A learner's diary

Eye check up session for school children

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 08:06:00 +0000

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.

All teaching and school staff also checked their eyes with the team of 'Eye hospital'.
Let us learn about importance of eye exam for young kids.

Early eye exams/checkup importance:
Early eye exams also are important because children need the following basic skills related to good eyesight for learning:

Near vision
Distance vision
Binocular (two eyes) coordination
Eye movement skills
Focusing skills
Peripheral awareness
Hand-eye coordination

A complete eye exam determines not only your prescription for glasses or contacts, but also checks our eyes for common eye diseases, assesses how our eyes work together and evaluates your eyes as an indicator for our overall health.

In many cases, kids who seem to have learning challenges really just had an unnoticed vision problem which could be addressed with proper eye care and treatment.

Children, who cannot see the board, focus on a picture or follow words in a book may struggle to achieve their full learning potential. Vision problems can also impact their hand-eye coordination for physical activities and even impact their social development. In fact, 80 percent of learning comes directly through vision.

Eye exams for young children are important because vision problems can negatively affect a child’s performance in school long before you are aware of the issue. The American Optometric Association reports that 5 to 10 percent of preschoolers and 25 percent of school-age children are diagnosed with vision problems once they receive proper eye care.

* Yearly eye exam importance

Benefits of play and what children learn from play?

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 05:19:00 +0000

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:

learning occurs best when children are mentally active (not passive),
engaged (not distracted),
socially interactive (with peers or adults), and
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

A growing body of behavioral research establishes relationships between children’s play and development in several areas, including language, executive functions, mathematics and spatial skills, scientific thinking, and social and emotional development.One reason that play might be such a valuable pedagogical tool is that it features the precise contexts that facilitate learning.

What are benefits of play for children?

Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.
Play is important to healthy brain development.
It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.
Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers.7–14 As they master their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.
Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.
When play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue.
Ideally, much of play involves adults, but when play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce to adult rules and concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them, particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills.

In contrast to passive entertainment, play builds active, healthy bodies. In fact, it has been suggested that encouraging unstructured play may be an exceptional way to increase physical activity levels in children, which is one important strategy in the resolution of the obesity epidemic.
Perhaps above all, play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood.

Organized activities have a developmental benefit for children, especially in contrast to completely unsupervised time.

Tips to deal with problems while playing together:

Redirect behaviors like pushing, hitting, or taking someone else’s toys to a more positive activity.
A child’s first reaction is usually “physical,” so this may be difficult to learn. With words, children learn how to solve their own problems. Teach your child to say something like, “I don’t like that. Grabbing my toy makes me mad. Please give it back.”
What looks aggressive, like grabbing toys from others, may be a child’s attempt to join in with others. Teach children to take turns rather than get mad at them for grabbing toys.
Conflicts are more likely to happen when children are too hot, too cold, hungry, or tired.
It’s easier to guide children to good behavior instead of telling them what not to do. “I will be right here; come and tell me if you need my help.”

* Importance of play

*Importance Of Play - Promoting Child Development

Importance of eye check up in early childhood

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 04:10:00 +0000

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:

Ophthalmologists: Eye M.D. medical doctors who provide comprehensive eye care with medicine and surgery.

Pediatric ophthalmologists: doctors who have additional special training to treat kids' eye problems.

Optometrists: provide services that may be similar to ophthalmologists, but they don't perform surgery. Some optometrists specialize in kids' eye problems.

Opticians:Opticians are technicians trained to design, verify and fit eyeglass lenses and frames, contact lenses, and other devices to correct eyesight.

Eye Exams

Routine medical exams for kids' vision include:

Newborns should be checked for general eye health by a pediatrician or family physician in the hospital.
High-risk newborns (including premature infants), those with a family history of eye problems, and those with obvious eye irregularities should be examined by an eye doctor.
In the first year of life, all infants should be routinely screened for eye health during checkups with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 3½, kids should have eye health screenings and visual acuity tests (tests that measure sharpness of vision) with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 5, kids should have their vision and eye alignment checked by their pediatrician or family doctor. Those who fail either test should be examined by an eye doctor.
After age 5, routine screenings should be done at school and the primary doctor's office, and if symptoms such as squinting or frequent headaches occur. (Many times, a teacher will notice that a child isn't seeing well in class.)
Kids who wear prescription glasses or contacts should have annual checkups by an eye doctor to screen for vision changes.

How can a child be tested for glasses in early childhood?
An ophthalmologist can detect the need for glasses through a complete eye exam. Typically, the pupils are dilated in order to relax the focusing muscles, so that an accurate measurement can be obtained. By using a special instrument, called a retinoscope, your eye doctor can arrive at an accurate prescription. The ophthalmologist will then advise parents whether there is a need for glasses, or whether the condition can be monitored.

Tips for eye health for children using electronic devices:

Check the height of the device-
Computer screens should be four to five inches below eye level and 20 to 28 inches away from the eyes.
Digital devices should be held a safe distance away from eyes and slightly below eye level.
Check for glare on the screen
Reducing the amount of lighting in the room to match the computer screen
Adjust font size for easier reading Keep blinking.

Links:

* Caring for your vision
* Pre school vision

Birds mentioned in Quran

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 13:23:00 +0000

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)

But the Hoopoe tarried not far: he compassed (territory) which thou has not compassed and I have come to thee from Saba with tidings true. Surah 27: 22(Ayah}

The hoopoe (hud-hud) is an elegant bird, which is related to the hornbill. Abraham and a Calm Heart
In Quran, Allah says:

Sending birds upon the People of the Elephant is another instance and finally the presence of birds in Solomon's (peace be upon him) company and his knowledge of their language is also mentioned in the Quran.

Ababil refers to the miraculous birds (identified as swallows) mentioned in Sura 105 of the Quran that protected the Ka'ba in Mecca from the Aksumite elephant army of Abraha, then self-styled ruler of Himyar, by dropping small clay stones on them as they approached.

More about Ababil bird:
Swallow (ababil) small, gregarious, aerial-feeding insectivorous bird, occurring almost worldwide. There are about 90 species of swallows.

Prophet Abraham' story:

Prophet Abraham’s story with the birds is one of the most turned to stories in the Quran.
The Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) asks: “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” He said, “Do you not believe?” He said, “I do! But this is so my heart may be calm.” He said, “Then take four birds and draw them to you. Then place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them; they shall come to you in a rush. And know that indeed Allah is overpowering, all-wise” (Quran, 2:260).

The most popular interpretation of this verse is that Abraham was ordered to take these birds and to physically cut them into pieces and to place each of these pieces on separate mountains. When Abraham called to them, Allah caused their parts to be rejoined and refilled with pulse and life. They then flew to Abraham with a speed that showed no sign of trauma—no sign that they had just been dismembered and scattered. And in this way did God show His prophet how He gives life to the dead.
Abraham did not have doubt; what he wanted to know was “how” Allah gives life to the dead. Abraham had certainty that Allah gives life and causes death. What he sought was a higher level of certainty which involved his heart and eyes.

Ref:Birds of the Quran

Bird exhibition to promote love and care for Allahs creation

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 13:23:00 +0000

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.

Bird Exhibition Event:

All students were very excited when they saw the bird pictures at notice board few days ago and heard that soon there will be a 'Bird Exhibition (show) at school premises. Teachers started discussing about birds and their variety creating curriculum link to the bird show. First day Play group and Nursery students were introduced with our national bird 'Doel or 'Magpie Robin' and later all classes were shown pictures and videos about variety of birds. Kids were enthusiastic to learn more about their body parts, their food habits, their sounds/songs during their normal class sessions.

Few birds brought for show were "Amazon Parrot, African Grey Parrot, Jenday Conure, Lutino Cockatiel, White Faced Cockatiel, Munia, Fantail Pigeon, Budgerigar, Love Bird". '
Amazon Parrot' was the biggest bird and center of attraction for all as it was outside the cage and quite friendly.

All the exhibition participants were excited to see such a variety of birds, know about their origin, their food habits etc.

Observing birds can help kids ..........

Observation skills to find birds around their locality.
Listening skills to identify birds by their songs
Knowledge about bird species
Research skills to learn about bird’s identity (linking to habitat), their origin, food etc

Bird or pet keeping benefits:

Pet keeping is a popular hobby now a days and keeping birds as pet is one of them. Recent studies have shown that keeping birds encourages social interaction, which is good for your mental health. It’s very cheering to hear your pets greet you.

Bird watching involves study of physiology, behavior and the role of birds in the ecosystem that sustains life. We can learn"environmental responsibility" how environmental catastrophes, natural or man-made, can impact birds. As a result children can learn to be more environmentally savvy in order to protect different bird species and their habitats. diversity in nature, Geography (relating our local birds to migrating or foreign birds), food chain ie, what they eat, prey, predators etc.

Field trip to explore aquatic animals of Bay of Bengal

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 14:22:00 +0000

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.

Cetaceans include all whales, dolphins and porpoise. They are marine mammals. Dolphins, whales and porpoises are among the largest and most intelligent animals living on our planet. They live in oceans all over the world. Some dolphins like the shushuk in Bangladesh live in large rivers. Some dolphins like the shushunk in Bangladesh occur only in large rivers. Bangladesh supports an extraordinary variety of cetaceans in a small area of mangrove forest, coastal and submarine canyon waters.

Why are some cetaceans threatened with extinction?

Cetaceans face many threats from humans. Thousands of cetaceans die each year when they become entangled and drown in fishing nets. The widespread use of mosquito nets for catching shrimp fry has depleted populations of fish prey. Pollution from pesticides and industrial waste make cetaceans sick and reduce their resistance to disease. River dolphins are particularly endangered because people are draining the rivers where they live and dams have isolated groups from coming together to reproduce.
Scientists recognize Bangladesh as a global 'hotspot' for cetacean diversity and abundance. This means that the rivers and coastal waters of the country support numerous species and that their populations are generally more healthy compared to neighboring countries in Asia.

Why should we save cetaceans from extinction?
Our challenge is to protect these amazing animals from extinction.
Dolphins, whales and porpoises are fundamental to life in rivers and the sea. They are symbols of the need to take good care of aquatic resources that are essential for the survival of human communities. Humans have long been fascinated by cetaceans.

Audience

Our KS2 students

Few words about Bay of Bengal:

The Bay of Bengal, the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Roughly triangular, it is bordered mostly by India and Sri Lanka to the west, Bangladesh to the north, and Myanmar (Burma) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the east.

The Bay of Bengal is one of the World's 64 largest marine ecosystems.

What can we do to help dolphins, whales and porpoises?

Being well informed is the first step.
By visiting their website and reading about dolphins, whales and porpoises you are already helping to save cetaceans.
When decisions are made by your family and friends to take actions that might endanger cetaceans you have a responsibility to speak out for these animals.
Tell others about what you know and ask them to join you in protecting cetaceans. These animals are part of the rich wildlife heritage of Bangladesh. Many dolphins die from entanglement in fishing nets and lines.
Encourage fishermen not set 'current jahls' in areas where they see dolphins and to stay with their nets. If a dolphin gets caught its life can be saved by quickly pulling the animal to the surface and setting it free. The net may have to be cut. It can be repaired but a dead shushuk is gone forever.
If you find a live cetacean stranded on the beach get it back into the water as fast as possible.
Make sure to keep the cetacean cool and wet. Do not touch, cover or splash water on its blowhole.
A simple carrier can be made from a lunghi for transporting a dolphin or porpoise back to the water.
Never attempt to catch a shushuk or keep it in a pond. It will not survive. Information from dead cetaceans is valuable to help others survive.
If you find a dead cetacean make sure it does not wash away or get eaten by scavengers.

Cetaceans are protected by law. It is illegal to catch these animals or to sell or buy the whole animal or any parts of it.
Reference: 'Share our smiles- Whales and dolphins of Bangladesh' by Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur
You may get all information at following link:

* www.shushuk.org

* http://www.wcs.org'Wildlife Conservation Society' saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education. WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.

Spring vegetable show and mini master chef competition

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 15:13:00 +0000

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.

Seasonal vegetables: The tables with vegetable display included these vegetables: Spiny Gourd/Teasle Gourd, Bitter gourd,Green Chili,Green Papaya,Bean, Cucumber, Wax Gourd/Ash Gourd,Bottle Gourd, Sponge Gourd,Sweet Gourd, carrot, Ladies Finger, Bringal/egg plant, cabbage, cauliflower, Bean, Yard long, Palwal/Patal, Spinach/Palonggshak, Sweet potato/Misti alu, Drumstick/Shajina, lalshak, gourd leaves, broccoli, green chilli.

Fruits: Guava, locally grown cherries, ripen papaya to make fruit salad.
Spice table: Salt, pepper, soya sauce, tomato sauce,
Chopped ingredients: Chopped coriander leaves, cabbage, green chili, cheese, spring onion, onion.

Different kid of eggs such as duck, Koyel, farm chicken and local desi chicken egg

Before starting program students did the crafts activity by doing vegetable printing on chart papers.

Early year and ks1 students busy in drawing seasonal vegetables

Vegetable pirnitng

Then children were asked to choose the ingredients, mix and handover to support staff who were there to cook the omelet at earthen stove. According to their age group such as early years, KS1 and KS2 they made the omelet by selecting the ingredients from different tables.

Children learning names of vegetables

Kids loved rolling and making rotis

Omelet cooking at earthen stove

Selecting the spices from spice table

Omelet mixed by different groups were then tasted and judged by few parents and teachers. The omelet made by ks2 girls was the best one, but other group cooking was also good.
It was a very entertaining learning experience for kids of all stages.
Tasting their own mixed food was exciting. All children were then served with rotis and omelets, lemonade and fruit salad.

The event or activities were ended after few hours but learning journey never ends and these kind of learning activities provides practical experience with many essential skills such as reading, following directions, and measuring. Getting involved in cooking helps your child to develop fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, and even early concepts of math and science. There are just so many great benefits to cooking with kids.

More benefits of cooking with children:

Social-Emotional Development: Hands-on cooking activities help children develop pride and confidence in their skills and abilities. The act of following a recipe can encourage self-direction and independence, while also teaching children to follow directions and use thinking skills to problem solve.
Physical Development: Chopping, squeezing, spreading, and mixing are all cooking skills that help develop a child’s small muscle control and eye-hand coordination. It’s impossible to separate hands-on cooking activities from physical development for young children.
Cognitive Development : Cooking inspires children’s curiosity, thinking, and problem solving, offering new opportunities to make predictions and observations.

Additionally, cooking offers authentic opportunities for students to understand and apply their knowledge of measuring, one-to-one correspondence, numbers, and counting. As they follow a recipe, children organize ingredients, follow a sequence, and carry out multiple directions.
Language Development: With its own vocabulary, cooking is a great opportunity for language development. Take advantage of opportunities for children to match pictures to words and articulate questions inspired by their new experiences.

Yearly sports day celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

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.

Sports Day at Earth House, Kashimpur:
so finally the day came when we all students, teachers and few guardians went there for this yearly event.

Day before, weather became windy, and showers started pouring for some time. Fortunately, on 25th February, weather was dry from the morning, not so hot or cool. We left school a bit late, but could reach the destination safely.

Exited faces of students at bus

Early years and KS1 kids ready to leave for 'Earth House Kashimpur'

]

Theater place at 'Earth House'

Prize distribution ceremony and excitement of getting rewards, medals etc

All students were wearing same sports dress and even early years and KS1 students wore a sleeveless t-shirt. Events started with games such as race, sack race, chocolate race, egg and spoon race for younger kids and same games were repeated with elder kids as well. Vast ground was distributed into various parts, so that kids could play games in rotations.

