​You show me how to see,
You show me what to see,
You show me how to be,
As curious as I can be. 

You are yet to know, 
All that you can do,
You continue to explore, 
All the wonders galore.

With those twinkling eyes,
With that endearing smile, 
You continue to remind,
Me to wonder in my mind.

Where does your curiosity come from?
I wonder out aloud. 
How do I nurture it, nourish it, help it grow?
I wonder deep within.

 "Oh! My child what a wonderful wonder of nature you are!" I tell him.

​Contributed by Sreeja Iyer,  CEO of Sparkling Mindz Global School, Preschool & Afterschool.

#Sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#reggioemiliainspired
#wonderbasedlearning
​#livingcuriously

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 switch board 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: Av, does he always hit you - like all the time? 
Av: No
Ar (angrily): I get angry when people don't let me do what I want to do.
F:  I understand you get angry and you hit people when you get angry. How do you think the other person feels when you do that? Do you like it when someone hits you when they get angry? 

(Labeling hitting as good or bad thing to do doesn't help the child think or process and children are not engaging with the emotion - they are just saying things and thinking it is black or white. Think about it are there times when it is good to hit someone when you get angry?) 

Ar (adamantly): 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, let's ask Ar what he wants to do?
Ar: By not talking.
F: How will this help you Ar?
Ar: I don't know. I can't think.
Av: Ma'am I'm not angry with Ar but he can't hit people when he gets angry
F: Can Ar think of how else he can express his anger? 
Ar: Ok. I'm sorry, I'll think and share.

Anger is a useful emotion, it tells us that boundaries have been breached and learning to express it in a healthy manner is a learning children can acquire from an early age. This sets the context for a healthy emotional bonding amongst children and builds their emotional quotient.

Be it a child or an adult, taking perspective and being empathetic is an important skill to learn. Children are capable of understanding and resolving their conflicts, it’s important for us to trust their capabilities and encourage them to resolve their conflicts by showing them perspectives. By creating a culture where each one is accepting of the other’s flaws and perspectives and help each other learn and grow together will make us stronger as a society. 

#reggioemiliainspiredlearning
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
​#inspiringconfidentlearners
​
Contributed by Yashika CG, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

​Today we started our Thursday’s Library Routine with the usual book reading. The Cubs (4 to 5 year olds) started the reading by exploring the book The Day The Crayon Quit’s cover page,
R: Green color crayon
A: Its Blue color 
N: Pink 
C: Orange 
VR: Red looks like its fighting with someone and angry 
N: Red looks surprised 
VR: Orange is upset 
R: Blue is a holding a board and it's angry 
C: Green is happy 
D: Pink is very upset 
E: Pink is holding the board downwards and sad 
 
Their discussion went deeper when they empathized further, 
N: Red fought with its dad so it is sad, upset and it was surprised looking at the other color.
“Blue is holding a board because it does not like the other crayons so something is written on it.”
 
When the reading continued, children were curious on the word ‘quit’, so we explored a little,
VR: It means running 

Everybody agreed.

So we moved on with the thought of finding it out while we read the book. We then came across the word ‘stack’.
Facilitator (F): What does stack mean?
 D: It’s stamp 
But Ad clarified with, “Arranging thing on top of others!”, and we continued reading the book.

The word we explored next was ‘letter’ where the crayons had written letters for Dnucan. 
N: It's a cursive letter 
Aa and Aa: It’s alphabet and its vowel 
D added, “Consonants”
 
It was clear that children understood that word as alphabet. We them discussed further and they were explained to what writing a letter means to which they immediately said, “We write letter.”
 
The next crayon that children explored was the colour ‘red’ where they connected with gas cylinder, tomato, strawberry, dresses, apple, fire engine, heart etc.
 
We went on further discussions on the different letters and colours in book, when they were asked, “How did you all feel when you used different crayons?”
N: I was upset because I would not colour and write with it
D: Because I could not colour it was small – I feel sad
Aa: I cannot write orange crayon is dirty and it was also breaking
Aad: When I took the dirty yellow crayons my paper also become dirty
C: Colour of the crayon are gone and we are not able to use it
R: When I waste the crayon I feel sad, I talk to the crayon and say I will not waste you the next time.
 
Each one of them talked about how they will be more respectful to the crayons. This suddenly probed A to ask, “Why ma’am you did not give us big and new crayons?” This got everybody else to ask the F why she hadn’t given them new crayons.
 
So the F asked them back, “Why do you think I haven’t given you the big and new crayons yet?”
 
Children contemplated for a while and replied,
VR: Because you want us to write and colour with the small one
A: Making use of the small caryon to colour
N: To know how they feel when they break.
 
