| Why
we do what we do? |
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| 1.
Learning - A First Hand Experience |
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Learning
can be described as an experience that contributes
to the child’s development. The impulse
for such learning is the child’s sense
of wonder and curiosity at the complexities
of the world around him/her, the desire
to understand it, and spontaneous urge to
explore it, through play. |
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The
Orchid School provides opportunities for
first hand experience, actively engages
the child with the immediate environment
and with those living in it. The child is
an active agent in his/her own learning.
This “First Hand Experience”
provides a reference framework for the understanding
of more abstract concept and thus more permanent
learning takes place. |
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First
hand experience helps make the teaching
- learning process a great success. Through
first hand experiences, children get the
opportunity to observe, compare, explore
and interact with materials. It is in a
natural environment the children get a chance
to touch, taste, see, hear and express. |
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Whatever
the child learns using his/her five senses,
he/she retains forever. Experience also
makes children want to communicate. This
encourages and increases language ability.
In our school, an ensemble of activity-
filled learning modules are created to satisfy
a child’s curiosity for knowledge
like field trips, cooking days, celebrating
festivals and events, art and sports based
activities and many more. |
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| 2.
Field Trips |
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Educational
field trips enhance learning opportunities
for students and are easily the most memorable
educational experiences for many of them.
Out-of-school educational trips supplement
the experiences provided in a traditional
regular classroom-based teaching and encompass
all facets of learning. Field trips provide
the opportunity for students to become motivated
to learn. Field trips result in measurable
impact on students’ values (sense of
importance), interests, and attitudes (sense
of enjoyment) about the subject matter. Field
trip activities facilitate the transition
from lower-order learning (e.g., memorization
of information) to development of higher cognitive
learning strategies required to master abstract
concepts and for long-term learning. |
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We,
ensure that the field trips are optimal experiences
for students – for learning and also
for personal development. However, the health
and safety of the students is of paramount
importance while planning a field trip. |
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Development
and implementation of effective field trip
accomplishes the following : |
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Hands-on experience, concentrating on activities
that cannot be conducted in the classroom.
• Assignments that direct the students
towards activities such as observing, touching,
identifying, measuring, and comparing.
• Provide a strong basis for meaningful
learning in a broader context. |
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Student
performance (what they can do and what they
know) as well as interest and attitudes are
monitored during a field trip to ensure that
the trip is a positive and meaningful experience.
Learning is extended through field trips with
pre- and post-activities. Pre-activities include
reading about the topic, looking through a
magazine or a related story. Post-field trip
activities are also important to help reinforce
the lessons learned on the field trip, and
to help students reflect on the relevance
of the field experience to the rest of their
coursework, and to their personal lives. Post-activities
includes writing notes / observations, individual
process writing, art projects, dramatic play,
work sheets etc. As children recall their
experiences, the teacher can evaluate their
comprehension on the particular topic, clarify
misconceptions or reinforce concepts. Language
experience charts are also made to record
the children’s memories and insights. |
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Students
should be taken on a field trip for experiences
that cannot be simulated in the class rooms.
However, to optimize the effectiveness of
the learning experience, we need to do more
than say, “Let’s load up the vans
and go”. |
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3.
Cooking Day Activity : |
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Experiences
regarding food involve many activities like
setting tables, cooking, eating, and cleaning-up.
All these activities provide learning experience
which the children will use throughout their
life. These activities provide opportunities
for teaching nutrition concepts and to build
good eating habits as well. Children enjoy
cooking experiences. Many of these activities
will require their help and effort at school
and then at home. These promote language,
mathematical concepts, and science learning.
New words like stirring, measuring, pouring,
grating etc are added to their vocabulary.
Concepts like shape, size, texture, number,
volume can be taught well. |
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Children
learn how food is being prepared and the sequence
of various procedures which need to be followed.
They are exposed to various types of cooking
utensils and why and how to use them. Cooking
is a natural way to learn how to follow directions.
Food experiences can also be used to model
and encourage good eating habits. Children
can be involved in tasting different food
before and after cooking. Cleaning up is an
important part of the cooking day activity.
Cleaning the equipments and keeping them back
in the respective place should be encouraged.
Children need to be involved in the process. |
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| 4.
Celebrating all festivals. |
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In
a multi-racial, multi-regional, multi-religious,
multicultural and multilingual society like
India, there is a great need for a deeper
understanding of its multiplicity and diversity.
