Events/Activities (2020-21)
February
Air Experiment
We have been learning about the importance of air. This is some really fun and simple science experiment related to air. The experiment teaches the role of oxygen in the burning of fire and its presence in the air. Children loved doing the experiment.
Water Experiment
Science in glass : Reversing Arrows. Water refraction science experiment wowed the children. The experiment teaches the bending of light in different mediums.
Basant Panchami Celebration
Basant Panchami marks the beginning of Spring season. To welcome the season children worshipped goddess Saraswati who is the goddess of knowledge, language, music and all arts. They also made paper bird, handprint butterfly, yellow flowers and spring season scene.
Grandparents’ Day Celebration
Grandparents with their grandchildren joined us on virtual platform to celebrate their special day. They were welcomed by the teachers. Children spoke about them and their importance. Grandparents spent quality time with their grandchildren and were happy to play games with them.
Appreciation week
Children were taught to show their appreciation – the feeling of being grateful for their parents, teachers and others who help them and inspire them. They understood the value of their loved ones. They also a gratitude jar showing gratitude towards different people in their lives.
Non-Fire cooking
In this month cooking without fire was Bhelpuri – hot and sour. Children enjoyed making it. They explored their creativity by decorating and serving the dish. It guided them to make nutrition a priority.
Handwriting Competition
Having good handwriting is important as it helps in reading fluently because it activates visual perception of letters. Good handwriting pleases our eyes as well as our brain resulting brain boosting. Children tried their best to write in beautiful handwriting.
January
Sharing and caring week
"Great satisfaction comes from sharing with others and caring for others". The habit of sharing and caring is developed over several years. Hence it is never too early to start introducing the concept. Children were explained the importance of “sharing and caring” through emotions and situations. They were shown a video about sharing and caring. A story session was also held related to the concept. The children were also told various ways to share and care.
Different types of Houses
Children were told about different types of houses and the raw materials used to construct them. Children made igloo with cotton balls. They also made paper cup houses.
Lohri Celebration
"One Festival, Many names". GFNS children celebrated Lohri by dancing on Punjabi songs and made colourful kites.
Republic Day Celebration
"On this Republic Day let’s promise to enrich and preserve our heritage and our national ethos". Children celebrated this day by making speeches about India’s culture and heritage. They also sang and danced on the patriotic songs. Children were dressed in the colour of National Flag.
Show and Tell Competition : My favourite vehicle
Children showed their favourite vehicle and described it in 5-6 sentences. This builds confidence in public speaking in children.
December
Germination Activity
The present time need is to teach children to plant a new life to heal the nature and its mankind . In the Germination activity each child learns how to plant seeds and plants in a small pot ,waters it and places it in the sunlight. The seed grows into a seedling and gradually into a sapling.
Fit India Week
Fit India Movement was observed at GFNS. Various activites like yoga, meditation Zumba , Hip -hop etc were designed to inculcate fitness regime in the kids. Poster making was done by the prep to celebrate Fitness Week.
Neighbourhood Week
Neighbourhood week was celebrated in GFNS . In this week the teachers took the children on a virtual tour to the Post Office and the Fire Station . The students learnt about the working in the post office and fire station . The students of nursery class enacted as community helpers. And the prep kids drew Fire Engine with the help of shapes.
Christmas Celebrations
The end of a year is rejoiced by the festival of Christmas. The kids were delighted to meet Santa on the virtual platform. The nurserians made cards and prep-kids made finger printing Christmas tree. Everyone dressed in red, enjoyed the Christmas party with music, dance and snacks . The students made various things during their craft activity class like Santa, bells, wreath, stockings, reindeer, finger printed Christmas Tree.
Non Fire Cooking
Children enjoy cooking. And what best can be other than Non fire cooking. They used salty monacco biscuits, ketchup, bhujia, tomato, cucumber. chocolate syrup, dry fruits,jam etc.
New Year Card Making
To mark the beginning of the new year , the students made a card as a craft activity.
November
Children’s Day Celebration
The teacher spoke to her class about Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and why we celebrate Children’s Day to mark his birthday. Children did an activity of tearing and pasting in a rose. Some teachers showed a magic show and others showed a puppet show to entertain the children. Children virtually enjoyed a dance party with their teachers and friends.
Diwali Celebration
Teachers explained to their children as to why we celebrate Diwali. Relevant videos were shown to the children. Children were excited to be dressed in traditional clothes for the virtual Diwali celebration. Children made Diwali cards and lanterns to celebrate the festival.
Traffic Rules (Safety Week - 23.11.2020 – 28.11.2020
Throughout the week the teachers explained to the children about traffic signal, traffic rules and also shown and explained to them about the different traffic signs. Children of nursery class made a head gear of a traffic light in their activity class. They were made aware of the consequences of not abiding by the traffic rules.
