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Child is Not Just a Roll Number

1/8/2021

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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? 


Picture
The more I wondered, the more suffocated I felt, like being wrapped up in a plastic bag. 

Now imagine our children being wrapped in plastic bags until their formal education is complete. There then comes expectations higher than one's self of them ripping those bags open and flying high...expecting them to be independent, think for themselves, and be creative! 
​

How would the child cope as an adult - having lived through someone else's realities and expectations? Where are they to develop the essential skills to live their lives from? A space where children are to be cherished, loved, nurtured and taught essential skills to manage themselves in every way, I asked myself, are we failing as a society? Is it not time for a change? A revolution, perhaps?

We at Sparkling Mindz believe that it is!

Contributed by Grace Veronica, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School & Preschool. 

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#parentingasaskill
#facilitatordiaries
#thinkingasaprocess
​
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The Art of Indian Cooking | Leopards Annual Day Showcase

23/6/2021

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What do you need to prepare a dish? Recipe duh, right? That's what our children thought too till they read 'The Art of Cooking'. 

Why is it art? Isn't there a lot of science involved? What makes it an art? Why are these instructions so different from the recipes we are used to seeing? Really - can you really make any kind of broth if you learnt this skill? Wow! 

We wondered, explored, experimented, empathized, created personas and discovered that the problem was to learn the skills in cooking that could lead to unlocking the treasure trove of recipes and the ability to work with a plethora of ingredients. Voila! We had magic in our hands. 

Children spent time interviewing, designing and curating the skills that could help different kinds of people discover their inner cooking persona as well as learn and upskill themselves to become better cooks. 

This year for the Annual Day, our Leopards (4th and 5th graders) explored 'The Art of Indian Cooking' from first principles and designed something that each of us can use and work with. Along they way they had some magical moments of bonding with their families, embracing the inner scientist in them while some of them brought out their inner chefs. And well, what got cooked? Find out for yourself by watching the video!

​But before that, let's let Ms. Poorva Agarwal take us through the cooking of this whole process.

And here, the final product!

Here we have our wonderful parents reflecting along with us, and sharing with us their sides of the story as well. Have a look!
​


#noviruscanstopus
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#annualdaycelebrations
#theartofcooking
#theartofindiancooking
#creativethinking
#thinkingasaprocess
#inspiringconfidentlearners
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Re-imagining Books And Innovating On Problems Related To Books

14/6/2021

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Have you ever wondered about all those unread books sitting at different parts of your house, or class, or school...or just about anywhere? What might we be able to do with them?

What about those who write those books, the authors? How about the jitters authors feel about publishing new books? What can be done to ease that?

We wondered the same with our children and it goes without saying, that they bubbled with a variety of ideas. Needless to say, it was such a treat to hear and watch them ideating. Of course, we documented this process, and here is the result: a case study of an ideation process that shows children to convert problems into opportunities for innovation. 



#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#ideationprocess
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#everychildcan
​#childasanentrepreneur
#problemsasopportunities
​#learningforkeeps
​
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Case Study: Developing Emotional Intelligence

12/6/2021

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Children learn to respond to situations better when their emotional intelligence is developed. The first step is to develop self awareness and awareness of emotions in others and Esha has demonstrated that very well in this case. Here is a short case study of transformative learning from our Afterschool Program on how a child who developed Emotional Intelligence transferred her learning to the home environment.



#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#emotionalawareness
#emotionalintelligent
#afterschoolprogram
​#learningforkeeps
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The Flavours Of Life Through The Eyes Of A Chef- Esha Karthiraj | TED-Ed

25/5/2021

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 While in the midst of chasing after things we want to achieve or acquire, how often are we approaching life or rather, really experiencing life? How often do we choose to live our life the way we truly feel inspired? What are we learning from our lives? 

Here is Esha giving a perspective on life through her eyes, and how choosing to see life as a chef has helped her see things in many interesting ways, and a lot to take away. 

Let us know in the comments what the flavours of your life are. 

​#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearners
#socialemotionallearning
#reggioemiliainspiredlearningphilosophy
​
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Top SME Business of the Year 2021 Award

12/5/2021

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Top SMEs of 2021 award


​"I'm very happy to announce that we have been selected by Great Companies as one of the Top SMEs of 2021.

Right from when we started this journey we have been taking unique paths and unexpected turns as we work towards our mission of Inspiring Confident Learners and Changemakers amongst children today.

To all those who have believed in our vision and supported us through all these years, here's another validation and milestone of achievement. As always many, many miles more to go as our work has just begun.

Thank You for all the trust and support!"
- Sreeja Iyer, Founder & CEO, Sparkling Mindz Global School, Preschool, and Afterschool

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearners
#socialemotionallearning
#reggioemiliainspiredlearningphilosophy
#awardsandrecognition

​
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Role of Parents at SM

16/3/2021

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SM's holistic approach to learning and life cannot be complete without our parents. But what is the role of parents at Sparkling Mindz? How do we continue to keep child in the centre, keeping the caregivers in mind? What are the expectations from our parents? 

Let's listen to our founder, Ms. Sreeja Iyer, give us a sneak peak into our culture. 

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Our Little Engine can do anything!

14/3/2021

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 Every morning children sing different SM welcome songs to greet each other before beginning the day at school. One morning, our 2 to 4 year olds looked like most of them did not eat breakfast, no energy at all. Can you visualize how a flower without water how it looks?  It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration if I told you that our children looked the same way.
 