KS2 and KS3 students played more games till Zuhr salah. Lunch was provided after salah break. After lunch and and a rest of few minutes, sports events started with hula hoop race, badminton and football matches. After these games we proceed towards our small 'theater place' where early years and ks1 students performed a role play based on the story 'Three Billy goats' and recited the rhymes.

Importance of physical activities, sports or games is obvious, but unfortunately many schools are focused to engage students in educational and text based activities.

Promoting physical activity should start from the nursery room, according to Jean Zimmerman and Gil Reavill, authors of "Raising Our Athletic Daughters."

According to Theodore Hesburgh, author of "The Importance of School Sports and Education," it is imperative for school age children to have access to sports and games. Not only does it empower youth and promote higher self-esteem, it also motivates students, enables them to earn better grades, especially in schools where obtaining certain grades is a pre-requisite to staying on the team.

Numerous physical benefits include maintaining a healthy weight, preventing chronic diseases and learning the skills necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle after graduating. Medical researchers have observed that highly active children are less likely to suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer of the colon, obesity, and coronary heart disease later in life.

Education is incomplete without sports.
Sport develops a sense of friendliness among the children and develop their team spirit.
It helps children to develop mental and physical toughness.

Visit to birds zoo with early year kids

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 05:29:00 +0000

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.

Few years ago, I heard about mini bird's zoo and got chance to locate that place which was situated at Sonargaon Road. I was amazed to see variety of birds at this privately owned zoo. There are various kind of rear and expensive birds which you cannot find anywhere else in Bangladesh.
As an educationist I believe that connecting with nature is the best way to teach kids. Nature itself is a teaching tool which can be effectively used by teachers.

We planned our visit to 'The Bird Zoo" with a small group of early year kids. Students were very excited learning about 'birds' in literacy, Science, or Bangla language classes.
Teachers told them stories, rhymes, facts about birds.

Our goal was to create an opportunity to learn about diversity in nature, Geography (relating our local birds to migrating or foreign birds), food chain ie, what they eat, prey, predators etc.
I was simply amazed to see so many vibrant colors in variety of birds. Chirping of birds was really loud when we entered into the wide open space of zoo. Our kids noticed their food which was served in their cages and it consisted carrots, apple, grains, nuts etc. We learned that birds are omnivores that eat seeds, nuts, fruit and insects. Some tropical birds eat small lizards and animals.

By visiting bird's zoo, kids learn about "environmental responsibility" for example, how environmental catastrophes, natural or man-made, can impact birds. As a result, we hope that children will learn to be more environmentally savvy in order to protect different bird species and their habitats.

Owner of the zoo, Dr. Abdul Wadud has a large collection of exotic foreign birds. The scarlet macaw, hahns macaw, Bourke's parakeet, rainbow lory, sun conure, African grey parrot, rock pebbler western rosella, port lincoln, electus parrot, kakariki, eastern rosella, chattering lory and black-capped-lory are some of the species in his collection.

The blue and gold macaws are the prime attraction of the zoo. These are the largest and gaudiest of all parrots, familiar worldwide as show birds. The highly intelligent and beautifully colored Macaw species come from deep within the Amazon rain-forest. The pattern of dark lines on the face of these parrots is unique to each individual bird.

How this mini zoo was started?

Rainbow Rosella

Dr Wadud's grandfather was a forest officer. Sometimes he visited the forest with his grandfather and observed birds. The bird chirping and twitting made him happy. Sometimes he used to draw birds in the pages of his notebooks instead of doing homework.

After finishing his academic career from Dhaka University he devoted his life for preserving various species of birds, especially exotic birds. He is a prominent bird specialist of our country who has been actively involved in collecting and preserving birds for the past two decades.

blue and gold macaws

National Bird of Bangladesh:

The Doel is the national bird of Bangladesh. The Magpie Robins are mostly known in Bangladesh as the Doel. Doel is a Bengali word. The color of the male bird is a combination of black and white.

Many people keep the birds as pets in their homes. In Dhaka, Katobon is the most famous place to buy various kind of birds such as Bojrica, Fizz, Love birds, Pocatello, Java Sparrow, Parrot, Myna, Pigeon etc.
Australian Love Bird is a very popular species. Besides, Macao, Gray bird are very expensive species and these rare and expensive birds delivered upon advance order. Birds are mainly imported from India, Pakistan, Australia and China.

Bird watching as a hobby:

A bird watching hobby can be adopted by anyone as you can watch birds anywhere you like - even in your own backyard. those that take up a bird watching hobby are fascinated by different species of birds, their behavior, their color and migration patterns. Depending on which part of the country you live, you can see different types of birds every season as they migrate from north to south.

Importance of bird watching/Observing:

Bird watching also involves serious study of physiology, behavior and the role of birds in the ecosystem that sustains life.
Studying birds can teach kids great secondary skills, such as:

Observation skills to find birds around their locality.
Listening skills to identify birds by their songs
Deduction when comparing two challenging bird species
Research skills for following clues to a bird’s identity (linking to habitat)

We should not forget that birds are not just for enjoyment, but also because birds and wildlife need friends who care enough to protect them.

Few of 'Earth House Alternative School' pictures:

In Science class kids learning parts of the birds (before bird's zoo visit)

Bangla writing after story telling, relating to 'Bird' theme

Excitement of getting ready for visit to bird's zoo

Water play on a hot day

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Mon, 18 May 2015 16:26:00 +0000

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.

Water and a few inexpensive tools can provide a sensory and learning experience.
Free play with water can be a source of learning scientific concepts such as

Physics (flow, motion),
Chemistry (solutions, cohesion),
Biology (plant and animal life), and
Mathematics (measurement, equivalence, volume).

Fun under sun at school ground:

A group picture after finishing their water play. Their smiling faces are proof that it was a really fun time.

The 'water play' started after finishing their regular classes. Children were given clear instructions to be careful during the play, and look after the younger ones.

Kids were allowed to bring water guns to play as water guns or squeeze bottles of water offer a variety of play opportunities, and help children develop eye-hand coordination. Few kids noticed that water guns were not sufficient to have full water bath, so they looked for plastic buckets and started throwing water at their friends.

Children were monitored by teachers to make them feel that 'we love to enjoy play together, but with responsibility and following the safety rules'. The whole activity which looked like a "water war" was ended without any unfavorable incident.

Today's 'water play activity' helped children learn social skills and cooperation. I am happy to say that children tried to keep their promise to be careful during their water play. Kids learned how to work cooperatively and collaboratively, using all their senses to discover and explore their environment, and develop their imagination, creative thinking and ability to problem solve and experiment with solutions.

An adventurous and learning tour

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sun, 10 May 2015 17:17:00 +0000

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.
The farm house visit was to explores how food is grown and how animals are raised is an ideal way for our children to understand and connect with where their food comes from.

By learning how a farm works, children experience the natural world in a new way and make a vital connection between the social, ecological, and economic importance of agriculture in their lives.

Vegetable picking:

The activity was done in a very enthusiastic manner as kids learned the names of few summer vegetables, picked and kept in their carry bags. They enjoyed most, while picking the corns from a small corn field. The kids collected vegetables and handed over to cooks, who were preparing for lunch.

Learning outcomes:Students can explore 'how the fruits or vegetables grow and picking them up from the vegetable fields is not only an adventurous task for them, but a chance to learn about different kind of vegetables, their names and the plants where they grow. (Vocabulary development)

Animal farm: A part of 'Earth House' is fenced for sheep, goats and horses. There were number of sheeps, goats there, but only two pony's. Kids enjoyed seeing and feeding them.

Fishing: There are lot of small fishes in a small pond. Kids enjoyed catching fishes with manually made fishing rods. We know that“catching” the fishes develops fine motor skills, concentration, focus and patience.

'Earth House' also have hens, ducks and goats as we were served with fresh milk in breakfast. All the animals or birds have their own shades or houses and are given good food.

