Category: Blogs

Baul singing, with Arpita. Boul, the word comes from wind (vatul) and mad (bawara). She made it very easy for the kids and all of us to understand about the Baul. Her interaction and presentation instilled curiosity among the kids of all ages to know more about it. Baul is an oral tradition, coming from…

We asked “How do you learn spellings?” Many responded, “By how the word sounds; Breaking down the word / sound; By saying it; By memorizing it, repeating it; By reading, revising and so on. But English is a phunny language, often the way we speek is not how we rite! In the world of words,…

What is Bharatnatyam dance? Our first impressions something like this….Mudra, ancient, Like Kathak, God dance, Folk dance, It has moves, stories are told, traditional dance, jewellery, different dress and particular makeup, shake hands and legs, statue of Shiva, different Poses, you have Payal, balance, give exams, performances, expressions, involving in it, type of an exercise,…

Imagine Aarohi where there are no tests and exams – because we believe that children can assess themselves, can reflect on this work on an ongoing basis. Also because children do not need to learn for some external objective (marks) but for their own love for learning. This term we assessed ourselves with parents by…

Manthan is an opportunity for the community to organize the community event where parents join us at the Campus to live altogether for a day or two. The planning for the event started with a word game, the words which we connect with Manthan – Environment, Talk, friendly, enthusiastic, Youthful, Yummy, Youngsters, yippee, Gupshup, Good…

Every bad news is a good news. I am slow and doing it slowly. There are expectations about the work. That’s a problem and that’s a bad news. Expectations push me to work fast, allow me to fulfill the needs. And that’s a good news. The bad news is that it is difficult to read…

We received few wooden strips. They looked perfect to make ‘nameplates’. We made few and others got excited to make more. Gift factory at Aarohi announced “nameplates for families”. For me making those nameplates was very easy. Neither it was new for me nor it was difficult. But it was interesting for me, so I…

Learning in small things we do.Daily diet – A word or a quotation or a law or a puzzle. It begins with choosing a word which I don’t know. Then go ding meaning, then the usage then the similar words than the word in different languages. The quotations also start with choosing a quotation. The…

Different chidren, different needs, different reactions, different responses, different ideas, different soultuons, different chaanges, different solutions. Few kids were excited to explore various games in Dome. They connected with board games, puzzles and various indoor games with so much of ease, while some find it difficult to even sit for few minutes. Some worked alone…

We started with exploring the difference between museum and gallery:Is Gallery small, few collections? Is Museum vast, different collections, artifacts? The Museum had a theme of gods of different religions for this month.We began with pondering over what is mythology? – Past, Mystic, Fantasy, Myths, Stories, may be History? stories of special powers/boons and curses?…

Can a campus Teach? Yes, We believe a campus can be the very lap of learning if it is conceived and developed just as mother nature; if it offers constraints to children which make them think, do, learn, and live differently. The Architectural Design of the campus is based on these three guiding principles: Design…

Why do we need to read?This was the premise of Reading Jatre. Some said “to develop vocabulary”, some said to “learn reading”, some said to “for knowledge”, some said ‘ for entertainment” and so on. Read a poetry by H W Longfellow to describe war. Read a piece from Lewis Carol’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Read…

What is all Germany for us?Berlin, Football, Cars, Wall of Berlin, Europe, Dutch language, More we explored with Julia and Miriam (volunteers from Germany) – Democracy, time zone 3hrs earlier than India, Common religion is Christianity, Right Hand Drive, National day is3rd October( Berlin war reunited), Castles, River, Forest, Carnivals in Cologne, Chocolate ( Nutella)…

I don’t like it.I can’t do.I don’t want to do. These are very common expressions. How do we bring discovery in the clouds of such self-doubts? I don’t like or I don’t know?I can’t do or its new or different for me?I don’t want to do or I don’t know how to do? We explored…

How do you discover yourself – its simple ‘bit by bit’! Each term we connect with our dreams, we make plans of what all we want to do, we connect with self ‘what desires we have’. While making term planning we often do not think or rather stop at ‘will I be able to do?’.…

