Blog

Dec 12-22, 2022

Unit of Inquiry 

Students delved into the second line of inquiry ‘Abilities change as we grow’ by revisiting timelines of growth from birth till date. A small display corner was set up with things that they wore, played with, and ate when they were younger and what has changed now.

They compared their pictures as an infant and expressed the changes that were visible, such as they ate mashed food, wore diapers, used a bib, used a stroller, crawled etc. An assessment was conducted, where they spoke about their characteristics and abilities. They also segregated different pictures and pasted them under the right sense organ wheel.

Students were read a ‘Flip-Flap Body Book’, to understand the human body with the help of fantastic fold-out flaps. A discussion was undertaken on what happens to the food that we swallow, how a baby grows inside it’s mother and how we use the five senses, using the book. As a reflection, they visited the senior wing science laboratory, and examined a skeleton and a few major internal organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach.

 A VTR (Visible Thinking Routine), using a Hear, Think, Wonder- strategy was used to partner each student up with a buddy to listen to each other’s heartbeats with stethoscopes. Facilitator asked them what they heard, what they thought it was and what were their wonderings.

An assessment was taken up where they had to enact a body-parts rhyme or talk about the major body parts and their basic functions.

Students also explored their auditory sense using their bodies. They learned about body percussion whilst stomping and clapping to the beats of the song ‘We will Rock You’. It helped them to internalize their ability to feel the music and stay in time.

A short story on healthy/junk food was narrated and students listened to a rhyme that reinforced why healthy eating is necessary for a healthy body and mind.

As an integration to language students narrated the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ using props, and age-appropriate vocabulary. This activity was their reflection that they comprehended that growth not only happens in the human body but in animals and plants as well.

Math was integrated with the unit as students  identified patterns created by sounds using their bodies to specific rhythms.

Resources used-

We Will Rock You- Body PercussionFlip Flap Body Book

English 

Introduction to phonic sound /u/f/ was done using flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, students traced the letters on a sand tray. They also practiced writing letters in their journals.

Story on learner profile was revisited. Students reflected on which learner profile fits them best and shared it with their peers.

Formative assessment was taken wherein students listened to the instruction given by the facilitator and drew them accordingly.

Math

The concept of: greater than, lesser than and equal to was introduced using different class manipulatives. Students were encouraged to use symbols (>,<,=) for  appropriate number cards.  As a follow up, they practiced writing the same in their journals.

Students explored capacity through hands on activity making them aware of the concept of measurement. They were familiarized with new terminology such as empty, half and full.

Concept of before after and in between numbers was revisited.

Hindi

Introduction to two letter words was undertaken with flashcards and real life objects.

Formative assessment of vyanjan (ब/स/न/ल) was conducted wherein students matched the pictures with their initial sounds.

Take and talk was conducted wherein the students spoke about fruits and vegetables enhancing their communication skills.

Students were familiarized with the names of birds and animals through flashcards enhancing their vocabulary skills.

Music

Students participated in carols singing wherein they learned to sing “Jingle Bells” (in English and Hindi) with the enactment, they also did some vocal warm-ups before signing to enhance their voice quality.

ICT

Students recapitulated numeric concepts of backward counting to strengthen their understanding of numbers through an iPad app. They also enjoyed working on an online puzzle app wherein they put together the pieces to form pictures related to Christmas.

 PHE

Students participated enthusiastically in learning different skills of cricket and football .They worked through various obstacle courses  during their class which mainly led to the development of  balance, coordination and agility .In cricket they learned to grip the bat and hit the ball by taking proper stance,they even performed throwing and catching the ball whereas in football they performed drills involving kicking and receiving the ball with the shoelace part. All of them portrayed a dynamic sportsmanship spirit by communicating their challenges and by working as a team.

Dance

Students of Joeys developed their motor skills in dance class by performing a variety of steps and movements. They learned how to control their bodies and coordinate their movements in time with  music. They also developed their spatial awareness, balance, coordination, and flexibility.

SEL

In continuation of the story the The Bernstein Bears and the ‘Joy of Giving’ students extended their learning by celebrating the joy of giving, by making cards for their peers and appreciating them for the different learner profile attributes they displayed.