Learning outcomes from fishing:

It Teaches Patience
It Teaches Nature Appreciation
It Teaches Diligence and Builds Confidence
It’s Quality Bonding Time
It Teaches Kids to Problem-Solve

Read more:
* 9 Reasons to Take Your Kids Fishing

Not to mention that 'Earth House' farm offers most of the gaming equipment to visitors such as carom boards, chess, ludo and cross/bow ( which I tried myself and loved it).

Parents of our students were also invited to visit 'Earth House' and few of them accompanied us for whole day. They enjoyed the whole trip and as they planned for only one day, they went back to Dhaka before evening.

Evening activities:
We took our evening tea at the main front yard. It was really hot during last week but the weather was in our favor during our trip. It was mildly breezy but pleasantly cold. Catching the chicken was an interesting activity and we all enjoyed watching two teams, struggling to win this game.

Students started creating shelter with bamboos and wood, and we started unpacking and assembling camping tents.

Camp fire: It was fun watching young students learning to start fire. A few words about 'Camp fire'
A campfire is lit at a campsite, to serve the following functions: light, warmth, a beacon, an insect and/or apex predator deterrent, to cook, and for a psychological sense of security.

In established campgrounds they are usually in a fire ring for safety. Campfires are a popular feature of camping, particularly among organized campers such as Scouts or Guides.

Camp Fire provides a nurturing, constructive and fun environment for young people to discover their sparks—unique skills, passions, and interests—and adopt a growth mindset. They chart their own course to healthy habits, community leadership, and connection to nature in collaboration with trained, caring adults. And, in turn, Camp Fire youth give back by sharing those skills in their communities.

Our children cooked few food items such as roasting sausages, making soup in pans etc and enjoyed the whole process.

Staying night at 'Earth House' was also an amazing experience.

Story of a travel and learning- Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Fri, 01 May 2015 12:37:00 +0000

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.

Lodging at Manali was a good experience as they offer breakfast and dinner buffet. including night stay. The hotel where we stayed offered veg menus which I liked a lot, but three of my male companions were in trouble to see only veg dishes(They are true non-veg people)

View of Manali from balconi of our hotel

The center point place of Manali

Places we visited at Manali:

Solang Valley: It is situated 14 kilometers northwest of Manali on the way to Rohtang Pass. There are giant lawn slopes of Solang Valley where you can enjoy summer and winter sports like parachuting, paragliding, skating, zorbing and skiing. To visit solang valley, you may need ski suit with boots to play ice sports. When you come closer to Solang valley, you can note a line of shops where you can hire ski clothes. You have to pay Indian 200 Rupees to hire a dress. Then to play winter sports, instructors charge separately.
Nehru Kund: refers to a natural cold water spring that originates from the Brighu River. The springs are located 5 Kilometers from Manali on the national highway to Leh towards Keylong. The place is named after Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru who was said to drink from this very spring whenever he visited Manali. The place is a serene and beautiful picnic spot.

River Rafting at Beas River

Beas River is often described as the Heart of Kullu valley and is known for its various camping spots and water sports. The river also marks the eastern border of Alexander the Great’s empire in 326 BC. The flow of the river is very fast and is not fit for swimming, but is the perfect for Rafting. The shores of the Beas are famous picnic spots and the best place to relax during the evenings.

Shimla Tour:

Simla, is the capital city of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, located in northern India. Shimla is bounded by Mandi and Kullu in the north, Kinnaur in the east, the state of Uttarakhand in the south-east, and Solan and Sirmaur to the south.

Shimla acts as a hub for India's tourism sector. It is among the top 10 preferred entrepreneurial locations in India. Shimla is home to a number of colleges and research institutions as well as multiple temples and palaces. The city's buildings are styled in the Tudorbethan and neo-Gothic architectures dating from the colonial era. It has an average altitude of 2,397 metres (7,864 ft) above mean sea level.

At Naldehra Golf Club, Shimla

Hotel industry is one of the major source of income generation for the city. Shimla leads the list of Indian cities with the highest ranked hotels.

The Mall: The Mall is the main shopping street of Shimla. It also has many restaurants, clubs, banks, bars, Post Offices and tourist offices. People walk up and down the Mall slowly, stopping to gossip, as it is the main meeting place for everyone. The Ridge and Scandal point are the two main meeting points at the Mall.

Kufri: 16 km from Shimla at a height of 8,600 ft, Kufri is the local winter sports centre, and it also has a small zoo.

Naldehra: 22 km from Shimla, with a nine-hole Naldehra Golf Club. The annual Sipi fair in June is held in Naldehra.

The scenic Kalka Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge track, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the steepest rise in altitude in a distance of 96 km.

City tours for whole day or 2, 3 days can be booked via your hotel. Hiring a car or if sharing a tourist bus is the best way to visit all sight seeing places. We skipped few temple places but tried to visit cultural, historical or sight seeing places during our city tour.

Comparing to our homeland, I can say that 'as I have traveled in Bangladesh - to hilly areas. There are many sight seeing places around those places'. Only lacking is the the interest of tourism department or private organisations who could advertise these places, create some rest houses and picnic spots for tourist.

Story of a travel and learning -Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 05:05:00 +0000

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)

Clint Borgen said that“When overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you’re visiting.” It was correct because whatever I was noticing during this journey, I was comparing it to my own country. Good things which I saw there, I wished 'to have in my country'.

There were moments when I thanked Allah for being in a peaceful country where we can hear the Adhaan and see the mosques everywhere, and where we are not concerned or check if food is halaal or not.

There are few things which I noted in Capital city Delhi and other cities such as Calcutta, Shimla, Manali, Agra etc and these are:

* I didn't see any bumps or speed breakers in these cities (May be one or two in a city)
* Indian Govt. and Indian people respect law and order, traffic police and try to follow the traffic rules, that's why there are very rare road accidents.
* Indian Govt. has preserved the historical places, monuments and moreover their tourism department is very active, they are earning good money due to it.
* Around every sight seeing or tourist place, they have places small or big mandirs, or their worship corners. As compared to it, I don't see any signs of |Qibla direction or special Salah places at sight seeing places in our country. I found Qibla directions only at every Army Cantonment guest houses. Can't we do it at other hotels, restaurants or guest houses? We, Muslims are in majority in our dear country 'Bangladesh' and during long route journey we have to say 'Qasr' salah which is very easy to perform, but do we have such arrangements at or around our tourist or sight seeing places?

* Indian Railway: We traveled in 'Duronto and Rajdhani Express' and bought 2 tier and 3 tier AC tickets and both travels were comfortable. Trains left the station on time and could reach the destination exactly on time. Supportive staff was very active to serve the food on time, cleaning people were also on their duties. Everything was served at our seats. Bed sheets were clean and packed after washing.
We didn't take non-veg food at train, because it was not halaal. We assured the matter of halal food a muslim at Calcutta who said that 'we avoid that food as it is not halal'.
* Toilets were equipped with washing liquid or toilet tissues.

There are some issues which we can adopt easily for self improvement.

Center and social gathering place of Manali

Manali

The largest Dewdaar forest in Asia

I have plan to write about the sight seeing places, and cities in detail in my next post.

Acupressure in classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:14:00 +0000

'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.

Reducing tension in muscles, getting relaxed, and being focused are the tools which can help create an ideal classroom atmosphere, a perfect place for learning. Children with dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and other learning disorders have chaotic energy flowing within their meridians. So applying pressure with our fingers on specific acupressure points can help children balance their energies.

Acupressure point GV 26:

Children who have trouble concentrating, often have racing thoughts, and difficulty staying focused. Acupressure on the GV 26 point can be a great asset to counteracting these imbalances. Firmly press GV 26, between your upper lip and nose, on the center midline. It can enable children to concentrate, feel more centered and focused.

More benefits:

GB 14

It is a potent point for mental health because it relieves depression, revives consciousness, and improves morale. This acupressure point clears your mind, enabling you to think more positively. When you treat yourself more positively, it makes a huge difference. In addition to using this point, train yourself to think in a positive way.

