Provide a Safe Haven for Indian Children

                                                    Quarter October to December 2017

The last three months has been a time for festivals and enjoyment. The Dussera and Diwali festivals in October and Christmas/ New year in December give ample opportunity for the children to wear new clothes, enjoy fireworks and light numerous lamps to decorate their homes.

The New Year party to be  hosted for the children of all the crèches is creating excitement in all the crèches. The children, under the guidance of the staff are busy practicing for the variety entertainment program  which will have songs and  group dance. 

 Activity 

During the  first few months the crèches  focus on more play activity, oral work, rhymes and indoor games.

Subsequently the learning is introduced – letters of the alphabet, numbers, colors, parts of the body, days of the week etc. First they are taught orally and recognition of pictures on  charts  and flash cards is encouraged.

The children get introduced to fine motor co ordination  and grasping an fine object by using chalk and slate board to scribble, draw and write.  

Subsequently   the children are  writing  in note books; the children are proficient in play activity – drawing and  coloring, building activity with legos and  building blocks, counting activity etc. The children are also able to read, write and recognize the leers of the alphabet and nos. They are able to recognize colors, parts of the body, pet animals,  farm animals, shapes  etc. frits and vegetables

The older children are proficient in writing 2 – 3 letter words. 

 Two important events are celebrated in the month of October and November – 2^nd October- Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and November 14^th -Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday which is also celebrated as Children ‘s Day in India . The teachers explain to the children, in very simple language, the significance of these two days. Children’s Day also reiterates Nehru’s love and vision for the children on India  -all the children  should get opportunities for  education .  The celebrations included fun games and distribution of sweets. 

 Fun Activities

  During this quarter the teachers  focused  on numbers and shapes and using activity based  ways to teach the children; for eg. Paper cups and pebbles were used, the children had to count and put in the no of pebbles that were written at the bottom of each cup.  Similarly different shapes were taught by making the children colour paper cuttings of different shapes, which were then made into a craft item like clown etc. The childreand the teachers   enjoyed the activities.

New rhymes  with actions were also taught to the children.

Sports Day

 A group of volunteers from Bridgin organized a sports event for the children of  Indiranagar crèche- the games were running race, frog race, balancing ball on paper and running event, puzzle race. 

The children enjoyed themselves and they all received small gifts sponsored by Bridgin.

 Nutrition and Health:

All the children continue to get a healthy mid day meal with egg twice a week. They all drink a nutritious ragi millet malt every day before going home. Their weights are monitored and the doctor visits regularly and monitors the health of the children along with the staff.

                                              Report  for the Quarter July 2017 to September 2017

By July the new admissions have all settled into a routine and are used to being away from home. The regular schedule of activities include rhymes, use of flash cards to teach them recognition and names of various living and non living things, play activity  and  craft .  During this month more group activities are done to give everyone a chance to bond and settle in. 

 In August the group of children are divided into two groups; the trained teacher spends time with the older children (3 ½  and above)  and the younger children are managed by assistant teacher. 

 The older children are taught alphabets, numerical, short words parts of the body, days of the week etc and are introduced to writing initially on the slate with a chalk piece.  The children are given slate and chalk piece -initially the children only scribble and draw. 

Holding a chalk and writing on the slate is the most crucial part of developing motor skills in children.  With regular practice the children are able to write letters of the alphabet and numbers etc.

September the children are more able to grasp the chalk and write with a better hand, and begin to write more frequently.

They also engage in coloring activity with crayons and colour pencils; other fun activities like finger painting etc are also introduced.

The younger children work with play material- lego, building blocks, coloring and other activities. 

Workshop Activity: 

Every year a workshop is conducted to enable the crèche teachers to gain new skills and ideas. This also helps them get exposure to new creative ideas and motivates them to make teaching fun, interesting and educative for the children.

 The teachers implement the ideas given in the workshop along with their day to day activities.  Following are some of the new ideas explored at the workshop.

1.  The older children counting the number of children in the class .
2. Sand writing-The children are  taught to write on sand, touch, trace and fine motor co-ordination.
3. Paper cutting-  into different shapes and  sizes (from big to small )  and made to  arrange them from big to small. Each child is  given the task.
4. Shapes  cut are also used to make a hanging and each child is given one .     
5. To make the National Flag the children glued three different colors of wool-  saffron, green, white  and blue in the centre. This was done in the month of August  to celebrate August 15^th  India’s  Independence Day.
6. The children experienced touch, feel and  smell of fruits and vegetables- and then ate them.
7. Circle, triangle, rectangle, star and square shapes were cut from paper and the children were made to stick it and make a picture of a truck, bird, clown, kite, house and fish.
8. The children were made to do hand printing with paint, the children were taught to feel the liquid colour and also to learn the colours.
9. Sorting - Using red and blue colour theme the teacher used two cups colored in red and blue and stones colored red and blue were mixed and given. The children had to put each colored stone in the correct  cup
10. Counting numbers through drawing.
11. making a Name Badge for each child.

 Parents Teacher Meeting: 

This quarter during the Parents Teacher Meeting we explained to the parents the importance of hygiene and good habits and that it was important to continue these at home as well

1. Eggs.  ensuring to wash hands before eating food, washing hand after using the toilet, picking up the things and keeping it back to where it belongs.
2.  Sending the children on time to the crèche and similarly picking them up on time and if in case delayed to inform the teacher.
3.  Minimize absenteeism as this disrupts the child’s routine
4.  To communicate with the children daily and practice the school activities at home as well.
5. To make sure the children come dressed neatly and that their nails, hair etc are clean and free of dirt etc. 

  Health:     

The children across all crèches have reported sick this quarter due to a sudden change in weather and incessant rain. The doctor has examined them and prescribed medicine and we are happy to report that all the children have recovered.

 Volunteers: 

 Ashraya’s crèches have had volunteers from different backgrounds- corporate employees, college students.    Around 10 volunteers are active this quarter- they engage the children in music and dance, teach them simple games, read stories to the children  and assist the teacher in any way that  is needed.