Wednesday, August 25, 2010

When there is Peace, Miracles Happen!

Born on 26th August - the day being celebrated as her Birthday when she was baptised (August 27, 1910), Mother Teresa has been an apostle of peace. Mother Teresa is known to the world for her love, compassion and sacrifice. Angel of Mercy and Mother T were just some of the titles used to describe her. She devoted her life for the poor, destitute and the dying. A noble Laureate, who authored a personal saga of love and compassion that touched millions of live around the world. She rendered her services to the poorest of the poor and her love for them was divine. Through their network of services, Mother Teresa and her missionary sisters brought succor to the ill fated humans suffering from diseases. Millions were helped, consoled, given a decent life or helped to die with dignity in God’s love. She was the greatest philanthropist of the Century, a person with boundless energy even in her old age.

On August 26, 2010 to mark her birth centenary, the Railways will introduce a new train "Mother Express" named after Mother Teresa. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "We have decided to launch the new train after Mother Teresa as a tribute to her on occasion of her birth centenary" She further added that the coaches of the train would be painted in blue, the trademark border of the habit worn by the order she founded. The route of the train would be announced later, but it would touch important destinations in the country.

Mother Teresa quoted,

"The fruit of silence is Prayer,
Fruit of Prayer is Faith,
Fruit of faith is Love,
Fruit of Love is Service,
Fruit of service is Peace
– Mother Teresa

And truly, I would say, And, When there is Peace, Miracles Happen!

Visit Mother Teresa Profile on Kidsfreesouls.com

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids
Author of Guardian of Angels

Friday, August 20, 2010

Inspiring soul

Born on 20th August, Rajiv Gandhi - The name is memorable! The soul is immortal! I have always admired the leader and he has been an Inspiration to the Youth. He was known as 'Mr. Clean' and I think the only person different from his whole family. He had no interest in Politics and became a commercial airplane Pilot. However, this was not to happen and he later became the PM of our country.

Destiny - not dreams and he got to be what he did not wish to be! However, it is amazing to see how he brought a shift to reforms in education, power and electricity, population control, youth power and many other social reforms.

You can find Rajiv Gandhi's Profile in Literature pages on Kidsfreesouls.

- ilaxi

Monday, August 16, 2010

Green Office - Green Understanding

Concerns and they're many! India can be called a Can-do Nation but when it comes to concerns, unity of people power can say, 'Can do' to fight the concerns. Children are not left behind in this mission to tackle concerns as they are involved in all sorts of Projects - Save Environment, Say No to Drugs, a lot more. However, when children are guided for better environment and loaded with projects, it often happens that Parents and Teachers do forget in process that they too, require to follow the rules.

Our daily use power, water, electricity and so on, is endless. Our office and home is fully equipped with all comforts. And, here is when we need to focus on 'Green' - Green Homes, Green Office. This is so easy to say but here's a question that draws our attention for a Green Office, a work area and we can follow the tips therein and even help our children with better understanding as they are the future.

Earth Talk Question and Answer in Environment Column on Kidsfreesouls:

What are some simple things I could do to green the office I work in?- James Raskin, Framingham, MA

“The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. One no-brainer way to green up one's office is to refrain from printing when you can, use both sides of a sheet, and recycle so that the recycling industry will have raw material.”

I always thought cotton was eco-friendly, but I recently heard otherwise. What’s so bad about cotton? And where can I find organic cotton clothing? -- Jamie Hunter, Twin Falls, ID

“The Organic Trade Association (OTA) considers cotton “the world’s dirtiest crop” due to its heavy use of chemical insecticides and fertilizers. Fortunately, there are now thousands of organic cotton retailers, including some of the big box stores. The OTA’s Organic Pages Online lists vendors (and links to their websites) by product type.
- Read more in English and Spanish.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for kids

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Happy Independence Day - 15th August

India, the Land of Legends (Free), proudly stand independent and as we commemorate the nation on its 64th Anniversary of Independence on 15th August, Kids Free Souls salutes all those immortal souls for their gallant undying contribution for the cause of the freedom.

Visit Kidsfreesouls India Page and download the tune of Jana Gana Mana - the National Anthem of India.

Also Watch Live webcast of The 64th Independence Day Flag Hoisting Ceremony, 15th August- 9:00 Am in Gujarat. The celebrations will be graced by the presence of Her Excellency the Governor of Gujarat Dr Shrimati Kamla & Hon'ble CM of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi.

