At SM, the facilitators have something called an Inspirational Standup (ISU) every morning right before the classes commence. The purpose is to get inspired for the day, perhaps, even for life, and to find deeper connections and purposes in what we do. ISU usually includes reading a write up, watching a video, listening to a poem, playing a game, learning a new dance as a team, and such. The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating a new ISU. 

As we sat today in the front space of the school thinking about what we could do for the day's ISU, we agreed to observe the three children who were playing in the mirror cave, completely engaged in their little game, and ponder on the emotions they could be feeling. We agreed on 5 minutes to observe, then discuss after. The purpose for this exercise was to make stepping into the shoes of another and empathize deeper, consciously. 

We chose this exercise today as we had sat for a training session yesterday and discussed on the importance of empathizing with another to solve problems deeper and create more awareness within ourselves about another person's thought patterns. So what better way to practice what we preach at SM about depth, vulnerability, connectedness...than to take perspectives?!

As the minutes progressed, we stopped after what seemed like 2 minutes to share our experiences. What came out was deeper than what we planned for!

Facilitator 1: I saw them experiencing curiosity, happiness, calmness, joy, sense of trust, sense of brotherhood and a family bonding, feeling at home, love. 
Facilitator 2 and 3 were smiling ear to ear at this point, realizing almost all of their observations were covered too. 
Facilitator 2 added, "Yes! I also noticed awkwardness from Ved when he noticed that we were watching them." 

The discussion went on for another minute or so, adding more layers to what we thought they were experiencing during those moments when were observing them. This is when we realized that a simple exercise like this added so much more value to our day as we consciously stepped in and out of children's shoes to understand how they felt and what we could do to help them move forward. Not just children, even stepping in other people's shoes help us move forward from stuck moments that involve them. 

We also realized how we don't need to search far and wide for inspiration; it's just around the corner! All it takes is to be mindful for a minute and look around with an open and non- judgemental mind. And the world is all ours to grab!

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

​I was having a conversation with children today on putting effort and how it's not easy, yet we do it. We reflected on it during our facilitators meeting. It inspired me to write a poem. Sharing...

Everyday 
I choose a fight
With my time
On what's right 

I choose to grow 
I choose the pain
I choose the joy
From deep within 

Everyday 
I choose to talk
With care
And deep thought

I choose to grow 
I choose the pain
I choose the joy
From deep within 

Everyday 
I choose to work
To make an impact 
For what it's worth

I choose to grow 
I choose the pain
I choose the joy
From deep within 

Most times I win
Even when I don't
I still choose the fight
As it's worth my might

If our children saw everyday as a challenge to grow and make themselves better. If they just started to see themselves as worthy of great things we would see them pushing themselves and picking battles that are worthy of everyone's time. 

Contributed by Sreeja Iyer, Founder, Sparkling Mindz Global School and Preschool

It was time for all the preschoolers to go home. But Pari was just not in the mood to go get her bag. She had tears in her eyes instead. 

Pari: I am upset. 
"What happened Pari?"
Pari: Kar is not my best friend anymore. 

And she starts crying. 
Kar walks by, we call him and he comes in with his bag and hat, all set to go home. 

"Pari called me Bad Kar!"

Pari looks at him, keeps crying, expecting him to apologize. But he doesn't. 

Unfortunately, the situation was not resolved. 

"Pari and Kar, can you please talk to each other?"

Pari:" I am upset."
Kar:" I was also upset when you said that."

That was the end of their discussion. Upon hearing that the words she chose to say to Kar had made him upset too, she quit. She turned around and walked away. It was also time for her to leave as the van was waiting to leave for the drop. Kar looked lost and unresolved. We talked about resolving it on Monday when we meet again and parted for the day. 

Monday arrived and they came back together to talk about it. 

Kar:" She called me a bad boy."
Pari, with her hands folded and face angry:" He came and closed it!"
Kar: "I was making door"

"Door for what?"
Kar:" Car. They were making a car!"

"Oh! Pari , he was helping you make a door for your car!"

Pari's face broke out into a smile, "Oh..."

The whole mood of the situation elevated into pleasant smiles. 

"Kar, but if you want the play with somebody, don't you think you should ask them and then do the necessary things?"

Kar nodded a yes. 

"Pari, next time you don't like something, you can always tell them what it is that you don't like about what they are doing, instead of calling them a bad boy or girl."

Pari, still smiling also nods a yes. And they walked back to class in harmony. Pari pulled Kar's cheek to show affection and happily went back to play. 

The situation stayed with them for more than 2 whole days, unresolved. It was necessary to get them together and resolve their issue. Even if as adults we perceive these issues as 'little', it could be a great deal of distress for them, and is necessary that these loops get closed. It sure is beautiful how a lot of emotions got processed and conveyed throughout this little episode, from anger, hurt, compassion and kindness, calmness, etc. Children are capable of so much more than we realize and it is important to keep an open mind when we are with them. It all makes it worth the while in the end.


