The SPECIAL Joy of Storytelling and Reading- Sunbeam School Lahartara

 

Sunbeam Lahartara by Manisha Khanna

Students at My Good School love storytelling and reading sessions because stories spark imagination, strengthen language skills, and make learning joyful. Reading plays an important role in education by building knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking. These sessions are truly SPECIAL as they nurture Self-confidence, Patience, Expression, Creativity, Imagination, Empathy, and Lifelong learning, which are essential qualities that help students grow into thoughtful, responsible, and well-rounded individuals.

My Good School, Sunday 29th June 2025

YES Workshop with Shikha Agnihotri of Right Side Story

Discussion on puberty, growing up, and adolescence with high school students, led by Shikha Agnihotri from Right Side Story.

Key Takeaways

• Puberty involves both physical and emotional changes that are beyond one's control; understanding these changes helps normalise the experience ("puberty is not a race")

• Students shared insights on mood swings, emotional changes, and physical transformations during puberty, demonstrating awareness but also misconceptions

• The session emphasised communication as a crucial strategy for managing challenging emotions and relationships during adolescence

• Gender differences during puberty were discussed, including societal expectations and biological variations, with an emphasis on respect for all genders

Topics

Understanding Puberty and Growth

• Puberty is defined as a "software update" in the mind and body, signalling the transition from childhood.

• Students recognised that puberty is influenced by genetics and occurs at different ages for different people.

• Physical changes discussed included body odour, voice changes such as the Adam's apple in boys, and muscle development.

• Brain "rewiring" during puberty leads to feelings of independence and new emotional experiences.

• Girls and boys experience different physical changes, but both face hormonal shifts (testosterone vs. estrogen)

Emotional Changes During Puberty

• Students identified negative emotions experienced: anxiety, jealousy, frustration, irritation, depression.

• Positive emotions noted: happiness from recognition, validation, success, and achievement.

• Discussion of mood swings affecting both genders, not just girls, as commonly believed

• Students expressed challenges with controlling emotions during puberty

• Shikha emphasised that emotions during puberty are often temporary but intense, requiring patience

Friendship and Relationships During Adolescence

• Students debated whether friendship affects puberty or puberty affects friendship

• Trust issues in friendships were highlighted as a challenge during puberty

• Advice given: when hurt by friends, communicate within 24 hours rather than avoiding the issue

• Self-inflicted independence during puberty can strain relationships with parents and authority figures

• Importance of finding trusted adults to discuss difficult decisions emphasised

Self-Image and Body Awareness

• Students noted increased focus on appearance during puberty (clothes, hygiene, physical features)

• Discussion about boys becoming more conscious about their physical appearance (muscles, height)

• Girls discussed increased attention to skincare, makeup, and fashion choices

• The importance of hygiene is emphasised, especially regarding body odour, which increases during puberty

• Both genders experience increased self-consciousness and concern about how others perceive them

Reading Session: Animal Behaviour and Taste with Brinda Ghosh

• The second half of the meeting featured a reading from "The Inner Life of Animals" focusing on taste in animals

• Discussed how animals have different taste preferences than humans (example: crows eating seeds from horse excrement)

• Explored how taste is adapted to different species' needs and evolutionary history

• Reading skills were emphasised, including proper use of punctuation and expression while reading

• Importance of regular reading beyond textbooks (15-20 minutes daily) was encouraged

Next Steps

• Shikha proposed separate follow-up sessions for boys and girls to discuss puberty more openly

• Future session on pronunciation and reading skills to be conducted by Brinda

• After completing the current book, the group will read Gerald Durrell's works about animals

• Students are encouraged to practice communication skills when dealing with emotional challenges

• Students advised to develop reading habits beyond textbooks (15-20 minutes daily)

My Good School, Sunday the 25th May 2025

Reflective questions based on Chapter 4: Great Expectations from The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn:

Theme: Interpersonal Skills & Compassion

Reflective Questions:

1. How does Carl's interaction with the people on his book route reflect his ability to listen, empathise, and respond compassionately?
   → Consider how Carl changes his approach to people and what this says about the importance of listening with understanding rather than judgment.

2. In this chapter, how do Carl and Schascha begin to build trust and mutual respect? What does this reveal about the importance of patience and open-minded communication in relationships?
   → Consider how interpersonal skills like respect and adaptability influence the growing connection between them.

3. Reflect on a moment when Carl goes beyond his duty as a book deliverer. How does this act show his growth in compassion and emotional intelligence? How can you apply a similar mindset in your own life?
   → Draw parallels between Carl’s actions and your own experiences with empathy or kindness.

