Eye check up session for school children

It is necessary for everyone to have regular eye examinations as it is related to the most important sense of sight or vision and early diagnose of any related issue is better as it can be treated soon.
School going children need to have eye exam or eye checkup on regular bases because if a child can’t see or read clearly, that prevents him/her from achieving full potential, which makes early detection and treatment of any vision problems really critical.

A Medical Team from "Dhaka Eye Care Hospital" conducted a day long Free Eye Check Up Program' for the students of 'Premier School Dhaka, Malibagh branch. The event was conducted to raise awareness among parents about the importance of eyes health and early diagnosis of any vision related problems. For example refractive error (eye power problem) in children between 5 to 15 years of age is an important public health problem in Bangladesh. According to WHO global statistics, it is estimated that there are approximately 1.3 million children having visual impairment due to refractive error in Bangladesh.

Benefits of play and what children learn from play?

Playful learning (free play and guided play—together)—are pedagogical(relating to teaching) tools through which children can learn in in many ways.

Science of learning identified four key ingredients of successful learning:

1. learning occurs best when children are mentally active (not passive), 
2. engaged (not distracted), 
3. socially interactive (with peers or adults), and 
4. building meaningful connections to their lives

These all objectives can be achieved by providing opportunities of free or guided play.

When young children play with friends or class mates they learn:

• How to cooperate
• When to lead and when to follow
• How to solve problems

Importance of eye check up in early childhood

Eye exam or check up in early childhood is very important as 25% of children are usually detected having eye sight problems.

Most children are unaware of the condition and may struggle during their school year due to these eye issues. Healthy eyes and vision are a critical part of kids' development. Their eyes should be examined regularly, as many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and treated early.

We should make eye checkup a routine for our kids at least once in a year from early child hood. 

Lets learn about eye care professionals as very few people are aware about their jobs.

Professionals in eye health field:

Birds mentioned in Quran

Quran, along with other animals  mentions birds on various occasions. For example the creation of birds by Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and the events relating to Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) and four birds are also present in the Quran.

Birds in Quran:

The word bird has been mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an 5 times and the word birds occurs in the  Qur’an 13 times. Among the birds, the HOOPOE (hud-hud in Arabic) bird has been specifically mentioned in Surah # 27, An-Naml, twice in the following manner: 

And he sought among the birds and said: How is it that I see not the hoopoe, or is he among the absent? Surah 27: 20(Ayah) 

Bird exhibition to promote love and care for Allahs creation

Birds are one of the wonderful creation of Allah. And learning to observe, love and care for Allah's creation is showing our gratitude towards 'The Creator'. 
Having 'Bird Exhibition' at 'Premier School Dhaka' premises was part of learning linked to Science and other subjects.

'Bird Exhibition'  at 'Premier School Dhaka' Uttara branch on 17 August, 2017 was a very informative, fun and interactive event. This event was repeated for 'Mirpur Branch' on 27th and then' for Malibagh Branch it was planned for Thursday, 28th September, 2017. 

The 'Bird Exhibition' was inaugurated by a local hobbyist 'Mr. Tahsin Rahman' who have a 'Face Book' page with the name 'hobby.nature'. He is a bird collector from his childhood and his father who was present at exhibition told us that 'Mr. Tahsin' who runs an agriculture company, created an 'egg incubator and brooder' machine which is a unique invention as well. 

Field trip to explore aquatic animals of Bay of Bengal

Learning about aquatic animal life of our own region comes into areas of learning i.e Science, animal habitat, and Bangladesh studies. On 12 March, Saturday 2016, 'Earth House Alternative School' planned a field trip to discover 'Bay of Bengal Aquatic animals'. This workshop was organized at 'Bays Galleria' at Red Shift Book Lounge, Radius Centre, Gulshan.

This event was organized to discover Bangladesh's ocean giants: Dolphins, whales, sharks, rays and marine turtles. The hour-long program was tailored towards children.

The event was open to all but most of the participants were foreigners.

Main workshop leader was Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur (Environmental Educator and Director Education and Livelihoods of the Wildlife Conservation Society Bangladesh) with her team members Farhana Akthar and Abdullah Al Masud. There were some English and Bangla books for sale about aquatic animals.

Spring vegetable show and mini master chef competition

Cooking is a development and learning tool adopted by many schools in the world. The best way of learning is by touching, tasting, feeling, smelling, and listening and cooking offers use of all these senses. Children love activities relating to cooking because they can use all their senses.

Our 'Spring vegetable show and mini master chef Plan' was made few days ago, and we decided to add more activities for this evnet. Cooking and baking is part of our curriculum at our school so learning objectives were to teach kids about local and seasonal vegetables, few spices, variety of eggs and then making omelet with these ingredients.

March 3rd, Thursday was not a very bot day but as we arranged all the activities at outdoor, sunlight became uncomfortable after 10 am. Still all kids, few parents and teachers were excited to participate in activities.
In the ground we set up the tables with vegetables, few fruits, different kind of eggs, spices for omelet making, coriander leaves, mint leaves, soy sauce, tomato sauce.