I was really very interested to explore that what all we have in nearby towns. So started searching on Google and later it showed me placed near Denikankottai .Then came two types of places religious and wildlife. I asked everybody’s opinion which type of place they want to visit so most of them said wildlife.…

Children of various ages have needs to talk about sex topics. And this topic is a taboo topic very less talked in a healthy environment. Kids get skewed information and it becomes a joke rather a part of our lives. With the access of porn videos and other adult images on the internet, this deteriorates…

I love you, but sometimes I hurt you.I care about you, but sometimes I am harsh to you.I think about you, but sometimes I am not listening to you.I make many mistakes.And I know you forgive meAnd move along with me.But sometimes it’s difficult for you to forgive me.If knowingly or unknowingly, if I have…

Travelling on foot through the ruins of Hampi stimulated our play of imagination with past…” here would have been King’s chamber or this is how water would have come through aquaducts or they had to travel so far to take bath” and so on.Some structures, some ruins, some stones here and there…this is how Hampi…

I can’t do…do you get this thought in your mind anytime you stuck or face with any problem or face a new/uncomfortable task. We are exploring ’empowerment’ this term. “I am Able”. Often We don’t give direct answers We help by not helping. We bring challenges. We ask to think We ask to fail We…

Am I in Jail? Am I in Jail of my own thoughts? Am I in jail of my own fears? Do you have my rope in my hand? When I am faced with a problem ‘whom do I reach out to?”. You or Myself? Why does one start believing that ‘I can’t’? Gave a piece…

Unlimited activities in limited time of 27 minutes. Beginning activity was blindfold hurdle race, then tied legs walk, then swinging, then playing hide and seek, then Zombie game, then a game of pool, then basketball, then …. unlimited options. Enjoy, cooperative, intense team work, listening to others, sensitive to each other… were some of the…

Algebra ki DukanWhat is Algebra?Algebra is life.In life, some things are known, and some things are unknown.For everything in life, we know something and something we don’t know. Algebra similarly is all about known and unknown.Algebra is the language of what we know and what we don’t know.When you put down known and unknown together,…

Children are often caught in the Decision Making conflict or sometimes take an impulsive decision (only to regret later). Examples could be – Should I join someone who is gossiping about others or not? Join in teasing or not, join in the inappropriate conversation (sexual talks which are not age appropriate and not in sync…

Each day entire community spends working to maintain the campus in different teams. While the reason is to maintain but it brings a lot more understanding about the process and brings involvement. Often kids are considered “small”. Imagine a community of all ages where all contribute irrespective of age or gender. All participate irrespective of…

Jatre Session on Bihar by Sangita started with a song and dance. It was about Bihar and her experience of caste. In Bihar most people do farming, they grow wheat, pulses, rice and oil seeds. They are grown in large quantities. She shared about Musahar tribe, their lives. Their life is slow and sustainable naturally.…

Travel brings an opportunity to experience many facets of a place. In a historical place, one can go beyond history. One cannot ignore geography (its location), it’s people (culture), its food, its music, its nature, it’s art, it’s economics, it’s trends and a whole lot of different things. And the trip to Hampi is no…

Exercise and fitness are limited to some PT classes in the school for kids, joining yoga classes when the body stops working or be part of a gym to lose weight or build muscles. Most of us know that fitness is as essential as nutritious in the food, most of us postponed or not getting…

Self-assessment is an essential ingredient of learning journey at Aarohi. We not only assess self, we also use various tools to assess. Self-assessment begins with Preparation (in planning) – what to reflect about, what I assess on? And then Awareness (while working) – what, how I am doing, my feelings, thoughts, group dynamics etc. and…

Compassion has many forms. One does not need to define, may be sometimes it just needed to be felt. Rakhi was an occasion to celebrate Compassion. Our gift factory produced compassion bands for all the in the community. And we celebrated and that’s all! It began with making for all by some of us in…