Click Here to Watch Live Webcast

- ilaxi patel

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Simple tips on how to memorize and recite a poetry - Remembering Tennyson

Charge of the Light Brigade - Cannon to the Right of them, Cannon to the Left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; ....I still remember this poem which we had to memorize in the classroom and as we teach our kids Literature, it is very important to explain about the poet and in which context the poetry was written. Another thing important is teaching children how to recite the poem. We almost find children saying poetry or a story with no expressions and in a hurried style with mugged up learning. It is important to know the meaning of the poem and recite in a way which becomes interesting to the listener. When a child have to recite a poem, it may so happen that he may skip off words or a line and when prompted, he continues reciting. Reciting poetry is much more than memorizing. Reading aloud confusedly mars the experience of the listener but well said poetry can carry a good emotional rapport.

When I teach poetry in the class, it is more than memorizing. Expressions have a way in recitation. So do the child learn the poetry in a manner that prompts with rhyme patterns and meter that make it easy to flash memory.

Here are some simple tips on how to memorize and recite a poetry. You can help the child with slow and gradual progress which even makes them learn and recite poetry from school syllabus. It even becomes an interesting learning and teaching experience as well.

1. Understanding the poetry: When children are taught poetry, first explain the poetry. Talk about the Author and when or why he wrote the poetry. A brief biography of the poet will make interesting poetry session before they memorize the poem.

2. Natural Tone : Maintain the voice tone. Ignore punctuation or breaks and pauses. Recite quite normally in a natural voice with no excitement or pitched up voice throughout recitation. However, to be expressive, vary pitch and volume though in a natural tone instead of being hyper.

3. Focus on Phonetics: A read aloud Poetry can be interesting with focused phonetics. Check those 'vowels and consonants that can be spoken with clarity of voice. Using right language leave impressions and makes the child feel better to hear his own clear, well pronounced voice.

4. Be Expressive : Most of the time, children are not expressive when reciting poetry and they speak aloud the mugged learning. It so happens, they fail to remember and when prompted, they can finish the stanza. It also turn them up being embarrassed when reciting in front of an audience and they forget in-between the lines. Facial expressions and hand movements understanding the poetry lines can help children to present the recital in an interesting and confident manner. Gesture is to be maintained for effect.

5. Write and re-write revision: Children can write and re-write the poetry 2/3 times in their scrap with supportive drawing and coloring. Let them identify the parts they find difficult to remember. Help them visualize the poetry and what it is about. Help them plan where to pause and stop with smooth flow to continue. Avoid sing-song tactics.

6. Easy Recitation : For easy reciting on the stage, slow down. Speaking aloud faster tends to make the child forget as they easily get distracted at times. Slowing down helps them gain confidence and be less nervous. Even the audience will love to enjoy listening.

7. Rote learning : Some children love to learn repetition. Go back to the rote learning nursery rhymes and have fun for a while. Even sing along rote songs like 'In a cottage, In a wood', skipping every one line while they enjoy action. Rote learning and visualizing helps faster learning and memorizing.

8. Posture and Dressing: A well dressed child is always confident. And, the posture comes with confidence. Help the children to possess good posture and dressing while they are ready to perform. A well presented child on stage leaves impressive image to the audience.

9. Eye Contact: The most important part while reciting on stage is eye contact. Some children look down while saying the poetry. Some tend to look here and there and than get lost in imagination or get distracted. This leads to nervousness and forgetful. While recitation is on, the eye contact should be beyond the audience and even turning towards sides towards the audience as if to capture all of the listeners.

10. Never get embarrassed: Children often tend to make mistakes. Never get embarrassed and pass on your vibrations to them. Patience is always a key to success. Never tell the child to say, "I'm sorry' as apologizing messes up and they lose interest in poetry and memorizing becomes a pain for them.

How often we run away from the things we don't like yet have to do? When I learnt Tennyson's poetry, I still remember those lines "Cannon to the Left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; ...." and smooth went on reciting the poetry and having fun too.

Well, 6th August was a day to remember Alfred Lord Tennyson and interestingly, he was known as Lord because of the Peerage titles I guess just like Lord Byron. Follow the Songs section for rote song and find Poetry pages here.

Btw, you can find the August Calendar and Projects here. Share Knowledge, pass on wisdom.

- ilaxi patel

Friday, August 06, 2010

Grammar Fun - Stories with Grammar for kids

Grammar Fun and Printable Worksheet Zone is exclusively 'Free' for prints on Kidsfreesouls. Teachers can circulate copies in classrooms and help kids with Projects and Parents can set up an hour - once a week, take prints and help children to enjoy doing the worksheets. Give them stars and even make a file for records.

Btw, I have added 'Stories with Grammar' - the worksheets are exclusive content I wrote while I conducted 'Stories with Grammar' Swagat class during summer. Seven stories and continuing to add more, these worksheets are for primary children who can build a strong base of Grammar while they have fun doing the stories. All parts of speech - Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Pronouns, prepositions, conjuctions....and more of the basics are being covered up in these simple stories and worksheets.