Acupressure point GB 14:
It can help you improve your memory and transform negative thoughts. Children and teens can use this point to clear their mind while taking tests at school. This special mental healing point can reprogram your mind, release mental stress and cultivate mental health. GB 14 is located above the center of your eye, one finger’s width above your eyebrows. Use a light, gentle touch on these points as you breathe slowly and deeply for a couple of minutes.

More acupressure points for ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia and Learning Disorders:

Learning disorder such as ADD, ADHD or dyslexia makes the child’s energy system jam, making it extremely difficult for the child to think clearly. Acupressure massage on specific points helps re-balances energy flow, and the hormones that affect the chemistry of a child’s brain.

Acupressure points GV 20 and GV 24.5:

Place the right hand on the Top of head GV 20 ,and your left hand at the point GV 24.5. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

Acupressure massage on regular basis on these points can help relieving headaches, racing thoughts, anxiety, depressions, stress and hormonal imbalances. This is good for mental health, and for relieving ADD, ADHD, and dyslexia at any age, to clear your mind, focus and to concentrate.

GV 20 with CV 17:
CV 17 is a great emotional balancing point. It is four finger widths up from the base of your breastbone, in the center of your chest.
Benefits: Relieving Stress, Calming Anxiety, Deepening your Breath, and Healing your Heart Emotionally If you have difficulty concentrating, or has racing thoughts – practice this simple acupressure routine 2 to 3 times daily for several weeks, breathing slowly and deeply while holding the points to discover the full benefits.
Use both hands to press GV 20 and CV 17 closing eyes and breathing deeply.

K 27 (energy or brain buttons)
Some acupressurists say that K 27 is the most effective acupressure points for balancing the health and functions of the body.

Few years ago, I attended a 'positive thinking' course based on 'to boost teaching skills'. The participants were taught some brain gym exercises. One of these brain gym exercise was to rub 'energy or brain buttons' on the chest near collar. At that time I didn't know about 'acupressure' and learned it as a 'brain gym' exercise and used to teach it to my pre-k kids. This brain gym exercise was really helpful as kids enjoyed pressing these two points with one hand and I was happy to see my class more focused and less hyper.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupressure point K 27 or 'Elegant Mansion' on your chest is an effective point for relieving throat, chest, and back pain. It helps reinforce immune system functioning by strengthening the respiratory system. It helps boost your natural energies and resets your electro-magnetic body.

Useful links:
** One Point Healing - Acupressure Point K 27

** Applying pressure to acupressure points'

** Acupressure therapy to improve short term memory

** Acupressure For Memory And Concentration Improvement

Training session with child psychologist

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:48:00 +0000

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.

These behavior difficulties interfere with children’s social and academic development and can have serious consequences for their mental health.

Sunday, 14 December we had our two hours long training session with school counselor about 'Child psychology and role of clinical psychologist'.

We learned very useful facts relating to the topic such as:
According to Bangladesh association for child and adolescent mental health (BACAMH) is more than 45% population of Bangladesh is children and adolescents Reports from the first community based epidemiological study on child psychiatric disorders. Prevalence of child psychiatric disorder 15.2% .
We learned about childhood psychiatric disorder and early warning signs.'
Steps needed to cope with psychiatric disorder:

Identify and deal with problem behavior among students.
Identify early signs from in and out side the classroom
Use simple counseling skill to explore students problem
Contact with parent

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

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 07:36:00 +0000

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.

The purpose of getting involved in their award program is to develop skills, to grow personally and connect with others, through a range of new experiences. To discover own potential, focus interests, improve the abilities and do something one always wanted to do. To challenge oneself through leisure activities and voluntary service which can discover one's hidden abilities and gaining a sense of achievement.

Practical activities at outdoors were helpful to learn some tasks

Group work

The training program provided opportunity to participate in mental, and physical activities

A group photo of all participants including the trainers at the end of program

Benefits of getting Duke of Edinburgh award:

Worldwide Recognition
Helps in getting scholarships all over the world
Helps in getting preference in job market worldwide
Opportunity to attend different international programs both at home and abroad
Involvement with international organizations
International network of awardees
Experience to deal with people of different levels and cultures

Students of age 14-25 can take part in 'The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award' program via their own school, or they may contact them directly.

Site link: The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Bangladesh

Importance of a field trip to museum

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 02:37:00 +0000

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.

Field trip to museum helps establish a link between the vanishing past and the present with a view to ensuring the acquisition and advancement of knowledge for intellectual growth, national pride and awakening, social progress, and international harmony.
What kind of people visit museum often?

Explorer – seeks to satisfy intellectual curiosity in a challenging environment.
Facilitator – looking for meaningful social experience for someone you care about in emotionally supportive environment – often children.
Experience seeker - exposure to the best things and ideas, e.g. tourists.

British Museum

Professional/hobbyist - desire to further specific needs with a subject matter focus.
Re-charger – physical, intellectual and emotional recharge in a beautiful/ refreshing environment.

We should visit museums, rather than to learn as we are in formal education settings.
Research suggests –it leads to champion the role of museums as spaces for free-choice learning which is generally a more effective way to learn.

Those seeking informal or free-choice learning are usually looking for different kinds of learning than you’d associate with statutory education:

what we learn from museum visit:

Objects bear the marks of how they've been used, giving us access to ideas that may have been too fundamental to a person's life ever to have been written down. (Katy Barrett)

Objects give us a special kind of access to the past. They allow us to touch (within careful parameters usually) something that was used by people, and thus get a physical feel for their lives.
We can learn about past societies' values from what they kept, and what materials they made things from - or about daily life from such simple things as cooking utensils and furniture.

Objects bear the marks of how they've been used, giving us access to ideas that may have been too fundamental to a person's life ever to have been written down.

The wear and tear on books can show us how people read them, with some even showing the rust marks of the knife used to cut the pages in an era when text was printed on large sheets of paper which were folded the size of the finished book.
objects can provide a very tangible link between us and people of past societies. Besides the insights they can offer into contemporary art, craft and technology, trade or settlement patterns, they can also illuminate individual lives.

Benefits of mixed age classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:41:00 +0000

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.

Multi age classrooms is intended to optimize the educative potential of the mixture itself. They are created when either there are too many students for one class - but not enough to form two classes of the same grade level, or as an educational choice by the school.
Composite classes are more common in smaller schools. There are two main reasons for the approach, economic necessity or a belief that such teaching is better for pupils.

An example of a mixed age classroom where the students attended the first oral class together, then they moved back to their own spaces to do work individually or supervised by a teacher

The research supporting mixed-age classrooms indicates that academic achievement is the same as, or better than, the academic achievement of children in same-grade classrooms.

Mixed-age classrooms do not negatively affect student achievement, and students in these classrooms have significantly more positive attitudes toward school, themselves, and others.

The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) lists the following benefits of multiage classrooms:

Benefits of multi-age classroom:

Children are able to spend several years with the same teacher. This allows the teacher to develop a deeper understanding of a child’s strengths and needs, and is therefore in a better position to support the child’s learning.

Design and Technology is a mixed age class at 'Earth House Alternative School'
Children have several years to develop, and are able to see themselves as progressive, successful learners. Children are viewed as unique individuals. The teacher focuses on teaching each child according to his or her own strengths, unlike in same-grade classrooms that often expect all children to be at the same place at the same time with regard to ability. Children are not labeled according to their ability. For example, children in same-grade classrooms may be labeled "below grade level" or "low." These children may stop trying, while those labeled as "above grade level" or "high" may not feel challenged.
Children learn at their own rate, with no fear of retention. In same-grade classrooms, children are retained if they do not master content by the end of the year. In mixed-age classrooms, children have more time to master content, and this removes their fear of being retained in school.
Children develop a sense of family with their classmates. They become a "family of learners" who support and care for each other. Older children have the opportunity to serve as mentors and to take leadership roles. It is observed that pupils develop cognitively and socially through mixing with older and younger children.
Children are more likely to cooperate than compete. The spirit of cooperation and caring makes it possible for children to help each other as individuals, not see each other as competitors.
Older children model more sophisticated approaches to problem solving, and younger children are able to accomplish tasks they could not do without the assistance of older children. This dynamic increases the older child’s level of independence and competence.
Children are invited to take charge of their learning, by making choices at centers and with project work. This sense of "ownership" and self-direction is the foundation for lifelong learning. Children have almost an extra month of teaching time, because the teacher does not have to spend the early weeks in the school year getting to know each child. Less review of prior instruction is needed before proceeding with new content.

