On Your Mark, Get Set . . . READ!
Reading stimulates minds, develops communication skills and promotes academic excellence. Encouraging children to read is sometimes a challenge, especially in this age when we are surrounded by electronic gadgets. Schoolkutti.com is starting a reading club for little ones and the club will function on Saturdays from 10:30 AM to 12 PM. The club will also get into exciting activities to capture the attention of every child, even the most reluctant readers. The reading club will be led by Sulfa Mazood who holds an M.A in English Literature.

Here are the top five reasons why you should sent your child to our reading club.
1. Our reading clubs are designed to be fun for children and will be interesting even for the most reluctant readers
2. The program is open to all 6 to 11 year olds regardless of their reading level.
3. We promote reading for enjoyment.
4. We help choose the right books for your child.
5. We encourage you not to miss any session. However, you need to pay only for the sessions that your child is able to attend.

For the sessions to be effective, we also encourage parents to read to their children regularly. Reading aloud and sharing stories with your child is a great way to spend time together. This is not only beneficial for your child, but can also be the best way to bond with your child.

We want every member of our reading club who finishes a Book to say “PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK.”

Call 9847320281 for details.

Click here to register.

At the start of this new year (2016), Schoolkutti.com was the venue for a Story Circle – ‘The Gods of the Vikings’, based on tales from Norse Mythology. Designed and facilitated by Prasanth Gangadharan, Story Circle is a program that helps children learn through stories. With a story at its centre and a circle of activities weaved around the story, the program is designed to enhance creativity, speech, reading and conceptual learning in children. The Story Circle at Schoolkutti was held on four consecutive weekends in January 2016.
On the last day of the Story Circle the children put up a small program for their parents. It wasn’t meant to be an ‘event’, the children themselves were given about an hour’s notice and there were no rehearsals. The idea was to gain from the experience of standing in front of an audience and use the opportunity to share what they had been doing over the four sessions.
Here’s what happened:
The children began with the Vikings verse, a war cry which they performed with gusto, drawing imaginary swords from their scabbards and banging them on their shields.

Next they recited two poems, one about going in search of treasure and the other about slaying a monster, in rounds.

Two concepts that were weaved in to the stories in this Story Circle– Tenses and Fractions – were recalled through an activity based on movement.

The highlight of the evening was the children’s retelling of two stories from the Norse Mythology. They kept the audience hooked and had them in splits often.

The program ended with a performance with their Viking staffs, based on the Voluspa, an ancient Norse poem.

During the course of the program the children had made pastel illustrations based on Norse stories. A poem was also taken up for guided reading through the sessions.

Overall, the program was a great experience for the children. Children had so much fun that they could hardly wait for the next session every week. Parents also appreciated the sheer genius of combining play, movement, coordination, repetition, all leading to clear concepts and comprehension.

With the summer already knocking at our doors, its time to start looking out for the best programs in the city where your little ones can spend their holiday time fruitfully. Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library is conducting some cool summer programs for children starting from March 21.

We are coming up with an exciting and interactive drama workshop for 8 to 14 year old kids from March 21 to April 1 for 10 days. While having fun using their imaginations and creating characters and stories using costumes and props, drama activities can help children learn about emotions help build self-confidence, improve communication skills, teamwork and stage skills. The workshop that will be conducted by Françoise Calvel (Layam Cultural Events and Training PVT LTD)
ends with a play or showcase on the afternoon of the last day.
Timings: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Age Group: 8 to 12 years

Please click here to register for the event.
http://schoolkutti.com/events/schoolkutti-events-details.php?id=87&districtId=1

Next in line is a public speaking workshop – ‘Say it with confidence’, that fosters your child’s innate communication skills and helps get rid of the fear of addressing large groups. It grows their confidence and develops their self-worth.
The 10-day workshop will be facilitated by Bejoy Peter’s Public Speaking (BPPS).
Timings: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Age Group: 8 to 12 years

Please click here to register for the event.
http://schoolkutti.com/events/schoolkutti-events-details.php?id=86&districtId=1

Schoolkutti.com children’s library presents

A Story Circle based on: The Gods of the Vikings – Tales from Norse Mythology

Story Circle is a program that helps children learn through stories. With a story at its center and a circle of activities weaved around the story, the program is designed to enhance creativity, speech, reading and conceptual learning in children.