Visual art 

Students created a triangle shaped Reindeer. They cut and glued the triangle for the face; they completed it with paint and glued a small white shiny nose made of foil and used a black marker to draw the eyes. Students were able to make it independently and managed their time effectively. They created a colourful Christmas tree. They traced shapes and coloured the shapes with paint and pasted ornaments. They explored different objects, textures, shapes and colours while creating a colourful Christmas tree.

Library

“Be like the Christmas tree; evergreen, shining, full of lights and full of gifts.” – Shri Shri Ravishankar

Students inquired about sustainable Christmas trees during the library lesson. The book tree was displayed to them by the librarian. They also talked about finding responsible ways to dispose of trees once used.

As an extension to the discussion, students listened to a truly beautiful and heart-warming story of ‘Panda’s Christmas Gifts by Tara Jaye Morrow’ and learned about the importance of kindness. They also shared how they would celebrate the festival at home.

Nov 14 – 25, 2022

Unit of Inquiry 

Delving further into the unit, students were taken on a nature walk wherein they observed their immediate environment and inquired using their five senses. Subsequently, they were engaged in an activity using the VTR (Visible Thinking Routine) strategy Think, Pair and Share. They identified birds, fishpond, school gate, goats bleating, cows mooing, cowbells ringing, smell of lemon leaves, basil leaves, rough texture of the bark on trees, etc.

Students participated in a sensorial activity where they relied on their visual sense. They mixed  primary colours to create secondary colours. A scavenger hunt game was played, where they created a colour wheel using objects from their immediate environment as a reflection. A discussion was led by the facilitator on how we can take care of our sense of sight.

 Students explored various taste buds (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami) present on their tongues by tasting various food items during another hands-on activity. 

To enhance learning with the senses, an apple was used to explore the five senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Blindfolded, students took turns to touch, feel and smell the apple and received a tactile experience of the round, hard and smooth surface. Later students tasted the apple and were asked to observe the sounds made when they chewed the apple while covering their ears.

Resources used:

Found Objects Colour Wheel

My Five Senses by Aliki

English 

Introduction to phonic sound – ‘b’ was done with flashcards and real-life objects. As a follow-up activity, they traced the letter using the sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with illustrations. They also practiced writing letters in their journals.

Students honed their language articulation and prediction skills by predicting the outcomes of the story by looking the cover page. Parts of a book were reinforced.

 Reinforcement of blending 3 sounds was done using moveable alphabets.

Math

Reinforcement of 2D shapes was undertaken wherein students had a choice of choosing 2D cutout shapes  and creating something out of them, enhancing their creative thinking skills.  

Introduction to number 10 was done using different class manipulatives with focus on place value mat. As an extension children wrote the number in their journals.

The concept of odd and even numbers was introduced using number rods, number cards and counters.

Hindi

Students were introduced to parts of the body with action rhymes सिर, कंधे, घुटने और पैर

Introduction to vyanjan ‘र’ was undertaken with flashcards and a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter on a sand tray. Subsequently, students practiced tracing the vyanjan using colours and wrote it in their journals.

A class discussion was done on the story मेरा परिवार. Subsequently, students illustrated their family members.

Students were encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle with a story स्वस्थ्य कौन.

Music

Students were introduced to basic dynamics wherein they learned about soft and loud music.

They also sang ‘Family song’ and ‘Honeybun’ songs in groups with actions.

ICT

Students were introduced to an iPad app ‘Tiggly Draw’. They made beautiful patterns using shapes in the ‘Tiggly Draw’ app. They used their imagination and created imaginary creatures of different emotions like angry monsters, using different tools in the app. Students had fun exploring the app. 

 PHE

The students participated enthusiastically in learning different skills of cricket, gymnastics, and aerobics. Various obstacle courses performed during their class led to the development of their balance, coordination, and agility. In cricket, they learned to grip the bat and take the proper stance. All of them portrayed dynamic sportsmanship spirit by communicating their challenges and by working as a team.

Visual art 

Students were pleased to learn about the stunning art of thread painting. By dipping a thread, piece of yarn, or thin string into paint and folding it between the halves of a page before pulling it downward, they created patterns and images. They felt confident to create patterns and colour combinations all on their own. They also enjoyed free expression using paint and brush.

