Mayank greeted me this morning with a huge chocolate bar.

When asked the reason for this gustatory gift.he reminded me of the upcoming valentine’s day. I nearly fell ….

I was dizzy with surprise .

I couldn’t believe that commercialisation has  reached the  such levels ..

I consoled myself that he must have just mimicked his mother in wishing me a happy V day.

His mother met me at “going home” time and hugged me..saying,”happy V day!”

I somehow controlled my laughter.

If Mr. Custodian of Culture could hear this ?? I wonder what his plans would be ?

Celebrating  such ‘days’ is no longer a choice..the friendly neighbourhood malls and gift shops give you no choice.

And Mayank is all of 5 years and 4 months old.

I was  stunned..

Should I put my foot down and refuse the chocolate bar..Or simply avoid creating an issue and divide it among the children…

On Teachers’s  Day my standing instructions to ‘my’ children: I accept gifts ONLY in the form of hugs.

I didnt know.. primary section school kids of this century end up celebrating  V’s day.

Next time I will be forewarned. Infact at the end of the day when my fifith standard kids reminded me of V’s day..I just told them I believe more in showing love to family and friends  through out the year and not ’showing’ it  sporadically according to the diktats of Tv and other media.

These last few weeks have been hectic.

An academic  session is coming to an end.

I have been stealing glances at some blogs and commenting too.But somehow couldn’t manage enough time to write.

The day I bid farewell to my Std. II kids was very emotional.

I felt I was sending them away to an unknown place.

Sahil was worried why I held on to him with a tight hug for a long time.Being the most restless and talkative kid in class, he has all my empathy… But I know it will be an uphill task for the new teacher next year.

Abhipsa , being the reticent and shy artist has all the ingredients to bring out the protectiveness in me..

Shruti, the perfectionist makes me want to ruffle her dress and shuffle her books so that she relaxes and learns that there is  more to life …

Akansha, the kid who is expecting a  sibling after ruling the house for seven glorious years gets a special hug. I know she will face a few tough months ahead getting used to sharing space …. 

Mayuresh with his thick glasses had finally learned to write …

So many thoughts and time slipping by..

I know that this hurt is inevitable every year. It is a sweet pain. As a teacher one wants to be gradually dispensable…

A teacher has to develop detachable attachments,else she will wallow in her past pupils and fail to take the new ones in to her fold.

I had read somewhere that parenting is like kite flying..one has to let go to succeed in the job..

Today the fourth standard kids and I  went to a nearby shopping area to use skills of money transactions .I had requested kids to bring Rs. 5 or Rs. 10 if permitted so as to help them in this activity.Those who didnt bring could borrow from me.

I took them around 7-8 shops selling groceries, fancy items, stationery, vegetables, tailoring  and craft -work items, bakery…

Most kids bought grapes, sugar candies, pens, shampoo sachets, detergent sachets….

Most kids were impulsive in their purchases.Some showed  a great sense of premeditation, planning, vision. Aishwarya bought a small packet of cardamoms and two lemons.Aman kept going up and down ..taking his time in searching for something suitable.He finally bought lemons and radishes for his home. Jenisha bought two packets of wafers and decided to go home to share it with her parents and sister.In  a class of 40, while most kids  ate atleast one of their purchases , I was surprised to see such children..their self control and the degree of maturity.

The other surprising thing I observed was that they  cajoled the 10 senior citizens sitting in the park to taste their tiffins.They chatted happily to them, shared jokes and puzzles.They cleaned the park after their snack time without being told to.

They are just 8 year olds!

This morning  I was conducting an activity in which the kids had to  jointly ‘write’ an article to a newspaper . The second standard kids were shown newspaper articles and stories. I suggested that they choose an incident that had occurred that afternoon in the class.. a quarrel between two kids as an incident to be ‘written’.They were very interested.

They  ‘reminded ‘me to write the date, place, day etc..

I began writing on the blackboard all that the little ones narrated in sequence.Suddenly a girl said, “  pahele ladke ne doosare ki khoon kar di..(the first boy killed the second..).  ” This stumped me for a fraction of a second. I quickly reacted by saying , ” We are newspaper reporters, we write only what has really happened.” I was shocked by the extent of their involvement in the gory details of the fight and also about their awareness levels  wrt recent happenings in the country and their ideas of how a fight could end!! Fortunately we were  alluding to the kids as pahele ladke ne and doosare ladke ne…otherwise  things would have gone a bit too far.