 चिंतनशील प्रश्न (Reflective Questions) डॉ. अनुपम सिब्बल की पुस्तक "क्या आपका बच्चा दुनिया का सामना करने के लिए तैयार है?" के अध्याय "संवेदना" पर आधारित, हिंदी में:

1. अध्याय में वर्णित कहानी में संवेदना का व्यवहार किस प्रकार न केवल प्राप्तकर्ता को बल्कि देने वाले को भी प्रभावित करता है? क्या आपके जीवन में कभी ऐसा अनुभव हुआ है जब आपने करुणा दिखाई हो और उसका असर गहरा महसूस किया हो?
   → विचार करें कि एक सरल दयालुता का कार्य कैसे संबंधों में सकारात्मक परिवर्तन ला सकता है।

2. यह अध्याय दूसरों की भावनाओं को समझने और प्रतिक्रिया देने से पहले सोचने के महत्व को कैसे दर्शाता है? यह जीवन की कठिनाइयों से निपटने में कैसे सहायक होता है?
   → सोचें कि कैसे भावनात्मक समझदारी संघर्ष को टाल सकती है और विश्वास बना सकती है।

3. आज की प्रतिस्पर्धी दुनिया में बच्चों में संवेदना जैसे गुण कैसे विकसित किए जा सकते हैं? इसमें परिवार, विद्यालय और समाज की क्या भूमिका होनी चाहिए?
   → अपने आसपास के वातावरण से जोड़कर सोचें — कहाँ और कैसे संवेदना को बढ़ावा दिया जा सकता है।

Reflection holds a vital place in education. It deepens learning, encourages self-awareness, and helps students and educators evaluate their thoughts, emotions, and actions. Through reflection, individuals grow more empathetic, mindful, and responsible. It transforms knowledge into experience and experience into meaningful life learning.

So let us pause, think, and share. Authentic learning begins with reflection.

We invite everyone to reflect on the questions above and share their reflective responses by emailing them to mk@learningforward.org.in.

Understanding - Anvesha Rana

Understanding is not just about learning but also about living. When others confess their mistakes, lies or problems to us, we often turn a blind eye towards them and do not listen. Still, we need to be humble enough to understand what they are going through, be kind enough to give them a shoulder and be trustworthy sufficient to accept their reality. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Each person deserves love and affection just the way we do.

Understanding is not a simple task; it requires the power to trust and tolerate and the necessity of being thoughtful while observing the simplicity at the heart of the matter and eventually giving in honestly to love. If we can understand, then we can trust. If we can understand, then we can be patient; if we can understand, we can tolerate and understand; only we can love.

At My Good School, understanding is experienced at its core. We initially listen to each other and then begin to understand one another. This is followed by a bond of trust, tolerance and humility, and as time passes, we begin to treasure the standard tie of love that connects us all. Understanding is the foundation stone for building upon the structure of love.

In the Mahabharata, an incident occurred during the Gurukul days of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Guru Dronacharya, the teacher of the princes, had to leave the gurukul for a fortnight due to some urgent work; hence, he had called upon all his pupils and asked them to complete their lessons by the time he returned. All students finished their work and did some extra tasks as well. Guru Dronacharya returned after a fortnight and called his pupils to the classroom; one by one, he individually asked them to come forward and inform him how many lessons they had completed while he was away.

Someone said three, someone else four, others 5 and so on; the teacher beamed at his students as he looked at them with love. At last, he called Yudhishthira, the eldest son of the Pandavas, and Guru Dronacharya was sure that Yudhishthira would have done more lessons than everyone else. However, when asked the question, he answered that he had only done one sentence. The teacher was shocked and yelled at him that in a fortnight, he could only do one sentence; Yudhishthira apologised but repeated that he could only understand that sentence. The other pupils were shocked as they saw their Guru mercilessly scolding Yudhishthira. However, he stayed rooted in his words. At the end of it, when Guru Dronacharya finally asked him what the sentence was, he confidently replied, “Control your anger and Guru ji, it took me 15 days to learn how to control my anger, so I could only complete one sentence.” Guru Dronacharya stood in awe and appreciated Yudhishthira, for he had understood the power of understanding, an ability not yet attained by many of us.

Anvesha Rana

Grade 11 

Gyanshree School

How can we develop self-control?

Self-control can be developed primarily through practice and exercise.

