"We are very apt to measure ourselves by our aspiration instead of our performance. But in truth the conduct of our lives is the only proof of the sincerity of our hearts. " Unknown
V-Excel News
We now are a registered National Trust member and as a part of the benefits for our special children, we have issued government id cards for
nearly 120 children. With the issuance of this card, the students will have many advantages - become eligible for free appliances, get concessions
on long distance train and bus travel fares, can avail of scholarships, get coverage under insurance - just to name a few.
Five of our staff members attended a workshop in Hyderabad, focusing on Waldorf philosophy, rendered by experts in the field Anthroposophy. The
experience was amazing and they came back with some fresh perspectives on the practice of these concepts in our special school.
Kaleisdoscope Learning Centre
The Parent education meeting for the month of November held on the 13th was well attended both in physical presence as well as parents finding
their attention captured by the unfolding of the subject matter through the traditional game of five stones. Each parent played, learned and
connected. It was very gratifying as the main idea behind these classes was to take the parents with us in our endeavour to make education for our
children more and more meaningful.
As a follow up of the suggestion given by a few mothers, we have restarted the sex education classes and safety classes for our young adolescents and
pre-adolescents. This was held on 26th November and was conducted by the counselors. Parents and children attended this, which will be a series
of three classes.
Home visits are in full swing and everyday and some connections are being fostered beyond school time and school walls. Our faith in working with and
understanding our parents which will automatically benefit our children is building up with every contact made with the parents.
The school is dressing up for Christmas, and festivity is in the air. Class Three successfully completed construction of the bench near the school wall
and shall soon be inaugurated. Congratulations to the young graduating masons and John, Janaki, Puja and Lata, the teachers who successfully took this forward.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
Internal exams came to an end, reducing the stress and tension in the air. The exam papers were reviewed in detail and helped built confidence
among the students to face future exams.
Work on first case study started off in full swing. These future Special Educators began their rapport building experience with commencement of the
first case study of assigned children from our special school.
During the second week of November, the students visited Mrs. Saras Bhaskar, for a lecture on Parent Counseling. It was highly informative and inspiring.
Early Intervention Unit
We celebrated Children’s Day on the 14th of this month. All the children in the EI Unit beautifully played their part in a musical presentation,
which was followed by many interesting games. It was great fun to have all the children actively participate and make the most of the ‘Children’s Day’.
The focus of this month has been on Home Management Program. Our goals are:
Active role of parents
Facilitation of parents to learn
Therapy carry-over reinforcement
Normal development-learning process
Encourage parent responsibility in all aspects of management
Training parents in ADL (Activities of Daily Living) Skills
Facilitation of play
Play to be re-enforced by
Pleasurable exploration of environment
Designing activities of interest, to promote enthusiastic learning
Ensuring active participation of child
The point we emphasized was - Be patient, wait for child’s response to provide it real joy and satisfaction; it comes only by achieving success
through child’s own effort.
Bridges Learning Academy
BLA was buzzing with activity in the month of November. The children are really excited about the annual day preparations and were eager to know
their parts. Practice has commenced and the children are busy learning their lines during the afternoon sessions.
The annual parent-teacher meeting was held on the 26th of this month. Dr. Vasudha Prakash addressed the parents and gave them some useful tips related
to the importance of a balanced diet and the quantum of sleep necessary for these children. The parents were really appreciative of the progress made by
their wards in the areas of reading, writing and Math. All in all, November was an action-packed and productive month.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
Children’s Day! Bing! Bang! Our Saturday group “Hopping Pebbles” went to a restaurant to celebrate their special day (14th November) and also
to experience what they have learnt about socialization in their class.
To enrich our knowledge in anthroposophy all our staff had an in-service program by John on ‘Bamboo sticks’ used as a part of movement therapy.
The teachers suggested ingenious ideas on incorporating bamboo sticks for teaching mathematical concepts like numbers and time.
With the Christmas season nearing, our students are most excited. They are having a lot of fun making Christmas bells and stars and decorating the Christmas tree.
VRC Red group, who are part of the school day program, are enthusiastically practicing their respective roles in the play slated for the Annual Day.
Rural Outreach Program
This month, once again, Britannia Industries Ltd. stepped forward to help us with biscuits for special children who visit the resource rooms and
day care centers. It offers an incentive to parents and children alike to come there for getting the much needed specialized services. We could
distribute their biscuits in all the ten blocks of Villipuram district in Tamil Nadu that we cater to.
The Collectors of Villipuram and Dindivanam helped organize two large student camps, attended by over 1000 special children. Id cards, recognized by
the National Trust, were issued by us at these camps. We are happy that this initiative will help the children get multiple benefits mentioned above in
the V-Excel News section.