Useful links:

* Composite classes in primary school

Story telling and cross curriculum links for enhanced learning

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 16:15:00 +0000

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'

The Tiger Who Came to Tea is a short children's story, first published in 1968, written and illustrated by Judith Kerr. The book concerns a girl called Sophie, her mother, and an anthropomorphism tiger who interrupts their afternoon tea.

We visited to a nearby bakery and coffee shop to link up our story to our 'tea party' which helped us integrated many objectives together.
Then next week we arranged a 'tea party' where children made the cake, sandwiches and tea and served to the guest. Guests were the parents and our middle and high school students who enjoyed the early years students welcoming them.

Children prepared menu cards and gave them to the guests/customers. A table was prepared as it was a bakery shop. Cakes, sandwiches and tea were served in a very good manner.

Teachers tried to create a classroom atmosphere where children forgot they don’t like school/work/literacy/numeracy and instead participating in each and every activity very warmly. It was a cross-curricular creative project, where children used role play, art, movement to develop more confidence in reading, listening, retelling, writing.

Cross curriculum links with the story 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea':

Literacy: Link up with the vocabulary used in story such as tea, teapot, tiger, tap, sandwich etc and to blend words starting with phonemes ‘ch’ ‘sh’ ‘th. To use writing to communicate in a variety of ways, incorporating it into play and everyday classroom life, e.g. recounting their own experiences, lists, signs, directions, menus, labels, greeting cards, letters. Use of the words 'big', 'furry' and 'stripy' to describe the tiger.
Imagine if a tiger came to tea at your house. How would your family react if a tiger wanted to come to tea?
How would you behave? Could you write a story about this?
What are the characters thinking / saying?
Watching YouTube video about the story.
Listening to a retelling of the story from different age group children.

Maths: Create a shopping list showing all of the things that Sophie's family needed to buy to replace the things that the tiger ate.
Making a menu of a bakery or coffee shop.

Science: Find out what tigers like to eat. Can you create a food chain that includes a tiger? Look at the tiger's stripes.
Make a menu of tasty food that Sophie's family can choose from at the cafe.

Role play: When we are young, we learn by mimicking, playing, and experimentation. As our language skills develop and formal schooling starts, these strategies are replaced by language-based learning, which can dampen our curiosity and motivation to learn. Roleplay simulation aims to revive the ease and joy of experiential learning. We used the 'role playing' method in our 'tea party' mimicking 'bakery or coffee shop'.
After the preparation of food and decorating our early year classroom, we asked students to demonstrate the social skills they learned at their visit to bakery shop. And it was amazing to see the children welcoming guests, giving them the menus, serving the food etc.

Design/Technology: Designing and creating masks, teapot formats, stripy tiger coloring etc.

Banner prepared for tea party by early year students

Creation of cards, masks for tea party

A picture of the bakery shop we visited last week

Bulletin Board

Different work sheets prepared by early year students

Our early years bakery shop

Preparation of food for coming guests

Now table is ready to serve for customers

Bakery shop is ready

A very warm view of our early year tea party

Art: Notice the patterns on the clothing in the illustrations.
Painted the picture of the tiger's stripes.
Created masks for each character to help you perform the story inside the classroom.

Personal, social and health education: The tiger wasn't very polite when he ate all of Sophie's food. Should we do as tiger did? What manners of visiting other's home we know as Muslims?
Can you think of some manners that we should need to remember when we visits someone else's house?

Bakery shop keeper enjoying the tea party

It was a successful session where we could meet many learning objectives together.

Importance of an educational psychologist in a school

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 07:44:00 +0000

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.

School psychology began with the concept of intelligence testing leading to provisions for special education students, whom could not follow the regular classroom curriculum.
Primary goal of a school psychologist is to encourage, support, and foster positive academic, career, social, and personal development in child and youth in schools.

Our psychologist observing students in class

An educational psychologist is concerned with helping children or young people who are experiencing problems within an educational setting with the aim of enhancing their learning.

Role of an educational psychologist:

A psychologist or educational counselor works to provide help and guidance to teachers and parents by observing child's behavior.
Writing reports to make formal recommendations on action to be taken, including formal statements;
Advising, persuading, supporting and negotiating with teachers, parents and other education professionals
Developing and applying effective interventions to promote psychological well being, social, emotional and behavioral development

The psychologist hired for our 'Earth House Alternative School' is doing her masters in 'School related psychological issues'. She was asked to study the behavior of few students. She was asked to look for ADHD symptoms if any, among our students and then suggest us useful strategies to cope with these symptoms to enhance their learning habits so that they can be more focused to their studies.

The counselor (or psychologist) organized a session with children and asked relevant questions from class teachers, then observed the students in classroom. Her observation list was really helpful for teachers, as she noted that here were many attention deficit triggers around the classroom. If we could control those environment factors, it could help children be more focused during studies.

She hopes that it will help the teachers deal with the children in a better way. She might suggest some helpful strategies for parents to deal with the child at home. I believe that parents and teachers together can make a difference in the lives of children who face problems in learning processes in school. By learning and adapting the strategies offered by professionals in learning and education fields, we can deal in a better way with the children having difficulties in general schools.

Field trip to a bakery shop

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 06:26:00 +0000

For generations, in Bangladesh people knew that bakery means baked bakarkhani, pithas etc used as snacks. But now a days cakes, pastry and other food items that are sold commercially are replacing traditional homemade pithas, especially in urban areas.
Our children are in love for breads, cakes, tarts, pastries etc, but our traditional snacks still have value in our society.

More about our traditional snacks:

Bakarkhani(also called Bakorkhani, Bakharkhoni) breads are legendary and have been in existence in Dhaka from around the middle of eighteenth century. Bakarkhani or Pithas are often eaten at small meals, such as breakfast or as a snack with tea.

Pitha refers to a indigenous food and food tradition of Bangladesh. For pitha/peetha there is no similar word in English. To explain others in English we interpret pitha/peetha as a rice cake or pie. Pitha/peetha is a part of life and culture of the Banglis, but it is not part of our daily menu.
Most pithas/peethas are seasonal, specially prepared in the winter season because of some ingredients which are available only in winter season.

Earth House Alternative School visit to a bakery shop:

On Tuesday, 2nd December, 'Earth House Alternative School' planned a short visit to a nearby newly started bakery shop named 'Bread and Beyond'. The purpose of this visit was to learn about our modern snack traditions and comparing it with our traditional cultural foods.

As our food habits are changing, we take breads, sandwiches in breakfast. We love to eat variety of pastries, cookies, tarts etc. In our childhood our mothers forced us to drink milk and added just ovaltine or sometimes coco to make the taste better. But now we have flavored milk or variety of coffees.
Inside the bakery shop, there is well decorated area to enjoy coffee or snacks. We chose an area where we all could sit together to have some snacks and drinks. As winter has just started, so it was perfect day to start the day with small bites of chocolate muffin, along with a cup of cappuccino. Children liked hot chocolate milk.

We walked towards the bakery shop using pavement

Entering the bakery shop

Well decorated bakery shop

|Watching how the coffee is made with the help of coffee machine

Enjoying snacks (muffins, cappiccino and coco milk together)

A good looking cappuccino cup

Tahmid trying to create the flower design with liquid chocolate and a tool, on a cappuccino cup.

We asked a few questions to the bakery staff and they told us that each bakery item is papered fresh on daily basis. They had variety of breads such as burger bread, brown multi grain, dark chocolate bread etc. The names of different snacks were interesting such as cheese a cake, basboosa, vegetable quiche etc.