Students learned the process of painting a background with water colours using the wet-on-wet technique. Before making objects, students learned to make coloured backgrounds first. They could very easily blend into the two background colours to avoid any clear boundary lines between two different colours

SEL

Students were introduced to breathing exercise which helped them settle down. Further to understand how being different is unique and makes things special, students were engaged in a hands-on activity. Initially, they were shown blocks and paper cut-outs of the same shape and colour and asked to create something out of those which led to reflections like ‘it is not fun’. After that, the class was divided into two groups one group got a set of lego blocks and another group got paper cut-outs in different colours and shapes. They were encouraged to display their creativity by using the given material. After a while, both groups swapped their manipulatives to develop their social skills for sharing. Students could reflect when there were manipulatives in different colours and shapes, the fun factor was more and they could create more things. This helped them understand how being different is important. Carrying forward the engagement from the previous week, students understood that differences are an important part of  growing up. They were engaged in a craft activity to create a poster for their class saying

“We Celebrate Differences, Everyone is Welcome Here”. They were given white paper cut-outs to make a colorful pattern of their choice. They also did hand-printing on the colorful background. Their artwork was collated into a poster.

Dance

Joeys started their dance class with a basic stretching routine where everyone did some simple stretches and jumping jacks. After the stretching routine, the teacher played some music for the class to start dancing. Joeys have started to follow instructions and are enthusiastically performing their current dance routine. Basic walk across the floor was also included in  class to improve footwork and coordination.

Library

 “Washing your hands is the best way to stop germs from spreading.”

The class started with a discussion of when are the best times to wash your hands with the help of the following questions:

• when your hands are dirty
• before eating or touching food (like if you’re helping cook or bake, for example)
• after using the bathroom
• after blowing your nose or coughing
• after touching pets or other animals
• after playing outside
• before and after visiting a sick relative or friend

As an extension of the same, little learners listened to a story named “I don’t want to wash my hands” by Tony Ross. The Little Princess in the story preferred not to wash her hands. She had cleaned her hands numerous times after all. But in the end, she found that the best way to be safe and healthy was to routinely wash her hands. It motivated students to exercise health and safety. Their self-management skills and learner profile trait of being “Balanced” were also enhanced by this. They also found joy in crafting a stick puppet of the little princess.

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Oct 31- Nov 11, 2022

Unit of inquiry

Targeted lines of inquiry: Our characteristics and abilities

                                     How abilities change

Students arranged their old photographs ranging from their infancy to toddlers and created a timeline. A discussion was undertaken on;

• How they have grown and changed
• Developed a range of fine and gross motor skills
• How their bodies change as they grow.

Students observed their own physical characteristics by looking into the mirror. They then illustrated and expressed their likes and dislikes.

This helped them to develop their critical thinking skills by analyzing and observing closely.

The facilitator showed a presentation and explained different stages of growth as seen in an infant, then a toddler, a teenager (adolescence), an adult and finally old age. Furthermore, rhymes and stories were enacted and narrated for vocabulary development and enhancement of listening skills. Rhymes – growing and changing, scrub-a-dub-dub

English

Introduction to phonic sound – ‘r’ and ‘m’ was done with flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using the sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with the illustrations .They also practiced writing letters in their journals.

As a reinforcement of sounds a bingo game was played, this helped them to enhance their listening skills.

Resource used: Rebecca Radish, Phonics Story M 

Math

Integration of math was done with Halloween celebrations. A dice was rolled. Students drew hands/ eyes/ mouth/nose corresponding to the number of dots that appeared on the face of the dice.

Students were familiarized with 2D shapes (square, rectangle, triangle and circle) with objects from the immediate environment. A scavenger hunt game was played too.

Hindi

Students were narrated a short story ‘चालाक लाल मुर्गी ‘. This was followed by a class discussion on the moral of the story.

Introduction to vyanjan ‘‘स’’ was undertaken with the help of various activities. The facilitator showed images of objects beginning with the same vyanjan for vocabulary development. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter using a sand tray. Subsequently, students practiced tracing the vyanjan using colours to understand letter formation.

As reinforcement, students wrote vyanjan ‘न’ in their journal. 

Students were familiarized to secondary colours with manipulatives and were asked to get the corresponding colour objects to the teacher.

Music

Students of Joey learned the concept of solfege wherein each one was asked to sing the solfege syllable (Do Re Mi) using Kodaly hand signs to reinforce their understanding of solfege.

