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India came alive "on the stroke of midnight, in 1947!" This is what we have commonly heard. Though an independent, post-colonial India was born in 1947 - is India just 77 years old? What is the full story of the history of India? When did the story begin? As we gear up to celebrate Independence Day - let's discover! #sparklingmindzglobal #inspiringconfidentlearners #freedomstruggle #independencedayevent  As we gear up towards the Independence Day event, the spirit of our Nation is visible throughout the school premises, manifesting in creative sparks among all the children. Using all their might, each of them is putting their all forward in making this happen.
Whether it is learning new skills, working with new team members, challenging themselves to take up new roles, supporting each other, staying open and flexible to feedback and changes, creating props, or building mastery over the lines/movements/song lyrics, passion beams through them all. At Sparkling Mindz Global , an event is not just an output. It is a living, breathing system that gets practiced and mastered over time. It is nothing but a celebration. This time, we do it for #India for our #IndependenceDay . #sparklingmindzglobal #inspiringconfidentlearners #independencedayevent #freedomstruggle #everychildcan  'To love another unconditionally is to love self unconditionally first. To do that, it is to believe that one is fully worthy of love just because they exist on this planet.' But what does it mean to love myself or another unconditionally? What if I make mistakes? What if things do not go based on my expectations? If I asked my child if they thought I loved them, what would they say? What does it take to raise a child and provide a safe, nurturing space? What does it mean to raise a child who is purpose driven and safe for themselves? What does it mean for me as a parent? Parenting IS a skill. Nobody is born a parent. Having a nurturing instinct to parent and developing the necessary skillset to be a parent are two different aspects in parenthood. It is a journey. First Stop : Empathy Second Stop : Unconditional Love #sparklingmindzglobal #inspiringconfidentlearners #parentingasaskill #parentdiaries  In our vibrant preschool classroom, where creativity flows freely and every child’s imagination is celebrated, a heartwarming story unfolds that showcases the power of friendship and support among our young learners. One morning, our 4-5 year olds were engaged in painting their holiday experience, G was happily working on her painting when she accidentally spilled water all over her paper. She looked distressed and unsure of what to do next. "I need another paper," she said, her voice trembling with worry. P, noticing G’s predicament, immediately offered a reassuring smile. "It’s okay, put more paint on it. It will dry," she suggested kindly. Her words were filled with the wisdom of someone who had faced similar situations before and had learned to turn them into opportunities. V, another classmate who had overheard the conversation, chimed in supportively. "Yes, that’s how I did it one day," he said, recalling his own experience with a similar mishap. His encouragement added weight to P’s suggestion, showing G that it was possible to make something beautiful out of what seemed like a mistake. Encouraged by her friends, G decided to give it a try. She hesitated at first, but with renewed confidence, she dipped her brush into vibrant colors and started painting over the wet paper. As she worked, she began to see new possibilities emerging from the water stain. "Okay, it can be the machine," she declared with a smile, transforming her initial distress into a burst of creativity. What could have been a moment of frustration turned into an inspiring lesson about resilience and the importance of a supportive community. G’s experience showed that mistakes are just opportunities in disguise and that with the encouragement of friends, any challenge can be overcome. Furher focusing on learning and not about creating a perfect outcome of something. #sparklingmindzglobalpreschool #inspiringconfidentlearners #empathyinaction #everychildcan #selfexpression It’s International Day of Play!! This day is all about the importance of play in a child’s life. It encourages adults to stop whatever they are doing and step up in an hour of play with children! The day embraces and celebrates play! And SPL - Sparkling Mindz Premier League IS ALL ABOUT PLAYING! This league at Sparkling Mindz Global School brings our whole community together by pulling the parents, children and staff members onto the field.  PLAY is one of the best ways to bring a community together because it leverages the excitement of being active on the ground. SPL enables our community members to bring energy, enthusiasm and skill to the ground to collaborate, bond and most importantly HAVE FUN!   The most awaited day is here!
After 2 long months of break, our space is back to buzzling with the vibrance of what we love the most - our children! A whole lot of hugs, endless conversations, loud cheers, songs, old games being played, introduction of "Guess which game I learned to play?"...later, children are gearing up in the space to welcome the new academic year. "Which is our new class?" "Look how tall I have gotten!" "I have missed you..." "Can we be friends?" "What did you bring for snacks today?" "I have started a new hobby, you know?" ...the conversations continue as they move from space to space, with each passing minute, finding their belonging here, with the school screaming, "Back to school season is here!" What are your back to school memories? #backtoschool #inspiringconfidentlearners #sparklingmindzglobal #newacademicyear Play is an integral part in the growth and development of a child. Play helps a child meet the world in their own ways and make sense of the world around them. At Sparkling Mindz Preschool, ITP (Invitation to Play) is an opportunity for children to listen to the language of the material provided, understand and build a connection with it. In this process, they learn to express themselves and express how they see the world around them. As children started to explore the language of the playdough, two of the preschoolers, Tan & Ma took the ball of playdough and carefully stuck it at one end of the pencil and called it a lollipop.
