Children in kindergarten learn through play and imitation. They are not developmentally ready yet for any kind of academic learning. During this season of their lives, if the focus is on academics rather than on nurturing their childhood, they will not have the strong foundation that is necessary for building good academic skills later in their lives. In our kindergarten, we provide an enriching environment for children and protect the fresh tenderness of their childhood.

In turn, when they enter Grade 1, they are inspired and ready to take on academics. So when they begin their formal learning, they do not learn by rote; instead, they relate and learn. This, again, helps in deeper and faster learning.

Hence by the end of Grade 1, they are able to read simple stories and can do mental math with the 4 processes.

In addition to this, they can make a mat for you to sit and a coaster to keep your coffee mug, they can farm simple vegetables (from preparing the land till harvest), they can prepare a soup or a juice or a salad, and they can play their beautiful renditions in their recorders, while you get lost in their paintings and drawings!

We often face this question and it is important for a parent to have an overall understanding of why our kindergarten is designed the way it is. In kindergarten, the focus is on rhythm, reverence, and repetition. We call it the 3 R’s.

• Rhythm
• Reverence
• Repetition

We have different activities we do in kindergarten which are rooted in these 3 R’s.
The Play – both outdoor & indoor – helps in socializing, bringing out the child’s own creativity, and having an arena to imitate what they have absorbed as sense beings.

Circle Time – This helps them absorb the essence of the rhythm of the month along with the development of their vocabulary and their dexterity as they sing the songs and move through the monthly rhythm.

Fruit & Lunch – Nourishment of the senses is our focus in kindergarten and hence it is important for children to have a meal that they feel connected to and experience and relish with their senses.

Story– You can witness children recreating the stories told by their teachers, sometimes adding their own stories. This naturally helps in memory strengthening, relating, and learning as they connect to the story through their play or elements in nature (eg: when they see a mango/butterfly/wriggly worm, they remember the story that had them). These are all essential elements for their later years of education.

Handwork – Strengthens their dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and also builds their emotional stability.

Activities – Includes painting, cleaning, drawing with crayons, creating with playdough or beeswax, cooking, and movements with speech exercises. Again, all of these work on the core development of the physical and emotional self of children through the nourishment of their senses.

They have English, Math, 2nd Language (either Tamil/Hindi), and they experience Science through farming. They also have farming, painting, guided drawing, handwork, cooking, movements, and drama, and these activities are honoured as equally as academics.