Learning objectives:

- Our society and traditions
- Geography (again mapping and learning directions)
- Traditional foods vs modern snacks
- Bakery (relating to future class activities ie preparing cake)

Coming back to school my students draw the pictures of pastry shop. And these were really amazing as these future designers can see things in different perspectives which we cannot.

These are the pictures drawn by my students Tahmid and Tahseen.

Field trip to Bangladesh National Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 13:11:00 +0000

November 15, 2014 was the day to go for a field trip to 'Bangladesh National Museum'. We all were very excited to visit our national museum. Our goal or purpose of this field trip was pr-planned and before leaving our school we reviewed it again. A '1st floor gallery index' of the museum was handed over to teachers.

What is a museum and why we need to visit it?

A museum conserves and exhibit the tradition, customs and heritage of a country. From a field trip to a museum, we can learn important concepts that derived from history, tradition, customs, persons, art and cultures.
Few facts about Bangladesh National Museum:

Location: It is located on the South side of Bangabondhu Sheikh Muzib Medical University at Shahbag area in the Capital city Dhaka. It was founded in 1913 by the British Governor of Bengal. It is a four storey building with 46 galleries; have an extensive collection of artifacts.

Ready to leave school premises

The museum premises is surrounded by different types of trees. On both sides of the entrance of the building there are two historical canons. Just after entering into the 4 storied building, you can see the aesthetic Novera sculpture.

It was Saturday, so we noticed that few more schools were there to visit 'National Museum'.

Learning goals for museum visit:

For early years: Bangladesh map in an interactive way by watching a really big map. As we have started learn 'mapping' in our Geography and Bangladesh Studies classes starting from early years, this field trip was very important to all of us. Learning about our plants, animals, birds, fruits, flowers and creepers was another part of not only Bangladesh studies but helpful in related science or Geography studies. Another aspect of learning was to increase the volume of our vocabulary by knowing the names of all these things in Banglas and English.

For other elder class students 'this field trip was meant to learn about Bangladesh by knowing about rocks/ minerals, tribal/ village life, and potteries.' Student felt it bad as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum. Only way was to take notes.

We had to wait at outside of the Museum building as the opening time of museum was 9.30am and we reached there earlier than that time.

On the right side wall of the ground floor we saw few clocks showing different times of different cities of the world.

On the ground floor, there are museum office, hall room and other necessary establishments. On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor, all historical objects are preserved and open for display.

It is the only picture which I took from museum site.

1st floor: The 1st floor is divided into 22 rooms. The first room displays a large map showing the map of Bangladesh and its 64 districts.

In next few rooms we could see the trees, animals, tribal life, rocks, minerals, the Sunder bans and various coins and architectures of ancient ages.

There were rooms showcasing rocks and minerals found in Bangladesh. Plants, flowers, fruits, creepers, animals, birds were in various rooms.
There are some historic relics of Bengal up to 1900. There is a room which shows the different boats used by the rural people.
Tribes of Bangladesh was also the focus of learning.

Arabic and Persian inscriptions, the pieces of calligraphy were the most major objects to watch as I have an interest for calligraphy. We also can learn the history and chronology of medieval eastern India when we observe the coin cabinet.

We didn't visit the 2nd and 3rd floor as our learning goals were fulfilled by visiting one floor only. Another reason was that only one floor is so big that our young students felt exhausted after one hour of walking around large 22 rooms.

When coming back and before taking a riksha, I decide to walk along the road. The first view which grabbed my attention was the poster of 'Humayun Ahmed's book exhibition' in front of 'Public Library' gate. I walked along the pavement for few more minutes, as I wanted to observe the culture and social environment around Shahbagh. I think you need to walk around the adjacent roads and streets to discover and learn more about our society, culture and art.

Shahbag is the location of the nation's leading educational and public institutions, including the University of Dhaka, the oldest and largest public university in Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the largest public university for technological studies in the country.

Shahbag hosts many street markets and bazaars. Shahbag area has also become a venue for celebrating major festivals, such as the Bengali New Year and Basanta Utsab.

A field trip to dentist

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 02:43:00 +0000

Monday, 10th of November, our field trip to dentist started at around 9.30 am in the morning showing a Sesame Street video to children about oral/ dental health at school. They also watched the rhyme 'Every day I brush my teeth'.

Before starting our field trip to dentist, we learned about oral health or role of a dentist.

We knew what 'dentist' do. "Dentists are doctors who specialize in oral health/hygiene."
Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping the mouth and teeth clean to prevent dental problems, most commonly, dental cavities, gingivitis, and bad breath.
The responsibilities of a dentist include:

Diagnosing oral diseases.
Promoting oral health and disease prevention.
Creating treatment plans to maintain or restore the oral health of their patients.
Monitoring growth and development of the teeth and jaws.
Performing surgical procedures on the teeth, bone and soft tissues of the oral cavity.

Our field trip to dental clinic was related to these learning objects:
* Science- Our body, oral/dental health
* Geography- Our society and professions (dentist)
* The importance of visiting the dentist
* Adopting good brushing habits to maintain oral health
Now watch the pictures of our field trip:

Watching video related to 'dental health' before leaving for our field trip

Happy faces of teachers and students

Najib Sir is explaining a work sheet about 'teeths' at CFC while waiting for our snacks

Before going upstairs at 'Dental Clinic', we stopped at CFC to have some snacks

Our children were very enthusiastic to offer volunteering patience services

Children are happy to learn about 'how a dentist perform his duties using variety of tools.

A view of dental clinic inside the office

Different dental tools

Now its time to learn and discuss more why we need to keep our teeth healthy by adopting good brushing habits after each meal.

Dental surgeon showing a tooth model

Correct brushing technique

We saw a doctor attending his patients while another one attended us to demonstrate the job of a dentist. Our learning session with dentists became very interactive as our students played the role of patient and duty doctor gave the regular oral check up. Doctors were very friendly and they tried their best to make this session informative for our students. Doctors were kind enough to give small gifts to children which were 'tooth brushes, dental floss and their clinic sticker of a tooth shape.

Importance of regular visit to dentist:

"Too many people mistakenly believe that they need to see a dentist only if they are in pain or think something is wrong. A dental visit means being examined by a doctor of oral health capable of diagnosing and treating conditions that can range from routine to extremely complex.'

The American Dental Association recommends that dental visits begin no later than a child's first birthday to establish a "dental home."

Dentists can provide guidance to children and parents, deliver preventive oral health services, and diagnose and treat dental disease in its earliest stages. This ongoing dental care will help both children and adults maintain optimal oral health throughout their lifetimes.

It's important to take care of your mouth and teeth starting in childhood. If you don't, you could have problems with your teeth and gums - like cavities or even tooth loss.

Here's how to keep your mouth and teeth healthy:

Brush your teeth every day with a fluoride toothpaste
Clean between your teeth every day with floss or another type of between-the-teeth cleaner
Snack smart - limit sugary snacks
See your dentist or oral health professional regularly

Teaching methods and tips in islam

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 07:13:00 +0000

Having a few years of experience in the teaching field I feel that 'learning and refreshing our knowledge' while teaching is very important. It is the gift of our tech age, providing us opportunity to learn a lot from online resources available at the web. We have access to loads of information by attending seminars, workshops and training programs. We learn from research, experience of other teachers and use those methods in our classrooms for teaching BUT---------- as a muslim,
We should not forget that our Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) was the best teacher, and we can learn the techniques or tips from the methods he adopted to teach mankind. Islam itself is a school and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was the best teacher and tutor whose teachings and sayings still guide, inspire and instruct the whole humanity. Prophet (PBUH) explains the nature of his duty as follows in a hadith: "Allah sent me as a teacher."
We can see the education principles and methods put forward by modern education scholars in the practices of the Prophet.

