Welcome To Indus World School, Gurgaon

Creating an environment to help her learn Child - Centric Approach At IWS we believe that the child is at the centre of every activity, while the PARENT, CURRICULUM and MENTOR need to work in sync to facilitate and help the child learn

Child centric does not always mean play way. Children at different ages have different needs. At IWS we understand this and hence have clearly created three learning phases. Learning stages at IWS Learning stage-1: Ananda stage: Age: years - Grades – Pre nur to grade-2. In this stage learning is made joyful. Learning stage-2: Jigyasa stage: Age: 8-14 yrs Grades – 3 to 8. In this stage learning is facilitated by encouraging questioning, experimentation and discovery. Learning stage-3: Saadhana stage: Age: 14 yrs plus Grades 9 to 12. In this stage children are nurtured to prepare for life and practice to perfection

EVERYONE here FEELS SAFE, SECURE AND WANTED for what he or she is. Joy and Learning Coexist right from the Ananda stage At IWS

Everyone including mentors is allowed to MAKE MISTAKES AND NOT FEEL ASHAMED OF IT. Hence SELF-DISCIPLINE, OWNERSHIP IS THE NORM and not monitoring, policing & control. At IWS

EVERYONE IS A LEARNER in the true sense.Teacher/ Mentor does not have an upper hand in the process, most of the time – as we say ‘You TEACH what you KNOW but EDUCATE, what you ARE’, you will find mentors a part of the learning process and walking the talk. At IWS

IWS Mentors are very carefully recruited We have a very rigorous multistage mentor recruitment process. Induction Process - Unique Written Test Group Discussions Psychometric Test Interviews Outbound trip TRAINING on INDUCTION. CONTINUOUS ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC MENTORING.

Our core belief At Indus we believe - Every child is unique - Every child is naturally motivated to learn- The way they learn could be different Hence we do not compare children in primary years up to grade-5. Our core belief

in - LESS IS MORE – emphasis on UNDERSTANDING than just on memorising At IWS we believe

Holistic development Aesthetic Development Cognitive Development Emotional Development Social Development Physical Development In Our curriculum at Ananda stage ALL DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT ARE integrated in the curriculum through themes and are designed to nurture each child holistically Language Development

Physical development at Ananda Includes playing games like Running, Climbing, Balancing, Jumping, Crossing obstacle, Kicking the ball, Throwing, catching and balancing etc to develop and child’s body muscle control, balance and coordination.

Also includes finger painting, crushing, playing with mud and clay, sand play, manipulative toys like blocks, crushing papers, folding and tearing papers, and water play to help children develop their Fine motor or small body muscles, to nurture the senses through touch and feel and to develop hand eye coordination. Physical development at Ananda

We at Indus believe that real questions come with real experiences. Children will think only when they observe surroundings then they begin to question,reason and learn. Learning at Ananda - Experiential Cognitive development at Ananda I’m not scared Catching lady bugs in garden How many glasses fill a bucket? How does it taste? Bunny eats palak too Experiencing Rain Building a tentBhutta party

Sequencing – Learning at his pace Children are given space and freedom to construct knowledge. Mentors just facilitate. How can I build the tower?

Language development Story is central to language learning. We nurture Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Listening to stories, songs narrating and enacting stories encompasses our language approach Language development at Ananda

We encourage Reading pictures and then words Drawing pictures means beginning to write. Language development

Learn language to express…LSRW Children are nurtured to create their own texts, own songs and own stories. The real expression will be nurtured. Writing: Writing is expressing ideas in own words. Drawing is a form of writing Children are allowed to use their spellings - Inventive spellings, slowly corrections are enabled

Social and Emotional development Children are nurtured to mingle and work in groups. Children are nurtured to understand others feelings Social and Emotional development is given a lot of importance

We have circle times where children share their feelings with each other Where SELF-DISCIPLINE, OWNERSHIP IS THE NORM and not monitoring, policing & control.

Aesthetic development Aesthetic nurturing of music, dance and art Is also curricular for us…they are all integrated in learning.

A day’s plan… would look like this upto KG Assembly: emotional development Physical activity time: (sport- outdoor) Language skill time: (story time, music time, drama time, role-play, puppetry) Expression time (dance/drama/art/craft/clay) Observation or exploration time (small project or numeracy) Snack break-2 Circle time for closure School working hours: Nur, pp-1,pp-2: 4 hrs

A day’s plan… would look like this in grade- 1, 2 Grade - 1, Grade - 2: 6 ½ hrs Arrival Assembly Physical development time Snack break Language skill time Number work (4 sessions) Lunch Choice time Music/art/craft/dance/drama Emotional nurturing of the children

Micro Academic Planning We use Micro schedules to ensure uniformity in academic delivery. All our mentors are trained to handle micro schedules. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT ART/CRAFT/MUSIC/DANCECHOICE TIME 30 MIN 15 MIN 11:00-11:3011:30-12:0012:00-12:15 (LD6)cloud watching: read the STORY OF COUNTING CLOUDS- ATTACHED DOCUMENT.Or clouds by eric carl. Then Take children out for cloud watching.This activity can continue for 2-3 days.It should not be sunny.Ask them about the shapes of clouds,whether they are moving or not,where do they come from.They can even lie on the grass and observe the clouds casually.They can be asked if they have noticed anything unusual in the sky. After reading this story make children create unique cloud pictures. Begin by giving children a dark or light blue piece of paper. Fold the paper in half, crease it, then open the paper back to it’s full size. Make children place a small spoonful of thick white paint on the crease and fold the paper again. Children could use their hands to spread the paint around inside of the paper. When they open the paper, each has a very unique cloud. Ask them how does their cloud look like then make a cloud chart of the class.“It looked like ____.”

Assessments at Ananda Reflection of a mentor: Carrying forward yesterday’s discussion of sink-float and hot-cold,I performed two simple experiments in the class.With a big tub of water,I requested each child to bring things from within and outside the class.these turned out to be stones,twigs,paintbrushes,pencils,erasers sharpeners etc,and one by one children added it in the tub of water to record their observation whether it sinks or floats! Several interesting information was discussed through this as Prisha said,if a boat has a hole in it,it will slowly start sinking,as water will get into it and make it heavy.Then I spoke about the importance of wood which helps us to make furniture,boat as it does not sink etc. Portfolios of children Upto grade-2 we will have continuous assessments, from grade-3 onwards we will get into structured assessments. Continuous and Comprehensive assessments Every piece of work of a child is observed Portfolios are maintained Observations are recorded daily Child’s progress reported twice a year

Sample progress report

Identify UNIQUENESS OF EACH CHILD and nurture it. Continuous Assessments at ananda

A PARENT WORKSHOP IN PROGRESS Parents as partners at IWS

Online Student Information System (SIS) The SIS enables parents to keep track of their child’s progress online, and communicate with the mentors

At the end of ananda stage children must begin to enjoy education and learning not feel burdened by it. Ananda