Guru Nanak Jayanti
The children were told about Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru of Sikhs. Teacher spoke about the preachings of the Guru. Children were taken on a virtual trip of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. The teachers also sang Gurbani for the children and each child sat with his head covered during the celebration. They were also told about and shown the kadha parshad.
October
Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on the 2nd of October to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. The teachers taught the students the importance of Non Violence in the form of stories. Some students dressed up as Gandhiji.
Dussehra Celebration
Dussehra is the festival that marks the end of both Durga Puja and the nine-day-long Navratri festival. This auspicious day is associated with Lord Rama defeating Ravana and signifies victory of good over evil. The GNFS family celebrated Dussehra by engaging in activities like Ravan Mask making and Bandhanvar making.
Compassion Week
‘Kindness is the greatest wisdom’. The compassion week was observed in the week commencing 12 of October. During this week the students were taught to be sympathetic and kind towards all living beings especially the animals. Following activities were carried out:-
Origami - This Activity was done to improve Spatial Visualisation Skills using hand eye coordination.
Paper Plate Mask Making - The Activity was performed to enhance the students’ creativity.
Magic Painting (Fish) - The magic painting activity was conducted virtually. The main motive of the activity was to introduce to the students the Aquatic Kingdom (Marine Life).
Paper Craft Cat - Paper craft activity was conducted to improve their gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
Fork Painting Lion - The activity was conducted to boost the creativity of the students and to increase their attention span.
Unity Day
The Unity Day is celebrated on the 31st of October every year. It was initiated by the government of India in 2014 to commemorate the Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. The students participated in several activities that revolved around the theme “UNITY IN DIVERSITY”.
September
Teachers’ Day Celebration
Teachers’ Day is celebrated on 5th September every year on the occasion of the birth anniversery of India’s second President, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. This year Teachers’ day was celebrated through the virtual platform. Children expressed their gratitude and appreciation for their teachers by making cards,singing a poem,songs,cake cutting and dance. This year both teachers and students had different experience of celebrating Teachers’ Day.
Reading Week Celebration
“THE MORE THAT YOU READ,THE MORE THINGS YOU WILL KNOW.THE MORE THAT YOU LEARN,THE MORE PLACES YOU WILL GO”.The ‘Reading Week’ was held in GFNS from 11TH Sept -15th Sept. through a virtual platform.The Reading Week was celebrated with various activities like-Reading Rebus story, Find & Read the word, Story Narration by the teachers.The students also dressed up and spoke about their favourite cartoon character. It was aimed at inculcating a love for reading for pleasure in the students from a young age.
Nutrition Week
‘’HEALTH IS WEALTH” Nutrition week was celebrated from 14.09.20 – 18.09.20 through a virtual platform . Many Power Point Presentations and videos, created by the teachers were shown to the children about junk food and healthy food. Students actively participated in various activities such as making of healthy wrist band, Healthy Plate, Hand Print Pineapple, Paper crumbling Peas and drawing & coloring in Good teeth and bad teeth. The activities helped the students to develop healthy eating habits.
August
The month of August is very special for all Indians. Youngsters who are the driving force of the country should know the importance of the month.
Raksha Making
Raksha Bandhan is a special occasion celebrated to strengthen the bond of love between a brother and sister. To commemorate this festival a “Rakhi Making Activity” was organized on 31st August. Children make beautiful rakhis and were happy to showcase it to their friends.
Patriotic Fervour Week
GFNS observed “Patriotic Fervour Week” from 10.08.20 – 14.08.20. Teachers spoke about the importance of the Independence Day. Many Power Point Presentations and videos, created by the teachers were shown to the children. Children were apprised of the National Symbols and National Leaders. Children made the tiger headgear, did fork printing in Lotus and drew and coloured the National Flag. Children were dressed up in one of the colours of National Flag and sang & danced on various patriotic songs. We are delighted to reinforce our commitment towards our country India.
Janamashtami Celebration
Interesting story sessions were taken by the teachers to tell the various incidents from the life of Lord Krishna. Children were dressed as Radha and Krishna to celebrate the festival. Children made flute from the newspaper and decorated it. Children prayed to Lord Krishna and danced on his bhajans.
Ganesh Chaturthi
Children were told why Lord Ganesha has elephant head through the colourful and beautiful videos made by the teachers. Children were also told the importance of the festival and how it is celebrated. Children made drawing of Lord Ganesha using different shapes, did tearing and pasting in Lord Ganesha’s picture and also made idols of Ganesha with colourful clay.
Unity in Diversity – Fancy Dress Competition on Attires of Different States of India
Children were dressed in attires of different states and also spoke about the state. They made the whole activity very interesting and participated whole heartedly. It was a celebration about India where gaiety and culture blends.
Fruits and vegetables Awareness
Children were made aware of the names and importance of different Vegetables and Fruits. They did bottle cap printing to make Grapes as a fruit activity and Lady Finger Printing as a vegetable activity.
