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 Activites |
| ACTIVITIES—A DAY IN THE SCHOOL |
SCHOOL
In the Hostel
6:00 am: Wake up and get ready
7:00-7:45 am: Study
7:45-8:15 am: Breakfast
In the School
8:15-8:30: before school starts, many children help the teachers and staff, water plants and do gardening
8:30 am: School starts with a ‘well being prayer' (for family, neighbours and world)
8:45-9:00 am: Settle in classes
9:00-9:40 am: Writing (with tamarind seeds, on sand paper, with wooden blocks etc.) and Creative skills (building blocks, clay corner, tangrams etc.)
9:40-10:30 am: Water corner (play with water and teach water conservation) and Story telling/Rhymes (using picture cards, cassettes, actions, drama etc.)
10:30-10:45 am: break
10:45-11:25 am: Subject—math, science or social science (theory and activities, practical experience, nature walk, narrations and Montessori teaching aids and innovative teaching materials prepared by teachers etc.)
11:25-12:00 am: Listening Corner (listen to stories, songs etc. based on subjects)/ drawing/painting/paper cutting/activities for class display
12:00-1:30 pm: Lunch Break (Hostel children eat and come back in 30 mins., most Nadaipathai Pookkal children eat at home and came back within an hr., and other children eat home cooked food in the school, together with a teacher. The teacher will take care of the children while they eat, while they tend to the school garden, and then when they all sleep till 1:30 pm)
1:30-2:10 pm: Subject (only activity based)
2:10-2:50 pm: Play outdoors/memory games/observation games/cycling/wooden horse riding
2:50-3:30 pm: Recap the entire days activities in informal fun question answer session
3:30 pm: School gets over
In the Hostel
3:30-4:30 pm: Eat snacks and kanji (nutritious powder mix), and rest
4:30-5:00 pm: Get ready for tuition
In the Tuition Centre
5:00-7:00 pm: Revise school work and do home work, under the supervision of tuition teachers (from the community). The tuition centres are for Siragu children, who as first generation learners cannot get this guidance from their parents.
In the Hostel
7:00-8:00 pm: Play and rest
8:00-8:30 pm: Dinner
8:30-10:00 pm: Play, chat and fool around
10:00 pm: Sleep
School Garden
12:30-1:00 pm: Each child takes care of one plant in the garden. They recycle the water they use, for their plants. The are helped by the gardener and teachers.
SESSIONS
In the school
Each class has 40 min. sessions.
Each session have 10 min. parts.
1 st part: theory
2 nd part: theory related daily life activities
3 rd part: linking theory to activities
4 th part: rest and recalling
TEACHERS AND TEACHING
Teachers are selected from the Palavedu Panchayat community, and then trained.
From 3:30-4:30 pm they stay in the school. This time is spent in going through the day's activities, and planning for the next day. Difficulties faced, solutions and clarifications are discussed. The teachers also go through books on child development, a new book every month.
Teachers meet in the school every Saturday for training. They go through the previous week's activities, and visualize this in the form of a display. Then they go through, the more than 100 reference books (on subjects, activities, child development etc.), and prepare for the next week's activities.
The activities are prepared based on each child's needs, to enable the child to learn spontaneously and according to their interest. Each child is given a choice from four or five activities in each session.
All the activities, for teachers and children, are based on
Visualization: of the theory in practical terms, accurately and attractively—to facilitate grasping and thinking
Concept formation: relating learning with concepts to facilitate deep understanding and not just memorizing
Values: personal and community values of love, sensitivity, honesty, integrity, unity, empathy, cleanliness, holistic development, confidence, punctuality, creativity, determination and persistence, respect, politeness, sharing, non extravagance and eco friendliness
Multiple dimensionality: of syllabus and of teaching methods, to explore beyond the present systems of education
Nadaipathai Pookkal Program (Flowers of the Pavement)
This program is for the families having settlements in Palavedu Pettai, but residing in pavements around Kilpauk Water Tank for around 30 years. These families are involved in begging—because of various social problems. Since 1999 we adopted these families (initially 50 families). We provide the community in Kilpauk and Palavedu Pettai with education, medical facilities (including family planning counselling), counselling for de-addiction, child care, resolution of family problems, and with empowerment through employment generation (self and external employment) schemes and setting up self help groups.
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