GIGI BYTES 13TH EDITION

FROM OUR DESK

BENEFITS OF PLAY

Play is very important to a child's development, it is an integral part of a child's Early Years Foundation Stage and supports their learning journey too. Young children can develop many skills through the power of play.

While the benefits of play are innumerable - play helps children develop cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally - there is more to play than fun and games. Physically, play benefits children in a few ways, namely in the development of their fine and gross motor skills. Play benefits motor development by encouraging movement [and the] understanding of spatial relations, promoting motor planning skills, and supporting balance and dexterity,” Mendez says. “It also supports gross motor skills, such as energy, stamina, flexibility, and body awareness.

Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers. As they master their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges. Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills. When play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue. Ideally, much of play involves adults, but when play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce to adult rules and concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them, particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills. In contrast to passive entertainment, play builds active, healthy bodies. In fact, it has been suggested that encouraging unstructured play may be an exceptional way to increase physical activity levels in children, which is one important strategy in the resolution of the obesity epidemic. Perhaps above all, play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood.

*CC - American Academy of Pediatrics.

Ms. Minal Jadhav

Pre-primary Coordinator

Olive Trails

Learning engagements @ Nursery

English: Show and tell

Show and tell is usually the first opportunity for young children to have to stand up in front of small group and speak. When presenting during show and tell, students are expected to talk about a variety of topics which helps them to become confident, inquisitive, interested and strengthen their communication skills. The nursery learners participated in show and tell activity. The students were asked to bring their favourite vehicle(toy). They were excited to share their descriptive narration and waited eagerly for their turn to show and tell. Thus, this activity helped our tiny tots to build their social, emotional and language skills.

Math: Triangle Shape

The ability to accurately identify shapes is a foundational mathematical skill, and it is quite amazing for children because their world is full of shapes.

The nursery children explored this mathematical skill by drawing different objects that are triangular in shape. The freedom of choosing and drawing their favourite triangular objects sparked their creativity.

Curious explorer: Bubble Blow Pranayama

Exercise from an early age should be encouraged as it benefits a child's development. It enhances and promotes the development of motor skills, bones and muscles, cognitive and social skills.

Bubbles Blowing Pranayama was one of the breathing exercises done by the nursery learners. They thoroughly enjoyed this exercise as they saw the bubbles flying in all the different directions. This activity majorly catered to the eye-hand coordination of the learners.

Zumba

Zumba is one of the most fun and versatile fitness trend to come along in a long time. It is fun and you don't even realize that you are exercising. Zumba is a 'feel happy' workout that is great for both the body and the mind. Our little learners eagerly wait for the Zumba sessions as it gives them an opportunity to show their flare for music and dance.

Stream: Path through the Tunnel

Making and playing own STREAM games is always a great fun. It develops confidence as kids enjoy playing repeatedly on the path made by them. The learners folded a white sheet in the form of a tunnel and stuck it with tape. Then they passed a ball through it which was a unique activity for them. This improved strategical thinking, challenges and developed a sense of achievement on completing the game.

Learning engagements @ K1

English

Writing is an important part of our daily life. We can help children begin to develop their writing skills at an early age through simple activities, like tracing letters on sand or on flour, then writing letters with the help of grains and other different mediums. K1 Learners involved themselves in an activity of letter formation where the teachers randomly told a few letters and the learners created them by placing pasta shells. Learning in a play-way method is the perfect way for the little ones to boost their recognition skills and this activity helped the learners in fine motor skills development as well.

Math: Concept - Heavy and Light

Our learners can learn measurement in terms of simplified comparison like heavy/light objects. So, we teach our learners about weight using hands on activities that involve comparing common items. Children recognize the object and its weight and they compare the objects. Learners can be taught this concept with various objects that are available at home. To introduce this concept, we simply practice comparing weights by holding different objects in our hands. The K1 learners were introduced the concept of heavy and light by comparing objects. To simplify and teach them clearly, they were asked to bring a heavy and a light object and were questioned that which one was lighter or heavier. With this engagement, they developed their math skills, eye-hand coordination and learned the concept of weight.

Theme: Origami Paper Boat (water ways)

Buses, boats, and trains! There are many modes of transport that learners like to use for travelling and exploring the world. Water transport is one of them and K1 learners were imparted of its knowledge through an informative PPT on water ways that allow to move from one part of the world to other. They did a fun activity of making a boat from origami paper. Then they moved it in a water tub and enjoyed it a lot. Through this activity learners practiced their folding skills and learned different ways of water transport.

