, we have a learning area called ‘LIFE’, short for Learning Is Forever and Everywhere, and we take that very seriously. Even an interview is a learning experience for both, the interviewer and the interviewee. In the beginning of April, we had an interview which led to the resolution of deep-seated beliefs about the learning of math for one of the facilitators who was part of the interview team. It was also a refreshing experience for the interviewee, S, who saw math and math anxiety in a whole new light. As if this was not enough, all the people involved in the interview also had an ‘aha’ moment about maths during the interview! 

The interviewee, S, writes: 

Expect the Unexpected 

“Expect the unexpected” that’s exactly what you should expect in Sparkling Mindz. And I had my first such experience in my Interview itself!!! 

I had to do a demo session on Parallel lines for 4-6th graders... After the 1st demo session, I had a few comments as the areas of improvement and then the very next day I had to redo the session. 
All the feedback was explained well with examples and the need for making the specific changes. I was able to relate to them and understood how to implement the same. With all those inputs and a quick connect with one of the facilitators helped me to gather my thoughts and structure my day 2. 

All Set!! 

My session was now on an overarching umbrella - Lines... the students were a mix of those liking math, those not liking, some knowing some of the topic, some not knowing much of it......But when I started, each one of them was enthused and excited, because I asked them to draw their favourite imaginary toy!! 

That’s how we started “the lines” After putting their imaginary toys on the paper, talking about them a little.... It was the moment I introduced the lines – vertical, horizontal, slanting... 

Then I brought in the second line!! 

So while explaining the parallel lines, One of them called out- 
“Ma’am are all HORIZONTAL LINES Parallel lines? 
Woooohhhhhhoooo!!! that was the Aahaaaaa moment!! 

It was exciting... the student discovered something so did I... And so did my interviewer who was silently watching all that was happening in the session!! 

All VERTICAL LINES are PARALLEL lines too!!! The joy and the pride on the face of the student for being able to say something so important was satisfying and is unexplainable in words for me.......It was not a part of my script.... 

While there will be those difficult questions that the I would not have thought thru during the preps and may throw me completely off track, I realised at that moment, there will also be THESE moments when I will discover many the wonderful things with children!!!And that’s what all the hard work will be worth for! 

The Facilitator, P, writes: 
The Class in which I found math (and the ball found it’s lines) 

As I sat for the second math class of my adult life, I was not sure if history was going to repeat itself. Well, it had already repeated itself yesterday, when in the middle of the class a veil fell upon me. The old familiar veil of ‘I can never get this’. Now this is a transparent veil, and it is difficult to spot it. Also this is a layered veil. It is made up of many emotions and thoughts, like: ‘I hate this’, ‘I am not getting this so this must not be worth getting’, ‘But the others are getting it so maybe it is worth getting but I lack the ability to get it’. Between all of these though, and the most difficult one to spot, is ‘I want to get this!’

This veil has often been the reason I have had a strange relationship with math. As I write ‘have had’ in the past tense, I realize that an opening has been made and I have a chance to open the veil and look through in some way. 

So, what made the unimaginable happen?

This was a repeat of the class on parallel lines conducted by one of the interviewees, S at SM. Just yesterday, I thought parallel lines are a farce, an illusionary concept that does not exist in life. I gave a lot of feedback during and after class to the interviewee with the view that another child shouldn’t ever sit through a math class and feel anxious like I did, another child shouldn’t have to face the veil and be helpless about it and if I could do anything to change how a child might feel in a math class I’d do it. So, today again, despite my meltdown and math anxiety, I went with an open mind. Let me give the person a chance, let the person use the feedback that was given by us to account for the emotions of students, look at the big picture of a concept and not just narrowly look at parallel lines, define and establish purpose and connect for the students etc. - I went to try and understand what lines are, what line segments are. I told myself let me not be that student in the English class who, in the middle of a very evocative poem, asks,“but how can the moon talk!?”...It can’t, but the poem does not mean to say the moon is talking literally, it is a representation, a symbol, a form. So I thought let me not break apart the form of mathematics. Let me stick to the piece of paper, to line segments and see what unfolds. Little did I know that a lot was going to unfold. 

