Teachers carry the responsibility of shaping students’ future – the leaders of tomorrow!  With this in mind, our Teacher Training Program makes a constant effort to improve the skill levels of teachers.  This month as well, the teachers of all Building Blocks Schools took part in workshops on Phase One Jolly Phonics Aspects.  Each school was given a topic and had to present the topic in front of all the other teachers; Gardenia school gave a presentation on the topic of Environmental sounds.

Attendance and Nutrition

No. of students enrolled: 36

Total number of meals served this month: 1,031

No. of school days: 19

No. of Students Enrolled (Day): 36

Average attendance: 32

Attendance in %: 89

Total breakfasts served: 546

Total lunches served:  485

Total number meals served since opening at Gardenia: 3,352

Total ABC-BB School partnership meals since opening: 249,841

Curriculum

Math

Activity on’Sinkers and Floaters’

This month, children learned to tell numbers orally from 1 to 20, writing numbers from 1 to 5 and counting numbers by 10’s/100’s orally.  In ‘Fun with math’ children learned the key words big/small, thick/thin, rough/smooth, hard/soft, fast/slow etc.  Activities related to these were: Textured play dough/Water play/Sinkers and Floaters/Floaters and Droppers/Stickers and non-stickers/Rock collection/What happens when?/Feely Bag Frenzy/What fits in?/Corkers/What do you hear?/Creative structures/Smelly bottles and Shadow watch.

English

K4 learning phonics through listening sounds

Writing time for K4 children

In ‘Jolly Phonics’, children learned the letter sounds of s, a, t, i, p, n and they learned the sound/action/formation/song/game/activity for these letters.  They were also taught some simple blending of sounds.

Local Language Kannada:

Kids learned Kannada letters ‘A’ to ‘Aha’ orally.

Social Science

‘Amazing Me’ – theme of the month

The theme of the month was “Amazing Me”, this was done with all activities of circle time with story, centre activity, language development, Math activity, Art Work, Outdoor -Music and Dramatic Play.

Value Education

Kids learnt being courteous and well mannered, obedient, attentive and being respectful.

K3 Program

Learning about domestic and wild animals

Circle time story – ‘I am hungry’

In circle time this month, children learned about domestic/wild animals. They also learned about their school’s Founder’s name and their Teachers’ names.  Children learned to sing along rhymes like – Baa Baa Black sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill.  They reviewed names of fruits, colors, shapes, number line and weather with calendar, time

Through the story “I am hungry” they learned about animals and insects like – ants, spiders, snakes, birds, cats, foxes and lions.

They also learned about greeting each other with –‘Hello how are you?’ and ‘I’m fine thanks.’

In pre writing, kids learned to write strokes of standing line, sleeping line, curved line, wavy and zig-zag lines.

Physical Education

Outdoor playtime

Children are encouraged to play in our outdoor play ground.  Every day, 15 minutes of physical activity is included in the schedule.

Nutrition

Lunch time at Gardenia School

Well balanced nutritious meals were prepared and served every day.  Children were served with breakfast and lunch on all working days. A total of 1,031 meals were served this month.

Teacher’s Training

A “Phase 1 Phonics” workshop was held at Daisy school, starting at 10:30 am on Saturday, 3rd October. The managers and teachers from all of the schools were present.

Each school had been briefed to put together a new lesson based on one of the “7 Aspects” of Phase 1 Phonics.  Each school was required to do a demonstration lesson, provide a detailed lesson plan, and describe their first experience of using Phase 1 Phonics.

The teachers showed a high level of participation and demonstrated an impressive selection of activities based on their particular aspect.  They showed good team work when delivering the lessons and used a variety of musical instruments and props to make the lessons more interesting for children.

The teachers learned a great deal from observing the different ways of doing things and then discussed their ideas and opinions of what they thought of each lesson.

Certificates awarded to the best performing schools:

First place went to Edelweiss for a very child-friendly “alliteration” lesson, involving a sandpit, digging activity, and a catchy song.

Second place went to Freesia for their superb demonstration of musical instruments and how to use them.  It was portrayed in an engaging story using homemade puppets.

Third place went to Carnation school who gave five short examples of “blending and segmenting” lessons. Their demonstration and effective use of props showed a clear understanding of technique.

All the schools were congratulated for their participation and contributions to the workshop. We are happy to say their understanding of Phase 1 Phonics continues to improve and benefit their students.

Special Celebrations

October born birthday celebrations

Birthdays are special for everyone.  Children express great joy in celebrating their birthdays with their friends! Here are a few pictures from the birthday celebrations from the October month.

Parents Meetings

Parents meeting was conducted to inform that Building Blocks was stopping the monthly savings program as many of the parents were not paying the savings amount regularly.  Their savings money was refunded.

“Special Thanks to the staff that supports the Gardenia School at our Implementation Partner, Building Blocks, to the Infrastructure Funding Partner, AlphaBet Club donors and volunteers, Casa Foundation for construction and fundraising efforts and DNF for providing the building.”