On 4th August'09, we celebrated Raksha Bandhan in Ananda. Anandaites came in colorful dresses like Ghagra-choli, Kurta-Pyjama, Lungi-Kurta etc. Tiny tots were looking amazing in their traditional outfits. Everybody celebrated this festival by activities like making Rakhis of different shapes, colors and decorating them by glitters, crayons, scribbling etc. Children enjoyed the session of tying their handmade rakhis to each other. During lunch time, delicious sweets were offered to everyone.
Parents' Feedback on Toymaking Festival
1. " Dear Ananda School Mentors,
We as parents of Abha, were delighted and thrilled to participate in the Toy Making Festival as it was one of its kind. The entire festival was well thought out and executed event and kudos to the mentors and organizers for successful arrangement of this event.
By organizing such event, Ananda School live up to its objective of parent-child-mentor participation in letter & spirit. For both of us it was a nostalgic feeling as we both relived our childhood through toy making experience and discovered creative child within.
Abha has also thoroughly enjoyed and so were other children & their parents. This will definitely help Abha to inculcate “creativity” as one of our important behavior and contribute in her overall development.
Keep it up and Please organize such events more often in qualitative and quantitative manner."
Minakshi & Sanjeev – Abha’s parents
2. " We Along with Aanya firstly would like to thank you for this wonderful experience of expressing, our creativity along with our child and helping us find out the creative being in us.
We are all so busy with our day to day life that this kind of activity happens very
rarely. It was worth appreciating that you try to reuse some of the material like canes and you also try to use natural material like bamboo sticks nothing was very showy ,the whole concept of doing it was very simple and realistic.
We as parents think you should organize these kind of activities more often. I would like to suggest that you organize planting activity so that the child from this age is aware to save the environment. We have seen the photos they are the treasure which we will store for our Childs memory bank.
Thanks & Best Regards "
Vikas Rewoo/Amardeep Bawa & Aanya Rewoo
Toy Making Festival_August 1, 2009
Toys play an important part in the lives of children. They are the vehicles of imagination for the children, as well as tools with which to instruct them about the world in which they live. Unfortunately, too many of the toys that are available to children today, do not encourage them to invent and discover things for themselves.
So, we gave a thought that why not sit together and help children to explore themselves and create toys of their own and on their own.
Finally, on 1st August 09 we celebrated Toy Making Festival with children and their parents. Everybody was excited. We dedicated one room for making toys out of potter’s clay, the other was for making musical instruments, and the third room was for making masks, caps, and puppets.
Many of our children mothers like Anuradha ( Arnav’s mother ), Meenakshi (Rajveer’s mother ), Deepika ( Arindam’s mother ), Yadwinder ( Jamshed’s mother ), and Mohini ( Aniket’s mother ) voluntarily participated with mentors in planning, organizing, and mentoring for this Festival.
On this festival, parents flashed back to their childhood days and enjoyed creating toys with us and their children. Everyone from mentors to support staff and children to grandparents ‘Participated and relished’ this day.
The smiling faces of children holding their created toys and taking them home was icing on the cake.
Exploring A N A N D A
Core Purpose:-
To enable each child realize his/her potential and make her dreams come true.
At Ananda:-
•We create an environment where the children are compelled to think, ask questions, inquire, ask more questions and draw their own conclusions.
•We firmly hold that, NEVER discouraging a question is what makes the difference between a good teacher and a great facilitator.
ANANDA's Educational Philosophy:-
Concept
The school concept has three dimensions. These three dimensions are based on the main factors that impact the student.With the student at the center, the three dimensions are
1. Mentors
2. Curriculum
3. Parents
These dimensions are inter-dependent and the foundation concept aims to strengthen the linkages between them.
Mentor:-
The school
•Develops and motivates educational professionals who have Love for children, good knowledge of child psychology, ability to inspire children, motivated and passionately committed, knowledgeable, good communication skills and IT savvy.
•Strives to develop in the mentor a deep involvement and a sense of pride in and belonging to the school.
•Develops an academic and professional growth path for the mentors.
•Promotes a strong training and development culture for our mentors.
•Encourages & promote faculty enrichment programs on subjects related to child psychology, counseling, evaluation, Art of Healthy & Productive Living, Development of Emotional and Spiritual Quotient, Development of Multiple Intelligences and other such topics which will make the Teaching-Learning process a continuum leading to self actualization.
Parent:-
The school believes in strong involvement of and contribution by parents and encourages this by
•Informal contact between parents and mentors. Mentors are encouraged to visit the homes of their students
•Parent’s days – parents are invited for visits to the school and celebrations at regular intervals
•Parents Workshop – these are conducted on a fortnightly basis so that parents can involve themselves in educational growth of the child.
•Counseling of parents
a.At the time of admission and promotion, parents are counseled with regard to the next grade to set expectations and invite contribution
b.Systematic mentor input to parents on significant behavioral changes
•Parent contribution are invited in
a.Career counseling - By asking them to relate their personal career experiences
b.Talks on areas of expertise - for example, doctors shall be invited to give talks on health.
Curriculum
The students go through the Ananda (The Joy of Learning) – At this stage the natural learning desire of a child is encouraged by thematic, experimental and play way methods of education. At Ananda, emphasis is on foundation building. Children are exposed to many sports and various forms of Arts. The learning is activity based and art, music, craft, dance are used to impart meaningful and joyful learning.
Field Trips:
The mentors enhance the classroom learning with field trips in the community. This fosters learning for the child. Its not extra-curricular activity but part of our curriculum design to include such trips for children.
Festivals:
Festivals and special school events are an integral part of education at Ananda. Specific information on upcoming festivals is communicated through notes by mentors and by emails. Seasonal festivals serve to connect humanity with the rhythms of nature and the cosmos. Many festivals which originated in ancient cultures have been adapted over time. There is joy in anticipation, the preparation, the celebration itself and the memories created.
Home Visits
Having the mentors come to visit at home is a wonderful way to bring together the child’s two worlds of home and school. These visits help the mentors acquainted with the child’s world at home and with other family members. It can be a valuable experience for child, mentor and parent. Home visits are usually done on weekends, after fixing the schedule with parents.