To have self-control in life, it's essential to avoid temptations, have a goal in life so that we can work hard to archive it, do daily exercises, rest, get good sleep at night and many more. Having patience and understanding towards people's emotions is also required.

 Yunika Pokharel

An example where I have shown patience - Sunday School Reflections 12th March 2023

Patience is the ability or quality of a person to bear and accept the delay of things without becoming angry or upset. It is a possession that every human has and resides in. But the thing is, we have to implore and find or discover it within ourselves. 

Music has its own way of convincing and pacifying others. It has always been my source of comfort, relaxation and calmness during life's hardships and stressful times. A moment in my life where I showed true Patience was when I had just started learning guitar. I struggled to play and hit the right chords and notes initially. I started taking learning guitar as a burden as it consumed most of my free time and prevented me from giving more time to my studies. But I still needed to drop it halfway. Eventually, in a few months, I felt more comfortable and enjoyable whenever I played my guitar. I learned from this event of my life that not only hard work, Patience, and determination are keys to success, and the result you get when you put all three together is always fascinating, magnificent, extraordinary and exceeds your satisfaction.

Tenzin Norsang

"To lose patience is to lose the battle."- Mahatma Gandhi.

Patience is the ability and capability of anybody to prevent anger and accept calmness when something takes place after a long time. It is the ability that everyone must possess and use at the right time, place and moment.

Patience is essential because we need to use it in our daily life. If we have the Patience to do things, it will be helpful for us, and if we do not acquire enough Patience to do something, we may face many troubles in our life.

These troubles may create barriers and problems in our daily life. I am a person who possesses many good qualities and abilities. One of ability is Patience. I use my best Patience at the right place and time for my benefit. I have shown my Patience many times. I am one of the incidents in my life where I have demonstrated Patience.

Before coming to Pestalozzi, I studied at a school popularly known as Umling School. I had many good friends there. One day my friend and I were coming back from school. On the way, my friend said he had some work in a nearby shop. He requested I wait for some time. I did as he told me to do so. I waited for a long time seeking his arrival. Finally, after half an hour, he came back from the shop. He requests my apology for being so late. He told me a long queue at the shop prevented him from doing his work and returning quickly. Without any delay, we continued to walk home after this. This was one of the parts of my where I showed Patience.

Tenzin Jambey

Pestalozzi Children's India Village

Quality - Arav Agarwal

Quality is how something or someone is. Everyone has unique qualities, and we need an environment to develop our qualities. At My Good School, we all are building various qualities like leadership, listening, and teamwork. We all can choose the qualities we want within us by being self-aware, responsible, willing to learn and explore and mindful of ourselves and our surroundings.

“Quality is more important than quantity” - Steve Jobs.

Our mentor explained in our mind-body cricket session that it does not matter how many balls you play or the number of overs you bowl, but what matters is the quality of your batting and bowling, as that is what everyone will remember about us.

I feel that our qualities become our character. So, to build these qualities, we want others to remember us as we should be passionate and act with integrity, empathy, kindness and patience, as these are the basic foundations of human values to live a successful and wonderful life.

Name: Arav Agarwal
Grade: 6A
Billabong High International School, Thane

Patience @ My Good School, a Podcast by Learning Forward

The rainy month of August brings us to another unique topic - Patience! Anvesha and Simar are back as our hosts! 

'Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one in your mind. It is not passively waiting; it is how we behave while waiting and whether we keep going even if things are hard.'

 

Patience is truly a vital virtue on the road to success. But what does Patience mean to you? Can you remember any instances where you were patient? Who is the most patient person you know? Do you think Patience can be found in small things? Make sure to ponder these questions and share your thoughts in the comments section! Tune in to listen to our special guests - Arav and Monisha ma'am - as they share their valuable thoughts with us. 

So, please grab a cup of hot coffee, sit near the window, watch the rain and listen to our upcoming podcast. Comment below and let us know if you liked the podcast. If you want to be part of similar podcasts, join us! We hope to meet you again when we return with a podcast on 'Peace' next month. 

My Good School celebrates Patience and has developed this podcast, scripted and produced by our interns!

Anvesha Rana and Simar Kaur - Hosts from Gyanshree School, Noida

Arav Agarwal - Guest from Billabong High International School, Thane

Monisha Datta - Guest from The Doon Girls' School, Dehradun

Enjoy our shows on www.DilJeeto.com.
You will love the stories our students, teachers, and passionate educators share.

Please find out more about My Good School www.MyGoodSchool.in

To Reach Your Goals - Aria Gupta

Why is patience an immutable value?