The school has a particular responsibility
in promoting acceptance and respect for diversity
both in school and community. |
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Children
come from a diversity of cultural, religious,
social, racial, environmental and ethnic backgrounds,
and these engender their own beliefs, values
and aspirations. |
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The
School also equally recognizes the diversity
of beliefs, values and aspirations of all
religious and cultural groups in our society.
Therefore we celebrate all festivals within
the child’s range of understanding. |
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This
also serves a dual function. As a learning
experience, they reflect the historical roots
of various festivals |
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| 5.
Concerts |
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The
central aim is to ensure equality of opportunity
for all children. Need for creative self expression
in all children should be addressed, irrespective
of their gender or physical appearance or
colour. It recognizes, too, the importance
of providing appropriate support, in form
of human and physical resources. |
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The
aesthetic dimension enriches the learning
experiences for the child and the different
aspects of conceptual development. The uniqueness
of the child is perhaps most apparent in the
innate creativity of each individual, while
valuing each child’s creative response
and expression. |
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Any
child is capable of producing creative work
in some area and at some time. Our class concerts
provide a platform for all children to come
in an informal, supportive setting to take
part in creative production. The emphasis
is on both process of taking part in such
creative production and the final expression-
the product. |
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Attempts
at artistic and creative expressions are valued
, self esteem is enhanced, spontaneity and
risk taking are encouraged and differences
celebrated, therefore making participation
such a positive experience. |
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| 6.
Space Arrangement / Furniture Choices |
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The
way a classroom is arranged provides clues
about expected behaviour. A well – planned
setting usually promotes interesting play,
provides children with choices and encourages
them to actively participate in the learning
process. |
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At
the Orchid School, we review the developmental
program before arranging a classroom. Space
is arranged based on the children’s
developmental needs, interests and program
goals. |
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Young
children need space to build, move, sort,
create, pretend, spread out, work and interact
with friends. They need a place to be quiet,
to be active, to talk and to move. Space affects
the activity level of children. |
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For
example, two – year – old children
do not have refined large motor skills. To
promote safety and motor development, they
need open spaces without restricting floor
furniture. Classroom furniture is arranged
in a way that they know where to find classroom
materials and also return after use. Therefore
these classes do not have tables and chairs
which lock them up in the passive learner
mode. |
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Furniture
in the other classes is stackable, adjustable
and light in weight. They have scope for rearrangement
so that room can be made for activities which
need free, open floor space. A lot of times
children do sit on the carpet or on the floor
which provides them with free movement of
the whole body and possibility of quick, spontaneous
movement to engage physically and actively
in the on – going activity. |
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| 7.
School Lunch |
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Forming
healthy eating habits is an important aspect
of child-rearing practice. Parents struggle
to train children to eat healthy wholesome
meals. Early childhood days are an ideal period
in which this discipline can be inculcated.
With this in mind, at The Orchid School we
have provided the facility of including a
wholesome meal in their everyday menu. It
encourages the child to eat the same food
along with other children and even enjoy what
he / she is eating. This facility comes in
handy for working parents as well. All Children
are given this meal (included in their fees)
as part of their school, routine. |
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| 8.
TOS Art Centre |
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Today’s
schools are concerned, as they rightly should
be, with teaching literacy. But literacy should
not and must not be limited to the written
word. It should also encompass the symbol
systems of the arts. If our concept of literacy
is defined too narrowly as referring to just
the symbol systems of language, mathematics,
and science, children will not be equipped
with the breadth of symbolic tools they need
to fully represent, express, and communicate
the full spectrum of human life. |
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What
constitutes a good education anyway? Today,
one major goal has become very practical:
employability. Children should know how to
read, write, and compute so that they can
assume a place in the work force. Few would
argue with that. Considering the demands that
young people will face tomorrow in this technological
society, the need for literacy in English
language, mathematics, science, and history
is critical. But this objective should not
allow us to overlook the importance of the
arts and what they can do for the mind and
spirit of every child. Schools have a fundamental
obligation to provide the fuel that will ignite
the mind, spark the aspirations, and illuminate
the total being. The arts can often serve
as that fuel. They are the ways we apply our
imagination, thought, and feeling through
a range of “languages” to illuminate
life in all its mystery, misery, delight,
pity, and wonder. They are fundamental enablers
that can help us engage more significantly
with our inner selves and the world around
us. As we first engage one capacity, we enable
others, too, to emerge. |
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We
do not need more and better arts education
simply to develop more and better artists.