F: Yes, since we broke all our old crayons the new crayons don't want to come play with us" 
 
This moved on to empathizing with the crayons and arriving at what they can do to the crayon when they use them-
 
VR: Crayons are angry on us and next time we don't use it properly they will leave us and go
A: I will use all the crayons
D: We should not break it handle with care
Di: I will use it properly
E: I will tell sorry to red crayon because I use it always
Aa: I will not break not take the rapper
S: I will use the colour and be careful, no wasting
Aa: I take care of it and colour it nicely
Ad: No breaking the crayon
 
Stories are powerful mediums to convey messages and learn new things. Any message can be conveyed through a story that can have deeper impact on the audience, such as this one. Children not only explored their feelings when they used multiple crayons but empathized with them too, arriving at ground rules for themselves when using crayons in the future. This story in particular helped them empathize and learn responsibilities. And both are important skills for anybody to develop in their lives.
 
Contributed by Sheela Peter, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
 
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanseeperspective
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
 #reggioinspiredlearning
​#emergentlearning
 

​Words, words, words...I started reading and I started sharing, and she started listening and she started leaning in. As I read word upon word, I felt the intensity build and emotions swell. She felt it too.

And we were together in this rise.

We were reading a transcription of Virginia Woolf’s meditation on words…words, that have their own life, that live in our minds, like living entities, whose common purpose is to reach the truth, as close to the truth as possible…who have their own lives and wills and sometimes when, after we can own them, if we let them be, emerge from within us, find each other to create the most beautiful, most truthful image they can!

But this is not about words, nor the power of words. It could be, and probably should be, but it is not.

It is about that experience, that shared experience that lifted us. Without saying much directly to each other or expressing our emotions, we were connected… we were not connected with each other also, but something beyond that held us both in suspension in that shared momen.  And I am not quite sure what that was…

Was it admiration? Was it wonder?

I saw her eyes moisten and I felt my voice balmy and did her eyes moisten my voice or did my voice moisten her eyes? We cannot be sure.

But, whatever it was, it was beautiful and I think that is the beauty in whatever is beautiful to the human spirit, that it goes beyond itself and it can also go beyond you and me and it holds us both in shared experience which we can reach out to but not fully reach.

And if we can somehow hold that beauty in front of children, it would lift them and bind them and connect them in some manner with the universal human experience and though we found it in words, the amazing thing is that it can be found anywhere - in numbers, in colours, in codes, in the mind, on the feet.

And when we ‘teach’, merely ‘teach’, we deconstruct and demystify and de-beautify and then we reduce the beauty of whatever it is that we touch and make it functional, merely functional.

Well, the fortunate thing is that it functions. But the unfortunate thing is that then, it only functions.

​Contributed by Poorva Agarwal, Curriculum Designer and Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School.

I am not joking even one bit when I say that we as Sparkling Mindzians took the very first step to saving the world from becoming a garbage pile and spreading awareness about it! And we didn’t wait for some else to do something about this ongoing issue,  finding solutions. We came up with our own ideas and solutions through our mission T.R.U.I. 

Recently we have been having a lot of discussions about how our world is getting affected, specifically in the context of waste, landfills and how our oceans are getting affected in return. We wanted to do something about this and were given the opportunities by our facilitators. So they helped us create a platform where our ideas can grow, be implemented and learnt from. The created platform is T.R.U.I-Tinker, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Up-cycle and Innovate. The plan was to have T.R.U.I shops; shops that have items that have been 'T.R.U.I.- ed' or you could say made out of waste. 

T.R.U.I shops sound fun, right? But if we were going to do something effective and impactful, we needed a plan. So as a class we sat down and thought about what all these materials could be used for. We thought of many things from pencil holders to sound amplifiers, lamp shades to coasters, key chains to racks and so much more. We realised that we not only had to come up with ideas but had to pick the most effective ones and to do this, we had to come up with a set of parameters. So we took our facilitators' help and came up with a set of parameters - Effective, Useful, Abundantly Sourceable, Sturdy and Aesthetically Pleasing. Using these parameters, we picked out three main ideas: coasters, lamp shades and wind chimes. 

Before jumping into making things, we know there was so much more to learn about all of these  and we found connecting what we learnt to T.R.U.I a little hard. Because of this we were not able to push our ideas and shops forward. Observing this, our facilitators understood that T.R.U.I lost its importance and that it became a side project. To turn this around, they gave us MISSION T.R.U.I. Now everything we learnt and did connected to T.R.U.I. and it finally made sense. T.R.U.I became the centre of our learning. We connected so much more than we did before, we learnt so much more than we did before and we started using T.R.U.I as a big part of our learning. Well, now we are learning surface area, displacement, distance, non-chronological reports, documentation and perspectives.

While during one of our discussions in our class, we came to a conclusion that frisbees are the most bought toys. So we all figured, why not make up-cycled frisbees? Now, how will the learning stated above help us? Well, the distance and displacement will help us understand how the frisbee moves thus, helping us make frisbees based on that. We can open the frisbee in a net shape and figure out its surface area to understand how big the frisbee needs to be and most importantly, to help us record and document it. 

And this is my journey so far. 

#gamebasedlearning
#joyouslearning
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
​#inspiringconfidentlearners
#becomingchangemakers
​

The class was in progress,  the Annual Day was just around the corner and our 5- 6 year olds were winding up their discussions on what costume they would like to explore for their dance this year. It was almost snack time when A asked me for the time.