Everybody says that you need to make goals to achieve and you should contribute at least an hour of your 24-hour life to accomplish these goals, But how?

Imagine your brain to be a dense jungle. When you want to make a goal and start working towards it, it's like walking through the wilderness; it takes energy to convince yourself to do it. Since our brain hates wasting energy, it comes up with a trick. Every time you cross a path in the jungle, you make it easier to travel. Soon it becomes a highway which is much easier to cross. To make these highways, we need to use a wise planner and an impulsive toddler. An intelligent planner helps you to understand what we have to do to reach that goal; it helps us break down the goal into easier, manageable tasks. 

The impulsive toddler will help you slowly turn those manageable tasks into habits you do without thinking. All you need is a little bit of patience. If you do have that, you will certainly reach your goals without thinking about giving up. 

Thank you for reading this. It will surely help you at some point.

Aria Gupta
V-A
Gyanshree school

Value for August is Patience

In August, we celebrate Patience; please share your thoughts with us, comment below or send a blog post by email to LF@ebd.in.

We need to build the future of learning at school on 22 values: Appreciation, Caring, Cooperation, Courage, Freedom, Friendship, Happiness, Honesty, Hope, Humility, Love, Patience, Peace, Quality, Respect, Responsibility, Simplicity, Thoughtfulness, Tolerance, Trust, Understanding & Unity. The teachers collaborate and work in groups to discover how the values come alive. Individuals take stock of their values and how they wish to lead their life. This program will inspire you by using examples of where the values are already being used by children and adults in schools and share practical tools to stimulate discussion and philosophical debate. #JoyOfLearning

Joy Of Learning (JOL) is based on The Little Book of Values: Educating Children to Become Thinking, Responsible and Caring Citizens by Julie Duckworth and Ian Gilbert, which explores twenty-two values that can be taught through schools. 

My Good School
Where Passion Meets Education
www.MyGoodSchool.IN

Patience - Rishona Chopra

We are celebrating Love this month!

Patience is not simply the ability to wait, it’s how we behave while we are waiting. ~Joyce Meyer 

Patience is the biggest virtue one needs to achieve something. It is not the ability to wait but to keep a good attitude while waiting. While working in a team, we require patience; a student involves patience, a teacher, and a doctor in our daily life. Patience is one thing that can solve all problems. Doesn't it feel great when somebody listens to you patiently? In the book - Totto-chan, the Headmaster patiently understands students and talks and listens to them. The school wouldn't be that unique and extraordinary if he were impatient. Patience can be used in the smallest of things. Imagine you are waiting for a printout for your school project, and the printer isn't working! That is so annoying! You keep getting annoyed, and instead of waiting until the paper comes out, you restart it repeatedly. If you do that, the printer would be annoyed and ultimately stop working or work even slower. On the other hand, if you wait patiently for the paper to come out, it could. Although having patience is annoying, it is necessary as you might get into a fight with someone too! Like you got into a battle with the printer in the above example. Patience is more than a virtue for long lines and slow waiters.

Patience is the red carpet upon which God's grace approaches us.

Rishona Chopra Grade VI Gyanshree School

Patience - Value Of The Month at My Good School

Hello Everyone. We are excited to share our poster for the value of August - Patience. 

Patience is a significant value for the students to develop as Patience is the key to success and strengthens our self-belief. I believe our classroom teaches us to live in harmony with our environment, which creates balance and harmony within us, developing Patience. The blackboard has always stood the test of time, teaching us patiently over the years to build our curiosity and think innovatively. 

Do you all agree that at My Good School, we are building the value of Patience by consistently reading every Sunday and listening patiently to each other, slowly helping us to learn and grow and experience the joy of learning?

Share your experiences and stories through written blogs, graphics, drawings or audio. You can email it to your school's blog coordinator mentioned in the poster.

Patience is the balm, the healer and the power behind learning. 

Arav Agarwal

Grade: 6

Billabong High International School, Thane

Step-by-step, day in and day out, we keep schooling ourselves; this cannot happen without perseverance. 

The Teacher, the Student, and the Blackboard have all stood the test of time; only the colour or materials may have changed - digital, intelligent, white...interactive. 

What is most crucial? 
Understanding comes with time, Patience and perseverance.

75 Year of Indian Independence, all of us are here this August to celebrate Patience, the value that alone keeps the world sane.

Let's Blog, email your thought and post to us at LF@ebd.in; visuals add value to your writings, and finally, stories retold are the best way to take learning forward at My Good School. 