Story Circle @ Schoolkutti.com

Story: The Gods of the Vikings – Tales from Norse Mythology
These stories from the world of the Norse men are rich in poetry, legend and song. Colourful and dramatic, filled with humour and adventure, they have captured the imagination of listeners across generations.

Age of participants: 9 to 12 years.

Timing: 4 to 6 PM

Facilitated by: Prasanth Gangadharan (teacher, storyteller, designer of Story Circle)

Prasanth’s diverse experience in teaching includes stints as a Class Teacher in an alternative school and as a facilitator, conducting mentoring programs for young adults and anchoring action learning projects, in Bangalore. He has held storytelling sessions in schools and his program, Finding My Voice, was an accredited module in an MBA program. Story circle is inspired by his association with the Waldorf education system conceived by Rudolf Steiner. Prasanth studied at CET and IMI, New Delhi. He can be contacted at prasanth.teacher@gmail.com; 9886105031.

(This article was submitted by Mr. George Mathew who is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

A couple of days back I got a visit from one of my clients, parents of a child who had been part of my Summer Camp. The moment I saw them, I knew there was something amiss. I tried to read their faces – confusion, anger, relief, sadness, betrayal, hope – a host of emotions were playing on their faces. 
We sat down in my office and after the usual pleasantries I asked about the purpose of their visit (especially since their child had gone back to school after enjoying the Summer Camp thoroughly). They gingerly said they wanted to thank us for saving their child’s life!

Now it was my turn to be surprised and have a host of emotions on my face!

As it turned out, the child had benefited a lot from a talk I give to our Summer Camp kids.

Every year, as part of Summer Camp activities, I give a talk to the kids (usually 6yrs+) on how to recognise ‘Bad Touch’ by an adult and what to do in case something like that happens to them by following a set of very simple instructions – NO, GO, TELL.

The parents narrated how their child had recently been subject to such a situation by someone very close to their family. This explained the emotions on their faces. It makes it so much more difficult to accept when we know the perpetrator so well but that was exactly what happened. All my paternal instincts were fired up. To think that this innocent child, who I happened to know so well, had to go through something like this was beyond me.

But fortunately, because of the talk, the child was able to think straight and escape from the place and promptly inform the parents. Of course, the parents made sure that the monster would not be in contact with their child anymore. 

If not for that talk, this child would perhaps not have known what to do and how to react. For me, it was such a relief to know that nothing untoward had happened and that the child is happy and content knowing that the parents are there to protect in any situation.

I’m sad that such monsters still exist in our society … but I’m glad that at least my set of summer campers is safe from such predators.

This is why we all exist, right? To take care of our children, to see to it that they get the best life they can hope for, and remain happy and playful throughout their lives. 

God bless our little ones…

Links to the talk on our Youtube channel

(This article was submitted by Mr. George Mathew who is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

It was the year 1998. I had finished my 12th grade and had attempted the entrance exams for my Engineering studies. As per my wish, I got the admission call from one of the top colleges in the state. Obviously I was elated and my parents, quite frankly, heaved a huge sigh of relief.
The D-Day for admissions arrived soon enough and I, along with about 300+ other prospectives, huddled into one of the halls. All of us were just happy to be there… to get a good enough score to help us get into the streams that we wanted.
All except one – a chap called James.
He was at the Principal’s office interviewing the Principal!! I kid you not… this was actually happening!! James wanted to know why he should join this college instead of some others of equal repute (mind you, this was in 1998 when there were all of 11 Engineering colleges in Kerala and ours was ranked No: 2). Eventually James joined our college and went on to win a lot of awards from MNCs (Microsoft, SUN, etc.) at ages 19 – 20.

Now, why am I telling you this story? To illustrate the importance of interviewing your child’s school, rather than it being the other way around.