Au also made a lollipop with a candy part in the middle of the pencil. Vi placed playdough on both the sides of the pencil and shaped one side of the dough as an inverted cone. He came to the facilitator and smelled his creation and called it a flower. Ish stuck the ball of playdough on the pencil and, fixed another pencil horizontally, called it a hot dog piggy, as she made the piggy sound. Aadh was busy stretching the playdough which he had stuck on the pencil. Children, with their play, allowed the language of playdough to speak to them as they molded it in different ways, and continuing making sense of the material and the world around them. Happy International Day of Play! #sparklingmindzglobal #inspiringconfidentlearners #beingchangemakers #play Did you know that Bengaluru was once a city of a 1000 lakes, abundant in water? Today, every Bengalurean is spending each day with the daunting question, 'What if I don't get water tomorrow?' It's true. It has become our reality where every drop counts. Collectively, we have used up/using up our future generation's water from the Earth. But how did it all begin? Was Bengaluru always like this? Moreover, is there anything we can do from our end to save our water? Yes. There is something we can all do to save our water. We the children of today are calling you, the citizens of Bangalore to save our water, our lakes, our city. Come watch “Bengaluru: Once a City of Lakes" (A Sparkling Mindz Production) inspired by the true story of Jakkuru Lake, to be part of this movement. Date: April 20th, 2024 Time:11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Venue: Bangalore International Center Book your seat here - in.bookmyshow.com/plays/bengaluru-once-a-city-of-lakes/ET00393261 or scan the QR code in the image below.  Let's raise our voice together for Bengaluru! See you there! #sparklingmindzglobalschool #inspiringconfidentlearners #watercrisis #everychildcan At SM preschool, book reading hours are always a joyful experience for both our children and the reader as we love getting together for story time. They enjoy listening, reading, imagining, and experiencing the emotions of a character in a story to its fullest. Sometimes there is so much power In a story and so much more to explore that the same storybook is revisited multiple times and each time there is always a new learning to take away. Like today, we read the book "The Day the Crayons Quit!" The story is about a pack of crayons who quit on a boy named Duncan and each crayon has written a letter to him explaining their reasons for quitting. While a book is read, we see our children make as many connections as they can from the book which helps us question and wonder and make sense of the world we live in. And so, just like how the crayons had quit, we were curious to know if our Cubs (4-5 yr olds) had experienced someone or something quitting on them and they were asked to draw and share "What are the things in your life that have quit?" The responses shared were personal and thought-provoking, to say the least. Aa shared "I quit on my sister when she does not share her things." Sia wondered and shared "I have lots of Barbies and they have quit because I don't play with all of them." Aan said, "In my body, my nose has quit on me because I have an infection and problems." Kar shared "The Crayons quit on me because I said you are not colouring properly." Ais added "The Crayons quit because I asked them " why did you come to my house?" So they said "Fine! I will not come to your house and quit."" Nal said, "I quit myself when I cry and don't solve my own problems." Adv shared "My mouth quit on me when the doctor said "Don't shout! Your voice will go!"" Joe exclaimed, "Nothing has quit in my life!" Ruh said, "My scooter quit on me because my leg will be paining." Soon after they drew and colored their creations the facilitator observed the crayons were used and left all over the classroom floor. "Looks like the crayons in our classroom are quitting on us." She said sadly. All of them exclaimed "No!!!" And cleaned up immediately as they did not want their crayons to quit on them too! Looks like the crayons did help our preschoolers in coming together, building ownership after all!  Contributed by Kruthika, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool #sparklingmindzglobalpreschool #inspiringconfidentlearners #thedaythecrayonsquit #bookreading “You came to my land!” Said a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders to another bunch of 1st and 2nd graders during a free-play session at school. They had divided a piece of the school play area within themselves and two groups had formed. This had led to a fight and some children came angry and upset.  The area marked in Blue is one land called Miners and the land marked in Red in another land called the Investigators. In a typical setting, when a bunch of children fight, adults might reprimand them or re-establish the rules or leave them with a warning or take away their access to play in the playground or call the parents and complain. Either one of these is a short-term solution, and one cannot be sure if it will lead to character-building or to developing conflict-resolution skills. These children will have more conflicts, won’t they? What shall they do then? Isn’t peaceful co-existence correlated to citizenship and nation-building? We decided to take this up in our classes as part of the social science (what we call Citizenship, World and Entrepreneurship) emergent curriculum. Part 1: Boundaries and Rules - No. NO. NO! We gathered them and had a conversation- F (Facilitator)- We heard that the 1st and 2nd