Classes Nursery to 1
It was a perfect day to celebrate the season of the king of fruits “MANGO” with a fun-filled learning opportunity in the form of a Mango Party. The whole school campus was decorated in yellow and green, in tune with the theme of the party. The children of the pre-primary section came dressed in shades of yellow and so did the teachers.
The “Mango Party” mania was kicked off by introducing different types of mangoes in the morning assembly. Children were introduced to an array of mangoes such as dussehri, safeda, chausa and langda. The children touched, smelled, and held the mangoes in an attempt to distinguish one from the other. They were quite excited and eager to know more about mangoes and their kinds.
Later in the day, the children of classes Nursery to Class I went on a nature walk, into an adjacent orchard. A pleasant breeze caressed the young Stafordians as they stepped into the mango orchard and took in the sight and smell of the fruit laden trees. The children found the mangoes dangling right to the ground, well within their reach. The excitement at the sight of such delicious fruit waiting to be plucked was palpable. An elderly worker at the orchard demonstrated the plucking and packing of the mangoes. The children even got to pluck some mangoes themselves. This little nature walk will surely remain one of the favorite memories of the children, when they grow up.
Back in the class, the teachers and children engaged in various creative activities such as thumb printing, paper tearing and pasting, and drawing of mangoes. The children were able to associate with the shape, form and size of a mango better than before, and were proud of the drawings they made.
During the lunchtime, children shared and relished various varieties of mangoes they had brought as special tiffins.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the day, children left the school clutching to the fruity delight, a yummy big dussehri mango in their tiny hands and a handmade badge pinned to their dress, as a reminder of the fun-n-learn mango party, they had enjoyed immensely at Staford School.
Classes 2 to 6
The mango party for Classes II to VI on Friday, July 12, 2013 was a big hit with the children in Staford School.
The aim of organizing the event was to impart all information related to mangoes in a fun way. At the appointed time, the teachers introduced a wide array of information about mangoes, their varieties, the mango producing belt in the country, and also interesting facts, poems and couplets in Urdu about mangoes. The presentation of an assortment of mangoes and information about them was not only informative but interesting for the children. They learnt its cultural, social and economic significance, its medicinal properties and the popular stories associated with the term `mango`.
As a surprise element, the students were taken to village Dussehri which has the century old historical mango tree, planted by Nawab Ansari. This ancient tree with a girth of 4 metres and a span of more than 30 metres is the first Dussehri tree to have been planted in this area. The tree is now more than 100 years old, and is cherished as the parent tree for all the dussehri mango plantations in and around the village called Dussehri. The children had the first hand experience of seeing the natural ripening process of the fruit. They saw raw and ripe mangoes of several varieties. They also observed the kind of soil the trees were planted in, and experienced the surroundings of the orchard. The children also noted the shape, texture, and length of the leaves, and also paid heed to the bark of the mango tree and compared it to other trees lining the orchard.
Later, in the school, they were served the mangoes which the children had plucked, or received from the orchard and also sat down to eat the mangoes in Lucknow’s traditional style. Not only this, the class teachers also narrated anecdotes, verses and Urdu couplets on mangoes, giving them an insight into the social skills involved in the sharing and eating of mangoes.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the party and will remember it for a long time to come! This might turn out to be the best mango season yet!