3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms Niv

Issue #003/ July 28, 2020

Hi! This is a weekly newsletter on education. Once a week, curated by me from amongst the  videos I watch and articles that I read. Most of you would have been too busy to track trends in education and deliberate on career choice, parenting or pedagogy. Find it all here.

For whom? Students, educators and parents

When? Every Tuesday

Where? my blog post, register with your e-mail id, it is free.

I have been a research scientist, a journalist and an educator over 3 decades. I read and I write.  With this weekly newsletter, I intend to share what I read, learn and experience while I engage with students, parents and teams of teachers across K-12 schools, higher education institutions and ed-tech organisations.

3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms Niv  is a newsletter for you to subscribe and enjoy your learning journey with me. This week, it consists of:  3 images, 2 thoughts and 1 video.

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Three Images For The Week

 

How folk artists have responded to pandemic.

 

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Two Thoughts For The Week

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
― Oscar Wilde

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One Video For The Week

Everyone’s online. Your kids have unlimited access to devices. They are using it for learning and yes, gaming. Ask your kid:

• what games does s/he play?
• how did s/he come across that game and what is it that s/he likes about it?
• would s/he like to show you how she plays and let you sit around and look at the screen while s/he is playing?

This will help you understand your child better, embrace your child’s world of gaming and make deeper connection with your most precious one.

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Guest column :

Educator of the week (By invitation)

Teaching Early Writing to Pre-schoolers

We all know that children use their sense of touch or tactile sense to explore their environment. The aim to develop good hand skills and other pre-writing skills is to prepare the children for the next step, i.e. writing. Children who face difficulties in writing can overcome the issue by working continuously on hand skills.

Pre-writing skills: It is important to strengthen the hand skills so that children can handle small objects. It depends on how to make our students use the small muscles of hands along with the muscles in the forearm which provides strength and stability. Encouraging children to hold crayons while scribbling, eating with spoons/forks, buttoning and zipping clothes will help in strengthening both fine & gross motor skills.

Children need regular practice to strengthen their pincer grip to develop pre-writing skills.

We can follow these guidelines for developing Pre Writing skills:

Table top activities : The writing Desk or Furniture should be the right size. His feet should be flat on the floor and forearms should rest comfortably on the table top (at approximately elbow level). His/her feet should not dangle or swing.

Teach new skills :Show a new movement or shape, repeat the movements over and over again, and provide some physical guidance so he/she can feel how to perform the necessary movements. Let the child imitate you instead of copying from a book or paper.

Play and draw on vertical surfaces :Learning Materials like paper should be kept above eye level. By doing the same the wrist of the child and the hand will be in a position where practicing regularly will give a better control to hands that is required for colouring, painting or printing etc.

Ways to strengthen the shoulder, arm and wrist:

Use table-top easels or bookstands which a child can use while seated. To strengthen the upper body while standing, learning materials like Flannel boards, chalkboards, sticker games, letter and number magnets on the refrigerator can be used . Playing various games which involves a lot of hand movement like  tug-of-war, wheelbarrow walking or animal walks. Playing at the park with the playground equipment like climbers and monkey bar will enhance the strength of the hands.

Develop hand skills:

Various kinds of activities done on a regular basis will encourage finger use and enhance strength. For example, when playing with Lego have your student rest his forearms on the table so that he uses his fingers to put the pieces together.

• Lace large beads with strings that have small plastic tips on the ends or use easy lacing cards.
•  Put coins into a piggy bank, play with finger puppets and spinning tops.
• Use small tongs to pick up cotton balls, pom-poms, blocks, etc.
• Develop eye-hand coordination
• Roll, throw and catch large-sized balls.
• Play balloon volleyball, scarf toss and catch.
• Draw and scribble.
• Use water to colour simple shapes, use Paint  to trace objects and colouring in  Water books (the colours magically appear).
• Water Play by pouring, transferring, washing, spooning, using soapy water into different sized containers and water painting on slates/Blackboards.

Develop body awareness and directionality :

• Playing ….Simon Says and use terms such as “up & down,” “back & forth” and “front & back.”
• Sing action songs such as I am a little tea pot, The Wheels on the Bus and Insy- Winsy Spider
• Hide coins, beads or other small objects in Play-Dough, sand or rice tubs for the child to find.
• Floor Drawing – Making  shapes and lines on the floor ,on carpet squares and using sandpaper letter to trace .
• Keep a bag full of key, toothbrush, spoon, eraser, paper clips, etc. and allow the child  to identify the objects by feeling them.

Pre-writing activities or without Pencil writing:

• Make lines, shapes and letters by: finger painting, painting with pudding or shaving cream, painting with water on the sidewalk and even with your fingers in the sand.
• Recognition Activities- with shapes and letters by playing matching and sorting.
• Solving Puzzles and using magnetic letters.
• Activity with Ice-cream sticks

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Showcase:

(An Advertorial)

ReReeti is a Bangalore based organization. We work with museums, cultural organizations and heritage sites to transfer them into spaces of learning, delight and meaningful engagement for visitors. One of our initiatives called Retihaas, works with schools. Retihaas is our attempt to make history relevant, reachable and relatable for students. Taking an important event from history we develop interactive teaching modules to engage them in critical and creative practices.

This year’s student engagement is an online course designed under the project, Un·Divided Identities: Unknown Stories of the Partition. Here is a brief outline of the sessions : The modules look at the ideas of Home, Identity, and Migration through the lens of partition and also connect it to the present Covid19 situation. The first session will focus on official historical records showing different perspectives about Partition.The second session will highlight people’s stories and explore Bangalore’s response as a city. Students will also get to understand how partition is viewed from both sides of the border. The final session will inquire into questions of nationality and identity. It will also connect to the recent migration that took place due to Covid19. These three session module is best suited for students in class 9 to 12. Please get in touch with tejshvi@rereeti.org to know more.

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If you have created any material, virtual or physical that you think can be reviewed and/or featured in this news letter, please feel free to write to me at : niveditamukerjee10@gmail.com

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