Supportive to reading, children can follow the Fairyland stories and I am sure, this will be fun for children. Enjoy.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Spread Peace - Friendship Day

Friendship is the intensity of the love that leaves behind trails of sweet memories to cherish the core of life giving a whole new meaning to it. The enigma of friendship strengthens with the bonds of relationships so unique which is unselfish, intimate, pure and beautiful. Learning to appreciate, speak out on issues, Listening, confide and sharing secrets, meeting of wavelengths and such deeper corners are focused for a caring friendly relationship with the people you love most.
Whenever it's a Friendship Day, Kidsfreesouls wishes all readers Happy Friendship day with a simple message to spread love, faith, peace and unity among human beings.

Follow Friendship Day on Kidsfreesouls

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for kids

Friday, July 30, 2010

Meet Kidsfreesouls Kids Reporters and Bloggers

Meet Kidsfreesouls Reporters - Bloggers who make their way on web to spread their wings to fly and reach the skies. Kids Blogs are presented on Kidsfreesouls by Swagat Children Library class students - some old and some new students. Blogging is not everybody's cup of tea but a result of hard work at the Library while they learn how to Report News, conduct Interviews, Write their fav jokes, Riddles and book Reviews. They even provide their favorite quotes and whatever they find interesting and inspiring to others.

The recent Blogger is Tulsa Ved. Amazingly, she has picked up Blogging in a span of six months and inspite of being in Gujarati Medium, I am happy to note that she can break boundaries to reach her goals. You can find her Blog here and stay tuned as she blogs Interviews and more interestingly, her Inspirational stories that could stir souls with her delicious soup stories.

Also find, Shril's Blog who is more fond of reading and presents his reviews. Most of the time, he is found with his head deep buried in books and comics. He has sure shot ideas on How to Make Newspaper and is found to provide good tips and suggestions to a noted Weekly Children Newspaper 'Knowledge Path'.

A shift in technology, Blogging has become a revolution but at Swagat, Blogging is more informative learning too. To Blog, kids need to read. To blog, they need to write and type too - They get the exposure to technology. Develop communication and writing skills. They even Learn to type faster using the right fingers and enhance vocabulary and spelling skills. Children learn the privacy and social networking skills and above all learn 'Courtesy and responsibility' as they use technology.

Finally, Parents learn in the process too and who better can be their teachers than kids who can explain to them what Blogging is about! Esp. to those parents or teachers who are not exposed much to technology.

Enjoy Kidsfreesouls.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Mobile Bullying and kids

Bullying has just become of the most underrated but enduring problems today. Kids & Teenagers use the mobiles and the net and because there's the whole world of fun using these gadgets. It's the need of the hour to stop the Bully Panic. Especially Mobile Bully. I have mentioned of Bullying (an article from my book 'Guardian of Angels) and even blogged about Mobile Manners.

However, the issue surfaces concerns once again as a recent study by the Pew Internet Research Center states that 72% of cellphone owners ages 12 to 17 are texters while only 18% of cellphone owners ages 40 to 49 are texters. Moreover, for tweens and teens, cellphones are the perfect tool for being constantly connected to the friends and others. As a result, texting use has drastically increased. It is noted by Nielsen Mobile that three years ago a teen sent and received an average of 435 texts per month. As of late 2009 that total jumped to 3,186 texts. Social networking has made it easier for exchange of phone numbers and predators who seek close contacts with kids have found their prey. Cyberbullying, psychological harassment in text or instant messaging, is more often perpetrated by girls, who initiate inappropriate messages or spread damaging gossip. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 39 percent of cell users ages 18-29 say they are not always truthful about where they are when they are on the phone. Many parents find it shocking when the bill knocks the door due to texting (text, picture and video messaging), special ring tones, downloading games and even chatting for long hours. An alarming case is reported at Forbes - A 15 year old boy communicating to a 30 year old woman whom he met while playing multi game of World of War Craft.

Cell phones have become a serious cause for lack of concentration, distraction, anxiety, fear and misuse among many school going children. Moreover, the common features of cameras, ipod music, games and video are temptations for use and misuse. The silent mode has easy texting anywhere. Mobile manners are almost being missed out by not only children who use it but also parents and teachers who fail to keep a check on their attitude and courtesy mannerisms. Fiddling with the mobile, texting or playing games is often a sign of bad manners when you are with others - socialising, in a meeting or with a guest. Kids who are often tempted with their parent's mobile, are found to be bad mannered. Many teenagers opt for talking or texting even in front of guests which embarrass the parents.

Though schools like CBSE and other schools are opting for ban of using mobiles when in school campus, it is the need of the hour to safeguard children from Mobile Bullying and even protect them from the Health hazards.

