ABC Freesia children had grand Christmas celebrations!  With decorations of crib, Christmas tree, stars, balloons, bells, color papers, gift boxes, our expert carol singers (Freesia children) and an onboard Santa Claus (Madhuri, Freesia teacher) there was nothing left in mesmerizing these kids!  Christmas games were conducted by our dedicated volunteer – Sue Griffiths. They were spell bound by the month long happenings at the school.  Children also enjoyed good ten days of holidays for Christmas and New Year.  Year 2014 went by smoothly at Freesia with many scholastic goals achieved and learning reaching its summit as we go past the mid academic year now!

Attendance and Nutrition

No. of students enrolled: 92

Total number of meals served this month: 2,500

No. of school days: 16

No. of Students Enrolled (Day): 85

Average attendance: 78

Attendance in %: 92

No. of Students Enrolled (ASP): 7

Total breakfasts served: 1,250

Total lunches served: 1,250

Total meals served at ASP

(After School Program): NIL

Total number meals served since opening at Freesia: 65,690

Total ABC-BB School partnership meals since opening: 189,107

Curriculum

K4 Math

“Time and Money” was introduced within the circle time hour.  Activities included were: Waiting for School, Sundial, Using the Clock, Number Line Clock and Clock of My Own.  Keywords used for reinforcing this were: Time, Afternoon, Minute, Bill, Day, Month, Seasons, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Coin, Hour and Morning.

Children also learned about time through different activities other than fun with math by dividing the day according to the time, using a clock, using the wall clock and a children’s play.  They did a role play on “My Clock” explaining the time by using the Hickory Dickory LG game card, explaining about minutes, seconds and hours.  A fun filled activity was created for this topic in which children stood in a circle like the clock dial; and they rotated like a needle according to the time which was called out by their teacher.  An art activity for drawing a clock was also conducted.

Also under writing work: children were able to count the correct number of objects and write the numeral for it.  Children were able to match the numbers to various set of objects and also practiced writing numerals from 1-50.  Children also learned writing odd and even numbers.

K5 Math

“Measurement, Time and Money” was the focus of the month.  Estimating water levels, money magic, number line clock, any time ideas, writing numbers from 1 to 100, writing even and odd numbers from 1 to 20 in their notebook, learning about the clock like the numbers, hands of the clock, hours, minutes, seconds and finally explaining about morning, noon, evening and night.

Under writing work: Children were able to add the set of objects and write the equation in a vertical form, finding the missing numbers and writing them in the boxes and writing even and odd numbers from 1 to 50 was accomplished

K4 English

Children learned to connect capital letters to small letters with match the following activities.  Under phonics new tricky words learned were: the, he, she, me, we, be, I, was, to, do, all and are.  Also kids were tested on writing of tricky words, blending words and reading sentences.

K5 English

Children learned to identify and write the initial and final consonant for words that teacher chooses from the word bank.  Children were also able to write the letter for the vowel sound used in the picture.  K5 has comfortably moved into phonics comprehension which includes: blending practice, reading sentences and read and match.  For the tricky words learned so far, children were asked to fill in the gaps, complete the sentences and an oral dictation for writing the words was conducted.

K4 Social Science

“In the Ocean” was the topic for the month.  This was achieved through centre activity, outdoor activity, story comprehension and by building language skills.  Various activities were conducted to learn the topic: In the Ocean, Catch the Jellyfish, Near the Sea Shore, Sea Grass Ocean Puzzles, Find the Shapes, Counting the Jellyfish , We Live in the Ocean, Sea Rhymes and Art Work to make an ocean bulletin board.

 K5 Social Science

Children learned about their school – Freesia.  They learned about who has what role in the school like the school manager, teachers, junior staff, classroom names, different branches of Building Blocks schools, name of the founder, HR, project manager, address of the school, number of students in the school, number of boys and girls, parents name, names of siblings, child’s height and weight, number of family members, occupation of parents and finally discussed about community helpers.  Children are now familiar and can talk few sentences about a fireman, a policeman, a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a dentist, a farmer, a baker and a waiter.

K4/K5 Reading time

Stories read were – “Friend in need is a friend indeed”, “The elephant and friends”, “The two silly goats”.

K4/K5 Native Language Kannada

Children were introduced to the letters gha, gya and cha.  It was explained to them by showing the object which starts from the letter gha, gya, cha and they also practiced writing the letters in the sand box.

K4 Value Education

Being “Gentle” was the theme for the month.  They learned this with the help of visual cards and explanation by the teacher for being gentle.  Children also learned at what times and places they should be gentle.

K5 Value Education

Under value education this month children delved into understanding loving their family and being helpful to them.  This was achieved through an introduction by the teacher reading outloud a story and with classroom interactions.

K4 PE time

Shake up time and outdoor games were played during this time.  Children went out to the play area and also on some days they played indoors with the toys.

K5 PE time

This month K5 used their PE time in learning Christmas carols with song and action.

Nutrition

Well balanced nutritious meals were prepared and served every day.  There have been many special occasions and children have feasted on delicious food this month.

Special Celebration

Christmas decorations, children singing carols, visitors, yummy food and a special lunch for the Building Blocks head office team were all done with great joy during December at Freesia.  Here are some pictures that we want to share with our fan club!

Special Thanks to the staff that supports Freesia at our Implementation Partner, Building Blocks, and also to all Infrastructure Funding Partners, AlphaBet Club donors and volunteers, Rotary Club Amsterdam International and Wilde Ganzen.