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

"OWH!" cried out Sid, and he looked at me.
I kept quiet to see how this situation would progress or get resolved. 

After a few seconds of silence and staring at each other, Sid asks Adit," Would you like it if I took this bat and hit you?" 

Adit had hit Sid with the table tennis racket while playing. It was purely accidental as Adit aimed for the bat and not Sid's hand. Adit, a 5 year old Joey and Sid, a 4 year old Cub, stay at SM post their school hours for daycare. Their current game/fascination is tennis that they play with plastic table tennis rackets. 

"No", said Adit, feeling bad, looking at Sid. 
"Then why did you do it?", asked Sid, hoping for more clarity. 
"I thought this was the bat", replied Adit. 
Sid thought for a second and continued, "Let's not play this game anymore." And he walked off with Adit into the daycare room, to play with something more gentle. 

Children are capable of standing up for themselves and making rational decisions. Every child knows what they like and dislike. And they deserve to be respected. When they are trusted that they can stand up for themselves and make the right decisions, and given the right vocabulary, they can do anything in this world. 


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

It's Poetic Soiree time of the year again and the preschoolers are busy practising their poems. The two 4 year olds in Cubs class at SM Preschool were reciting their poem called Invention by Shel Silverstein, which goes like,

I've done it, I've done it!
Guess what I've done!
Invented a light that plugs into the sun.
The sun is bright enough,
The bulb is strong enough
But, oh, there's only one thing wrong...
The cord ain't long enough.

Post this recital, the Cubs weren't happy with leaving the ending in a way where the invention seemed useless. So together they solved the problem, and came up with an extension to the poem with the help of the facilitator,

' So I take six ladders,
Put them together as one.
Then I take a few cords,
Attach them together
And plug it into the sun!'

Children used empathy as a tool here to come up with solutions. They stepped into the shoes of the poet, became the poem and realized that they could help figure out what the poet can do to make the invention work! At first they were unhappy with the original ending, as they found it ending with a problem and not a solution. And almost immediately, with no intervention required, they started exploring various solutions for the same. They moved around the class, pretending the sun to be at a high place, having a short cord, asking each other what they can do. And in a matter of less than 5 minutes, they solved it together as a group! 

When children are invited to wonder, the world of curiosities open up. They step into that world and emerge out victorious with questions, solutions, answers...Perhaps that's all we need as children and adults, a safe space to wonder, be curious, ask questions and figure things out. 


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

​"Ma'am Aad broke it!" came Avi running to me holding 2 pieces of a plastic block they were playing with.

Aad looked concerned.

I bent down to the mirror cave he was sitting in with a blank expression and asked him what had happened. 

"I was playing with it and it broke", replied Aad.

"Okay. How can we fix this?" to which he said with so much hope, "I'll fix it with a glue!!!", and he runs to his class to get the glue. Aad and Av are part of the Cubs (4 year olds at SM). This happened before the class started (around 8:40am). 

He came back with 2 glue sticks and a fevistick. He realized that with the glue stick, the pieces wouldn't stick. So he switched to fevistick without a word. "I am putting only little ma'am", said Aad. Since children were pouring in too much fevicol to stick little things, we had a discussion on how much glue was too much which, he seemed to have remembered at this point and put to practice. He came to sit next to where I was sitting, trying to get it together, without giving up.

It was so evident how much he had grown as a person when I saw him not giving up on it because it's easier to give up and not try harder if the first few tries fail. 

"It's not sticking ma'am", said Aad with a perplexed expression. 

"Don't give up. Keep trying!" I reinforced. And he followed suit. He did not give up.  

It was 9:05am, which meant, it was time for the preschool children at SM to go into their respective classes to begin their day. As I was calling them all in to the class from the front space of the school, Aarav was looking around the window area , looking out, touching the surface, etc. He seemed to be in deep thoughts. As I called him too to go to his class, he stopped me and asked me, "Ma'am, how do we close the window?" 

Aarav and Aadya stared at this in wonder, trying to have an experience of opening and closing the window. After having figured it out, they happily jumped out and ran to their class with a newer dimension of thinking about how they could close the window. 

This little conversation served as a morning inspiration as it was yet another reminder about how curious children are about every little thing. And their passion to figure things out, and also helping others to figure things out. 


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

We were preparing for the upcoming event in our school,  the Poetic Soiree.   In order to help the 2 - 4 year olds understand and connect to poems,  I had a discussion about nursery rhymes.  The children got excited and started reciting the rhymes that they knew.  And then we discussed about how " Twinkle Twinkle little star" was about curiosity and how " Johnny Johnny, 'yes papa!'" was a funny poem/rhyme.  