Our Special Educators are busy making arrangements for an upcoming medical camp – requesting few government doctors, organizing a free lunch for the
participants, seeking panchayat support etc. About 100 children are going to volunteer for this program and badges are being custom made for the purpose.
Vocational Training Unit
We are proud to share our children’s achievements with you. Our students participated in a sports meet organized by Special Olympics Bharath / Tamilnadu.
Sai Aravind got the first prize in ball throwing. Devyani, Gouthami, Subhashri, Vaishali, Kaushik and Sivakumar were the other prize winners. Sai Aravind,
Kaushik, Gouthami & Subashri have been selected for District-level Meet
Another outing was to Aavin to see how milk is processed and packaged. We also visited a sheltered workshop run by Navajyoti Trust.
‘Hectic’ is the word to describe our life. The calm flow of the training program gets often interrupted by ‘events’ which come up suddenly, but even
though there is stress, the good news is eventually everything works out fine, thanks to the joy of being and working together. A case in point is a silk
scroll embroidered with an ancient Tamil poem, a special gift for Rohini & Shyam ( Shyam is son of Mrs. Usha Rajagopal, one of our partner trustees)
The whole group went to the State Resource Training Centre, to get the National ID card, which will entitle them for some concessions and other benefits.
The last week of November was spent in dance practice as December 3rd is the World Disability Day.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
The month just flew by. Some of us attended the conference in Hyderabad which was arranged by Anthroposophical Medical Society, India, Hyderabad
chapter. Dr. Michael Evans from U.K. facilitated the Doctors’ and Psychologists’ group while Marah Evans facilitated the Biography and Art Therapy
group. It was a really enlightening and enriching experience. Dr. Michael made us familiar with the four Goethian elements (air, water, earth and fire),
its relationship with the four major organs (lungs, liver, kidney, and heart) and in turn link with the Steiner’s four bodies (physical, etheric,
astral and ego). The knowledge has definitely equipped us further in arriving at the anthroposophical diagnosis and planning subsequent approach.
The counseling for corporate executives is picking up fast given the high level of personal and professional stress; many a times we have a waitlist
for appointments. The parents of the children from our special school have also started approaching for counseling, indicating that they are now coming
away from denial stage and recognizing the benefits of effectively working with their child. It is a very encouraging phenomenon and we hope to be
able to help them well.
Contact Info :: India:
V-Excel Educational Trust
#1 Norton 2nd Street
Mandaveli Chennai 600 028
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24620243
91 - 44 – 24956373 E-mail us or visit us at www.v-excel.org
Contact Info :: USA:
Academic Concepts, Inc.
1403 Merrywood Drive
Edison, NJ 08817
Tel: (732) 572-3748
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
Volunteer Info:
Volunteers are an integral part of our success. Our most pressing needs are in the areas of occupational and speech therapies, and
as teacher aides. We also require assistance in library management.
If you have any of these and are interested in volunteering at V-Excel, please contact us.
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"Elements" and "atoms" are two basic ways of describing the nature of matter through human history. The concept of "elements" developed out
of and reflects primarily the "touch"-will experience of man, while the concept of "atoms" primarily reflects the "sight"-thought experience of man.
The "elements" of nature in the traditional sense "are" what since long ago in history (at least 2,300 years ago, since Greek Antiquity) were called
"earth", "water", "air" and "fire".
These four terms were used to describe the basic components of the world as it was experienced, for a very long time, as something that "lived" between
the basic touch experiences of degrees of warmth and humidity. While the touch qualities were described as "secondary" qualities, the elements were
described as "primary" qualities of nature.
A more "atoms"-oriented understanding and perspective on substances has developed only over the last 200 years, leading to the development and use
of the term "chemical elements" to describe the basic elemental substances from the perspective of the number of protons in the core or nucleus of their atoms.
"Elements" and "atoms" constitute the two basic perspectives of substances, the first more reflecting the dynamic aspects of matter, the second more
reflecting possible static aspects of matter.
Waldorf schools through the grades try to mediate an understanding of the development of humanity. In the lower grades the teacher builds an understanding
of the "elements of nature", the basic dynamic aspects of matter, corresponding to an historically earlier perspective on human beings and nature. The
Greeks are a major emphasis of Grade 5, and the Four Elements of the Greek philosophers would be taught at this time.
In the upper grades, in chemistry, the idea of elements is developed gradually from Grades 7 through 12 into an ever more differentiated understanding of
the nature of substances. This development is done first from a chemical perspective, out of basic chemical processes, and leads finally to an understanding
of the character of the different groups of chemical elements as they are reflected in the Periodic Table of chemical elements in Grade 11.
To understand matter in a deeper sense and the different ways it has been approached in history, philosophy and science, you need both perspectives.
Waldorf education tries to build an understanding for both in a systematic way.