A: Ma'am, how many minutes for snack break?
Me: we have 10 more minutes.
A: (exclaiming) O My God! 600 seconds! 
Me: (almost not noticing the Wow! ) is it?

(I quickly realized there was more to it and made a mental calculation to find out it was right)

Me: Hey, how did you know it was 600 seconds?
A: I had counted the seconds for 5 minutes it was 300 seconds. I doubled it for 10 minutes, which is 600 seconds. 

Children were recently introduced to the concept of clock and in parallel they were also learning basic single digit addition and subtraction. A being able to apply the two concepts together in context show the depth at which he has perceived the  concept. 

When children connect their learning to their day to day life, they begin to find purpose in what they are learning which helps them build interest and when the interest is built, they take joy in going beyond and exploring in depth. We at SM believe in making learning contextual and purposeful making it worthy of every child's time. 

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

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#wowmoments
#learningconceptsfunway

It was movement workshop at SM and in the class of 3 to 4 year old's, children and facilitators were having a busy conversation on what an obstacle race means and what are some of the obstacles that children face in their lives. 

You may wonder, do 3 to 4 year old's understand what obstacles are? do they face obstacles?

As they explored what an obstacle race is and they knew what they need to do when they encounter and obstacle in the race, when we went ahead to wonder about what obstacles means to them in life, they did not find it complicated, they went,

A -"Ma'am when I'm colouring the pencil lead keeps breaking, that is an obstacle"

R - Who was snacking during the online class said, "I'm eating kadala (Peanuts) now so I cannot speak, it is an obstacle"

R - who reflected post class and shared, "When I'm doing my take home, my Mumma is the only obstacle, she keeps telling me what to do" 

Now that children are exploring the race and learning to overcome obstacles in the race children are in the process of learning to overcome their life's obstacles through growth mindset. 

At SM everything that children learn revolves around purpose and the connection they make towards  their lives, which makes them learners who experience and practice their learning and not mere hoarders of knowledge.

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

#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#21stcenturylearning
#reggioinspiredlearning
#sportsmanship

Don't coach your child to win in the playground at any cost. Life is not a playground and children need to learn that when they strive to win at any cost they actually lose. They lose friendship, they lose respect, they lose trust, they lose joy, they lose the ability to learn from failure, they lose a little bit of themselves in the process of being inhumane with the others. 

Parents need to understand that when your child interacts with the world out there she is going to struggle and feel pain. The pain of broken friendships, broken trusts, broken promises, broken expectations and broken dreams. It is not our battle to fight. It's not our shame or guilt to feel. It's our chance to coach,mentor, be present but let them feel, let them learn and let them decide.

It's our choice to make, to show them that life doesn't resemble a playground. That people who don't have a common goal or purpose in life don't randomly come together every evening to figure things out and hurt each other in the process. It's just a phase of your life and you have a choice to make on whom to play with and whom to trust. At no cost should we teach them to win at all costs, to return an unkind word with another, to return an abuse or hurt with another. We will not be holding up to the promise we made of making this world a slightly better place than when we came in. We will not be doing our bit. 

Then, what do we do? When the child is hurt and sad? Feeling low and out on his own? 

Tell him he is being strong for not having hurt back. Teach him what it means to stand up for himself and show his strength through that. Show him how to use empathy to respond with some care and not take s*** from others ever. 

But, before you do any of this, look at yourself long and hard into  your internal mirror and ask yourself, "If I were in that playground how would I handle the hurt?" If the answer is not what you are teaching the child then learn the kinder, the more empathetic way and THEN practice it together.

Contributed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Founder of Sparkling Mindz Global School, Preschool, & Afterschool

#everychildcan
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#sparklingmindzglobal
#21stcenturylearning

As our 5-6 year olds examined the collapsed bee hive and wonder how it would have plummeted, they came up with their hypothesis of different events that could have occurred for the hive to collapse. 

E: The hive got heavier and heavier and heavier and that's why it fell down. 

An: (A wondered after listening to E) When they were still working and the hive falls, the air comes in right? Why did they not get out of the hive? 

E: When the hive was falling down, the bees might have known and some of the bees flew away. 

Av: In case the bees are sleeping, how will they know the hive is falling? 

An: Bees don't sleep, they only work 

Av: They sleep in the night and bats come and break, Bat is a bee eater, you know that? (He continues) I think I know, so, the bees sleep at night and are awake in the morning whereas, Bats sleep in the morning and wake up at night. That's why I think the bat's used their claws and cut the bee hive and no one knew. 

T: (Questioning Av's hypothesis) But, there is a night security at school, why didn't he take care of it? 

Av: But for the Bats, he can't do anything, if he comes near the Bats, they might poke him. Also, he cannot see the Bats because it's too up. 

It was interesting to see how children tried to make logical connections with the knowledge they had. An open discussion like this enable children to bring about their thoughts and ideas and expand their connections helping them develop their thinking muscle 

#reggioemiliainspiredlearning
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
​
Contributed by Yashika CG, Learning Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.