There are far more important reasons for schools
to provide children with an education in the
arts. Quite simply, the arts are the ways
we human beings “talk” to ourselves
and to each other. They are the language of
civilization through which we express our
fears, our anxieties, our curiosities, our
hungers, our discoveries, and our hopes. They
are the universal ways by which we humans
still play make-believe, conjuring up worlds
that explain the ceremonies of our lives.
The arts are not just important; they are
a central force in human existence. Every
child should have sufficient opportunity to
acquire familiarity with these languages that
so assist us in our fumbling, bumbling, and
all-too-rarely brilliant navigation through
this world. Because of this, the arts should
be granted major status in every child’s
schooling. |
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Our
Art Programme encompasses a range of activities
in visual arts, music, drama, dance and literature.
These activities and experiences help the
child to make sense of the world, to question,
speculate and find solutions, to deal with
feelings and respond to creative experience. |
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Art
is not a handicraft. It is the transmission
of feelings the artist has experienced. Hence
there is no one right way. Children’s
motivation and creativity cannot be evaluated
in the traditional sense, Reward and competition
restrict choices for self expression. |
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| 9.
The Resource Room : |
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Different
children have different abilities; a lack
of some abilities may hamper normal functioning
& performance in the mainstream classroom. |
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To
help & support the children with special
needs, a programme based on their needs and
abilities is created and delivered to them
at the Resource room. For e.g. at the resource
room we work with children with learning disabilities,
Down’s syndrome, autism, etc. |
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A
special educator or teacher especially trained
& sensitized to address the needs of children
with different abilities & challenges
in her classroom teaching & approach teaches
in the resource room. At present our resource
room team consists of two special educators,
a developmental therapist & 3 counsellorss. |
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We
are looking at expanding our team with a speech
& occupational therapist and more specialized
remedial teachers to cater to the school’s
growing needs. |
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| 10.
The Counseling Centre: |
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Counseling
is the support provided to children, parents
& teachers in handling the educational,
emotional, social & psychological problems
faced by the child. It is aimed at promoting
positive mental health, preventing school
related stress & making the learning experience
a sensitive & joyful process. |
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At
the centre, we assess and diagnose children
who are facing emotional, social and educational
difficulty with the help of psychological
tools. Once the diagnosis is done and a thorough
assessment further carried out by a developmental
pediatrician, we provide supportive &
counseling services to the child directly
& to the significant adults in the child’s
life. |
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The
counseling service is not for children with
diagnosed problems alone but also for those
who have a healthy approach to life. The inputs
are directed at the significant adults in
the child’s life, sensitizing them to
the children’s needs & helping children
to grow in an emotionally & socially healthy
way. |
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To
cater to the growing needs of children, our
counseling programme is now aiming at more
teacher & parent training programmes,
life skills training programme, community
out-reach programme from this year. |
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At
later stages vocational guidance and counseling
will also be available. |
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| 11.
Life Skills Orientation (LSO) & the Community
Project : |
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Life
skills Orientation talks about abilities that
allow an individual to adapt to & meet
source of stress & confusion for today’s
youngsters. It is therefore essential to train
them with skills that will allow them to assess
the assets & deficits in their own lives,
reduce their stress and make positive informed
choices. |
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Life
Skills like decision making, problem solving,
creative & critical thinking, self- awareness,
communication, interpersonal skills, etc would
help the children & adolescents in maintaining
positive health. |
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This
programme which starts from class V, would
help children understand & deal with physical,
emotional & psychological growth. It addresses
the following concepts at age appropriate
level. |
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•
The different roles that an individual plays
& the responsibility that comes with it.
• Decision making & problem solving,
where the children become aware of the choices
available to them & learn to resolve conflict.
• Learn about issues related to healthy
& damaging choices in terms of substance
abuse, addiction, use of tobacco, sex &
sexuality choices. |
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All
these skills would be through discussions,
role plays, debates, field and community work.
A significant part of the LSO is the community
out- reach programme or the community project. |
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The
community project is a planned interaction
between the students of TOS and students of
a community school. The idea is for the children
of the two schools to spend time, doing things
together. This will help the children to get
to know a lifestyle different from their own.