I know for a fact that when parents come to enroll their children in my preschool they ask a lot of questions – on methodologies, curriculum, activities, care, etc. And I love that, by the way. I love talking to parents and allaying their fears about sending their children to a preschool. Because I believe in the concept (so much so that my 6 month old baby is already in my school for 2-3 hours daily).

But the same people, when it comes to choosing their child’s school, do not do the same due diligence. In most cases, the attitude is “let me get admission for my child in so-and-so school, we will think of everything else later.”
Granted, the number of seats in good schools is low when compared to the number of applicants. But that does not mean that as a parent sending your precious little one to a school, you are stripped of your rights.
No. You should interview the school, the teachers, the Principal and make sure that it is the right fit for your child. Do they really have the facilities that they claim in their brochure? Do they really have the results they are advertising? Or is it just the top 3-5 kids getting the result while the rest of the kids falter?
You need to ask these and many other tough questions before enrolling your child in the school. And if their answer is that it’s none of your business or you need to join the school since your child can’t get admission elsewhere, then that right there is a definite and compelling reason not to choose that school.

You also need to check with parents of other children who already study there. Get as much insider information as possible. Get the good news… get the bad news. What is the school known for? Why did that parent choose that school over the others? What are its plus points? What are its negative points? As with all 3rd party information, take this also with a pinch of salt. Remember, the views of the parent, good or bad, will be highly biased.
One more aspect you have to think about is the transportation facilities offered by the school, especially if you stay far away from it. This needs to be thought in conjunction with other aspects offered by the school. You see, if you child is going to spend upwards of 1 hr each way daily in the bus, you better make sure the school is worth it. Do not select the school based on “prestige value”. What you need to be worried about is – Is your child going to gain as much in school as he loses in 2+ hours in daily commute? If the answer is Yes, then go for it. Else, rethink on the school.

After all, your child is going to spend his/her formative years, a total of at least 12 crucial years, at the school. You better make sure it is the right place for them.

Ms. Françoise Calvel of Layam Cultural Events and Training PVT LTD conducted a 10-day theater (drama) workshop for children from March 30 to April 10 at the Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library. The workshop provided an exciting opportunity for young performers to develop their skills.

How theater training helps kids

As well as having lots of fun using their imaginations and creating characters and stories using costumes and props, drama activities can help children learn about emotions and will help build self-confidence, improve communication skills, and develop teamwork and stage skills.

Attending theater classes help children/teenagers to respect themselves and also others. They also learn to manage their emotions and also find out how to express and practice self control. In addition, the learning of the numerous techniques of theater allows them to apprehend their body in space in a better way.

According to Ms. Françoise Calvel, the director of the play, the important aspects of acting is to understand yourself, to express your emotion, to create attitude and character. “For all that you must know how to control our body, so through several exercises, we work on body expression, clown, mask, and improvisation. Children learn that everything is coming from stomach: emotion, voice, reaction. Clown, mask and improvisation are only some techniques of performing arts.” – she says. It was interesting to note her point that the objective of theater training is not to remove shyness, but to know how to control it.

What they did

Children had fun experiencing the many aspects of theater as they developed skills and got in touch with their imagination. This is what Aysha Joyce, a participant of the workshop had to say about the camp – “We learned so many things like Attitude of a character, action and reaction, emotions, body language and a lot more. And all of us have new friends too. Thank you Françoise Calvel – A teacher with great energy and passion for theater.”

Topics Covered

The following topics were covered during the 10- day camp (2 hours per day).
– Occupation of space
– 5 senses, emotion bases
– attitude of character
– improvisation clown with dominant and dominanted
– creation of character paper mask
– how to create a story ? With action/reaction and problem.
– how to use the space, the group ?”

The camp ended with a performance for the families of children on the evening of the last day.

(This article was submitted by Mr. George Mathew who is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

Why is it that as a species we have this almighty aversion to failure? Is failure so bad that its very mention evokes hushed murmurs and seedy looks? Why is it that we don’t realize that success and failure go hand in hand? In fact, we fail and succeed umpteen number of times every day of our life. Don’t believe me?

