Creators in the making require time! “All great achievements require time” these words of Maya Angelou resonate this season at school.  It has been an answer to this question ‘Can kids really do everything? Where is the time?’  Creation:  The last year has seen some great work which was...

“You could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby …  changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole.”  — Fichte, The Vocation of Man (1800)  Human beings have everything they need on planet earth.  But as Mahatma Gandhi said The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed. Sharing this planet with millions of lifeforms entails us with the responsibility to protect it. The purpose of this article is to contribute to that internalizing process. We often hear this ‘We are all one’, meaning that all life forms are same, and our needs are one.  Butterfly effect signifies that the world functions in synchronicity. Let’s explore how all of this is connected.   The Story of the heroic Cyanobacteria  Research shows that billions of years ago, the atmosphere did not have free oxygen; only nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and Methane were predominantly present. The single-celled bacteria that thrived on existent molecules called Cyanobacteria are the reason for our existence. Through photosynthesis, the ‘Cyanobacteria’ emitted the first free oxygen molecules into the atmosphere, which caused all lifeforms on earth to perish as well as enabled the existence of more complex  organisms, including us. Had it not been for these single-celled bacteria, today, life as we know it, would have been but a fiction. Scientists believe that these Cyanobacteria still exist in plants as chloroplasts.   This is how we are really connected. Being in sync is how life was inherited from nature and it is time we realised it. By synchronizing with nature, the process becomes organic and consistent.  While talking about purpose, there’s this one incident that led to this article.  On a rare rainy morning in June as I sat on my usual sofa in the reception, a third grader walked in, looking a little dismayed. She hurried despite all her worries as it was way past 8:30, and the  classes had already begun after the mindfulness routines. But I couldn’t let her go to class like that, and so I started a casual chat hoping to make her more cheerful. What could bother this little  mind so much that she didn’t even get excited about muddy puddles?   Slowly she opened up only to surprise me with existential questions and her dissatisfaction with human coexistence. She said, “mam, I have been wondering about death. What is death? Why does it happen to all of us?”   I was taken aback but understood that she wasn’t going to go without an answer. I told her that there was a purpose to all of us being here and when the purpose is done, we might have to go  back to where we came from..nature..in true Na’vi style. Then came the next question, “how will we know our purpose?”. I replied to her that it is for each of us to find out our path and purpose, but we will know when we interact and coexist with everything around us. Finally, she said, “I am upset, mam because it is raining after a long time here, but I don’t see anyone doing rainwater harvesting. What is going to happen? Why can’t people around me dig a hole and let the water  seep in? Is this being there for others? What am I to do when I grow up, and there is no water?  What do I do? ” I assured her that with people who think like her, the world’s going to be a much  better place, and we might not be in such a state after all. With that momentary solace she smiled and went off to class  The greatest secrets are hidden in the most unlikely places – Roald Dahl This unforgettable conversation is the reason this theme Sharing the planet came to be.  ...

Social and emotional learning is embedded in every strand of teaching and learning at SSFI. On October 16th 2019, Learners at SSFi involved themselves in a community outreach programme. The theme for 2019 was “healthy diets for a zero-hunger world” and it was in tandem with the Theme of...

The town of Hamelin is infested with rats and their elusive saviour comes to their rescue. The learners of Sun Smart Foundation International School came together to put up the play Pied Piper for Putri an organization involved in educating girl children. To enable learners to look beyond books...

The focus of bringing in theatre amongst our youngest learners is to develop self-awareness, coordination, social and emotional learning, and language skills. The theatre program is tailor made to suit our learner attributes where they become SMART (Skilful, Mindful, Artistic, Responsible Thinkers). They are taught body language, emotions and...

The last Friday of every month at SSFI is where hands n fun filled day of learning for our kindergarteners. The theme for month was force. To experience the learning learners made a pin wheel to learn about air as another element that helps objects move. They learnt that...

Making reading a habit has always been our focus and to support the learners are immersed in phonetics right from pre-kindergarten. The phonetics program is structured in a spiralling manner where we start with identification of letter sounds at pre-kindergarten level moving on to blending and reading simple sentences...

To mark the beginning of Navarathri the prep school at SSFI celebrated the Heritage festival. The festival is conducted every year during Navrathri to celebrate the spirit of community with much fun fare. This year’s Virtual Heritage festival was equally exciting and learners where immersed in understanding about culture,...

Learners had explored and discussed various artists around the world. Dean Russo inspired them most and based they presentations on his work. Grade 3 to 6 were involved creating a life size baby elephant. They were hands-on in making the Paper Mache Sculpture, right from carpenting to sculpting and...

Learners at SSFI celebrated World Environment Day by interacting with nature first hand. They were involved in creating awareness amongst the general public on saving environment. The entire session was in association with Bhoomi – an NGO for environment. The session took place in an outdoor classroom at the...