Yearly sports day celebration

Sports day of 'Earth House Alternative School' was being waited for many weeks. There was no doubt that it may be an event full of fun, exciting, challenging and rewarding. 'Earth House' at Kashimpur was the perfect place for celebrating these kind of events.

Why sports or games day?

'Earth House' school strongly believes that sports/games should be included in school curriculum and students should be provided enough time for play/outdoor activities.
Sports and games are the ways of enhancing the children’s mental and physical growth. Sports help them in character building and provides them energy and strength. Sports also eliminate mental exhaustion of the children.

Exercise is also known to relieve stress. Some children experience as much stress, depression, and anxiety as adults do.  Even moderate physical activity has been shown to improve a child’s skill at arithmetic, reading, and memorization.

Visit to birds zoo with early year kids

The grace and beauty of birds give us simple aesthetic pleasure of enjoying. Diversity among their looks, color, their habits simply amazes us. Birds symbolize freedom for many because they fly with such ease. For some, it has spiritual qualities and evokes feelings of peace and tranquility.

Their exquisite plumage and vivacious songs enliven our sense of the magnificence and beauty of the world we share.

 Allah has created the birds, and their aerodynamic is a miracle of Allah.

In Quran, Allah says:
“Do they not see the birds suspended in mid-air up in the sky? Nothing holds them there except Allah. There are certainly signs in that for people who believe.” [Al-Qur’an: Surat An-Nahl (The Bee) – 16:79]

The way that birds comply with the principles of aerodynamics continues to astonish scientists. Using no form of trial and error, they cope with the laws of aerodynamics in the most perfect manner.

Water play on a hot day

Today it was a hot day and perfect time for 'Water Play' activity. Under hot, shining sun, kids enjoyed playing with water. Students were allowed to bring their water guns, and after getting some instructions for safety and precaution, they started playing water games. The ground looked like a battle field where kids were shouting, running and throwing water at each other with their water guns.

Kids throwing water at each other

We know that play is essential for children’s development and it helps children to improve their gross, fine motor, co-ordination and concentration skills.

Importance and learning benefits of water play for kids:

Playing with water fosters learning in all developmental areas. It provides opportunities for children to experiment with math and science concepts, strengthen their physical skills, advance their social and emotional skills, and enhance language development.

An adventurous and learning tour

Learning can be fun when it is integrated with play or leisure activities and creating links with real life situations and 'Earth House at Kashimpur is the place where it happens. Earth House- Kashimpur (Gazipur District) was created few years back "to be a place where learning in natural environment takes place" 

Our Friday 8 May 2015, trip was part of 'Adventure Journey' program for 'Duke of Edinburgh Awards' and as being an award leader, I was excited too.

Earth House- Kashimpur

We left Dhaka at 7.30 am (morning) and reached there at 9.00 am and the first view of the place was enough to refresh our minds and souls. After breakfast we were ready to explore the place and do some educational activities. The first part was to gather the group of our children and ask them to follow teacher's instruction while following safety rules.

Story of a travel and learning- Part 2

Manali (Himachal Pradesh)Tour:

Manali is a hill station nestled in the mountains of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh near the northern end of the Kullu Valley, at an altitude of 2,050 m (6,726 ft) in the Beas River Valley. It is located in the Kullu district, about 270 km (168 mi) north of the state capital, Shimla.

This small town, with a population of 8,096, is the beginning of an ancient trade route to Ladakh and from there over the Karakoram Pass on to Yarkand and Khotan in the Tarim Basin.
It has become a tourist attraction in recent years.

Manali welcomed us in morning 9am with cold breeze

The climate in Manali is cold during winters, and moderately cool during summers. We visited Manali during first week of April, and it was cold there. Weather is very uncertain, as within few minutes, you can feel warm sun light and other few minutes, rain starts with cold wind.

Story of a travel and learning -Part 1

Someone said 'We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment'. We four people traveled for around 15 days in neighbor country 'India' but cannot say for sure 'if we could feel fulfillment (deep inside us) or not',  but I can say for sure that this long trip gave freshness and vigor to our mind and souls.
I would start my post by referring to more quotes:

• “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustave Flaubert
• “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination with reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson
• “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

Our travel plan was discussed few months ago, when my husband felt that he needed further medical checkup at Calcutta. We Bangalis frequently visit our neighbor country India to avail medical treatment and our closest and first destination is Calcutta.
I have visited Inida two times before, but it was long ago (once 15 and then about 12 years ago). Both times I could travel Calcutta and Darjeeling. This time our plan was different from the past ones. Our nephew searched online and found a ready made plan (many travel agents offers these kind of plans). It was a twelve days package including travel to Calcutta, Delhi, Agra, Shimla, Manali etc.

Manali (picture taken with a DSLR camera) 

Acupressure in classroom

'Use of Acupressure in classroom' may seem a very strange phenomenon, but it can help us dealing with the children having learning difficulties. During many years of my teaching I tried to apply variety of techniques to make my teaching effective and manage my classroom in the best possible way. For example applying 'Brain gym' exercises in my classroom proved a real success, as my early year students were more focused and less distracting. Acupressure therapy or massage is another alternative technique which can help children achieve metal and emotional health and create a healthier environment of learning.

