Materials FOR kids can also be BY kids

To be sure that the teaching materials you are using are appealing to the children you are teaching, why not ask your students to help you make them? The other day. we made verb flashcards for English but these can also be used for Bengali classes, etc. Activities such as this are a nice way to move away from teacher-centered classrooms where the teacher is only passing on information in a one-way stream. We noticed that the children had a good understanding of all the words after the session.

Art exam

The art exam at Shikshamitra had two parts. The first part was written. The children first listened to a short story about the life of Picasso and then were asked to think about and then write down in Bengali what they felt was the meaning of the quote,
"Every child is born and artist. The problem is how to remain an artist as an adult."

After that they had to work in small groups and develop a theme using cloth as their medium this time. We reminded them that use of the materials and theme development were equally important as how well they worked in a group, managed time, and put away things at the end. When all the groups were finished we sat in a circle and talked about the experience. This discussion revealed a lot about each of the final pieces. Many of the kids still feel they want to add to their pieces so we will pull these works in progress out again.