graders have divided themselves into two groups and have occupied two areas of land to play. How did you demarcate your land? C (Child)- We have drawn a boundary. Saying this the child ran to show the F the boundary. F- Do you know that countries have boundaries too? C- Yes like India has its boundaries and the British came to India. (They were doing the story of Indian Independence in the classes and the child connected this discussion with that) C- When India and Pakistan partition happened, they drew a boundary. F- Now can any new person come to India now and do whatever they want to? C- No. F- Why not? C- Because we have some rules F- So when you are saying that A came into my land and did this and that K cannot take away stone from my land, what are you referring to? Imagine people come to India and do whatever they want to and when we hold them accountable, they say that it was not written anywhere that we cannot do this. With this discussion, the children went to their land on the playground, sat in their group and started to discuss amongst themselves and make the rules of their land. During the discussion, there was a disagreement between Ar and Sid Ar came to F and asked if he could join another land. In return, the F asked if he is in a country, if the citizen is unhappy with his country can he/she change nationality? Even if they could, will that help the country? The child seemed to understand and went back to his land to figure out his conflicts. When children wrote their first set of rules, the rules all started from NO. They went
Part two: Value-based Rules and Duties The F reviewed it and took it back to them. When discussing the children’s work with her team, the team realized that all the rules are made in the context of what the external person should NOT do. The rules they have made shows that the children are trying to impose and control things that are not in their Locus of Control. What they do as the citizens of that land was not very clear to them. Zooming out to the issues we have on the national level, aren't we faced with the same scenario where we go into blame and comment on what the other country or another section of the society should have done and not focus on what we could have done? While the stance of the leaders might be this and the different sects do behave like this, on a constitutional level, our country has a constitution that sets values which we can see in the preamble and the constitution talks about how the people of India can uphold the values of the constitution. So we took their rules back to them and showed them the journey of the Indian constitution, preamble, fundamental Rights and Duties. They drew the difference they felt when they read their rules and when they read the preamble. This enabled me to see what the rules are invoking in the people who are reading it? As a land and as law makers of the land, how do we want our citizens to feel? This is what they felt when they read their own rules Here is what they felt listening to the preamble of the constitution and reading the Fundamental Rights and Duties After seeing this difference, they thought about how they can redo their rules focusing on what they can do to keep their land peaceful and safe.  Children reworking on their rules through discussions and dialogues. When they redid the rules, the rules were focused on what they can do but they started from WON’T. They talked about what they will not do. Here is an example-  To this the facilitator asked- What would you like to do instead. The children then had to think about what they would do and we said that when they focused on what they could do, the rules were based on values like kindness.  Part three: Agreement to Uphold the Rules The two lands had to now come together to discuss and agree on how they will coexist in peace and maintain security. So the next day, the facilitator zoomed out their view and told them a story about the United Nations. Since the Age of Agriculture, people have fought and waged wars for land and resources. More land and resources meant more power. So for thousands of years tribes and later kingdoms and empires have waged war against each other to conquer land and resources. Even when the world moved to the modern era, countries and leaders have waged war for the same. Two such deadly wars were World War I and World War II. The amount of fear and disstruction it brought led the leaders of different countries to come together and create the United Nations. The 6 and 7 years old were able to understand this complex turn of events because it sat in their context. In their context, the two lands that were fighting now saw that they needed to come together, have a discussion and arrive at a peace treaty. Now the children of two lands came together, sat in a circle, wrote down the peace treaty after debates and discussions.  Wrting down the peace treat. It was now no longer about my or your land. It was about how we collectively work towards maintaining peace and security. The discussion was not about my play area or what if I am not able to follow the rules. It was about peace and security. Hence, through debate and discussions, they arrived at agreements that they will offer empathy to each other, they will talk and resolve issues etc.
By the end of this journey, it was no longer “My land”. It had become “Our land and maintaining peace and security in that land”. Contributed by Chaitra Neerubhavi, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School. #sparklingmindzglobalschool #inspiringconfidentlearners #peacetreaty #developingownership |
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