Onam Celebration
Children were updated about Onam festival – why and how it is celebrated by showing a colourful Power Point Presentation made by the teachers. Children were also shown the flower rangoli prepared by the teachers. Children also made Rangoli and kept alive the spirit of Onam.
July
Welcome Day
The virtual classes began from 1st July 2020 after the summer break. Children were happy to see their teachers and friends. The teachers welcomed them with a magic show, puppet show and music - dance. They were so far but their happiness was wide spread.
The monsoon sets in with the thunder and downpour of rain. We at GFNS celebrated the “Monsoon Mania” with a stream of activities, power-point presentation and visual learning. Children decorated the umbrella with finger printing, created clouds with sponge painting, made boat with origami sheets ,drew a rainy season and many others.
Cleanliness Week
GFNS observed “CLEANLINESS WEEK” from 13.7.20- 17.7.20. Teachers spoke about healthy and good habits. Various power-point presentation was designed to make the learning more effective and entertaining. Children participated in a list of activities designed for the week. They also conveyed speeches. A badge of neatly dressed was made by the students with the aid of their teacher as a reward to mark to the end of the week.
A Hygienic Day was also observed where the teacher and students together discarded the use of plastic in any form for a day.
Hindi Recitation Competition
An online Hindi Recitation Competition was held on 24th July. The topic was monsoon and the children demonstrated an exciting level of confidence and clarity. Their performance fascinated all of us.
Non Fire Cooking
With the onset of monsoon, our little ones were engaged in corn chaat making. They minutely observed the process and learnt about the goodness of healthy eating.
Stem Activity
Making a cloud is a fun and easy and effective way to teach children how it rains. To demonstrate this a STEM experiment was performed. The children were excited and spellbound observing the results.
June
Father's Day Celebrations
A much awaited celebration for kids. Every year a time to show the selfless love, affection and bonding between the father and the child. The GFNS kids exhibited their appreciation for their father through handmade cards juice making this occasion a special one.
May
Lemonade Making
The children of GFNS enter the domains of their kitchens for learning child friendly Non Fire Cooking techniques.
Keeping the summer month of May in mind the teachers planned an activity of lemonade making by a live demonstration on the zoom class.Ingredients required were messaged to the parents a day in advance and on 1st of May the little enthusiastic learners with their mother's help while seeing their teacher on screen prepared a cool drink of lemonade .In the process they learnt many new words like sweet,sour,stirring,straining etc.The smile on their faces while sipping the drink from their glasses was worth capturing on camera.
Mother's Day
As every year a much awaited event of the month of May was celebrated by the students of both Nursery class and Prep class on 10th of May as Mother's Day. Children made beautiful cards for their mother.Indrani ma'am our dance teacher taught the children a dance which they did along with their mother showing their love and appreciation for her.
Rabindra Jayanti
At GFNS children are told about the lives and work of great leaders of our country. Rabindra Jayanti is one such day when children are given a talk on the life of our great poet and laureate Rabindranath Tagore and his many works are appreciated. The children of Prep class danced on the tunes of a Bengali song to show their love and respect for the great soul.
April
Earth Week Celebrations
GFNS celebrated Earth Week with great enthusiasm from 20th April to 24th April. The important aspects of Save Electricity, Save Water, SaveTrees, Best out of waste and the The Three R's Reduce, Reuse and Recycle were explained to the children through videos sent to them and also during the zoom sessions on every day basis.
The children were made aware of their role to save Mother Earth and how small contributions can go a long way and make a huge difference.The children were sensitized that how our little efforts will be rewarded and that together we can make our Earth a better place to live in.
Hands on activities (Learning by Doing - Nursery Class)
The children of Nursery class were kept engaged in various activities like Thumb print in a strawberry,Tearing and pasting in the Sun,Bottle cap grapes,lacing a basket and bottle print flowers for developing their fine motor skills during their everyday zoom sessions.The activities were thoroughly enjoyed by the children.Videos and photographs of them doing their work were shared by the parents with the teachers.The cooperation of parents is highly appreciated in this process of e learning.The enthusiasm of our little kids is praiseworthy and motivates our teachers to plan out activities for them.
Hands on Activities (Learning by Doing - Prep class)
The children of Prep class have been learning their concepts by hands on activities.They have been replicating the teaching aids shown by their teachers and doing practical learning with the help of teaching aids made at home with the help of their parents.Be it concepts like What comes after,parts of a computer,first cluster words of Jolly Phonics,props of Summer Season and so on,the children have been actively involved in the learning process.Learnig by Doing is enabling them of better understanding of these concepts and will have an everlasting impression on their young minds.
International Dance Day
The International Dance Day was celebrated on 29 th April by our young children of both Nursery and Prep class.The children of both the classes were sent a song each and the small video clips shared by the parents were compiled to make a dance video.All children have an inherent talent to dance which was so well exhibited in their performances.Kudos to the young stars of GFNS.