An Austria Dr. Eric Huber calls for the potential dangers in kids using mobiles and calls for Mobile companies carrying labels showing Radiation levels. It is recommended, children below 16 years should not use mobiles. Brain tumour could be extreme case with vision problems too. However, this would not stop children from using nor will the parents want the children to be away from the latest technology and gadgets that surround our world. As Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard University believes, We have basically let kids be in an environment where they have free rein but don't have the brain development to manage that in ways that are safe and healthy.

The child should know, it's a use of mobile phone only in time of special/urgent needs only. Best is no mobile till the age of 16 and don't let them get attracted for the fancy picks. All things come for a value. Children need to understand this and not keep changing the gadgets that keep freaking in the market.

Some things children using mobiles should know:

1. Protect the mobile numbers. The child should not give the number to everyone. Do not let others see the number too.
2. The child should not respond to unwanted SMS or call back to strangers who sms or ring up.
3. The child should not give any information to any caller unless he/she knows the person well.
4. Set rules and responsibilities. Don't let your call go unanswerable from the child.
5. Strictly make the children turn off their phones at night when they are in their rooms.
6. Teach them value for money. Provide the mobile that best utility for them keeping in mind the cost factor. Do not pamper them and allow them to frequently change their gadgets too.
7. Why Cell Phone - Explain the use and why they are equipped with such gadgets.

Give kids their free reins but Limit the use of the Gadget. Teach them to use and make them understand the right and the wrong. There's no denying that we live in a dangerous world and that children are overwhelmingly important. A day when our mobiles go off even for a while, we are used to adjust but the next generation is out with the newer technology and its safety more a concern for them right now. Protect kids from the dangers using mobiles.

-More on Bullying.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Project - Rupee

Most of the people are now aware of the Indian Rupee symbol and even how to use the fonts on computers. However, to brief mention with Font download on Kidsfreesouls, find the same in Kids news section of Kidsfreesouls.

On News Page:

Indian Rupee gets new Symbol - The creation of the rupee sign began with an Indian government announcement on March 5, 2009, that a contest would be held to choose a symbol for the rupee. About 3,000 designs were submitted and those were short listed to five selected ones. The cabinet picked the symbol you see above, designed by D. Udaya Kumar, a 32-year-old graphic design and typographer who had just completed his PhD on Tamil typography at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai and is now at IIT Guwahati. The symbol is an amalgam of the Devanagari "Ra" and the Roman capital "R" without the descending stem. The two cross strikes at the top of the symbol reference the Indian flag. The creator D. Udaya Kumar is rewarded ` 2.5 Lac.

As the keyboards are yet to be equipped with the font, a substitute option is already created by Foradian, a Mangalore based Internet Engineering Company who offers Free Download of the Fonts with easy installation and ready for use on Computers. All you do is go here - Download the new Rupee Symbol from Foradian here and follow the Presentation Help File. You can also Join the Foradian Group on FB and follow instructions here.

For Kidsfreesouls ready help, download the fonts from foradian. Save in your Windows>Fonts. Open and click. Go to your word doc. Choose 'Rupee_Foradian' from Fonts. Select the top left key with symbol ~ and ` - the sign appears. Simple, isn't it?

Btw, I asked my children about the new Rupee symbol. Many of the kids went blank and that triggered a Rupee Project! What that could be? They gave me the ideas and drew the symbol in the Scrap book with the informative piece on rupee symbol innovation. Supportive to this, they are writing 'Autobiography of a Rupee' and gathering the rupee notes to place in their Lucky Piggy Bank. Further, learning on 'How much Pocket money' and 'How to manage the Pocket money'.

If you are a parent or a teacher, I think, Ideas do work wonders. Go ahead and implement the thought and help kids to be aware, be aware while they spend money - Saving is gaining!

- ilaxi patel
Newspaper for Kids

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Robot Teachers or robotic teaching?

Recently I read, Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo, the robot teacher called Saya, was introduced to students in South Korea. They took English, Maths, science and Arts classes in the Elementary schools. Saya can express six basic emotions — surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness — because its rubber skin is being pulled from the back with motors and wiring around the eyes and the mouth. And, amazingly, students reacted favorably to the new teacher who seemed to be less sarcastic but more responding and courteous in the class. Saya can call out names, say 'Thank You' and even give orders like 'Be quiet.' Saya's creator Professor Hiroshi Kobayashi said the robot's main purpose was to highlight the joys of technology to children, he also said it would benefit schools suffering from a shortage of human teachers. The South Korean government is investing in millions and aims to have 8000 robot teachers and assistant teachers in classrooms by 2013.