ICT

Students played an interactive comparison game in which they learned to compare sizes by estimating length, height, and width. They also learned the comparative vocabulary of biggest, smallest, shortest, longest, and tallest.

PHE

Students performed various obstacles courses which included crossing the tunnel, crawling, jumping over the cones, hurdle races and hopscotch which helped them to enhance their gross motor skills and overall physical fitness.

They even walked on the balancing beam and performed various stretches and warm up exercises which helped to improve balance and body stability.

Dance

In this week students started their class with just dance activity for full body warmup for example- toe touching, roll, twist and jumps.

Students learnt a new pop style routine on the song named gummy bear. These routines are also related to pop music songs from pop music groups

Classes then were followed by basic walk across the floor to music.

SEL

Students were introduced to the breathing exercise which helped them settle down for the class. Further to understand how being different is unique and makes things special, students were engaged in a hands-on activity. Initially they were shown blocks and paper cut-outs of the same shape and colour and asked to create something out of those which led to reflections like ‘it is not fun’. After that the class was divided in two groups and one group got a set of lego blocks and another group got paper cut-outs in different colours and shapes. They were encouraged to display their  creativity by using the given material. After a while both groups swapped their manipulatives to develop their social skills for sharing. Students could reflect when there were manipulatives in different colours and shapes,  fun factor was more and they could create more things. This helped them understand how being different is important.

Visual art

Students were pleased to learn about the stunning art of thread painting. By dipping a thread, piece of yarn, or thin string into paint and folding it between the halves of a page before pulling it downward, they created patterns and images. They felt confident to create patterns and colour combinations all of their own. They also enjoyed free expression using paint and brush.

Library

“Friends are the people who make you smile brighter, laugh louder and live better.”

The class started with a discussion of the following questions:

What is a friend?

Why do we need a friend?

Who is your best friend?

How do you feel when you are with your best friend?

An extension of the same saw little learners listen to a story named “I want my friend” by Tony Ross. In the story, the little princess was tired of playing with her younger brother and was thrilled to be starting school the next day. However, when her first attempts to make friends with other children failed, she was left all alone. Fortunately, she soon found other children with no friends, and they decided to play together, sit together, eat together…

This outstanding narrative concentrated on the challenging process of creating friends. It demonstrated a deft comprehension of a child’s perspective.

It inspired students to face their concerns and make new friends. Their social skills and learner profile trait of attempting to be “Courageous” were also enhanced by this.

Sponsored Content

Oct 10-Oct 21, 2022

Unit of inquiry

Culmination on the unit play was undertaken with students reflecting on their favourite experiment/activity and expressing their opinions.

Students commenced their second unit under the Transdisciplinary Theme – Who we are.

Central Idea: Identities change as we grow

Key concepts and Lines of Inquiry

·       Form – Our characteristics and abilities

·       Change – How abilities change

·       Responsibility – Ways to reflect on growth

As provocation to the 1st line of inquiry ‘Reasons for celebrations’, students played a game  ‘who was the baby in the picture?’. They actively participated and identified various items such as diapers, teethers, rattles, onesie and feeding bottles, used by them as infants.



English

Reinforcement of beginning, medial and ending sound was done with interactive presentation.

Introduction of phonic sound – ‘e’ was done with flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray. VTR –NDA (name, describe, act) strategy was used to enhance their vocabulary skills with the illustrations .They also practiced writing the letter in their journals.

ImageUpload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.UploadSelect ImageInsert from URL

ImageUpload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.UploadSelect ImageInsert from URL

Math

Tuning into the concept of weight, students were introduced to the concept of heavy and light with different class manipulatives. To strengthen their understanding of the concept, students compared two objects and sorted them into light or heavy. They understood that big objects could be lighter and small objects could be heavier. They also developed vocabulary related to weight – light, lighter, heavy, heavier. Introduction to numbers ‘8, and 9’ was done using number rods, spindles and class manipulatives. Furthermore, students practiced formation using a sand tray, tactile number cards and subsequently wrote the number ‘9’ in their math journal.



Hindi                                                                                                                                     

Students formed the vyanjan ‘ब’, ‘न’ and ‘ल’using play doh  as a reinforcement.  Introduction of vyanjan ‘स’  was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter using a sand tray. As a follow up activity they practiced writing ‘ल’ from crayon in their journals.