Life Skills Program, by My Good School
Children pick up skills for life, preparing them to face the world. They experience values and virtues working with mentors and peers. Focus on the 6 C's: 1 Critical thinking; 2 Creativity; 3 Collaboration; 4 Communication; 5 Character; and 6 Citizenship. 

Check out www.GoodSchools.in 

#MyGoodSchool

#HappyTeachers

#JoyOfLearning

#75yearsofindependence

#patience #democracy #teacher #school #digital #email #email #power #learningforward #learning #experience #communication #collaboration #collaboration #creativity 

Friendship - Khushi Badgeri

Friendship is a state of trust where two friends spend time talking and knowing each other. Friendship is an important relationship in everyone's life. It means understanding, forgiveness, growing together, sharing, and keeping secrets. Mainly it also needs to have lots of patience.

For me, my true friendship is with my books and nature. I love to see the beauty of nature and write its beauty in my book. I love to plant seeds and see their different stages of growth. I can talk to them
while watering or being around them. Plants can listen to you and feel your touch. You have to preserve nature. It's our responsibility in friendship. The more you plant trees and take care of nature there will be greenery everywhere which will help our ecosystem.

Name: Khushi Badgeri

Grade: 2A

Billabong High International School, Thane

Patience - Rishona Chopra

Patience it's just a word, right? It simply means to wait without being annoyed. That's easy. But then imagine you waiting for a printout for your school project, and the printer just isn't working! That is so annoying! You keep getting annoyed, and instead of waiting till the paper comes out, you keep restarting it again and again. If you do that, the printer would be annoyed too and would ultimately stop working or work even slower. 

On the other hand, if you wait patiently for the paper to come out, then it could. Although having patience is annoying, it is necessary as you might get into a fight with someone too! Like you got a battle with the printer in the above example. 

For me, having patience is a bit difficult. Like when I complete something in class that the other students have not finished yet. It is a little difficult to wait for others to complete it. But I am working on that.

Patience is a bit difficult but necessary!

Rishona Chopra
Grade V
Gyanshree School

Courage - Dinesh Kumar

Dinesh Kumar

Courage is bravery or strength to do something that could be dangerous. An example of courage is the ability to stand up to a bully. The state or quality of mind or spirit enables one to face danger and fear with self-possession, confidence, resolution, bravery. It might seem that patience and courage are dispositions that tend in different directions, reflecting different strengths.

Every human being on this planet is given the gift of courage. However, there are very few who take advantage of this gift and put it to good use. And I used this courage for developing my personality. It is the ability to work one’s way through a tough situation. Being patient and courageous makes me so confident that I can handle all situations.

Courage gives me confidence and patience to encourage my juniors and colleagues. It gives me strength that helps me to speak in public. To many, courage is equated with taking risks. It takes courage to write a book or stand in front of an audience to speak. But in time, I’ve come to understand the profound truth that courage is being patient.

Dinesh Kumar

Class XI

The Fabindia School 

Honesty and Respect - Divyanshi Upadhyay

Honesty and Respect are existing in India till ancient times. Honest people are being respected by the public in the past. People were not only honest to each other, but they also respected each other and their ideas. Some examples of honesty are Raja Harishchandra and Yudhishthira (Also called Dharamraja ). Respect matters a lot to the ancient people. They respected their elders as well as youngsters. 

With time, the meaning of honesty and respect has been changed very much. Today honesty has the same value for some people. In today's world, where crime is prevailing everywhere globally, some people have respect for honesty. Honesty pays, but one should have patience. Respect is like a give and takes matter. If you give someone respect, you will get the same respect in return. 

Divyanshi Upadhyay 

Class VIII B

The Fabindia School

Friendship - Laxman Singh

Laxman Singh

Friendship is a divine relationship. We don’t have similarity in our blood, but still, that person cares for us. Irrespective of all differences, a friend chooses you, understands you, and support you. Whenever you are in self-doubt or lacking confidence, talk to a friend, and your worry will surely go away.

A true friend will always want your happiness. A life without a good friend is merely empty. Honesty is the key factor to maintain the friendship forever. For understanding each other’s emotions, you have to be completely honest with each other. Patience and acceptance are also other factors for friendship to last long. Understanding the differences as well as accepting them is what a maturity factor in a friendship. Friendship will fulfill you with sweet memories that you can cherish for the rest of your life.

The unbounded love, as well as care, is what makes the relationship between two friends strong.

Laxman Singh

Class IV

The Fabindia School