This incarnation of a School teacher gives an insight of the teacher - student relationship today which has made this new age teacher an option to be considered as the fun part of learning and understanding technology that replace human efforts. However, I really can't figure out how can a robot handle a class of 40-60 or even 20 students? The Robots are programmed and have no thinking of their own! How could there be discipline in the classroom or interaction thereby for the lessons mechanically taught?

Children love the tender loving care, a human touch and a smile that makes their day. Teachers not only teach but also act as mentors who motivates and encourages children in various aspects as they help them gain academic excellence. Moreover, Robots are programmed and no further can they continue to provide fun and learn to children if they keep on focused on same lessons and same songs with no updates. Robots can be supportive to teachers but not substitute.

Even Teachers who teach like a Robot mechanically with the same old style of imparting education find less responsive students. Creative innovations to make lessons interesting is their efficiency plus in boosting their own teaching techniques. Character building of the students is enhanced as mere seeing and listening is not the factor but even understanding the Instructions is important. Knowledge involves human interaction. Thought Robots in classrooms can be fun and supportive to teaching, I think, more emphasis rely on interactions - communication and interpersonal relationship bonding the teacher and the student as they experience the joys of teaching and learning together.

It is most important for a parent or a teacher to provide opportunities for Development Schedules. Development schedules are just the tools to assist parents in determining the child’s development, learning the little things in life to take big steps to climb ahead. Some children are slow branded whereas some are fast learners. Children possess different skills as per their development schedules. Programmed Robots need better programming to enhance child's development schedule and this would not be possible unless Teachers follow the program patterns based on individual student.

Even Parents need child assessment with the development schedules as it plays a major role as their IQ, EQ and SQ (Intelligence Quotient, Emotional Quotient, Spiritual Quotient) which becomes measured expression of child's abilities.

Some tips for Development schedules Teachers/parents can follow are:

Creative skills : Children love creativity. Make lessons interesting with Projects in classrooms. Support colors and sing along sessions while they attend Projects, paper cutting, sticker pasting in Scrap book is often fun for them. Let them draw, color or watch a cartoon online and let them jot down their noting. Anything creative is fun and learn.

Cognitive skills : Children gain cognitive skills or say, reasoning with own mind as they in the middle years of their development stage, they have the capacity to distinguish what is right and wrong. They can reason others point of view, play games as per the rules and master their minds with subjects they like the most.

Communication skills : Speech comes with thought process. Conduct chatting sessions, verbal compositions, debate or ask questions and just questions to get back replies. Follow the language they are learning and not the mother tongue as often children speak their home language and can express better.

Linguistic skills : Develop love for language. Anything to do with vocabulary and words. Scrabble games, word search, cross words and even Vocabulary Projects are found interesting by children and they love to pursue these activities.

Logical Thinking : Kids at a tender age love to count and are good at math. They have an understanding of logical or numerical patterns and sequence of reasoning. These kids tend to adapt to activities related to science, puzzles, exploring and all that has logical reasoning.

Spatial Intelligence : Remembering roads, reading maps or knowing charts and reading graphs. All that requires to level up their intelligence.

Empathy skills : Understanding other children in classroom, cooperate, share and avoiding conflicts with peace power. It's like 'walk in someone's shoes' or 'see through their eyes.'

Self Learning/understanding : Children love to lean on a shoulder. Encourage them to self learn by providing necessary guidelines and allow them to use their own brains. Mugging champions often fail to perform when they need to understand on their own.

Children can grow and flower to progress in a free atmosphere. Harmony in classroom and love for nature are also major factors that contribute favorably.

Technology has its own charming ways but Teacher follow up creates great genius!

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for kids

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Sports Spirit - honing skills

Recently, I come across my ex-students who have been young children when they came to the Library, tip-toeing with hopes of making their own identity someday. Today, I see them pursuing their goals that gives me immense pleasure to recognize their abilities and capabilities that turn them to be successful in their chosen field.

Sometimes, as teachers, we underestimate our children and are quite skeptical as to their future looking to their childhood academic progress. How wrong we could be! We all know, some kids are sharper and some weaker in certain areas, some children are fast learners and some slow - all where academic skills are concerned. However, when creativity gives a way, some children turn to be the best in the exclusive skills they possess and it is sure to admit 'Practice makes a man perfect' - be it arts of sports or even academic area like writing a poetry or maybe literature savvy. This gives a special mention of a child who was no good in academic, needed a push for good handwriting and needed special attention for reading and grammar skills. Speech skills was almost missing as he was more used to his mother tongue. As years rolled by, Teacher-Parental role played their part and I was much happy to see tremendous change in him at the Library. More happier now, because he's the one who makes me proud as he honed his Sports Skills. His love for Sports makes me feel on 'Cloud Nine' as he has turned to be the Best Skater and won laurels skating his way to glory. While talking to him, he revealed his daily routine which gave me an idea of his determination towards the sport. Fitness is a way of life as he begins his day early in the morning, cycling and gym exercise followed by routine skating practices of minimum 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes, he wins and even loses to competitors but its a sports spirit and game all the way he loves to play.