Music

Students in Joey sang “A Gift to You” song in groups to enhance their singing and listening skills.

They also played dance freeze in their class to make it more interesting.



ICT

Students loved working on the laptop. They learned to hold and move the computer mouse through a Mouse Control game. It helped students to develop fine motor skills in order to control a computer mouse. They found it a little challenging to hold the mouse but quite enjoyed working on the laptop.

PHE

Students enthusiastically participated in the warm up exercises and different drills performed during their class .They were encouraged to use their loco motor and non locomotor skills in order to develop rythmic responses therefore enhancing their balance, posture and coordination.

It also led to the enhancement of their social skills as they were focused to remember the activities, and communicating with each other led to the development of interpersonal relationships by portraying the characteristics of true sportsman.

Dance

Students commenced with a thorough warm-up and flexibility development exercises. A freestyle dance routine was also introduced on the song name Toca Toca. Activity based on identifying feelings of the movement was also done. A basic walk across the floor was also rehearsed with the music.

SEL

Students were taught to manage different emotions and feelings using the metaphor of Lion and Sheep. They identified the traits of a lion and how he roars and compared it to a sheep who is calmer. They connected these traits to situations where they might have felt the same. Further as school celebrated Mental Health Awareness month, students were engaged in reflecting on different feelings and the effect of these feelings on their mental and physical health. They brainstormed how mental health is equally important as physical health. They also discussed the importance of sleep, food, physical activities and routine in our daily life.



Visual art

For Diwali art activity, students learned a traditional method of decoration. They practiced connecting dots to make rangoli.They explored the colourful Diwali patterns as they learned about India and Diwali. They also learned to make paper lanterns in their online classes.



Library

“Diwali is a symbol of hope for humankind. May it bring universal compassion, an inner joy of peace, love and the awareness of unity to all.” Happy Diwali!

During library lessons, students listened to the story “Hurray for Diwali” and joined Gittoo and his family, who were gearing up for Diwali, the festival of lights. The whole family was involved in clearing the house, removing  unused and old stuff for upcycling, making sweets, and gearing up to receive family from outstation for the festival. They also listened to Gittoo’s mother, who explained the story behind Diwali and the Laxmi Puja that marked Diwali. They were able to form personal connections and exchange ideas about how they would commemorate the festival.

Sept 19-Oct 07,2022

Unit of inquiry

As a part of the unit on play, a take and talk activity on ‘This is my favourite play corner…/My favourite play is… ’ was scheduled. Students chose relevant puppets, toys, props, and games to showcase their understanding on play as they spoke about their ideas.

Students learnt about  important points to be considered while buying toys and keeping them safe at home.

Delving deeper into the 2^nd line of inquiry – Imaginative use of everyday material, students enjoyed creating animal puppets using paper, stick and toilet roll.

As a formative assessment, students created a story using the puppets made in class.

Moving ahead into the 3rd line of inquiry- How new understandings develop through play

students were familiarized with different materials which they touched, felt and in the process also enhanced their vocabulary skills.

English

Reinforcement of phonic sounds was done for play with a VTR  – Think, Pair and share

Introduction of phonic sound – ‘c’, ‘ k’, ‘t’, and ‘h’ was done with flash cards and real life objects. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray and were encouraged to illustrate few things that begin with the /k//t/ sound in their journals. They also practiced writing the letters in their journals.

Math

The concept of non-standard measurement was undertaken using body parts and objects like blocks/ bottle caps and dominos. Students measured length of table, carpet, laptop, notebook etc. using body parts like hand and foot span. They enhanced their estimation skills and learned new vocabulary -hand span, foot span, cubit, arm span. In another session, students traced their hands and measured and compared their hand spans using cutouts in their journal.

Introduction to numbers ‘5, 6, and 7’ was done using number rods, spindles and class manipulatives. Furthermore students practiced formation using a sand tray, tactile number cards and subsequently wrote the numbers in their math journal.

Hindi                                                                                                                              Introduction of vyanjan ‘ल’ was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter ‘ब’ and ‘न’ using a sand tray. They enjoyed listening to the storyand also understood the importance of ‘दशहरा’ festival.

