Setting out with SBOA

The books for all classes are generally given out during the last week of April. The kids are all waiting to take a peek into their brand new books for the coming year. The tamil books are the stateboard books and you can download them from the below link http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/ The CBSE prescribed NCERT books can be found in the below link http://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/textbook/textbook.htm SBOA uses a variety of publishers from Macmillan to Cordova for different subjects and all the books will be provided by the school. For us parents it's a mad rush to finish brown papering the notebooks and binding the textbooks! "Mummy, not the orange paper take the light brown ones, I like them better" with suggestions that sound more like ultimatums, I'm dreaming of the day that they will cover their own books! But according to my wiser father, I might as well give up as he reminds me that he covered my books all through my school years! ...

With my kids moving on to classes where Olympiads are becoming increasingly more complicated and competitive. There are four exams that can be taken NCO - National Computer Olympiad NSO - National Science Olympiad IMO - International Math Olympiad IEO - International English Olympiad For the dates on which these exams are conducted and the classes eligible please refer to their website below http://www.sofworld.org / The site provides sample questions, training apps, previous years question papers, links to stores selling practise books, etc. We took the exams for the last two years and was an eye opener. I would call it useful for the below reasons... It trains the kids to get accustomed to the competitive exam papers patterns that most college entrances have. It gives them limited time to finish the paper. Teaches them to get comfortable with answer shading on a computerized answer sheet. The best is the accurate feedback given. The feedback highlights...

I'm putting my second child in SBOA this year, and the first round of admissions are in progress. My! the fees have gone up this year, but looking at the other schools, including Matric schools, SBOA has managed to keep the fees lower than the city average. The admission process was smooth and quick. We finished meeting the Principal in about 30mins from the time we got there. All that's left is, to pay the fees and start the joining formalities. I'm glad that my kid got in, as I already have another child studying in 1st Std in SBOA. She enjoys going to school. At 50 kids a class, it is a crowd but their systematic way of doing things more than makes up for it. Good luck to all those applying for admissions @ SBOA this year.   For more info check at the below site http://www.sboajc.org/admission.html Photo courtesy Stuart Miles @ freedigitalimages.net 

This has been an eventful term, with loads of extracurricular activities and competitions. They had their annual exhibition "C onnoisseur 2010" and it was a real treat, the amount of work that had gone into it was tremendous, the themes were varied from airports to circus to music. The kids had a great time putting the whole thing together. though parents did most of the work for the junior sections the presentations were done by the kids. This term has seen a lot more writing and reading skills being encouraged, as well as basic calculations in Math. They have a very organized way of handing out homework so we always know what to expect when. The observation would start by the first week of December. And looking forward to the Holidays!

UKG in SBOA school and junior college, Chennai, is an extension to the LKG program. Some of the things they did during the first term of UKG are, -Lower case cursive writing completed -Numbers 1 to 50 writing. -Numbers in words up to ten. -Writing of 2 letter words like it, on, go, etc... -Reading of 2 and 3 letter words -Simple story recitation and enacting. -Rhymes and songs recitation -Basic spoken English. -Tamil / Hindi letters writing. On the whole the curriculum is not too heavy nor too light, they have homework on Tuesdays, Thursday's and Fridays. Usually the homework runs to a page with 7 lines. No exams, only observation for this year also. Extra curricular activities are plenty. On the whole a very interesting year for the kids, looking from how it's been so far into the first term. Fee structure has not changed from last year. With the September holidays approaching fast, it's just observation going on at school and no 'stressed out p...

The 1st term concluded with almost a month long vacation and the second term started with splash pool sessions! The kids love it. With the class projects going on in full swing, every student and parent has something to do. The themes are varied, from 'homes' to 'helpers'. A lot of activity and energy at school these days. The hand book given to us has all the details of which lesson is done when and is followed meticulously down to the kind of strokes they do, to the art activities for the week. Apart from all this the regular computer classes and PE classes are total fun for the kids. The round of inter house competitions just got over for recitation, singing and story telling. This is the news for now. Bye till I find the time to write another post!

Most transitions are painful, but this one is acute. Especially if the kid is 3 years old! Half a day of school is fun as they come back home to have lunch and sleep, doing the very same things in school is a diffrent ball game. However there is hope.......... If you stick to the routine and tide over the first 2 weeks they actually start loving to go to school again. Here are some pointers to make this transition easier Set a routine for everything regarding the kid and the school days. Make the mornings before school fun. Keep the kids updated on what to expect for the day, including snacks and lunch that you have packed. Wake up early and try not to rush through the morning. Don't hurry the kid through his breakfast or toilet/bath time. Before he leaves, tell him about the fun things he can do when he gets back in the evening. Stick to the schedule and keep sending him to school, he's bound to fuss for the first few days. Keep encouraging them to interact with their "fr...

The below is my reply to a comment, however thought that most of you would miss it on the comments page, so here is a part of it regarding the first week of school........... About engaging kids in a creative manner, I think they are doing a good job. Last week which was by the way the first week, they taught the alphabet 'A'. From what my daughter could tell me, they wrote several letters on the board and asked if anyone could identify the letter A and circle it, few of the kids did that. Then they showed them a couple of things that start with the letter A. Finally they handed out newspapers and asked the kids to identify and circle all the A's they could find on it. They did hand printing in art class. Also learnt the first 4 tamil alphabets and an alphabet song in the tamil class. Apart from this the regular rhymes, songs, a few exercise moves and the morning prayer. They have a TV in the classroom and play the rhymes, songs, alphabets and also occasionally Tom & Je...

Finally the day had arrived and gone too without much fuss, my kid didn't cry but missed out on her snacks and was famished when I went to pick her up. The day for her seemed to have gone fairly well given the fact that she was without me for the first time. I guess I missed her more than the other way around! As for the activities, they sang a couple of well known rhymes, "Johnny, Johnny yes papa, Jack and Jill & Rolly Poly", they were allowed to play ball and played a sit & stand game. So the first hurdle has been crossed!

School re-opened on the 11th june , the introduction by the Principal was good, except for he fact that the audi was inadequately ventilated. There could have been more fans placed and the windows could have been opened. After a stuffy 45 min session, the kids and the parents were equally exhausted! The classroom visits were better, except again for the crowd. The initial interviews were organized beautifully, just wish the induction was planned as well too..... The whole affair was thankfully over in two hours time.... Hope to have a better experience once the classes start though!