2015 started off with a bright spark and ended with the same joy and happiness at Edelweiss. December marks the end of the year and is the most joy-filled month for everyone as we move on and celebrate the achievements from this year and look forward to starting fresh in 2016. Edelweiss had a lot to celebrate when stepping into the second half of the academic year. Enrollment has been steady with very few drop outs, maximum number of children benefitting from this program. We also celebrated the reaching 250,000 served meals since the opening of the school.  We are expecting all 46 children from K5 classroom to graduate in April 2016, wishing and hoping the best for these children in continuing their education in English Medium schools.

Attendance and Nutrition

No. of students enrolled: 142

Total number of meals served this month: 3,289

No. of school days: 16

No. of Students Enrolled (Day): 104

Average attendance: 96

Attendance in %: 92

No. of Students Enrolled (ASP): 38

Total breakfasts served: 1,536

Total lunches served: 1,352

Total meals served at ASP

(After School Program): 401

Total number meals served since opening at Edelweiss: 163,073

Total ABC-BB School partnership meals since opening: 265,573

Curriculum

Math

K5 child writing in Math Workbook

K4 learned counting numbers from 1 to 50 and writing numbers from 1 to 20.

K5 in December learned writing numbers from 1 to 100, writing what comes before and after a given number, writing the missing numbers in between, learning to recognize and write down odd and even numbers. They also learned writing number names from 1 to 10.  Finally, they learned multiplication tables of 1, 2 and 5

English

K5 child writing in English Workbook

K4 learned about short vowels, writing letters from a to z.  They learned new tricky words like me, we, he, she, to and high frequency words like on and is.  In Jolly Phonics Phase One they learned lessons on Rhythm and Rhyme with activities and stories

K5 learned new sounds of diagraph like or and oo. Children learned tricky words like saw, only, why, who, like and have high frequency words like her, see, big, him and out through many examples. In Jolly Phonics Phase One they learned lessons on Rhythm and Rhyme. They also learned to read simple readers with words – Big and On in it.

Local Language Kannada

Children practiced writing all the letters of the Kannada language that they have learned so far.

Social Science

Learning about plants through activity

In Social Science K4, children this month continued learning about plants. They revised the names of different parts of the plants and their functions. Also, they learned about seeds and many ways the seeds travel from one place to another. Finally, they were able to understand about different plants needing different places to grow optimally.

Teacher demonstrating with globe

K5 this month learned about the globe being covered with both land and water, different continents and countries.

Value Education

Clown Joseph entertaining kids with moral stories

K4 learned from stories like Lockets and Rainbow, Jelly and Pants and Ugly Ducklings.

K5 this month learned from stories like – Frog on a log, Jelly and Pants and Ugly Ducklings.

K3 Program

In circle time children learned to greet each other and to reply to one another. Theme of the month for circle time was birds and transport.  Stories like Benny visits the farm and The donkey and the lion were read to them. There were revisions on colors they have learned and shapes like circle, square, rectangle, oval, diamond and crescent. Learned jingles and rhymes associated to the holiday season like Jingle bells, Santa Claus is coming to town and We wish you a merry Christmas.  Class room rules, School’s name, Teacher’s name, Founder’s name were revised again for them. Naming the days of the week and months of the year orally were repeated this month in class.

In Jolly Phonics Phase one, children learned to follow the sound and words about sounds. They learned lessons on Rhythm and Rhyme with activities and stories like the Pied Piper.  Revision of letter sounds for s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k was repeated again.  Introduction of the letter e, h through sounds, flash card, actions, game, jolly song was achieved. Various forms of practice on writing like the free form letter formation writing, air writing, sand writing, slate writing and class work writing were done for the kids.

Community helpers like the farmer, waiter/waitress were discussed and charts were shown to them.  On the topic of health and safety, children learned about the benefits of drinking plenty of water and playing outside was discussed with them.

In character development, being helpful and cheerful was talked in the class.  Language enrichment happened with words like open/close, day/night and hot/cold

In Fun with Math, children learned sorting by color, size and shape.

Physical Education

Outdoor play time

Children are encouraged to play in our outdoor- roof top playground.  Every day, 15 minutes of physical activity is included in their school schedule. This month as well, children played outdoors whenever weather permitted.

Nutrition

Special lunch for Christmas

The free nutrition program with well-balanced breakfast and lunch served at our schools helps combating malnourishment and improves children’s concentration in learning.  Well balanced nutritious, hot meals are prepared and served every day.  A total of 3,289 meals were served for our children during this month.

Hygiene

Child washing hands before eating food

Seven steps to hand wash – Hand washing with soap is done before and after breakfast, before and after lunch and each time after the children are using the restroom.  Teachers teach them the seven steps of hand washing and they are made to follow the steps whenever they are washing hands.  On an average, a child washes his hands 7 times in a day while at school.  Children by doing so, fall in a routine habit of washing hands and try and follow this habit while they are at home too. This internally is improving their hygiene habits and is helping them to prevent getting sick.

After School Program (ASP)

3rd graders doing homework in ASP class

With a total of 38 students of grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 the ASP program is going very well.  This program helps the students in the evening with their homework which they bring back from their respective schools.  This program is a supportive program which assists our previous graduates to keep up with their school work.  This month the program ran for 12 days with a total attendance of 401 children.  ABC provides evening snacks in the ASP program.

Special Celebrations

Christmas decor at Edelweiss

Holiday season with Christmas and New Year was celebrated with joy this year. School was decorated for Christmas and children were entertained by their teachers with carol singing, dancing and with children enjoying on a good festive lunch.  School was off for 10 days on winter break.

Welcoming the guests

Family celebrating 1st birthday of their child

Birthdays are special for everyone.  A Bangalore based couple with their one-year-old baby came to Edelweiss to celebrate their one-year-old daughter’s birthday together with the Edelweiss children. The family expressed great joy in doing so. They had arranged for a special lunch to treat the kids.

Couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary at Edelweiss

Another couple from Bangalore came to celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary at Edelweiss with the kids. They arranged for cake and special meals for the children to celebrate their happy moments.

Parents Meeting

Social worker addressing parents in the meeting

An informative meeting was arranged by the social workers for the ASP parents to raise awareness in sending children to school; keeping them clean and tidy, maintaining their regular attendance and sending healthy lunch and snacks to school.

Special Thanks to the staff that supports Edelweiss at our Implementation Partner, Building Blocks, and also to our Project Funding Partner, Alternatives 4 Children.