दशहरा कहानी



Music

Students of Joey learned to sing solfege using Kodaly hand signs wherein each one was asked to focus on the articulation of these solfege syllables.

ICT

In ICT, students worked on strengthening their logical thinking skills by making patterns through an iPad app. They also created patterns on their own using their creative thinking. Students were introduced to the fundamentals of coding with drag-and-drop blocks.

PHE

Students enthusiastically participated in the warm up exercises and different drills performed during their class .They were encouraged to use their gross motor and balancing skills and developed them through activities performed individually and as a team. 

It also led to the enhancement of their communication skills as they were focused to remember the activities and communicated with each other during the task given by strategizing and portraying the characteristics of true sportsman.

Dance

Students were commenced with a thorough warm-up and flexibility development exercises.
A garba dance routine was also done to celebrate Navratri. Activity-based on identifying feelings of the movement was also done. A basic walk across the floor was also introduced.

SEL

In this session, the students discussed how gratitude is one of the many positive emotions that we have. They understood that by focusing on what is good in our lives and being thankful for the things we have, we enhance our mental health. The students heard the story “I am Thankful” by Todd Parr   to celebrate all the little things they are thankful for. They showcased their understanding by drawing one thing they are thankful for on a leaf cut-out which was showcased on a gratitude tree display. 

Visual art

Students were involved in a creative process of finger painting. They painted with their fingers on a cut-out .They also made a small paper bag using finger painting technique. Finger painting was a great way for our children to explore, learn and indulge in sensory play.

They had fun painting with their fingers. They started with painting their background using blue colour for sky .They practiced newspaper cutting on lines to create a tree stem. Pasting  stems and using finger-painting techniques for leaves assisted them to create colourful masterpieces.

Library                                                                                                                                     Little learners listened to the story about Alan, the crocodile from the book ‘Alan’s big scary teeth’. Alan was famed for his big, scary teeth, for every day he sneaked into the jungle to scare the jungle animals …” I’m big, scary Alan! Fear my razor-sharp teeth!” But after a long day of scaring, Alan liked nothing better than to run for a warm mud bath and take out his false teeth, which was a secret that only he knew about! That was until his teeth went missing. What will Alan do now? When he lost his teeth he did not know what to do as he only knew how to scare other animals and now no one would be scared of a toothless crocodile. The animals felt bad for Alan and returned his teeth to him along with the job that he can do with his razor-sharp teeth like cutting the grass, trimming animals’ hair and cleaning everyone’s teeth.

The whole plot of the story was enjoyable and the children loved what happened after the other animals found his teeth and gave them back to him. Alan became a great helper in the end.

Session on ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch’

Students attended a session conducted by Ms. Kamal Shah (Primary School Principal) and Ms. Sanam Edwards (PYP facilitator) on ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch’. Both teachers discussed some awkward situations which could make students uncomfortable and also shared what needed to be done in such situations. This session helped students understand what can be  categorized as good touch or bad touch.

September 05 – 16, 2022

Unit of inquiry

Inquiry into the on-going unit theme, students used their research skills to explore different materials in their environment. They investigated the physical changes in a material (plastic, wood and metal) through simple experiments that tested solubility, science behind a string phone and sink and floatability of materials.

Moving ahead towards the 3^rd line inquiry – How new understanding develop through play, students were familiarized with the concept of primary and secondary colours with a walking water experiment.

English

Introduction of phonic sound – ‘n’ was done with actions. As a follow up activity they traced the letter using sand tray and were encouraged to illustrate few things that begin with the /n/ sound on slates.

 Formative assessment of the phonic sound of letters ‘/s//a//t//p//i//n/’ was undertaken with a dice, wherein the students rolled the dice and called out the sound corresponding to the number of dots that appeared on the face of the dice.

To improve pincer grip and prehensile strength, students practiced tracing, writing and illustrating on a slate using chalk. They also practiced pattern writing: slanting line and circle in their English journals.

Explicit teaching of critical thinking skills was done wherein the students were shown 4- 5 real life objects and they had to choose the odd one out and explained the reasons for their selection. Furthermore they enjoyed playing the game of odd one out.

Math

Introduction to numbers ‘3’and ’4’ was done using spindles and class manipulatives. Furthermore students practiced  formation using a sand tray, tactile number cards, and subsequently wrote  the numbers in their math journal.