Curious explorer: Our Galaxy

Children naturally love learning about the solar system and galaxy. The sun, moon, stars and planets are fascinating to small children as they see stars twinkling in the night sky . To help learners expand their natural curiosity, our Galaxy curious explorer activity was done. K1 learners took a circle out of a sheet. Then, they put some shaving foam in a dish and added poster colours which will they used with a toothbrush. Later, they put the circular cut-outs on it to create a beautiful colour mixture on it. They also took a star Mould and dipped it in golden or silver colour to create stars. Finally, they arranged these on a sheet which was dabbed into black colour by a sponge and completed their galaxy. Learners were very excited to make their own galaxy. It also helped to develop cognitive skills and open new avenues of knowledge.

Learning engagements @ K2

English: Four Letter Rhyming Words

The minds of children are impressionable. They begin taking in information from quiet a young age and that is what makes it important that children are taught early on, with great care. From making friends to confidence with letters and numbers, there’s a lot to learn when starting school. Children learn a lot through play – but these days, reading skills are also taught systematically, from the earliest days in nursery or reception class right through their first years in primary school. It can be a bit of a puzzle to work out how best to support your child through the early stages of reading. Teacher explained four letter words in previous session which helped the K2 Learners to make four letter rhyming words on their own using their imagination skills.

THEME: Role Play on Technology

Role-playing is an important part of children’s learning and development. It enables them to practice, imagine, and rehearse before problems and possibilities happen. Role-playing for kids is interactive, fun, and allows children to build upon each other’s ideas. Role-playing games foster children’s imagination, allows them to create their own narratives, and act out who they want to be. Role-play allows the child to undergo cognitive, emotional, and physical as well as language development, in a fun and creative way with more freedom to express themselves and their ideas. Almost every child could be creative and inclination to bring that creativity alive. After greeting the learners, the teacher asked all the K2 learners to come one by one and show their talent and say a few lines on different technologies.

Literacy Circle: Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is very useful for children who encounter difficulties in learning and understanding. When they create mind maps, they manage to put their ideas in order. Mind mapping for children banishes boredom and allows kids to have fun while taking notes. As a result, children start developing their cognitive skills from a young age. Kids establish connections in their minds that they will never forget. Mind maps are easy to create and effective for the kids’ mind. Students generate new ideas and visualize their thoughts. Enthusiastic K2 learners drew pictures related to reader book Kipper’s balloon.

ART: Treasure hunt

Art exploration is not only fun and entertaining, but also educational. Children are naturally curious. From the minute they gain control of their limbs, they work to put themselves out into the world to see how it all works. They explore, observe, and imitate, trying to figure out how things operate and how to control themselves and their environments. This unrestricted exploration helps children form connections in their brain, it helps them learn - and it’s also fun. Art is a natural activity to support this free play in children. The freedom to manipulate different materials in an organic and unstructured way allows for exploration and experimentation. These artistic endeavours and self-directed explorations are not only fun, but educational as well. K2 learners used their imagination skills to show their creativity with different objects lying in their house for Treasure hunt activity.

Celebrations @ Olive Trails

National Sports Day

National sports day is celebrated as the birth anniversary of hockey player Major Dhyan Chand. Sports helps to increase confidence, mental alertness, and self- esteem. Sports are important because it helps to teach various skills like leadership, patience, team efforts, and social skills. All the grade learners enjoyed this event by playing different 'Minute to win it' game. Nursery learners engaged themselves in a game of move on with a hula hoop where they jumped in and out of it. K1 Learners had a good time in playing bounce the balloon and duck walk where they moved around the towel in zigzag way as a duck.

K2 learners played Ball Game: Learners did the juggling with the help of two balls. Balance and Wear- Learners asked to balance on one leg and wear shoes and socks where they will be building their balancing skills.

Remove my cap - Learners asked to place 4 bottles in each row. Children must run from the start line, open the cap and run to the end. Through these activities they develop gross motor skills and strong eye hand co-ordination. The learners finished this session with full zeal and enthusiasm.

Birthday Celebration

Birthday celebrations are important because they give everyone a day to feel special about themselves. Teachers and the co-learners greeted the birthday boy & girl during the birthday celebration through a birthday song. K1 learners were ready with their favorite snacks to enjoy the party. K2 learners had a great time participating in the celebration and created their favourite snacks corn chaat. The celebration concluded with all of them dancing on peppy Birthday Party Songs with zeal and enthusiasm.

Virtual Field Trip

While your kids may be home physically, online tours still give them some access to the rest of the outside world. The same way school has gone digital - with remote home-schooling, live-streamed extra-curricular classes, and learning-at-home portals wherever you look - class trips have moved online, too. These virtual field trips for kids will have them gazing at world-class art, learning about history, discovering science, and even checking out what it's like in outer space. No matter their interests, be it history, art, or science, you'll be able to take a "trip" to match. Nursery went to a virtual field trip at the fire station while the K1 learners were onto a journey to the gateway of India through video. Our K2 learners watched the Toronto Zoo tour very excitedly and thoroughly enjoyed the virtual trip.

Glimpse of Parent child engagement

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