Local History for Afterschool

Every city, town or village has its own history. While children may find world or national history boring - local history full of familiar names and places is bound to capture their attention.

Resources on local history are not easy to come by - unless you have a good circle of 'old friends' or enough money to buy coffee table books on city history!

The good folk weaving words on the internet however may have something for you! Here for instance is a great resource on Hyderabad at Narendra Luther's blog.

Learn to Teach Afterschool!

This post is about eGyanKosh - "a National Digital Repository to store, index, preserve, distribute and share the digital learning resources" managed by the Indira Gandhi National Open Universiy (IGNOU).

eGyanKosh offers easy access to the course materials of IGNOU. There are a great number of courses in agriculture, information technology, education, sciences, social sciences, management, etc. - all accessible in PDF format after a simple, fast registration process.

As someone interested in education, you may wish to look up the course materials from the School of Education. I found the 'Content Based Methodology Courses' of the B.Ed programme quite interesting.

University on Video for Afterschool

The Indira Gandhi National Open University has its own You Tube channel. 20 of its schools (including science, social sciences, health, humanities, management, etc.) have over a 1000 videos up on the site.

Check them out!

Math Lab Ideas for Afterschool

From the Central Board of Secondary Education is this resource on math lab activities for standards 3 to 8. It is available at the website of the Directorate of Education, Government of the NCT of Delhi.

The resource is a 25 page document listing activities that help in strengthening math concepts.

More Textbooks for Afterschool

Here is the link to textbooks for standard 10 from the state of Karnataka, India.

More Math Afterschool!

Following up on my earlier posts on textbooks - here is the link to textbooks from Tamil Nadu.

English versions of math textbooks are available from standard 6 upwards.

Considering the reputation that Tamil Nadu has in mathematics - you would not want to miss these resources!

If textbooks of all states were accessible on the internet for math drills at home and afterschool - would worksheets be redundant?

Great Geography Resource for Afterschool!

Getting children to explore maps is a great way to get them hooked on to geography, culture, applications of mathematics.... you never know where a map can take you.

Here are some great resources for thematic maps:

The State of Environment Atlas of India put together by Development Alternatives and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. This atlas has 25 maps in .pdf format including maps showing soil types, water quality, forests, etc. It aso has an interactive map section - but I had no success exploring this - it seems to take forever to get working. The site also has links to the State of Environment Reports of various states. Do take a look at these - they can give children a very good picture of your state's resources, issues and initiatives at conservation. No textbook can come close!

The Census of India has a good section on maps - state maps, thematic maps, etc. Click here for the link to the Census of India's GIS section.

Textbooks from the Heart of India! - for Afterschool

I was in the 5th standard, I think, when I first saw a 'different' textbook - my cousins had come to India for the holidays and had brought their textbooks along. I drooled over the fine paper, the colour photographs and the friendly style.

Reading a different textbook can be a useful experience. Children have a tendency to stick to 'the right way' - which they believe is the way of their textbook. It is necessary to have them consider that there may be many right ways... and another textbook can help here.

Here is the link to textbooks from the heat of India - the state of Madhya Pradesh. While not all the links work, don't give up! I tried the links to the math textbooks - the ones for the 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 9th standards worked.

Natural History for Afterschool

The Indian Academy of Sciences has an initiative called Project Landscape. This project seeks to provide field guides on the natural history of India for amateur naturalists and students. Here are some great resources that the project provides:

Here is an e-book on dragonflies and damselflies.
Here is an account on frogs and toads.
Here is an account on hunter plants.

Here are details of books published by Project Lifescape:

Amphibians of Peninsular India: A Lifescape - Amphibians of Peninsular India

By R. J. Ranjit Daniels, Indian Academy of Sciences

Published by Orient Blackswan, 2005

ISBN 8173715149, 9788173715143

268 pages

India, a Lifescape: Butterflies of Peninsular India

By Krushnamegh Kunte, Madhav Gadgil, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences

Published by Orient Blackswan, 2000

ISBN 8173713545, 9788173713545

254 pages

Look up the e-books to enrich your afterschool biology programme. Also make sure your library has the Project Lifescape books.

Tiger Time Afterschool!

Here are some resources for Tiger Time in your afterschool programme:

Sanctuary India has a website for its Kids for Tigers campaign. The site is very informative with details (and photographs) on tigers (fur, stripes, claws and all...!), their habits, threats to tigers and their habitat, advice on what children can do for tiger conservation, puzzles and games, etc.

