Sunshine Saturdays
We started our 1st event of Sunshine Saturday today 🌻. Through this we intend to bring more extra-curricular activities to our children for enhancing their access and exposure. We want it to be a space where children learn skills other than academics, have fun and come refreshed for the week ahead. We desire to bring a lot of sunshine and cheerfulness in the lives of our young students.
Our first session was conducted by Ramesh Ranganathan who has a rich experience of 20+ year in the IT industry. The session was on “Introduction to Computers”. We saw great turnout and good engagement with 70% of the children touching a laptop for the first time.
This is just the beginning.
Parents Teacher Meeting
We conducted the 1st Parent Meeting at our new After School Learning Center to orient about the objectives and programs to be held at the center. Our founder, Hamsa Ramesh spoke about the importance of having an After School Program for children for the overall development of a child and how it will benefit the child beyond the school hours. Our volunteers Aarushi and Sharon briefed the parents about how the center will act as an extension of the school ecosystem. They also introduced the program structure, curriculum and the projects that the students will do during their time at the Center. We received positive response and parents were happy & hopeful to see the set-up and were looking forward to send their children to the center.
The center will be operational from today for our children. Super-excited to welcome them.
Teacher Training Sessions
Banyan Bridge partnered with Teach for India elementary fellows in Pune and piloted their program.14 fellows were provided with the Module 1 of the literacy & numeracy curriculum. The module consisted of physical copies of Teacher Handbook & Student Kits. The teacher handbook included Phonics Lessons, Level-wise Sight Words List, and Video Links & Decodable Text Booklet. The student kits included Worksheets in addition to the Decodable Text Booklet. A curriculum orientation session was conducted for these fellows to enable the ease of use of these resources.
The teacher training session included introduction to usage of training and learning materials. The teachers were briefed on the benefits of using TLM materials and ways in which it enhances the hands-on learning experience.
Students are learning literacy skills through hands on experience using various learning materials and innovative teaching methods.
Classroom Teaching Sessions
Banyan Bridge conducted special Phonics training session for 3rd grade students at Sant Tukaram school. Most of the students were at pre-emergent level in literacy and within a month of our intervention, they started reading basic text. They also showed increased confidence and engagement in the classroom.
Banyan Bridge started the Reading Readiness curriculum with the 1st set of 50+ students from Grade 3 from Sant Tukaram e-Learning School, Pune. The students started from the foundational level of learning alphabets, phonics sounds and gradually worked towards identifying sounds in words. They were provided with alphabet mats for word formations, flashcards for knowing the sight words & classroom charts. The learning materials helped in engaging the students and made the lessons more interesting.
Students Volunteering Program
Banyan Bridge conducted a 2 day volunteer program for students from high income schools to be part of the student learning experience at Sant Tukaram school. They saw the disparity in the education system and suggested ways in which they could contribute.
The volunteers shared their academic experiences with the school students and engaged in extra curricular activities like dance, sports and public speaking sessions.
The school students were thrilled to share the day with their counterparts and eager to know more by asking a lot a questions to them.
Stationery Kit Distribution
Banyan Bridge started its first activity with a “Back to School” stationery kit distribution drive for around 55 students from Sant Tukaram e-Learning School. The kit consisted of all the art supplies & school stationeries. The students were visibly very happy to come to physical school after 2 years of pandemic & receive these kits as a welcome gesture.