Well, I would like to share a counselling question once a parent asked me by email : "My 7 year old just participated his school's field day and didn't fare too well - but he sure tried. Hence, he went and kicked the school building and threw away his participating ribbons and moped around for the rest of the day. How do I sympathetically but firmly approach this?"

The answer is as below and I am sure, might help many parents and teachers to help children face defeat in a positive manner:

Competitions do not mean winning or standing first or in order. It gives opportunity to experience and find way out from losing to winning edge. Let the kid learn from experience so as not to let this frustration flick back again. ‘Everyone likes to win but most of, its good you are enjoying and having fun’ should be the attitude that keeps the child hooked to the Sport. Participating in the School field day itself helps to build confidence but if luck do not favor or for some reason, the child fails, his willingness to accept defeat is on back seat. Why me? Why I lost? And this frustration plays the role of your child's mental process. Feelings of hopelessness and guilt has taken roots within his brain cells and he seems to be hurt to extent that makes him fling things, be destructive, have a sense of withdrawal from people and hve unreasonable fears or phobias that he is a failure and cannot accept defeat under any circumstances.

In such situations, I feel that a parental / teacher's attitude towards the child can pull him out of his hurt feelings and face defeat in a positive manner:

-Parental calm and positive influence play a major role. Kids need to be treated with respect and love, with no ridiculing, sarcastic remarks or let downs. Expectations may be towards winning way but sports should be ‘sharp one’ Attitude with lots of entertainment and humor. Show him the love and say soothing words "Yeah, sure you tried your best but anyways, there's always another chance. All cannot win, after all"

-Talking Therapy works wonders. Divert the mind from game play and indulge in interesting talks or stories. The child memory is too short lived and his resentment can be turned into a lively kid by talking to him about all he likes and is interested in.

- Check the mood blues by adding in creativity. The inflated self esteem needs to be worn back again. The higher children's self esteem, the better able they are to cope with the ups and downs of life. The more self esteem the child develops, the more secure they are in confronting obstacles, fears and defeats. Kids with low self esteem see problems as grounds for quitting and often say "I quit or I give up" and flair. Instead of comparing their achievements with their own goals and potential, they compare themselves with others and get frustrated.

- Let the kid develop sense of being optimistic. There is always another day to win instead of feeling 'I Lost' Give your own example and recollect your own childhood days. Narrate a few of your ups n downs, twists n turns and talk to the kid, how you faced odd situations and embarrassments.

-Failure is never final, success is never ending - Build Sports spirit in the child and teach him the first steps to face challenges in life. Defeat is only a challenge. Talk to the kid to build a positive sense of identity. Who I am? Why I failed? Is my attitude okay? And the realization comes through when the child is helped to understand own self, own weak points. He should be disciplined to know and act what is right - what is wrong behavior. This self realization makes the kid a well balanced mind and disciplined in his behavior during times of his frustration.

-Make the child more tolerant. The kids who learn to cope with bad times and its this time when values of tolerance is more necessary for them to divert their minds to shrug off the hatred from the heart. An emotional trauma needs much more care than a broken bone. Talk to the kid with love and care. Treat him nice instead of being angry or saying harsh words. Words break the heart more, so let not the parental anxiety/anxiousness add fuel to fire and keep the cool, calm n composed self to turn the situation normal. Time heals.

Some kids tend to be aggressive and always be the winner. It is during these times Sports Spirits instill the faith, courage, loyalty, tolerance, brotherhood, all natural virtues which prepare to support in difficult situations without weaknesses. Anger, frustration, self pity, all the so called negative emotions generally have a bad effect on performances, after all.

( Suggested Reading : Honing skills - Whiff of sports-An article from my book 'Guardian of Angels)

I guess, we all need to keep the Sports Spirit live even when we see our favorite Soccer team winning or losing the game! And, cross the fingers, I hope Germany to win and may score 3-1 over Spain in the semi finals Soccer today as they have been the most impressive team in South Africa.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/

Newspaper for Kids

Friday, June 25, 2010

Cartoons in classrooms

Ever though of teaching Cartoons in Classrooms? Especially in an Indian environment where children hardly would be interested in Political cartoons. So, what about learning on Educational Cartoons? Or just about using cartoons to analyze critical thinking activities and know about current affairs. As I hear, Digital Whiteboards are paving its way in classrooms, it is far way thought to introduce activities that power the brain and flow juices of educational creativity to enhance learning abilities.