The Project Tiger also has a website with a special section for children. It has facts (sub-species, range, population estimates), Tiger stories, Tiger pictures, etc.

Create Comics Afterschool

Yes! Don't just stop at reading comics - you can try creating your own.

There are some great resources to help you craft a good afterschool literature activity for children. The newly revamped Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) website for starters - it has a Create with Us section where you are invited to share your own ACK story (if accepted it actually may get published!) and your art (for cover pages of ACK comics).

Another promising resource is ToonDoo - a very desi website with a global following. It is a cartoon strip creator (yes, only online) that lets you pick and choose your background, characters, etc. and type in your text to create a comic strip - just like that!

Learning Basket for Afterschool!

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has a learning basket on its website. The site offers interactive learning modules relevant to high school science - electricity, energy, cell division, genetics...

Navigation seems a challenge if you directly click on the links to the modules - so try right-clicking on the links and choose the 'open in new tab option'.

India for Afterschool!

India and loads of it - a great resource on India is Kamat's Potpourri. It is about 'history, mystery and diversity' of India - and it has about 18000 pictures - yes, 18000! There is so much on this site that you can browse and browse... Let me share one way I 'used' it - I hope to include art appreciation in my afterschool programme. I found a great deal about Indian painting on the site - from the cave paintings of Madhya Pradesh to Madhubani paintings to Moghul miniature painting...

Alternative Education Afterschool

Here is a must visit resource on alternative education in India. It focuses on homeschooling and alternative schooling. There are a wealth of resources you can access through this site - home school groups, alternative schools, books, online resources, articles, inspiration...

Sending your child to an alternative school or deciding to home school is a big decision. Not everyone can consider taking it. I see afterschooling as an opportunity here. A parent can actively engage with the child's learning afterschool. If you believe in learning through exploration and action - partner with your child and learn together - every evening, every weekend, indeed all the time when you are together... Also, consider afterschool learning resource centres (like this one) - where the focus is on cooperative, active, project-based learning.

Vidya Online Afterschool

A great resource this time: Vidya Online. The site describes itself as "online forum which will enable introspection, discussion and examination of issues in primary education".

It has 4 sections: Classroom support, Media resources, Bookshelf and E-courses. Together they offer ideas for activities, books, photographs and opportunity for attending an on-line course. The site has much to offer - the best way to get to know more is to visit it yourself!

More Worksheets for Afterschool!

I know there are many free worksheets sites out there. But for some weird reason I scout around for worksheets made by Indian educators to feature on this blog. Here is one I recently found: Online Home Tutors. The site offers math (and English) worksheets. Math worksheets are available for grades 3 to 8 and include arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. One minor irritant is that they aren't in .pdf format.

And if you're looking for worksheets for the K-2 age group, my site offers free illustrated worksheets.

Resources for Afterschool Science and Math

Getting into the IIT is a cherished dream for both teenagers and their parents. A good foundation - with strong conceptual understanding and problem solving skills - is what afterschool programs for teenagers can help to build.

Here is a good resource for IIT aspirants and their teachers: Make your way to the IITs. This site offers ebooks, tests, videos and several links. While the site is useful for high school (standards 9 to 12), I would highly recommend it for educators at the elementary levels (standards 6 to 8) too. Access to good reference material will make the teacher's treatment of science more contextual, in-depth and meaningful.

Math Stories Afterschool

Hey Math! is an Indian company offering e-lessons on mathematics (to students in over 50 countries). The India edition for standards 6 - 10 is available at Rs. 1200 per class. Virtual manipulatives and animations bring alive math to the child. But wait, there is more...

This site has an interesting Math Stories section. Two stories are featured currently - I do hope more will follow.

More Comics for Afterschool!

What better way to teach children about money and banking than comics?

The Reserve Bank of India has undertaken a project - Project Financial Literacy. The objective is to disseminate information regarding the central bank and general banking concepts to school and college going children and others. Through this project, the RBI has come out with a set of four comics - they are available for download at the link mentioned. Browse around the site to find films and posters highlighting security features of Indian currency notes.

Use them as resources for an afterschool economics module.

Online Learning

How can Indian children get an international educational experience at costs that don't fleece their parents? The answer is online learning. There are many websites offering math practice online. One of them (that I haven't mentioned about in my earlier posts) is: Mathletics .

It offers unlimited math practice sessions at $ 99 per student for a 12 month period. Packages for schools are also available at $ 30 per student.

I wonder if sites such as this can offer special rates for afterschool centres. Must ask...