A few words about Acupressure:
Acupressure is an alternative therapy developed over 5,000 years ago in China. It uses precise finger placement and pressure over specific points along the body. These points follow specific channels, known as meridians. Acupressure therapy can be used to relieve pain, reduce tension in muscles, improve circulation and promote deep states of relaxation. Acupressure can make you think clearer, be more creative and powerful.

Training session with child psychologist

In a general classroom, diversity among students, their learning styles and behavior is a common practice. Students with behavior problems or learning disabilities are often overlooked or misunderstood, and thus identification of these problems and then consult child psychologist or school counselor is important. As child psychology helps us learn about the social and mental development of children, so the role of school counselor or educational psychologist is very important in this context.

Why we should worry about behavior problems?

In addition to the physical needs such as food, clothing, and shelter, kids need fun, freedom, power, and a sense of belonging. If these needs aren't met in positive ways, problems develop. For some children, serious behavior problems/difficulties become a pattern that can include acting impulsively, reacting with aggression, refusing to follow reasonable directions, and defying adult authority. Sometimes you'll find your child just hasn't learned age-appropriate social skills. Kids with learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also may develop behavior problems.

Award Leader Training of 'The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award'

Learning can be fun when it is integrated with play or leisure activities and creating links with real life situations. 'Earth House Alternative School' believes that leisure or extra curricular activities play a very important role in the development of life skills such as negotiation, communication, problem solving, presentation etc.As 'Earth House' aims to help children reclaim learning through investigation and play, it matches with the ideology of 'The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award'.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DEA) Foundation Bangladesh arranged a day Long Award Leader Training on Friday, 12 December 2014 held at 'Earth House Alternative School'. Purpose of this 'Award Leader Training was to explain award leader responsibilities practically, so that the participants could supervise the program smoothly and lead the Award participants efficiently in future.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Foundation, Bangladesh offers the world's most prestigious award for young people "The Duke of Edinburgh's Award" to Bangladesh. It is a compact self development program which facilitates young people (aged 14 – 25) to be more worthy of making and leading a better world. It also makes them be enough versatile to experience different tastes of various phases of life.

Importance of a field trip to museum

Visiting museums is a an easy way to understand and get better knowledge about the past history or culture of that specific area. Museums are the places where we can observe centuries of history by looking at handicrafts and archaeological artifacts.

A primary role of museums is to engage and educate the community. Geography, culture and history can be linked and made interactive by visiting a museum.

One of the most crucial and difficult tasks of the museum today is to communicate a country's natural and cultural heritage in a way that illuminates the contemporary situation. Museums are examples of informal learning environments, which means they are devoted primarily to informal education — a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment.

Benefits of mixed age classroom

Many parents are not aware of term 'mix age classroom' or 'composite class' and they are curious to know it. But this concept is not new, as this method is being applied and adopted in many schools around the world, successfully.
'Earth House Alternative School' adopted this method as being a small school. Whenever teachers arranged a learning session or group work in multi age classroom, it was observed that there was a very friendly and warm learning atmosphere among children. Older children in particularly become "experts" and explaining things to the younger ones. So this kind of social interaction helps all students learn many more things as compared to a regular classroom. In mixed-age classes, older children have opportunities to practice leadership skills and pro-social behaviors, like helping and sharing. Development of social or emotional skills is possible at ease, in a mixed age classroom.

Multi-age classrooms or composite classes are classrooms with students from more than one grade level.

Story telling and cross curriculum links for enhanced learning

New research shows that 70% of what we learn is consumed through storytelling. For centuries, people have used stories to pass on knowledge. When information is embedded in the context of a story, it is transferred to a listener or reader in a unique way.

Students who learn through telling and reflectively processing their stories develop skills that enable them to link subjective and objective perspectives, capture the complexity of experience and bring about thoughtful change to self and practice.
When storytelling is used as a robust mode of inquiry, student learning is enhanced in multiple ways.

Stories bring learning to life in early years. A head teacher said: “I realized that this is truly inclusive learning – the impact is as significant on the gifted and talented as it is on reluctant and disengaged children – they all achieved together.”

Meaningful storytelling processes and activities incorporate opportunities for reflective dialogue, foster collaborative endeavor, nurture the spirit of inquiry and contribute to the construction of new knowledge. In addition, cultural, contextual and emotional realities can be acknowledged, valued and integrated into storytelling processes.

Last two weeks early year classes of 'Earth House Alternative School' were learning in an interactive way using the theme from famous story 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea'

Importance of an educational psychologist in a school

According to a report from NCLD (National Center for Learning Disabilities) 'Today 57% of students with disabilities spend more than 80% of their day in general education classrooms, yet general education teachers consistently report that they do not have the skills they need to effectively instruct diverse learners, including students with disabilities.
So general education teachers must understand how to work with a growing population of diverse students. As students with learning disabilities are often overlooked or misunderstood. Understanding the implications of learning disabilities, preparing to teach students with diverse characteristics, and learning to accommodate students with learning disabilities are essential for general teachers.