Category: Blogs

Food – Tiffin items like idly, dosa, onion dosa. The competition is on the quantity, not about quantity says one of the restaurant owner at Kelmangalam.. One can see market invaded with Kellog’s chocos, kurkure. Bingo chips and at the same time local chips, local bakery items like rusk, murruku and mixtures are available. One…

Kelmangalam from a child’s eye On our ride I went to a lake and wondered how the lake was made and why are the small island made. And imagine if there was a palace under. I observed different kinds of things – mud and brick. Mud walls were standing straight, some walls were falling down.…

Narrator – I am telling a bit of history of the common village, Kelmanagalm. I went there to understand the history – once a modern civilized man and an ancient man was having a fight. Ancient man said “do not underestimate the power of the wood.”.Modern man – our plywood is also wood and it…

When I was designing the KAA for Kelmangalam, I was pretty apprehensive on how will kids take the videos of Bharat ek khoj and Chankaya? I kept the videos just to stimulate and then I was pretty open for rejection. Kids were hooked on to both the series and had intense discussions. Sometimes I wonder…

How do you know “When does a paragraph end?” – one child asked me today. He continued,- I am writing a book and I want to know, how do writers decide when to end a paragraphs. He took one thick book of “bharat ek khoj” and shared loudly-“I know when a paragraph ends – suppose…

When we designed KAA, we were excited. When we began the preparation, we were excited, a day before, we were apprehensive “will five days be too much? Will we be able to trace the town without any historical records available?…..”. First planning meet on day first diluted all the apprehensions. Kids were clear what they…

This is an incident that happened more than three years ago, when my daughter had just turned three. A well-meaning teacher from her KG class showed me pages with multiple black blobs on it, and said in a concerned voice ‘This is what she drew in the drawing class. She said that her favorite color…

For all those who didn’t come for mela today. This is what umissed.1. Cool shadow of the trees and Autumn leaves.2. Sound of leaves when we ran on it.3. All interesting sounds we made in the games.4. In the games umissed confusion and some cheating.5. Umissedloosing, and quitting.6. Umissedeating others snacks.7. If u are vegetarian…

I am ABLEI am able, I know myselfI am able, I know what I am doingI am able, what I think Sharing some of the reflection shared by kids at the end of the week. And all this reflection did not come just like that – week started with stimulation on what is self concept,…

This is Poorva reporting about Vedant’s farewell party. It happened on 5th March, 2014,Wednesdayin Bangalore, Geniekids, I-campus. The anchors of the session were Kasturi and Poorva. Cutlery people were Vibha and Ketaki. Photographers were Mitali and Dhruv. First we started by announcing what we are going to do. We had Pizza and while eating we…

Me finding out history Yesterday, I was observing KAA week which was about a History camp. Kids were asked what they want to find out from Kelamangalam region. Some kids started with ‘where is kelamangalam?‘, ‘what it is town, district..etc.?’, ‘Some grown up were behind who ruled it?’, ‘when was it built?‘, ‘what clothes people…

Agenda website movie fin update fees & leaving in the middle HP quiz Holidays Assessing Manthan Fear Learning KAA stall website structure am not able to find out information which I need not having a search option joining doc was read in the beginning search button move up comfort level comes little later FIRST MEETING…

Comrades Some thoughts that I have been having since the last few Manthans Some of the parents are comfy, some are expressing some concerns. Some express this concern overtly (when will my son learn to read/write) while others express through general questions (what is learning) Parents who are comfy address the concerns of the others.…

Poem 1 On a very hot day, A crow lost his way, He flew far, far away, Through the hot sun’s ray. He badly needed water, So, he talked to a potter, Potter said, ‘Talk to my daughter, Who’s gone to fetch water’ The crow didn’t find her anywhere, So he sat down after looking…

My son and his friend were discussing about Harry Potter. They were using some words which were beyond my comprehension. After listening for some time I picked up one word KORA- not sure how it is spelled. I asked them what it was. Phat reply simultaneously from both- Hey, Maa/aunty it is ok you won’t…

During nature week few resources where kept like- magnets, magnifying glass, litmus paper, slides, compass, filler, filters etc. Children were working on their goal, slowly one came and took the magnets. He spend some time looking at it, smelling it feeling it and was wondering what to do. This magnet was the horse shoe shaped…

I was just reflecting upon the learning space event that happened in amable on 15th February. Initially, we watched a video about a lady who was talking about Swaraj university. This university is just like an extension of our own Aarohi school. I am part of this school as both a parent and a faculty.…

When you are struggling with something, what do you do? You just struggle and struggle right? You try to think of different ways.. You think on.. You ponder on… and if you have still not found a way out, you stay with it. Hey I am doing the same thing!! Somehow I found my goal.…

At Aarohi, O-campus we have kids of all ages. We have a child who started at 2yrs and one who started at the age of 15yrs. Both had similar need of MUMMY. Sometimes I wonder, is it the child is asking for mother or this is the limited vocabulary the child has developed to fulfill…

Student and teacher The child’s natural curiosity, the urge to learn exists from the very beginning, and surely this should be intelligently encouraged continually, so that it remains vital and without distortion, and will gradually lead him to the study of a variety of subjects. If this eagerness to learn is encouraged in child at…

Train security codes On the platform, stay in groups of 2-3. On the platform, stay behind yellow line. While getting inside the train or waiting on the platform, do not run in panic or excitement. Once you get inside the train, do not run, stay together and search for space to sit. Inside the train…

Last time, when I was compiling my notes on “leadership”, I realized a lot of thoughts came from what the children think based in various experience they – it was not coming out from learning from dictatorship. While I was doing preparation this, I did not get much relation between feedback and Lok Sabha (what…

Today was my birthday and one child, asked me; are you going to give us chocolates? and continued telling, only children give chocolates for birthdays and adults don’t. Then I said, I am giving chocolates today. Another child who was seated next to me immediately said, She is not a child. I wondered about the…

Yesterday, Anaghawent and knocked on the door of one of her friends house. Friend didn’t come out but her mother answered the door and told Anaghathat her friend can’t come today to play downstairs because she is busy with the homework from school. DisappointedAnaghawalked away and played with other smaller kids in the park. On…

Scintillating Shyamala**** shared: In her session, in response to something that children said, she replied, ‘We are in Feb, aabhi Delhi door hai’. Child’s reply to that,’Aunty, whether we are in feb or Jan it doesn’t matter. Delhi will always be at the same distance from bangalore!’

As a facilitator working with children, I understand that I need to know and understand many things to work with children. One such includes “LEARNING STYLES”. Learning style is a consistent way in which a person perceives, conceptualizes, organizes and recalls information. One of the most important things for working with any kind of children…

A lot happens during the week – sometimes I find it difficult to comprehend what all is happening all around me – the environment is highly stimulating when kids are at campus at Aarohi. If you visit the place, you will find a lot of masti, lot of discussions, chatting, sharing, doing, making, or just…

Paper and pen with me,A feeling inside me,Is the only trigger,That I got,To keep my hands moving,And my mind thinking. Today Live station by Ramya did this to us. All were asked to think of one feeling that they were expereincinng. All shared their feelings and then many got into action. Scribbling, drawing, thinking and…

During a session, whenever you look around and you see a group of children chatting,what is your reaction? Of course, oh these are chatting always, why can’t they be part of the bigger group etc etc. I was no different, but yet I was different. During sunshine time few children were skipping. Whenever I looked…

We can talk using books, mind maps, photography. We should know how to speak then I shall be able to understand what the other person is saying. Speaking is about pronouncing the words, as each person will say differently and there will be confusion. Speaking is about speaking English. We can learn speaking the language,…