Quickly I managed to bring the story to a conclusion . The kids ended up by saying, ..” tabhee ghanti baji aur teacher ko dekhte hi bachche apni-apni jagah par baith gaye…(the bell rang and the kids went back to their places on seeing the teacher. )

The story had  other surprises too.  One of the kids who really fought is Ahil who doesn’t speak much. The other ‘fighter’ is Sahil who loves to describe things graphically.The narration of Ahil stunned me because he took active part in narrating his side of the duel very well. And Sahil was too  stunned to  counter /react /defend effectively !!Luckily for him I was busy writing.

The titles they suggested were:

Do ladkon ki ladai,

bachchon ma maraamaari,

school me ladai,

____ me ladai  ( the name of the school.. )

They even suggested that a snap should be put. I drew a rectangle and some stick figures in it.

Tomorrow ‘we’  report on a wedding. Looking forward to it.

The uniform your child wears to school is the index of how much care you take of her.
It should be freshly cleaned, ironed and must fit well.It gives her immense pleasure to be seen is the best dressed child of the class. It gives her self esteem a boost. It makes her aware that being smartly turned out is a quick key to acceptability in her friend circle.
Further, do remember that she wears it for atleast 7-8 hours. She must feel comfortable in it. All the fastenings should be in top condition. It has to be cleaned everyday.A stale one will be an invitation to skin diseases and more.Microbes love sweat and grime.Wash the uniform everyday. Use a good quality detergent . Using too many chemicals to remove stains can sometimes make the fabric rough.Uniform is a part of the school’s smartness quotient.It makes or mars the school’s reputation too.
Send your child smartly dressed to school. This way you are sowing the seeds of a smartly dressed , healthy adult.

Shardul gave a card on T day.It said the usual things. Inside he had solved a multiplication problem. Below it he wrote : ma’am,if this is correct  ,call out my name  in the class and  smile at me .

He had ensured that I saw the card AND a rsvp sort of acknowledgement.

Sweta gave a huge card.It said :”If you like this card hug me. If you don’t like it ..I won’t mind . “

the edited version is above.

During this period we inculcate habits of proper usage of toilets, the correct way of brushing, maintaining sensible time limits during tiffin time and activity times, developing good inter-personal skills …This is done in a joyful way. Children are encouraged to bring tooth brushes and soaps to school so that they can learn to use it in the right way. A lot of time is given to hone skills needed for reading and writing. They have activities like threading beads in different patterns, playing with clay, sorting objects, playing with sand…
What do I mean by readiness programme at home?
I mean a friendly attitude towards school in general and teachers and classmates in particular. I have observed that very small kids first draw security zones around them and rarely go out of it. As they grow, they gradually enlarge it and actually test by leaving it for short durations. So, the idea of school should probably be introduced in a fashion of ‘visiting’ rather than ‘going’. When we say “you have to go to school and learn things …” we are indirectly telling that she needs to ‘go away’ .Instead we should treat school as a place she will visit and come back after many enjoyable experiences. We can even talk about the great experiences we have had at school. ’Teacher’ has to be alluded to in positive tones .Under no circumstances should ‘school’ or ‘teacher’ be referred to as punishments or as some vague prison where the child’s freedom is going to be curtailed…
Next, the actual act of ‘going’. Going to school begins at least three months before schools reopen! Yes, one should mentally prepare our kids by timing their morning routines by the clock. A kid need not be trained to read the time but she should certainly be made aware of time. We should see that a pattern is maintained for going to bed and waking up. Sunday ho ya Monday a regular schedule keeps the kid bright and cheerful on all days. Most times we see children coming  to school with a totally stale look. A bath in the morning not only keeps them clean, it makes them fresh and more receptive to the day’s activities. And the next important thing is giving them a good breakfast. It should have the right mix of cereals and proteins. This applies to the lunch box too. Fancy /junk food stuff is a clear no-no. Most times the kids demand junk food to attend school/the parent promises such food as a reward for good behaviour.The kid has to be familiarized with the process of opening the box and feeding herself. Using a napkin, clearing up the place, washing hands and mouth …all these need to be practised. Tying shoe laces, wearing socks, putting back things in the bag…are other things that one can ‘do’ by playing games at home. A time schedule foe eating within a reasonable period of time is useful. Otherwise most kids are able to manage just a cup of milk before coming to school and please remember the lunch break is at least three hours later.