OK , let’s do a simple mental exercise. Think back on your day and honestly write down your successes and failures. How many have you got? I got around 40 – 50 successes and failures each. Surprised? Finding it difficult to come up with even a few?

Why do you think that is so ? Well, it has got to do with how we define the terms success and failure.
The Webster’s Dictionary defines success (in this context) as “an event that accomplishes its intended purpose” and failure as “an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose”

So, in a sense, anything that we do (or do not do) can end in a success or a failure. Simple. For example, I am driving along and have to overtake a vehicle in front of me. If I do that, it is a success. If not, it’s a failure.
When we see things in this light, success and failure need not be that bad, right? In a way, failure is sometimes good. Going back to our example of overtaking cars, if I always try to be successful no matter what, I might end up in a bad crash. We need to let go sometimes.

I know this is over-simplifying things. But it is just to drive home the point that failure need not be all that bad and sometimes it is even desired.

This brings us back to the question – Why do we consider failure to be so bad?
I think it is because from a very young age we have been conditioned to think that failure is bad. Nowadays it is taken to such levels that some children do the unthinkable because they are unable to take the pressure.
We need to teach our children the difference between good and not-so-good failures. Good failures are the ones like the overtaking example. The not-so-good failures are the type we see in the big bad competitive world out there.
In the hyper-competitive world we live in nowadays, failure is scoffed upon… it’s taboo. But even here, what we need to teach our children is not to lose sight of the forest for the trees. We need to help them see the big picture. In the grand scheme of things, is 60% any worse than 90%? 10-15 years down the line, will it even matter?
I am not saying that we should not get our children to study hard. No, we need to encourage them to learn and understand the world around them, but at the same time we need to prepare them on how to deal with inevitable failure.
So why do children fail in certain areas? Maybe it’s not their area of interest. Maybe they did not understand the concepts as taught by their tutors. Maybe they temporarily had other things on their minds. The reasons could be endless and specific to each individual child.

Come on, let’s face it. Our children, however brilliant they are, are going to hit a roadblock sooner or later. Most of us face it at school level itself. Some parents teach their kids to look at the bigger picture and take it in their stride. They even help them see the not-so-apparent bright side of failure.
And this not-so-apparent bright side is what is most interesting about failures.

Most successful people will tell you that things did not go as per their original plan and they “failed” at it. But those failures would have made all the difference
.
Even I have many such stories of “failure”. When I finished my MBA program, I was interviewed for the post of Product Manager at Ibibo.com. After the interview, the panel promptly rejected me.
But that rejection meant that I got the opportunity to appear for BIG FM radio for the post of Cluster Head for Kerala. Eventually, I ended up thinking beyond a mere job and finally set up my schools. Looking back, I value that Ibibo.com interview more than the ones that selected me because at the end of the day, it made all the difference.

For if I was selected, I am pretty sure, with the salary package they were offering and the city I had to work in, I would never think of starting something of my own. So that rejection turned out to be one of the best blessings I have received.

Our kids will have failures… many failures over the years. Our job is to ensure that they are ready to face them when it hits. As parents, one of the most important things we can give our children is the confidence to experiment, fail, try again, fail, and repeat without having the fear of being ostracized or being rebuked.
If we can give them the confidence that, no matter what, we will be there to support them in their time of need, then we can watch them truly fly!

(Mr. George Mathew is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

(Posted by Mr. George Mathew who is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

As a person running a preschool, I am often at the receiving end of the ire of parents and, particularly grandparents. Now, before you go off and jump to the conclusion that this is because of some neglect on our part, let me tell you, nothing can be further from the truth.

Mostly it is simple things like snacks not fully eaten one day (maybe the child was not hungry or not in a mood to eat that day) or dresses/shoes dirty (well, kids are kids; they are supposed to play and get their dresses/shoes dirty!) or the school van being 5 minutes late to pick up the child (our roads are not exactly designed for perfect timing during commute).

Don’t get me wrong. We love feedback. We love it that they take the effort to tell us because it is an opportunity for us to correct ourselves. What I have a problem with is how some of them put this across to us. Sometimes people can be very rude and hurtful while giving this feedback.