Model principles and methods used by the Prophet:

To identify the learners and organize the content appropriate to their level
To be tolerant to learners
To make them like what was being taught and to avoid their hating it or getting bored
To arouse learners' interest and to show that they need to learn the material
To take the intelligence, spirit, emotions and physical state of learners into consideration and to design the teaching considering their needs
To make learners participate actively by thinking, searching, and asking questions
To make abstract concepts concrete by giving examples
To have the most appropriate attitude, behavior, and talking style before learners
To create activities to reinforce what is learnt
The Prophet was very sincere in what he was teaching and he applied what he taught in his daily life. So he was showing people how to apply those principles he taught.

Educational methods derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah:

Muslims, regretfully, follow western and eastern theories of education and upbringing that are man made and are the product of their own experiences. Educational theories that can, most likely, be used by non-Muslims as well. However, theories that result from human experiments can be of common benefit to humankind [including Muslims] as long as they do not contradict the Shari`ah (Islamic law).

These methods are useful for education and stimulating thinking skills are derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah:

1- Giving examples: And Allâh puts forward (another) example of two men

2- Relating stories: We relate unto you (Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم) the best of stories An example of this is the similitude the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave a about the good and bad company (in the form of a story).

3- Questioning students to attract their attention. An example of this is the Statement of Allah (Exalted be He): Shall I inform you (O people!) upon whom the Shayâtîn (devils) descend? They descend on every lying, sinful person. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: O Mu`adh, do you know what is the right due to Allah from His servants and the right due to the servant from Allah? The Qur'an and Sunnah are replete with similar examples.

4- Propounding ideas that spark the students' inquisitiveness and interest. An example: The Prophet (peace be upon him) ascended the Minbar (pulpit) and said, 'Amen, amen, amen.' It was said, 'O Messenger of Allah, you ascended the Minbar and said, 'Amen, amen, amen.' He (peace be upon him) said, 'Jibril (Gabriel, peace be upon him) came to me and said, 'If Ramadan comes and a person is not forgiven, he will enter Hell and Allah will cast him far away. Say Amen.' So I said Amen. He said, 'If both or one of a person's parents are alive and he does not honor them and he dies, he will enter Hell and Allah will cast him far away. Say Amen.' So I said Amen...

5- Giving the students a topic to guess about. This was done by the Prophet (peace be upon him), as it was related on the authority of Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) stated: I was shown the past nations. I saw a prophet who had a very small group (less than ten in total) with him, another prophet who was accompanied by only one or two men and some did not have even one. Suddenly I was shown a huge crowd and I thought that they were my Ummah (nation), but I was told, 'This is Musa (Moses) and his people, but look toward the other side.' I looked and beheld a great assemblage. I was told, 'These are your people and among them there are seventy thousand who shall enter Paradise without being called to account or tormented.' Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) stood up and went into his dwelling place, and the Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) began to guess who may be those people who would enter Paradise without any accounting or torment. Some said, 'Probably, they are those who kept company with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).' Others said, 'Probably, they are those who have been born as Muslims and have never associated anything with Allah in worship.' Then Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came out and asked, 'What are you discussing?' So they told him. He (peace be upon him) then said, 'They are those who do not ask for Ruqyah (recitation for healing or protection), or see an evil omen in things (i.e., they are not pessimistic), or cauterize themselves, but put their trust in their Lord (Allah).'

6- The teacher seeking assistance from his or her fellow teacher who is more knowledgeable of the subject to be taught. The assistant teacher sits like a student and then enters into a dialogue with the teacher about the details of the subject until they cover all points required to be understood in a calm, gradual manner that attracts the pupils' attentions and makes it easy for them to understand. An example of this was when Jibril (Gabriel, peace be upon him) sat with the Prophet (peace be upon him) and took the role of a student. The Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) observed Jibril posing questions to the Prophet (peace be upon him) about the tenets of Islam and the Prophet (peace be upon him) answering him in order to teach the Sahabah about their faith. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said: 'O `Umar, do you know who the questioner was?' `Umar said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He (peace be upon him) said, 'This was Jibril. He came to teach you your religion.' (Related by Muslim)

By pondering over the Book of Allah and the Sunnah, we will find many other similar, useful examples. It should also be noted that diversity in teaching methods is more effective. This was the methodology that the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to follow.
Research done by: Grand Mufty of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia General Chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars and the Departments of Scholarly Research, Ifta', Da`wah, and Guidance `Abdul-`Aziz ibn `Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Al-Shaykh

Ref:
* Educational methods derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah

* The Prophet as a Teacher

Useful links:

* What is the importance that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) gave to education?

A field trip to Dhanmondi Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Amera) — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 05:55:00 +0000

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein

Every walk is an opportunity for children to learn about the natural world. Our field trip to (adjacent to back side of 'Earch House Alternative School') was held on 25th September, Thursday. As it was the second day of my school, I was excited to have all school staff and children with us. Before going to details about our field trip, I would like to share some information about the area we visited.

Few words about Dhanmondi Lake:

Dhanmondi Lake is a lake located in the Dhanmondi residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The lake was originally a dead channel of the Karwan Bazar River, and was connected to the Turag River.

The lake is partially connected with the Begunbari Canal. In 1956, Dhanmondi was developed as a residential area. In the development plan, about 16% of the total area of Dhanmondi was designated for the lake. The lake has become a well visited tourist spot, with cultural hubs such as the Rabindra-Sarobar located along its side

I found these 2 pictures from the web and before talking about our 'Field Trip' or 'Nature Walk' I want to explain that we walked along the pavement on the left side of 'red ship shaped house'.
The house beside the lake known as Chistia Palace, built in the 1990s by businessman. It is called Jahaj/Jahaz Bari.

In the 1st picture there lies a bridge which we crossed to reach at a round place where a small restaurant is situated.

The purpose of this field trip was to have fun while learning. The learning objectives were:

- For Kindergarten stages: Learn about their immediate environment.
- Names of the roads, knowledge of the area beside their school.
- At the same time learn about the trees, plants, flowers, habitat study.
- For Year 2 and 3: Animal Habitat and related topics such as learning and discovering the tree, flower, plant names. Observing closely to find out what lies around us which we miss during our walk around our own living places.
Middle School: Mapping and knowledge of environment.

We started our walk at around 9.00 am. The children were clear about the objectives of their 'field trip' and it was repeated briefly before leaving the school gates.

We started our journey with all teachers and students of 'Earth House Alternative School' at about 9.00. The weather was in our favor as it was not a sunny day but a bit cloudy. Children were carrying their mapping books, art books and small plastic box to collect the leaves or other findings.

We were very excited to start our short field trip. It was shocking to know that our kids could not say the name of the main road near to our school. The weather was really nice as we proceeded towards the bridge area. We planned to sit there for a break and provide some time to kids to record their findings around the lake area.
Our school head Shabbir sir ordered breakfast for all which was delicious.
Children started draw the pictures of lake and I started looking around. As the restaurant at the end of the bridge has become a social gathering place for neighbouring people, I noticed people sitting in groups. One group near us consisted of the older people gossiping with each other. Another group was enjoying music as one of the group member was playing with harmonium. Different voices from various angles were making this surrounding area a pleasant place.

Here are few of the pictures:

Nature walk is an opportunity for kids or teachers to have a close look at the environment around them. Record the flora and fauna life and develop a sense of appreciation for living things around us and nature.

The boys group sitting at a separate table

A snake charmer came there and he was asked to show the snakes. Children enjoyed the 'snake show' while snake charmer shared some information about the snakes, he was having in his boxes. It was really interesting when he asked us to touch a pretty looking striped snake. It was the first time I touched the body of a snake. It was a bit furry and soft.

Boys started questioning to compile a survey for their Youtube channel but unfortunately we had to shorten our field trip as cloud were darkening and it was a clear sign that we might have rain in a short time. We had plan to visit the other areas but as the showering forced us to move quickly towards our school building. Kids started screaming with joy as they enjoyed the brisk walk and running towards school premises.

* “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” — Rachel Carson

Useful links: (for those who want to learn more)

* Jahaj Bari or boat house(Chistia Palace):amazing architecture on Dhanmondi lake side

* Dhanmondi Lake and the stories behind