Ofcourse toilet training is very important.This is to avoid embarrassment to the kid and shooting pains in the abdomen of the little one.

In most families parents think up names of kids even before they are born. The name of the school they want their wards to enter are also in their minds.Most often kids are trained  to tell the name of their future school as soon as they are able to speak !In houses where  there are  already school going children the   little ones claim to know who is going to be their teacher too!

The reason for this post is to begin a process of physically and mentally training the kid in preparation for the ’sambhrama’ of ‘actual going’ to school. I don’t mean ‘teaching’ the letters of the alphabet, colours in the rainbow ,names of the President /PM/ministers,os rhymes etc. I mean training the child to be ready for the process of going out of the house at fixed times ,following a routine for eating,playing and learn basic things in personal hygiene.

In our school,like in all Kendriya Vidyalayas we have very simple prerequisites for admission to Class I.The child should have completed five years as on September 30 of that year in which she is seeking admission.We don’t ask for any prior knowledge /kindergarten education. We conduct school readiness programme for six weeks.
Under this programme, we teach children reading readiness, writing readiness,basic hygiene .This is very useful for first generation learners and to those where parent is semiliterate.
To be continued…

 Our school is celebrating ‘annual cultural mela’ on the 1st of May.My friend and I chose a Hindi one act play and modified it to suit our requirements. We re-wrote some dialogues ,added a few characters(as we wanted more kids to be a part of the programme),made it more  girl student -oriented and changed the ending to make it more attractive .

Its storyline is: Two kids want to be allowed to go to the school   picnic.Their father has refused to spare  the  money. They discuss the options and decide to go on a hunger strike.The tug of war between their hunger  and the various culinary carrots dangling in front of them is hilarious.After overcoming several temptations the poor kids are hungry and tired. now they can take it no more and they succumb to gulab jamuns when no one is around.Ayan sees this and…The grand parents who have come on a surprise visit  save their day.

Now even as we re-wrote the play we had the main actors in our mind.

 In fact it took a lot of effort in persuading one of the ’stars ‘ to act. Ayan-all of 8 years wanted to be in a casual costume.We promised him that he could be himself. We changed the name of the character to Ayan. He signed the contract!!He is a natural-so we didn’t mind the ‘cost factor’!

The next obstacle came when Vismaya,one of the other lead actors couldn’t slow down the dialogue delivery. Even as we tried to improve her, Shweta_2 took over the direction.She was our narrator cum prompter.Her tips were so good that we gave Shweta-2 Vismaya’s role and enjoyed sitting back in our chairs. The rehearsals are a dream come true. Megha and Sh are so natural that they modify the dialogues, suggest movements, rearrange props ,advise the other minor actors on dialogue delivery and give ideas for smooth entry and exit.They both are about 10 years old.Unbelievable-but true.Whenever we feel that somebody is having difficulty with a particular dialogue/action M and S start their suggestions.We have given them a lot of creative freedom .This has resulted in the play running to 12+ minutes from an expected time of 9-10 minutes. Now we have had to curb their directorial tendencies so as to keep to the allotted time!

During the course of the play Ayan gets to lick the paani of paani-poories ,eat besan ke laddoos,pakodaas and gorge on gulab jamuns!And poor M and Sh are mere spectators–well almost. The expressions on their faces when Ayan eats and describes the taste is worth an Oscar or two!!

Ayan does the eating and gloating part beautifully. We tried to bring in tomatoes for the practice sessions. he forced his mother to buy the real Gul.jamuns.He has been large heated to share the left-overs with the salivating characters at the end.he was the one who suggested that the GJs should be cut into two for easy popping in and talking simultaneously–anubahva -janya-gnana-I guess.

Children continue to amaze me with their abilities even after 21 years of ‘learning’ experience.

By the time the play is over I would have earned an honorary diploma in directing from AYAN-MEGHA-SHWETA academy.