Students were introduced to the timeline of the day by recalling all the activities undertaken by them from morning till night. This allowed them to observe that everything in nature is followed by a pattern. Furthermore they explored different patterns in their surroundings during nature walk. To make it fun they participated  ina quiz wherein they were shown the image of a pattern and were encouraged to guess the animal.

 As a follow up activity they were encouraged to recognize and create patterns with class manipulatives such as blocks, colours, tangrams and subsequently created them in their journals using different cutouts.

 They also followed the body action pattern with a song ‘Ram Sam Sam’ and made sound patterns using their body parts like clapping, patting on their thighs, stomping.

Students enhanced their thinking skills and revisited the concept of pattern with the story ‘The Graffalo’.

They also enhanced their counting skills and revisited the days of the week with the story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.

Hindi

In their Hindi classes, students celebrated ‘Hindi saptah’ to mark the importance of Hindi Diwas. They listened to a story ‘शेर और चूहा’ and made puppets for retelling the same story in their own words.  Through this activity, they honed their speaking skills. They enhanced their comprehension skills by doing an activity ‘रंग पहचानो गिनती जानो’  where they learned the names of the colours and number names in Hindi.   

Music

Students of Joey learned an action song named “Peace Like A River” wherein each one was asked to sing on the mic. Later they explored different rhythmic patterns to improve rhythmic independence. They were also introduced to rhythm and its basics.

ICT

In ICT, students worked on sequencing activities that helped them to recognize number sequences and reinforce their knowledge of ordering the numbers using an iPad app. They also played online jigsaw puzzle games using the iPad to build skills such as visual reasoning, special awareness, and logic.

PHE

The students participated energetically in the entire warm up exercises and fun activities performed during their class which boosted their endurance and agility. Students played obstacles related fun games and relay races to develop their motor skills.

Dance

Students  commenced  a thorough warm-up and flexibility development exercises.
A freestyle dance routine was also started on the song name Toca Toca that focused on posture. Activity based on identifying feelings in the song was also done.

SEL

The students were introduced to the concept of Empathy as they participated in an activity while listening to the story of a small mouse called Chrysanthemum. They were asked to crush a heart cut-out whenever they heard someone being unkind to her, in her new school because she had a unique name. They understood the effect of words and how unkind words can leave our hearts wrinkled and discussed what they could do to make the scars go away. 

Visual art blog

Students were involved in a creative process of finger painting where they painted with their fingers on given cut-outs. They also made a small paper bag using finger painting techniques. Finger painting was a great way for children to explore, learn and develop through sensory play.

Library

Joey enjoyed Hindi Saptah in their library lesson as part of the celebration for the home country’s popular language.

On the street, there was a lot to see. As they listened to the story “Colours on Street/गली के रंग “. They followed Sonu, Monu, and Rina on their colourful walk down the street. For them, colours were not only fascinating but also beneficial for learning.  As they looked at what they could see on the street, this story gave them visual and cognitive stimulation. The story enhanced their vocabulary by discussing their surroundings.

In an extension, students discussed different colours of fruits and vegetables. They also shared their preferences with their classmates. 

National Nutrition Week

National Nutrition Week was marked at school from September 1-7, 2022. The theme for this year celebrated International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction.

Students were engaged in weeklong activities that covered

·   Analysing data for areas of food wastage.

·   How wastage can be reduced by storing food items in their correct spaces in the fridge.

·  Bingo and memory game to enhance their understanding of eating healthy food.

August 22 – September 02, 2022

Unit of inquiry

 Going back to the first line of inquiry – expression through play, students expressed their feelings about what makes them happy, sad, or scared while engaging in symbolic play. They were encouraged to share their experience and came up with some strategies that helped them manage these feelings.

Learners enjoyed creating different plants using hand and fingerprints to promote student agency as they were given to choose any flower and colour as they please.

Delving deeper into the inquiry of the on-going theme, students used their research skills to explore different materials in their environment. They investigated the physical changes in a material (plastic, wood, and metal) through simple experiments that tested solubility, magnetic field around them.

English

Introduction and recapitulation of phonic sounds – ‘t, p, and i’ were undertaken with real objects and visual presentations.

