Our energetic little virtual learners

A 7-year old Arya moves energetically showing off all the new yoga asanas to his parents. He then goes onto narrate a piece from the drama play that he is been practicing for a while now. Before his parents could applaud the performance, he immediately starts talking about the different weather patterns and what causes it to rain. Just then, the clock strikes 2, and he exclaims “we have the fireless cooking activity today, I need to get my ingredients ready” and swiftly walks into his room to complete his next scheduled activity.

This delightful interaction is one that almost each parent yearns for. It is in fact the outcome of a well-designed blended learning approach that is inculcated into the weekly routine of every single Early Year’s student at Oakridge International School.

A Routine that helps them evolve:

The carefully planned timetable at Oakridge is a seamless blend of various lesson plans, break times, offline engagement activities and social interactions that allows students to stay engaged and aids their holistic development. A well-structured routine in early years is known to positively influence a child’s emotional, social & cognitive development. Following a well laid out routine gives children a sense of security and control over their environment. As they begin to participate in these routines, they will experience a sense of satisfaction at being able to perform the tasks that enhances their confidence further. Within routines children also learn methods associated with math and sequencing, make relationships between elements and perform simple calculations. A routine also helps them develop their motor skills through a series of tasks and activities involved in it.

Physical activity integration:

Physical activities are a big feature of the weekly lesson plans at Oakridge. Be it Yoga, Zumba, Taekwondo or regular PE activities, it is all delivered online to keep the children energized and engaged through the week’s learning. With playing outside now limited, these online PE classes give the students the much-needed physical activity each day also helping channel their energy and develop the motor skills, co-ordination, balance and strength that will not only keep them healthy but form the basis of future sporting prowess. Being able to do these fun activities as a group, helps them feel more socially connected and builds confidence. Physical activities also elevate their mood, helps reduce negative behaviour and plays a huge role in developing their social and motor skills.

Online – Offline learning balance:

Oakridge EYP learners have a range of offline activities that are emailed in advance for different days of the week by their teachers. This allows them to stay completely away from the digital screens on certain days to perform these enriching offline activities, yet remain focused on learning.

The benefit of an integrated online-offline learning approach allows students to substantiate and better understand the concept they have learnt during their online classes with engaging offline activities. The students will also start to see continuity in everything they are learning. For a learning lesson about space, celestial objects and solar system students were asked to create a 3-D model of the solar system using the material at home and present it to the class. This form of offline activity followed by an online presentation, helps students to better engage and validate their understanding better in a group.

Learning at their own pace:

While e-learning can never substitute the physical schooling environment, however it does bring with it the unique advantage of being able to provide more

learning resources for learners to understand the subject at their own pace.
Oakridge learners have access to a rich repository of thousands of shared resources, which have been created by their peers, and curated and quality assured by our dedicated Education Team. In this way, the child benefits from the shared creativity and expertise of over 9000 teachers across the Nord Anglia groups of schools. So, there are a variety of drills on a single topic for the learners to completely understand and master at their own pace before moving on to the next one.

Be it doing a dance routine, narrating a story, sharing a new fact or even following their schedule to the dot, these little nuggets of achievement that a child experiences are indeed progressive milestones in their overall development. Also, it is important for parents to remain far-sighted in this regard. A well-balanced virtual learning programme helps in maintaining the intellectual sustenance and development in early learners instead of making them go through long period of idleness till the schools reopen in a distant future.