We also discussed about how every poem had a title followed by the poet's name. Then I asked children if they would like to come up with their own poems. Rishi got excited about the idea of signing his own name as the poet and  said he wanted to attempt one.  And he rattled off so spontaneously that I had to rush for a pen to jot down his ideas. He chose to make a poem about his favourite colour,  blue.  His poem went like this:

"Blue,  blue,
How you got into the sky?"

He paused and when I asked if he wanted to add few more lines, he said,

"You are so beautiful, 
You are so cute."

And then  he came up with a title, "Blue ". After jotting down his poem on the board,  I asked him,  what would be the poet's name and he said with an air of pride, "Rishi Mukherjee!" 

The 3 to 4 year olds at SM were having their Movement Song today and they were running, walking, jumping, clapping, singing...and just pretending to be different animals. Post this, the facilitator thought it would be a good idea to sing '5 little monkeys' to get the whole class together when they started to run all over the place. As soon as they started the rhyme, the facilitator was in for a surprise! The rhyme took a whole new turn itself! They wanted to be dragons instead. So we sang...as follows:

5 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said,
No more dragons...

S: Ma'am, dragons don't get hurt. They get up say arrrrrrrrr and fly away. 
F: Okay. 
5 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Then he got up and..?
 
At this point they are all making dragon sounds. 
S: Then he got up and started flying because he's so strong. He doesn't get hurt. 

F: okay so how about,
5 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"

They all were strong dragons at this point, enacting the whole thing out, screaming "arrrrrr"... 

F: And then? 
Collectively: He flew to the sky. 
F: Awesome! 

'Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!'
F: Does that sound okay?

S: YES!!!
F: Let's do it then!

The new song is as follows:

5 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"
Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!

4 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"
Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!

3 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"
Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!

2 little dragons flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"
Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!

1 little dragon flying in the sky,
One fell off and bumped his head.
He got up and said "Arrrrrrrrr"
Opened his wings and flew back to the sky!

They loved this new rhyme that they co-created and have been pretending to be dragons ever since. They had to be brought back to reality by calling their names to shake the dragons off and come back to class again as themselves. 

Magic arrives and manifests when children are left to be themselves in the class. They truly become co-creators of their own learning, and enjoy the whole show. There was no facilitator in the class at that point, just a bunch of curious individuals who love to learn together!

The day for the 3 to 4 year olds had just begun where they all sat down after the Welcome Song. Since the new academic year has just been kick started, they were all pondering on the new things they were about to learn this year, things that they remember from last year, etc. 
They are currently in Cubs (3-4 years). The hierarchy at SM goes like this, 
Guppies, Pups, Calves, Cubs, Joeys, Dolphins, Leopards, Falcons and Unicorns (from 1.5 year olds to 18year olds) and An seemed curious. 

An: What is after Joeys, ma'am?
Facilitator (F): Dolphins. 
An: And then?
F: Then we have Leopards, Falcons and Unicorns.
Av: They are all animal names. 
F: Yes, absolutely!
An, not having registered Av's comment continues: It will take us a long time to get there. 
F: Yeah, a few years. Which is awesome because you will get to learn so much and have so much fun doing it too!!
An, looking like she's given up: Ahh, so tiring ma'am. We'll be so tired by then. 
F: What do you mean?
An: School is so boring ma'am. All these letters and numbers and activities. I don't want to come. 
F: Why do you feel like that? Because the An that I know loves to come and learn things. 
An (nodding a clear no): No I don't. I don't want to learn any of these. They are boring. I get so tired. It's so tiring. 

An has been visibly quite off since the morning, so the Facilitator asked her a couple more questions, which seemed to just go in the loops of 'tiring' and 'boring' and an overall 'quitting' mode. 

F: Are you really bored and tired, or are you just having a bad day?
An (suddenly sitting up, giving it a second to think, seemingly more clear in her thoughts now): I'm just having a bad day. 
F: What happened?
An: I didn't sleep well. I woke up to drink water. 

Then she was taken through the loops she had created in her head which connected school and her overall energy for that day, and given more clarity which she then agreed to that they were two separate things after all.
​
F: So you're saying you didn't sleep well and woke up at night and you're tired because of that?
An nods in agreement.
F: Does it still mean that you consider school boring and tiring? And you don't like the activities?
An: No I think I am just tired today. 
F: okay. See you just mixed it here. You were feeling tired because you didn't sleep well and you thought you didn't like school because of how tired you felt. See these two are not connected. 
An nodding in agreement: Yeah. 

She seemed to have resolved that little loop she had created and the rest of the day went by smooth for her and her energy seemed high too. 

It's important to help children see perspective and let them talk and figure things out for themselves without jumping in and resolving things immediately. Understanding their thought patterns and going deeper is essential to resolve conflicts and move ahead. What happened with this 4 year old was an important lesson for the child and the rest of the children who were listening to this conversation because it helped them see perspective and probably resolve things quicker later. 


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