23 Jun '23

Dear Parents,

Finally there seems to be some respite in the weather. Hopefully it is here to stay. We have requested all kids who to keep a pair of clothes in LC so that they can get wet in rains if they get tempted to.

This semester we have made some changes in our time table. We have changed the sessions timings to include a two hour unstructured play time at the beginning. All the sessions/activities start afterwards. The sevas are right after lunch and individual time is kept at the last. One thing that we have observed after doing this is that no one complains that they didn’t get enough time to play.

Following are the sessions we have for this semester.

Introduction to Astronomy

Children are curious about the sky and darkness that envelopes it. What lies beyond it and within it? Some of the elder ones have explored a few things/concepts and have passed on their infectious interest. Few are curious and are going to stick around longer. Others are still waiting to see if this is their game.

Math

There are two sessions of Math, one by Poorva and the other by Vipul.

Language

Hindi and Marathi are the languages we are taking this time. One of the facilitators has ambitiously announced that she wants to speak in Marathi fluently at the end of this semester. Hearing this few kids rolled their eyes. Only time will tell. Almost all are taking part in these sessions. It is a delight to see everyone participating actively.

Worksheets/workbooks

Workbooks on English, EVS, Grammar and others are given to children only if they ask for it. It will largely be self directed, but facilitators will go over their work for giving guidance.

Thinking and Talking

This session is an introduction to psychology and about how our brain works. The emphasis is to understand one’s emotion and where all that emotion is coming from and its basis.

Games/Quizzes

These are different kind of group games like a version of tag layered with hide-n-seek and other games. There will also be quizzes.

Art Workshops

Shri is an artist and has agreed to conduct the arts workshop for us on alternate fridays. We used our bodies to make art yesterday. It was a group effort where we needed to create something that is at times abstract and/or concrete.

Analytical/Logical Reasoning

This is a session where we solve puzzles, riddles and play number games.

Learning

We are taking this session with the intention that children are made aware of the science behind of how to effectively learn. We thought that if children have to learn everything by themselves then let’s also show them how to do it successfully. This session is based on one of the most  famous online course called, “Learning How to Learn.” We also intend to practice the methods shown during the course. This is a module, hence will be over in four weeks.

Science and experiments

We did this last year and we hope to do some more of it and hopefully better.

We also hope to host a variety of modules this time which can include baking, electronics, singing, electrical works, embroidery, etc.

We will share the semester calendar next time.

That's all for this week,