​During a story reading session with 5 year olds, children were feeling hot and wanted to turn on the fan. Ar and Av get up from their chair and run towards the switchboard at the same time. Av reaches first and turns on the fan and as an instant reaction Ar hits him.
 
(Facilitator (F) observing the scene calls out for them)
 
Av: Ma'am Ar hit me, he always hits me.
F(to the class): Do you all think Ar gets angry and hits people for no reason?
Class: No ma'am. 
Ar (angrily): I get angry when people don't let me do what I want to do.
F: I understand you get angry but, is it helpful to hit or hurt someone when you are angry?
Ar: Yes 
F (to the class): Do you all think hitting when angry is a good thing?
Class: No ma'am. 
T: Ar should talk to them.
F: Thank you T, do we all want to help Ar calm down when he is angry? 
Class: Yes ma'am.
F (to Ar): How do you want everyone to help you calm down?
Ar: By not talking.
F (To the class): So, can we all agree to not talk to Ar when he is angry, he'll calm himself down and then join us.
Class: Yes ma'am.
F (to Av): Why do you think Ar hit you?
Av: Because I saw Ar run and I ran before him and turned on the fan.
F: What do you think you could have done instead?
Av: Let him (switch) on the fan, next time I will get a chance.
F (to Ar): What do you think you could have done?
Ar: Ask him.
F: So, do we all agree to use our words next time we don't like something?
Class: Yes ma'am.
 
Be it a child or an adult, helping them become aware of their own emotions and learning to express them in resourceful manner is a very important skill to learn for life. When children start this early, it helps them empathize with themselves and figure out mechanisms to understand, accept and cope with their emotions better, building emotionally resilient adults of the future. 

Contributed by Yashika Ganesh, Learning Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool and edited by Sreeja Iyer, CEO, Sparkling Mindz.
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#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanempathize

Thursdays at SM are always exciting!
Every Thursday we pick a book and read it with our 4- 5 year olds. Another reason why children look forward to Thursdays is because they get to take home a new book from their library. And this Thursday we chose to read a book called “Not a Box”. To help children connect better with the book, the class was set with empty cardboard boxes of different sizes for them to imagine and play with. 
 
As children came in, some were confused, some amused and some curious. Sh came inquiring about the boxes in the class,
Sh: Ma’am, why are these boxes in our class? Did you put them here?
F: Yes, I put them here. You can do whatever you want with them.
 
After this conversation, it was amusing to see the things children could imagine with mere empty boxes!
 
In the image below, all that can be seen at the first glance is probably just a bunch of children standing inside an empty box. But if looked a little deeper, a whole new world of theirs is what we will see.

For E, they are on a bus traveling to school where V is the conductor of the bus. For Ash, it's an aeroplane ship, an aeroplane that turns into a ship when it falls into the water and for Av, it's a submarine.

J pulled out a long strip used for compartmentalizing from inside one of the boxes, wrapped it around himself and said “Ma’am, this is my seat belt”.
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Ad and An playing ‘Peek a boo’.  And on and on they went with their wonder, excitement and endless bouts of imagination!
​

Often as adults, we are so clouded by our understanding of how things work, that we forget to understand what it means to play. It then gets easier to teach children what things do before letting them tinker, experience and learn by themselves first. If we step back and observe with an intention to know them rather than teach them, we will see that everything that comes across as ambiguous about our children will begin to inspire us. They are exploring the new world around them, constantly making connections, learning from everything they see or do and reproduce it in different ways.

​And we can contribute in their journey by learning to explore with them. 


Contributed by Yashika CG, Asst. Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz.

It is the Poetic Soiree season and like you rightly can guess, Poetry is in the air. Unlike, other times, we have inspired poetry and children's own poetry being shared. As children express themselves, some of their innermost thoughts and struggles resonate. They are all learning to love themselves and not get influenced by other's opinion of themselves. 

Children very easily get influenced by what their friends think or say about them. They easily internalize negative messages about themselves  and make it their own. 

We have been talking to children about their internal voice and keeping it positive. Sharing a poem I wrote based on the inspiration.  This has been an ongoing process for us, so this poem was written in Aug 2017.

-When I love myself--

When I'm harsh on myself
I can't see anything good
When I love myself
I'm okay even if they're rude

When I judge myself
Every finger points at me
When I love myself
They are just being free

When I criticise myself
I lose the will to fight
When I love myself
I gather all my might

When I look for flaws in myself
I stare down a deep, dark hole
When I love myself
I find ways to make myself whole

When I don't trust myself
I get angry at all my mistakes
When I love myself
I'll learn and up my stakes

When I care too much
About what others will think
I lose sight of what I hold dear
And what I value in the fear

When I live in fear
Of being found
For the fraud I'm
I cry, I run, I hide

When I live in joy
Of discovering
Who I'm
I stay, I learn, I grow

--Sreeja Iyer
CEO, Sparkling Mindz 

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#poemforthesoul
​#growthmindset

​Empathy is, at its simplest, awareness of the feelings and emotions of other people. It is a key element of Emotional Intelligence, the link between self and others, because it is how we as individuals understand what others are experiencing as if we were feeling it ourselves. An example of empathy from a four year olds class. It was ship time with kitchen set. Each one started pretending to cook their favorite dish. Just then each child picked up a character.

Aliyah: I’m mamma
Veer (jumped in): Then I’m the papa
Amogh (volunteered): I can be the brother
Saanvi (did not pick a character, looked at Neel): Neel is the baby
Neel (disagreed vehemently): I’m not a baby
Amogh (explained patiently): But you’re so little, Neel
Neel (not really convinced): *quiet*
Saanvi (noticing Neel's reluctant face, empathized): Neel it’s just a pretend okay
Neel (now content, agreed): Okay
 
It is clearly visible how Saanvi put herself in Neel’s shoes, understood his emotional state and responded appropriately to it. it is only when we feel fully understood do we get convinced, else it takes a lot to accommodate everyone to truly collaborate and work together. When children learn such lessons early on in life, empathy becomes a skill they can practice and carry on with themselves for the rest of their lives. 

Contributed by Grace Veronica, Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool