Education Articles

1. As a parent, guardian or a professional associated with toddlers/pre-schoolers(2 to 4 yrs), you must have found yourself already or increasingly becomimg tuned towards observing, noting & finding children at various levels of knowledge of skills acquired. And you can’t help asking WHY SO? How come one child knows so much about colors/cars/animals/birds/flowers or sings, dances so well & the other ones doesn’t. 2. Talk to them or /their parents or observe the situation closely and you will find that the child learnt/gained by just growing up in that particular environment,. e.g. say a mother with green fingers will naturally be relaxed in the garden & will talk generally in a simplified manner about flora & fauna and the child picks up the concept of colors, names of the flowers, importance of watering plants & becomes sensitive towards nature and when a father cleans up his car on a Sunday morning & engages his little one in a conversation during it, the child picks up on the car- its color, shape of wheels & steering and whatever else he if fed with. 3. Let’s note & pay attention that these children picked up all these not from books but from life situations. The books will take off from there. The learning part is quicker & thorough if done in a STRESS-FREE ENVIRONMENT, Learning should be fun. 4. Here are some of the important points we should keep in mind to give stress free learning environment while dealing with preschoolers to enhance their readiness skills for learning. – Make children generally OBSERVANT. Play observation games with them. Talk of everyday life situation with them. Life is an open book. Let them learn from it. – TALK to them, give simple explanations, don’t assume they wouldn’t understand. Enable them to broaden their horizon. – Make them INQUSITIVE. Ask questions, Invite answers, welcome questions from them & accept their answers. – Let them be IMAGINATIVE, let them think beyond boundaries. Let them explore & think and read in between the lines. – Be a bit FLEXIBLE yourself. Accept that there are shades of grey & not only black & white. – Work upon & enhance their LISTENING SKILLS. Read out stories to them. Send them to a play school which focusses on learning through play way methods, has a stimulating environment & activity oriented approach to learning. So dear parents, make a start now. I am sure you will use all those available opportunities & turn them into golden ones. GOOD LUCK ! POONAM SETHI HEAD MISTRESS SHEMROCK PRIDE, HARGOVIND ENCLAVE.

As soon as a child turns 2, parents start thinking of right preschool for their children. With so many preschools opening day by day, it becomes confusing for parents to choose the right pre-school for their child. This decision becomes one of the most difficult situations for the parents as a preschool serves as the foundation for a child’s success throughout her life. So, before your child turns 2, make sure that you go through the following pointers to select the best & right pre-school for your child. The school should be near to your home, so that your child does not feel stressed and does not have to travel long distances at such a small age. It should be managed by a team of well-educated & knowledgeable professionals with the right aptitude and love for children. The school should have an established brand and a good reputation in the city. The infrastructure should be child friendly and proper hygienic standards should be maintained in the school. School should focus on the overall growth & development of the child. Teachers should be qualified & experienced. They must have a loving & caring attitude towards the children. The food should be prepared hygienically and it should be simple because simpler & healthy meals are much better and safer than complicated, fried junk foods, where there is a chance of contamination. You make your own checklist according to your expectations and priorities. Moreover, if possible talk to the parents of alumni of preschools on their overall satisfaction with the preschool. Also, talk to the teachers in senior schools as to which preschool’s children tend to be selected in their schools.

There are days that seem like a year, while there are others that fly by within a blink of an eye. Managing time is such a tricky concept even for the adults, then how can we expect kids to understand the concept of time management? However, it is the duty of the adults, be it parents or teachers to help the children to understand and help them to utilize their time well. Moreover, since kids do not know how to plan and prioritize their tasks according to the level of importance, here is a small time management guide for them: Start Early: There is no particular time to learn any particular thing. It must be surprising to hear that even little tots can start learning how to manage their time well. This can be accomplished by making it a game like ‘Can you finish putting the toys in the box by the time your favourite rhyme is over?’ etc. Likewise, as children begin to grow they tend to begin to understand time constraints. Set a Routine: The best way to teach your child how to manage time effectively is to set a routine right from the beginning. Since routines are repetitive therefore, helps children to divide their time according to phases of the day viz.- morning routine, afternoon routine, evening routine, play time etc. Your child begins to follow the set routine on a daily basis and gets accustomed to it. Organise the Things: Since children imitate what they see around, so as parents it is your duty to be cautious of your actions. Set an example for your children by keeping your things organised such that they also follow the same habit. This is so because when the things are kept in an organised manner and at their right place, it becomes easy and less time-consuming to locate & use them. Homework Helper: When your child turns into a grown up, encourage her to make a homework chart and jot down the work day-wise i.e. from Monday till Friday, such that she allots substantial time for each subject’s assignment and can spare out time for self-study & play as well. As and when she is done with the homework’s, tell her to put a tick mark next to that work on the homework chart. This habit teaches your child how to keep a track of the work and meet the deadlines within the stipulated period of time. So, keep a check of the aforesaid points and help your child to learn the art of managing time.

Parents at home and teachers in the school need to work together to groom children to succeed in life. On one hand, the schools need to fulfill their responsibility of preparing the children to become lovable, respectable & responsible individuals of the society. On the other hand, parents need to help the teachers to fulfill this responsibility, by preparing their children at home. This suggests that both teachers & parents play a critical role in providing the foundation for learning. Parent’s Role Spare some time from your busy routine and spend quality time with your child. Seize every opportunity of having heart-to-heart talks with your child. Allow her to talk about her feelings & concerns and how she feels about herself. Make sure that you listen attentively and ask lots of “why” and “how” questions. Create a loving home environment where your child can express her thoughts freely and concentrate on studies. Pay attention to what your child loves to do. Find out her likings & disliking and encourage her to be passionate about her interests. Involve your child into different activities which do not require great investment in terms of time or money. For instance, make a Memory Box with your child to help her recall about time spent with her grandparents. Go for a cycle ride with your child and strengthen the bonding. Inform the teacher very honestly about the child’s behavior and work at home. Teacher’s Role Develop & nurture teamwork skills in your students by providing them with enough opportunities to work in groups, in the classroom. Recognize the worth of each child. Always encourage & praise the children whenever they do something good. Give respect and love to the students and treat them with dignity. Also, be helpful and sympathetic, humorous and lovable. Make tests fun and interesting learning experience for your students. Apart from taking the test in the regular question-answer manner, conduct a fun quiz competition in the classroom, at the end of every month. Ask questions on the basis of the home assignments and classroom exercises that you gave them during the entire Give the children valuable assignments that are interesting, interactive and engaging for them. Explain the objective of the home assignment clearly in the class, so that the children thoroughly understand the basic aim & concept of the homework.