Teachers and parents tend to ignore Cartoons while reading print newspapers and hardly encourage children to read the cartoon captions. I have held a class on 'Cartoon Learning' and got an amazing response with the 'Cartoon Project.' I have used the Cartoons as Critical thinking skill as well as a creative writing skills. I copy the cartoons to the power point slides and students visualize and discuss on the same. This focus on awareness, knowing the current happening topics and even act as Discussion starters and writing prompts.

Follow these tips while showing the cartoons:
1. What is the purpose?
2. What message it try to convey?
3. Debate on the topic
4. Paste cartoon clips in their scrap
5. Let them jot down the notings
6. Let the children communicate their ideas through art
7. Find opinions and reactions


As primary school children are not easy with political cartoons, I have tried using Educational cartoons, humor and focused on their favorite comic characters. One being Popeye and the other Archie, Betty, Jug head and Veronica. Children have fun reading the comic books and love to create their own cartoon clip writing their own creative message. Themes like 'Go Green' (Popeye and the sea) and 'No junk food' (Jug head eating junk) with their own remarks as they paste the characters in their 'Scrap books or call it, Spark Spiral Note books.' Kids love to use the word balloons in various shapes and even use stickers in case they are not good in drawing or in the mood to do so. Giving a free hand in learning is sometimes a blessing as we get willingness to participate and the results are even better.

Btw, the only one Political Cartoon that kids loved in my classroom was on the CM Narendra Modi as they've been great fan of this leader. They were keen to observe the message of the Cartoonist on him! In Political Cartoons, children need to be interested and even know the characters. And for this, it is first important to Teach kids about Politics and elections !

Well, explore the Literature Cartoons esp. Shakespeare characters here on Harp Week. It provides a revealing glimpse into the nineteenth-century world of Thomas Nast and Harper’s Weekly, and the influence that William Shakespeare had on it.

Also explore Popeye Cartoon Video and find the Lyrics - You can use this for classroom activity for Cartoon Project. Also find Dan Rosandich's Educational Cartoon and come back again to find a new one for a change. Stay tuned to Cartoon Kids Resources for more and follow other Resources page too.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Soul Curry for Kids : Kidsfreesouls in Simply Gujarati, India Today

Soul Curry for Kids : An online Portal for children that even includes information on Poetry-Did you know about this Worldwide Hit? says Jhumri Nigam Misra in Simply Gujarati, India Today (Issue on stands - 28th June, 2010) As she further adds, "Call her the Pied Piper with a modern twist" - It sure gives a feeling of joy to continue my journey at Swagat Children Library and at Kidsfreesouls - spreading the message of love, faith, peace and unity among human beings.



Being an explorer on web, life is and endless journey with 'No Stop' Destination. Presenting Kidsfreesouls and running a successful Children's Library, life becomes a full circle and sometimes blowing own trumpet do give a sense of pride! Enjoy my Press Pages here and of course, being an Editor for an online newspaper and Official Blogger and VA to the Editor of The Sunday Guardian, stay tuned to my world of Journalism.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for kids

Monday, June 21, 2010

World Music Day - Songs for children & Music Reviews

World Music Day - 21st June
This is my Synthesizer - the Yamaha Keyboards I love to play!

Music is speech of angels, a universal language of mankind. In music, one must think with the heart and feel with the brain and so, after every silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music! That’s when you dream and your every dream precedes the goal! Its like dancing away your blues to reach high for stars that lie hidden in your soul and this is when the heart and mind perform in harmony after all!

-Click for Songs for children Music Reviews

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Making connections

Schools begin and children are back to routines. Back to school is a celebration time for children as the long summer creativity calls in for a routine change and kids love to be with their school friends. Some old, some new but nevertheless, learning lessons and having fun too.

It is important for a parent to build a bridge of communication with the teacher as most of the hours, the teacher helps the child to learn and grow. The child needs not only the love and affection from parents and teachers but also need to set their goals and fulfill them.

One thing really important for a child is Making connections. Children do make friends on their own but yet, a parental guiding help can add to his positive friendship :

1. Help the child to be friendly. Simply listening or talking, sharing and appreciating the other and even sharing alikeness - for a video game or a even an activity in class.
2. Help the child to compete - In the sense, master the skills the others have and admire. Be it playing a keyboard or guitar, playing sports or arts.
3. Avoid being negative and impulsive. Listen to the child on what he has to say of his friends rather than stop him and showing your distaste of his friend. He may strong feel of his friend that you don't, maybe.
4. Help the child to solve conflicts. Social skills are necessary as they can learn to settle themselves at times of disputes with others.
5. Don't involve in small arguments of children. If they go physical, take your stand. Let the kids work out on their own.
6. Let the kids practice co-operation and understand feelings of others.
7. Help the kids to share, care and be kind and gentle with friends.
8. Know your child's friends. Invite them for play, birthday celebration

As for the teachers, it's the first few days to be like the acronym, "KISS" - Keep it Simple Stupid! Teachers can adopt innovative ideas at the start of the school and make learning fun. Encourage reading habits on daily basis in the classroom and even at home. Even follow up with a para handwriting practice everyday. This will help weaker children to learn faster. Above all, routinely writing book reviews per week and making journals. Encourage them to write simple jot downs and you can make Kids Blogs with Google sites - a sure fire-way to lift up the spirit of the children.