The interviewee had taken the feedback well and planned a very different class. At the outset, we were asked to draw an imaginary toy and I drew a ball. Why did I draw a ball when I could have easily drawn something with straightforward lines on it? Well, partly to test mathematics, and partly because well: I think it was just to test mathematics. 
“Oh! You say lines are everywhere. This is my ball, where are your lines?” 
“A circle is a curved line.”
 Okay, I melt a little bit. 

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. 

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

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.
​
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.

It's the month of August, the month that's special for every Indian. It was the month in which India achieved Independence from the British rule 73 years ago. As the rest of India celebrates this month by reminiscing the sacrifice of the various people who contributed to the Indian freedom movement, our pre-schoolers (5-6 year olds) at Sparkling Mindz began their discussion with a prompt "What do they love about India?" and the following were their responses along with how the discussion moved forward.

*Sh: I love that India is a big country and I love the national anthem.
Sh: Why do we sing the national anthem?
Ash: We sing national anthem to wish India*

This opened up an opportunity to discuss about the geography of India. The States, union territories and their capitals. How big India was before Independence and how big is it now and a little about the national anthem.
*Ana: I love that freedom fighters fought for our country*

This led us to discuss about who did the freedom fighters fight against and why? Why did the British East India company come to India? Who were the freedom fighters and how did they fight (Violence and Non violence)?

*Em: everywhere I travel in India, I love the buildings*
This led us to discuss about the famous monuments or heritage towns in India.

*Aad: I love India because it's colorful*
This opened up an opportunity to talk about the diversity in language, food, clothing, culture etc. And how inspite of our difference we love each other.
*Tan: I love India because it's beautiful*
*Abh: But, there are also people who litter in India*
This statement ignited a spark in the class and everybody seemed upset and concerned.
Facilitator: Why do you think people litter in India.
Abh: Because they are bad people.
Facilitator: It is? Sometimes in class we forget to follow ground rules, does that make us bad people?
Class: No, they just don't know the ground rules.
Facilitator: what do you think we should all do about this?
Tan: When somebody litters we can take it and throw in the dustbin.
Facilitator: Do you think they will learn if we pick up all the garbage for them? Is it possible for us to pick up all the garbage in India?
Ved: We need to clean our roads.
Abhi: We need to have more bins on the pathways.
Avy: We need to have poop bins for the dogs on the streets.
Adi: If you don't find garbage bin, keep it in a bag and throw it when you see a dust bin.
Post this discussion, children began reporting about littering incidents they come across on a daily basis while traveling from school to home and other places.
Noticing the concern and the spark in children to make a change, the facilitator gave them a choice to come up with ways to educate people on keeping India clean.
​
Few suggestions they came up with were-
1. Role play
2. Making placards
3. Making videos
4. Writing letters

Considering all their suggestion the facilitator helped them thread through a mime which they performed to educate their parents on Independence day. They also went about and wrote letters to people they see littering the streets. 

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

The 4 year olds were making a circle with all of the colourful chairs around them for their usual Monday circle time. They had just gotten back from a 3 days long holiday and had lots to share! The circle was almost complete when Paridhi was just standing in the middle of the almost circle with an upset face, refusing to talk to anybody. 

"What happened Pari?", asked the facilitator (F).
Paridhi, with more tears," I want Elsa's chair!"

At this point, as the F seemed confused, children explained that the blue chair is Elsa's chair and the others are Aana's chairs. At this time there were no more blue chairs as children had all already occupied all of the rest, except for a green chair.

F continued," Why don't you take another chair and sit? Because there's no more blue chair."

Pari,"But that's Aana's chairs. I want to be Elsa!" and continues being upset. 

F noticed Tanmayi was sitting on a yellow chair and pointed at Tanmayi ,"See Tanmayi is sitting on a yellow one!", To which Tanmayi replied," I am sitting on yellow one because it is a bright colour chair. It is sun fairies,moon fairies, anything you want to be!"

F,"Oh wow! Did you hear that Pari? You can be aaaaaanything you want to be! What would you like to be other than Elsa?"

She thought for a few seconds and shouted with excitement," Butterfly!"

F,"Awesome! And which chair would you like to sit on?"

She pointed at the only available green chair and happily sat on it, and the problem was resolved.

With the right prompts, children can figure out solutions for themselves. It's important to understand the care-abouts of children in every situation as it helps to resolve issues at a deeper level, leaving everybody calmer and happier. 


Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

What would you do if you ever felt like you weren't part of a group, that you had no friends, that you felt like nobody liked you? 

How would you feel? 

Moreover, how do you think a child feels when she feels like she has no friends, that she isall alone, that nobody likes her?

Our 4 year old K had been finding it difficult to connect and be friends with her classmates, feeling alone and sad but not sure how to solve it by herself; neither did she have clarity on why and what she was feeling. 

The time came then for our 4 year olds to get a new set of library books to take and read at home. Out of those books, was one tiny treasure called 'Something  Else' by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell. The book is about a little creature the other animals call 'Something Else' because it doesn't look like the others. The storyline moves through the emotions faced by the creature when it felt alone, sad, lonely because of how others treated it and called it 'Something Else'. The book however ends on a happy note where another creature that looks like none other comes into the picture and they become the best of friends. 


​

Call it luck, call it a connection, K found it and took it home for the week. Days pass by, the book made its rounds with the others without any of us realizing how deep a connection K had made with the creature in the book called 'Something Else', until it was brought to our attention by her mother. K had been feeling like she was Something Else in the class as she felt alone, lonely and sad. Reading that book gave her the vocabulary and understanding of her emotions and feelings that she connected to, resulting in her opening up about it to her parents. 

When it was brought to the attention of the school, we decided to dive right in, as we always do. With her in particular, we have been working on communication skills, and as a class, social skills and making friends with new children were on the focus. Because of the initial layer of work that was already done, when K's emotions were brought in the picture, children found it easier to empathize and suggest solutions.

We read the book today, it being a Thursday where we usually read a book for our Library Routine. We chose 'Something Else' to read and everybody was excited and jumping on their mats, except for K. She looked quiet and withdrawn throughout. However, we proceeded. Children kept empathizing with the character and vocalizing about the scenes in the book. Post the reading session, the floor was open for questions and further discussions. 

"Have you ever felt like how 'Something Else' was feeling? " 

Nobody answered as such. 

The question then was repeated to K to which she whispered a yes. She then came and stood with us in the front for the issue to be discussed further. We held her throughout to let her know that she was safe in our circle. 

"Because I am alone like Something Else. Nobody is not playing with me." meaning to say that nobody played with her.

The whole class of the 4-year olds sat quiet and looked concerned as she spoke as they now knew exactly how she felt. 

"We will be friends with you. " 
"We will play with you." 
"I will write a letter for you at my home. I will bring it for you. You can take it home."
"I will play with you K"...

And on and on went children, soothing her heart. 

There was no need of further conversations and this culminated in a a gentle group hug where they just held her. And T planted her a kiss in the end. ​

Developing a vocabulary to express how they are feeling is a good first step to seeking help when someone is feeling left out, lonely or upset. Children, when not felt supported and loved, can develop all kinds of insecurities right from childhood that could take a long time to move out of. As important as it is to make them feel loved, supported and belonged, it's also important equip them to love, support and be there for one another. 


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

It was take home issue time for Cubs (4 to 5 year olds) today, just before they went home for the weekend. Children were all busy packing their take home files into their bags when Tanmayi was visibly upset. With teary eyes she said, "Nobody is being my friend." And started crying slightly. 

"Who do you mean by everybody?"

Tanmayi, pointing at Ashley, continues to tear up. 

"I am sure you can solve this. Why don't you go talk to her and ask her- Ashley, are you not my friend?"
She was prompted here as she was not in an emotional space to come up with questions. She seemed really upset. Usually she takes care of such situations herself. 

Tanmayi walked over to Ashley and asked gently, "Ashley, are you my friend or not?", hoping for a yes. 
When Tanmayi got no response from Ashley's side, she looked even more helpless, without realizing that Ashley might not have heard her voice as she was speaking very softly. Tanmayi kept standing next to Ashley, looking at me as if asking for help. 

"Ashley, I think Tanmayi is trying to communicate something with you."

Upon hearing this, Ashley suddenly noticed Tanmayi standing in front of her, "Oh!"

"Ashley, are you my friend or not?", repeated Tanmayi with a calmer demeanor. 
"Yes I am! But why did you twist my hand?", asked Ashley. 

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