Everyone agrees that reading is a virtue and a reading habit is one of the best things for a child to acquire. It is the road to that end that does not find a consensus of opinion, especially as most of us like to pass the buck – parents to teachers and teachers to parents. How much difference does the encouragement of a teacher make in developing and nurturing the reading habit?

For Ms. Nayar, a trained teacher, children’s writer and a concerned mother, it is the parents who make the difference in fostering the reading habit in younger children. “Teachers can make a difference, too, but not without the active support of parents.” In her son’s school, she had suggested that each parent donate a book at the beginning of the year to the primary class library in order that the collection become 30-40 books richer each year, and the teacher was happy to take up the suggestion. She collected and catalogued the books (some acquired at her own expense) and read to the children regularly. However, soon, lack of interest on the part of the children because of the absence of reinforcement from the parents became a roadblock and led to the project being shelved. Often, especially with first generation English language learners, parents are more interested in their wards getting their basic education right rather than indulging them in flights of the imagination.

The author is a prolific writer of children’s fiction. She can be reached at cherbrag@yahoo.com.

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Children love playing or doing activities that involve motor skills. While teaching we can think of many activities and games related to the topic we are dealing with, which will be both stimulating and involve thinking and problem solving.

• The 16 Sticks Game: This is an excellent game to develop problem solving skills, social skills, imagination and planning. This game will work well for classes 3 to 8, but any age group could enjoy the game.

Things you will need: 16 sticks of 2 to 4 cm each, we can use match sticks or neem twigs for the game.
Number of Players: Two
How to play: Let the two players sit face to face. In the middle arrange the 16 sticks as shown in the figure. This is just one way to arrange the sticks between the players. You can arrange them in any way you like, the only criterion is that they should be laid out in the space between the players.

The author is Head Training & Development, Calorx Foundation, Ahmedabad. He can be reached at <sgupta@calorxmail.com.

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I always wonder what our life would be without numbers, shapes, formulae and other mathematical concepts. Maths is omnipresent, whether in our address, phone number, vehicle number, house number, or our blood count.

This article is an attempt to explore the possibilities of making primary maths interesting. The strategies discussed in this article emerged from more than a hundred workshops conducted by the author with both teachers and students.

T.V. Channel Fun: Children love watching TV. Why not help them learn something while watching TV? Ask your students to do a survey at home. Children can list the names of channels available on their television, and write down the channel numbers along with some observations / remarks about the programme they watched.

The author is Head (Training & Development) Calorx Foundation, Ahmedabad and Registrar, Calorx University. He can be reached at sgupta@calorxmail.com.

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It was Mark Twain who said, “I never let school, interfere with my education.” And that perhaps sums up the process of “schooling” that young minds have been subjected to over the years.

However, with all apologies to Mr. Twain, at least in pockets of urban and rural India, we can take pride in the fact that we have taken large strides forward in our quest to make the learning process more meaningful for the child. One can hear the sounds of laughter and pleasure from the classrooms at least in the foundation years of primary schooling. Credit for this should go to all stakeholders who view the child as the fulcrum: schools, teachers and parents. There is more courage and space to experiment, more acceptance of different learning approaches, and above all more willingness to share and learn and believe that the process of teaching is also a never ending journey of learning … each child and class and era gently but firmly nudges the practitioners to find new ways that make more meaning, so that education in schools is For life, From life.

The authors are partners in Edcraft, Hyderabad, a firm engaged in making teaching-learning materials, conducting workshops and providing consultancy services. They can be reached at edcraft94@gmail.com.

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The kindergarten years, which are the formative years of childhood, are ideal for children to acquire learning skills such as concentration, comprehension, development of language, belief in values, emotional strength and perseverance. These are all tools that later help complex learning in both academics and life. A comprehensive curriculum in kindergarten would offer time and scope for developing these skills. Ideally, time should be set apart every day for story time. Puppet shows are a good way of telling a story and can be planned once or twice a month.

Puppet shows help in developing and strengthening creativity, imagination and comprehension in children. Children below the age of six live in their imagination. This needs to be cherished. They need to be awakened gently and led calmly towards reality and not pushed into it all of a sudden. Cherishing the dreaminess of children is thus an important task of the kindergarten teacher!

Seetha Anand is a paediatric counsellor and teacher trainer. She can be reached at seethaanand@yahoo.com.

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For most people mathematics is a mystery; a subject they are afraid of and treat with reverence. If you have a flair for mathematics, people believe you possess extraordinary abilities. As a matter of fact, mathematics can be related to many of life’s situations and thereby made easy to comprehend. Teachers can use such situations to help children relate to maths and therefore to grasp it easily; in fact, in the primary classes, they might easily be able to instill a love of mathematics.

Most children in school are answer-centered rather than problem-centered. Practically everything we do in school tends to make children answer-centered because right answers are a payoff. They see the problem as a kind of announcement, as if far off in some mysterious answer land, there is an answer that they are supposed to find. Some try to get the right answer out of the teacher. Little children often appear so baffled that the teacher will usually tell them what they need to do.

The volume of work given to children also forces them to an answer-directed strategy. When the work load is less kids are willing to do some thinking. So called higher standards in the school results in children who are too busy to think! Here are some ideas that you can use to shift the balance.

The author is reader, GVM College of Education, Goa. She can be reached at aneena2007@gmail.com.

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Priya lived in a small village named Vidynagar. She was quite excited. You see, her tenth birthday was fast approaching. This time she was expecting her cousins from the city to join her. Melosa, Aden and Seon had all said that they would surely come to her birthday party. “Maa, please bake a walnut cake. And for dinner, I would love some aloo parathas!”

When Priya’s birthday arrived, she could barely wait for the clock to strike six in the evening when it would be party time. Auntie Geeta had said that they would be there by 5 p.m. Priya’s mother insisted that she sleep for a while in the afternoon. But hardly had Priya shut her eyes when she heard a loud noise. It seemed to come from the kitchen. Slowly she tiptoed from there.

The author is a teacher educator at Pushpanjali College of Education, Maharashtra. She can be reached at editorial@teacherplus.org. ]]> http://www.teacherplus.org/primary-pack/priya-in-lever-land/feed 0 http://www.teacherplus.org/primary-pack/solving-word-problems-%e2%80%93-a-step-ahead http://www.teacherplus.org/primary-pack/solving-word-problems-%e2%80%93-a-step-ahead#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:27:20 +0000 divya http://www.teacherplus.org/?p=1780 S Sundaram In the article “Solving Word Problems” in the December 2007 issue, Kamala Mukunda stressed the importance of forming Mental Models.]]> S Sundaram