Now, as an adult, I can discern which of these feedbacks are constructive and which are not. I have the freedom to choose to accept some and reject others based on my assessment of the situation. But many a times these feedbacks are given in the presence of children and they might not be in a position to assess the situation like us adults. To them, it will be an example set by adults on how they should talk to others. And when they see the same pattern repeated over and over again, they will pick up on them and start behaving in a similar way.
In most cases, unwanted behaviour in children can be traced directly back to parents or other family members they are constantly in communication with.

Teaching children values is a very personal exercise. Most of us want our children to grow up as good human beings. The problem is, the definition of “good human being” itself is debatable. It is heavily linked to cultural and social backgrounds.

Who is a good human being? Someone who does not break the law? Yes, in the strictest form of the definition. Or is it someone who helps others? Again, yes. But the type of help matters. So definitions these are subjective.
To me, a good human being is someone who treats others with respect and courtesy, someone who will step up in the time of need to help a fellow human being. Those are the kind of future citizens I wish this country to have. Not ones who differentiate based on colour, creed, caste or social backgrounds. But invariably, by the way we act and interact, we teach our children otherwise. While we want our children to grow up as good human beings, we fail at setting good examples ourselves.

Remember, our children grow up watching us closely. Every action of ours affects their thinking. So if we want the best for our kids, it is high time we changed our behaviour to reflect that change.

(Mr. George Mathew is the CEO of a new-age preschool chain based at Trivandrum called “The Wonder Years Preschool”. The author is a researcher on child development and can be contacted at george.mathew@thewonderyears.co.in. For more details please visit http://www.thewonderyears.co.in)

Summer is almost here and that means school’s out and there is plenty of free time for our kids! Now is the time to look for opportunities for children to hone in their life-skills and enhance their cognitive and behavioral development. Summer camps take kids away from computers, TV, and video games, swapping them for group activities, fun, and games in a natural setting. Today, there are camps to meet every need, schedule and price range. You need to consider your child’s personality, interests and the options you have at hand before choosing the summer camp for your child.

We have attempted to collect and categorize all the Trivandrum based camps that have been announced for the summer of 2015.

http://schoolkutti.com/summer-camps/summer-camps-trivandrum.php

In this blog, we have tried to bring out the salient features of these summer programs that are coming up in the city, to make it easier for parents who are looking for the right camp for their children.

Fun, Games and Outings

The Wonder Years Summer Camp focuses on bringing back fun and games into summer camps through innovative activities, science experiments, challenges, frequent outings, trekking and camping trips. The basic idea behind their Summer Camps is for children to become independent, confident, pick up leaderships skills and work together in team exercises to develop collaborative skills.
http://schoolkutti.com/summer-camps/summer-camps-details.php?id=73

Wiggles Activity Center is coming up with outdoor and indoor activities for kids including football, karate, science, art & craft and a lot more.
http://schoolkutti.com/summer-camps/summer-camps-details.php?id=63

Language Development…

Ceed Academy offers a 6 months English speaking and grammer class for children from 10 to 15 years at SIP abacus, Vattiyoorkavu.
http://schoolkutti.com/summer-camps/summer-camps-details.php?id=82

Angloscape is combining yoga, personality development and other interesting activities with its communicative English program.
http://schoolkutti.com/summer-camps/summer-camps-details.php?id=68

Performance and other Activities

Castalia Activity Center provides the chance for children to perform in a mega show along with celebrities. They are planning more than 30 activities for children in the areas of art & craft, personality development, writing, reading and so on
https://www.facebook.com/CastaliaActivityCenter

Layam Cultural Events and Training PVT LTD is presenting a 10-day theater (drama) workshop for children from March 30 to April. As well as having lots of fun using their imaginations and creating characters and stories using costumes and props, drama activities can help children learn about emotions and will help build self-confidence, improve communication skills, and develop teamwork and stage skills. Class ends with a play or showcase on the afternoon of the last day.
http://schoolkutti.com/events/schoolkutti-events-details.php?id=53&districtId=1