Also to learn to appreciate, accept &
understand people different than themselves. |
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| 12.
Language Teaching Policy at TOS : |
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We
have noticed a general panic among parents
about our approach to language teaching –
specially to teaching Hindi & Marathi.
TOS teaching inputs seems lower level compared
to other schools. Parents worry that they
may not be on par with other schools and board
exams. This write up is to clarify our choice-
why we teach the language as we do, what is
our theoretical basis, our belief, our approach
and our planned methods. |
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This
is what we do : |
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Sr.
K.G.: Functional level – listening to
the language, attempting to speak and basic
recognition of letters and familiarization
with sounds. |
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Std1&2-
Consolidation of the above and attempting
to read words without matras, comprehension
and speaking of language, early writing programme. |
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Std
3 onwards: Mastery of recognition of letters,
learning construction of words with matras,
meanings, comprehension, sentence construction
in reading and writing. |
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The
depth will get to advanced levels as the grades
go up and eventually the students will match
upto the board requirements. |
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Broad
aims of language learning : (English / Hindi
/ Marathi) |
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Promote positive attitudes and develop an
appreciation of the value of language –
spoken, read and written.
• Create, foster and maintain the child’s
interest in expression and communication.
• Develop confidence and competence
in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Enhance emotional, imaginative and
aesthetic development through oral, reading
and writing experiences. |
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The
linguistic diversity of India poses a range
of opportunities. Today, we know for certain
that bilingualism and multilingualism confers
definite advantages. Therefore, the Orchid
school exposes children to not only the English
language but the national language and the
regional language i.e., Hindi and Marathi. |
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Language
arises out of need and purpose, as an instrument
of thought, personal expression and social
communication. That makes the choice for the
national and the regional language and the
effort is to make children literate for both
survival and pleasure. There is no harm in
learning a foreign language, unless we know
we have a specific purpose and need. |
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Approaches
to language teaching : (English / Hindi /
Marathi) |
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We
dominantly use the Whole – Language
Approach to teaching language. Literacy development
includes listening, speaking, reading and
writing. All these components are interrelated
since they all involve words. ‘Whole
language’ is an attempt to get back
to the basics in the real sense of that word
– to set aside books and tests and invite
children to engage in more meaningful learning. |
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Helping
children to establish a strong foundation
of language for effective future learning.
Giving a rich language experience from activities
such as reading stories aloud, sharing books,
seeing environment filled with meaningful
print, reading and writing for pleasure and
purpose. Language literacy is integrated with
other subject areas of the curriculum. Music,
science, art, food activities, social studies,
math and any other kind of provide opportunities
for emerging literacy. |
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With
the whole-language approach, teachers create
an environment and then use the best tools
available to teach the components of language.
In whole language approach classrooms, there
is much to talk about, listen for, write about,
and read about. |
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Without
meaningful experiences, listening and reading
cannot make sense, and one cannot certainly
talk or write about things that are not understood.
We are opposed in early learning years to
monotonous skill – and – drill
tasks, to isolated textbook use, to laborious
notebook writing that fill so much time, are
given unproportionate weight age and are falsely
termed as curriculum component. |
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Therefore
for young and early learners, the more experiences
they have, more joyful and better the learning
will be. |
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| 13.
Homework at The Orchid School |
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In
an article by Joyce Epstein, she says “HW
is a way for parents to work with their own
child at home in ways that help the student
succeed and keep the parents as partners in
their children’s education across the
grades.” Epstein’s definition
of homework goes far beyond the traditional
worksheets or assignments that the students
complete alone. She adds “HW should
be interactive activities shared with others
at home or in the community, linking school
work to real life.’’ Further she
defines “help at home” as encouraging,
listening, reacting, praising, guiding, monitoring
and discussing – not teaching school
subjects Homework is the most common link
between home and school life |
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Why
Homework? |
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•
To develop self – study skills.
• To develop regular work habits.
• To help students take independent
responsibility of a task assigned.
• To revise and reinforce matter/ concepts
learnt in school.
• To review and reflect on day’s
work.
• To build on activities that occurs
in school. |
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Homework
should be reasonable and worthy of the student’s
time. Too much homework and students will
be overwhelmed: too little and they won’t
be challenged. The effort is to help our students
see homework as a positive, enriching experience. |
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