This inspired me to read a book called "The Little Engine", to get them back up on their energy levels. This book is about how the little engine did not give up when faced with challenges till the end and also helped the others in the process.  His favourite chant so that he won't give up was, "I Think I Can", which was what I hoped would energize the children today.

So I checked with the children if they would like to listen to a story.  As expected, they were all aboard!
 
While reading the book, my gaze panned through the class. This was what I saw: pin-drop silence, all their eyes glued to the images, nobody blinking. They were focused and paying attention without a movement in absolute silence. At the end of the story, I saw a lot of clarity in their faces, a bunch of warm smiles and some who showed a variety of mixed emotions.
 
 During our reflection of the story, post the usual questions on what was the story, did they like  the story and such, we jumped into a specific question,
 
What did you like in the story?
 
A:Train is carrying a lot of toys, even I have a lot of toys at home.
 
As she was sharing the other children pitched in and shared their toys’ details too. They together counted their toys, specifying the features and at a certain point they started  to argue with each other too until T said: “I have a little engine at my home!"

Facilitator (F): Oh wow! What do you do with that little engine?
T: I play with it
 
This got the others to share about what do with trains too such as, “We  play with it, we put things on it to carry, I go on a ride and have lot of  fun”...
 
F: Very nice! What do you think the little engine is doing here?
 
D: Ma’am, it is helping.
F: Who is it helping?
V: big train
A: blue train 
 
F: Why is it helping?
D: Because it is big it is heavy.
Ari: It can't move.
 
F: How is it helping?
V: I think I can 
T: It's pulling the big engine and saying I think I can 

Upon hearing this, In chorus everyone started singing, "I think I can!  I think I can!" 
 
F: What did you learn from this story?
A: I think I can 
D: I think I can 

And they continued singing it some more…

Suddenly I heard a voice that said "I think I can help". 
As everybody was singing out loud, this little voice wasn’t very audible. So he was asked to repeat.
Ari:" I THINK I CAN HELP! " 
 
F: what do you mean by that Ari? 
And he said, “I can also help others” Meaning that he can be like the Little Engine and help others too. This inspired T and she added, “I THINK I CAN DO IT!”


Post this, we saw children religiously following it, reminding each other when they did not follow. 

After a month or so, I received a video recording from a parent to see the child repeating the said slogan and not giving up in tough situations. It was definitely a surprise for both the parent and me to watch.

When children are given the freedom to personalize their learning, they start showing ownership of the learning. They customize it to their liking and use it at the required spaces. At SM, when a child learns something new, they learn it as an experience by going in depth through various forms. They then connect this learning not only at school, but also everywhere, gaining knowledge and mastery at it! They show us that learning is fun!

​Contributed by Sheela Peter, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#sparklingmindzglobal
#reggioemiliainspired
​


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How do we sing our Welcome Song while we are about to wind up???

6/2/2021

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While discussing on the take homes (homework) from the weekend, Aaditya, our 5 year old Joey, raises his hand and says in a rush, "Maaammm, we forgot to do welcome song!!", and puts both his palms cupping the both sides of his temples. 

Welcome Song is sung usually in the morning when we all come together where we wish each other good morning, welcome each other, and overall bring the energy of the group up! Today, as we all got into a mood of wanting to share with each other the take homes from the weekend, we got carried away.

"Oh no! What do we do? It's almost time to wind up for us today...How do we sing a welcome song now?", they were asked by their facilitator.

With this question came a bunch of surprised, curious and funny expressions.

Children then started to wonder about how to sing a welcome and wind up song together, which sparked their curiosity and they started to come up with their own various versions of a song we called 'Welcome-Wind Up Song'. As it was time for our wind up for the day, they were left to think more about it as their take home that day. The below video was the result, as they were left to think about it as their take home.
"What is in a song?", after all that's just entertainment right? Also, why should we worry about a child wanting or reminding about a song that was missed? At SM, for us every single thing that children explore has learning in it. 
​

"Children have a 100 languages to learn from and learn with and we intend to keep it that way. " - Sreeja Iyer, CEO, Sparkling Mindz Global


​Each of them will take this richness of learning as an experience away with them into their lives as they grow, learning just the alphabet or numbers without the purpose, the songs, the stories, the clay, the mud, the sunshine is moot! If there was ever a time to create changemakers, it is today and if there was ever to create changemakers that care let's start with caring about the whole being that they are so they can then shine that light to others and their world too.

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool, edited by Sreeja Iyer, CEO, Sparkling Mindz Global.

#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#everychildcan
##reggioemiliainspiredlearning
#youngachieversacademy
​#emergentlearning
​

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"Happy Independence Day, India!", by our 4 year olds!

22/11/2020

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It's been a very different year for all of us collectively, this year. But that has not stopped us from exploring, especially during this Independence Day!

Explore what? You may ask.

​Well, we explored our culture, identities, and much more. And we would like to share it with all of you through this video.


#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#everychildcan
#21stcenturyleanrning
#reggioemiliainspired
#socialemotionallearning
​#independenceday
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Admissions are open for 2020-21 batches. Limited seats remaining. Call us at +91 9900080331/2 for more details. Click here to register.

The season 3 of our TED-Ed Clubs are open now! As we are waiting for talks to get published, you can see past videos here!
​​
Next Trinity Communication Skills exam will be held in Oct 2020 at Sparkling Mindz. Our students have achieved distinction across grade levels in the exam the past two consecutive years! Enroll in our Young Thinkers and Achievers Program here today to participate. 


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