Students played a game of ‘I spy’ during their nature walk as the integration to the unit. Sound cards were hidden strategically, and they had to find them whenever the facilitator called out ‘I spy’.

To improve pincer grip and prehensile strength, students practiced tracing, writing and illustrating on a slate using chalk. They also learned writing: sleeping and standing and slanting line patterns in their English journals.

Math

Reinforcement of number sequencing was done with the dot puzzle game.

Introduction to the writing of numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’ was done using class manipulative. Furthermore, they practiced the formation on the sand tray, slates and subsequently wrote in their math journal.



Hindi

Introduction of vyanjan ‘न’ was undertaken with a story. They honed their fine motor skills by tracing the letter ‘ब’ on sand. They recognized names of birds in Hindi by playing a game.

 नीतू की कहानी

Music

Students of Joey learned an action song named “Peace Like A River” wherein each one was asked to sing on the mic. Later they explored different rhythmic patterns to improve rhythmic independence.

ICT

Students enjoyed the pattern tracing activity using the iPad app. They learned to trace standing lines, curve lines, and zig-zag lines. They also learned to trace the number 1.

Students worked on an interactive colouring activity that improved their number recognition skills as they identified and matched each number with its corresponding colour using a number-colour key to colour the picture according to given directions. This game reinforced children’s understanding of numbers as well as developed their artistic abilities.

PHE

Students fervently participated in warm up exercises and performed different drills during their class. They were encouraged to use their fine motor skills and develop them through activities performed individually and as a team. 

It also led to the enhancement of their Thinking skills as they were focused on remembering activities and performed tasks given by strategizing and portraying characteristics of true sportsmanship.

Dance

Dance lessons started with a brief introduction and development of the warmup routine to help hone motor skills and agility based movements especially the larger body parts like arms, legs and head.

SEL

The students understood the meaning of celebrating diversity after listening to the story ‘Lovely’ by Jess Hong. Big, Small, curly, straight, loud, quiet, smooth, wrinkly; the book helped them explore a world of differences that all add up to the same thing which was- We are all Lovely. Students engaged in creating self-portraits to identify what they thought was lovely in them and shared it with their classmates. 

Visual art blog

Students were asked to explore their emotions in their reflections while standing in front of a large mirror. They were also asked to make different faces, such as sad, happy and angry. They understood how their face changed as their emotions changed. Then they tried to draw a self-portrait and also made faces with various emotions.

On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi students used crayon to draw lord Ganesha on a blank paper using stencil, later they painted over the top of the image with watercolour and were happy to watch their wax resist painting. They decorated their painting with colourful borders.

Library

Students listened to the story named ‘Dear Zoo’ authored by Rod Campbell, where a little child writes to a zoo to send a pet to him and the zoo in return sends a series of unsuitable pets hidden behind the flap which the students tried to guess. After a variety of animals were sent and returned to the zoo for being unsuitable, the zoo finally sent a dog, which was just ‘perfect’.

The story enabled students to identify which animals live in a zoo and raised questions about the characteristics of animals and their suitability as pets. The story prompted discussion on pets the children may have or would like.



Aug 01 – 18, 2022

Unit of Inquiry

Students commenced their first unit under the Transdisciplinary Theme –How we express ourselves.

Central Idea: We use play to express our feelings and ideas in order to come to new understandings.

Lines of Inquiry:

● Communicating through play

● Imaginative use of everyday materials

● How new understanding develops through play       

Students were given time for unstructured play in different corners of the classroom and corridors. VTR (Visual Thinking Routine) – Observe, Wait and Listen (OWL) strategy was used to gain insights into student interests and preferences.

They were shown audio-visual presentations on Play. This was followed by discussion on some questions asked by the facilitator:

• What did you see?
• What were the children doing?
• What did you think they were using to play?
• Where do you play?
• What do you play?
• How do you feel when you play?
• What is your favourite game?

Students enjoyed an outdoor picnic on school campus which helped them to enhance their communication and social skills as they learned to play in groups and express their opinions.

Students indulged in singing a song -‘Pillow land’

Taking some ideas from the song, students were ecstatic and created something interesting in  class using pillows and bed sheets. 

Students were introduced to the feeling chart wherein each student marked an emotion/feeling (happy, sad, angry) for one of the activities conducted during the day and expressed why they felt so.