Teachers can write 'welcome letters to children' and invite parents to describe their child by simply letting them jot down on 'Child Development Review' - some points to fill as below:

1. Describe your child
2. What are your child's strengths
3. What are his hobbies - What he has been doing lately?
4. Does your child have any special problem or disability? Mention.
5. What concerns you have about your child?
6. What other activities does he attend apart from school?
7. Mention what improvement you require in your child.


This will give an insight to know the child, about their learning abilities and methods to adopt while dealing with children. Some kids are fast learners whereas some are branded as slow snail learners. What is required is to identify their weaker areas and diagnose their learning disabilities to apply strategies to combat difficulties.

More, it's to be friendly with kids. Keep the communication live and keep the perfect 'Discipline' in own self as well as the Class.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for kids

Monday, June 14, 2010

Theme a Party

Theme Parties are Fun! The most memorable Birthday Theme Party I ever organized was my son's first birthday. And later, the Swagat Dance Parties rocked with themes - costume to music and game dancing. Theme Parties are guaranteed to set balls rolling to entertain whether it's birthday or any occassion......

- Read more in Theme Parties - Presenting Chris Molnar of Themeparty on kidsfreesouls

- ilaxi
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Back to School : Create a Genius in your child

Back to School for kids. Time to 'Create a Genius' (From Guardian of Angels) in your Child. Children are with mixed feelings of excitement and leaving behind the creative activities with the bygone summer. New introductions with new teachers and new friends. New Prefects and class monitors or call them Student Teachers and all works great with a wee bit of anxiety at the start of the school routines. What is more important is to set goals, Check the hand writing from the beginning and overcome the homework hassles. Reading routine is another important aspect of student life because if a child has cultivated a reading habit, lessons are no boring sessions.

Check out BACK TO SCHOOL pages on Kidsfreesouls and follow rules of success to make best days of school life.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Teaching syllabus is boring? Follow Projects

Last March, First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated Dr. Seuss Birthday by reading 'The Cat in the Hat' to over 200 local elementary school students at Library of Congress.

This reminds me, schools are just a fortnight away to reopen. Students in classroom enjoy the English text lessons especially "Cat in the Hat" and "The Grinch who stole Christmas." I have noticed, teaching syllabus to children is often boring and lessons like these when taught in classrooms with Question-Answers, meanings and reference to context are just a routine study for the child who lose interest in such wonderful stories. If we adopt movie shows or role play the characters, children love this.

Another thing is, following an activity related to the Lesson. It can be building vocabulary based on the words, go for vocabulary projects or a story project. Can be Dr. Seuss project where the child can be encouraged to pen down all about Dr. Seuss and his works.

Often we find, parents relying on subject lessons and follow tuition patterns. Instead, applying creativity and encouraging children to make simple projects, is fun and learning too.

You can find the June Calendar and Projects here. As Aesop's Birthday falls on 4th June, there's loads of ideas to celebrate with simple aesop's fables. Kids can read and write reviews, gather pictures and even make the Story Project. The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse and The Dog in the Manger has been the favorite reads of the children at the Swagat Library.

Fill up happiness instead of bored effect on how to pass time on a sunday or holiday and stop kids to say, 'I am getting bored, what should I do?'

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids

Friday, May 28, 2010

Idealistic, romantic and realistic : Walt Whitman

Born on May 31, Walt Whitman is one of my favourite poet whose poetry is idealistic and romantic - in rhymes and rhythm to thoughts. His prose has been realistic. His poems have often voiced for peace during the Civil War and what I like about the Poet is, every poem has something to say - so human and concerned with a message - which you will find in Comments on his work. This reveals the Poet's nature, emotions and kindness towards things he perceived. Here is the Profile and his works.

- Walt Whitman Other Literature Profiles Index

If you love poetry and are even writing or wish to write better, here's Poetry Pages on Kidsfreesouls and you can look forward for more as I frame more Poetry Learning pages. You can read a couple of my poems written with random thoughts and do put 'Like' on this post if you are on FB or comment on my blog post.


- ilaxi patel


Newspaper for Kids