SparkED

Building Blocks of Play

SparkEd, in collaboration with Pangea: Learning Without Borders, presented a three-part online workshop series, Building Blocks of Play, hosted by the Chughtai Institute of Learning and Leadership (CILL), Pakistan. Together, we explored the neuroscience and pedagogy of play—from the image of the child as a capable thinker, to the educator’s role as co-learner, and the creation of learning environments that spark curiosity and creativity.

Online Workshop Series

October–November 2025 | Chughtai Institute of Learning and Leadership, Lahore

Building Blocks for Early Reading

SparkEd, in collaboration with Learning Matters India, co-presented Building Blocks for Early Reading, a workshop designed for educators and parents of Pre-K to Grade 2 children. The session explored the science of reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, and strategies to build fluency and comprehension in early readers—empowering the foundations of literacy one block at a time.

Teacher & Parent Workshop

March 2025 | Learning Matters, New Delhi

Building Blocks for Early Reading Presentation

Dynamic Literacy

SparkEd, in collaboration with Pangea: Learning Without Borders, led Dynamic Literacy, a customised workshop for early years and lower primary educators at GD Goenka School. This interactive three-hour session invited teachers to explore research-based strategies for teaching prepositions through movement, embodying punctuation, and nurturing young writers—making literacy learning both joyful and developmentally meaningful.

Teacher Workshop

May 2024 | GD Goenka, New Delhi

Tying It All Together

SparkEd, in collaboration with Pangea: Learning Without Borders, designed a five-day intensive workshop for Arth, a progressive early childhood programme in Kolkata, India. Play, music, and storytelling wove through each day as we embodied the learner spirit and immersed ourselves in a rich, supportive early childhood environment—culminating in a focus on observation and documentation as a lens to capture and relaunch learning.

Intensive Teacher Workshop

May 2024 | Arth, Kolkata

Responsive Language & Learning Series

SparkEd, in collaboration with Pangea: Learning Without Borders, designed and facilitated a multi-month online professional development series for Arth. Rather than a fixed curriculum, this deeply responsive programme evolved alongside the school—centred on language development, the image of the child, and research-informed strategies for nurturing rich, developmentally appropriate early childhood environments. Grounded in dialogue and reflection, each phase was shaped by educators’ curiosities, classroom realities, and emerging needs.

Online Workshop Series

August 2023 – March 2024 | Arth (Online)

Mentorship Programme

SparkEd conducted a two-month mentorship programme for Abby Paathak, Director of Thrive Programme, focused on understanding neurodiversity and supporting children with diverse learning profiles in meeting the academic demands of school. The process was reflective, practice-based, and grounded in building inclusive approaches within educational settings.

Mentorship

July 2023

“Observing your sessions and having the privilege of witnessing your expertise firsthand has been an incredible learning experience for me. Your ability to create a nurturing and inclusive learning environment is commendable. I am in awe of the patience, empathy, and creativity you demonstrate in your facilitation practices.”

“Your process of understanding each child and their unique learning profile truly inspired me. You not only are a superb educator and mentor, but I see you as a superhero. It left me baffled how each element in your plan is intentionally curated to support children in their learning journey.”

“Also, your ability to write upside down is phenomenal. I admire all the qualities and quirks you possess as an educator. I genuinely strived during the last one month to emulate and imbibe your dedication and unwavering commitment to children.”

“Your willingness to share your ideas, insights, and strategies has been instrumental in evolving my understanding of the field. I truly found myself excited to engage in each discussion with you and really appreciated the resources you shared with me."

"One month later, I still go back to our conversations and reflect on the learnings that you disseminated and unfolded for me post sessions.”

“You have opened my eyes to new perspectives and possibilities. Your wealth of knowledge and experience as a mentor has helped me gain confidence in my own abilities. Furthermore, I deeply appreciate your willingness to answer my numerous questions and concerns. Your unwavering support and encouragement have bolstered my enthusiasm and determination to make a positive impact in the lives of children. You have been a role model for me, professionally and personally.”

Abby Paathak, Educator

“Loved the thought and detail that went into each activity! This workshop has really changed my perspective on how music and movement can be used as tools. My big take aways: We can add rigour to our lessons without losing out on fun; there is benefit in keeping lessons focused and simple; music and movement can be incorporated throughout the day in any classroom setting.”

Sanmoyee Basak

“I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and believe the content was very enriching and relevant for me. The biggest takeaway for me is the importance of movement for learning and the versatility of movement based learning. I also loved how we learnt to make storytelling so immersive and experiential.”

Kritika Agarwal

“It was a magnificent and enriching experience! It has pushed me to think in so many new directions, showed me multiple aspects of storytelling from a different lens, as well as inspired me to be more creative and playful in the classroom.”

Anna

“Extremely professional, well researched and structured. Integral to early education teaching. Brilliant. A complete collection of movement and music curriculum.”

Shamita Sood

“For me it was a beautiful and enriching experience. I have always wanted to understand how music is important in the early years and how young childrens' brains develop. Listening to you was so enlightening, you touched on every aspect and made it easier by involving all of us.”

Suveen Chhabra

“The workshop had a lot to take in. The content was clear and to the point and made us think a lot. Your energy as a facilitator is what glued all of us together. For me the content really made me understand why the process of experiential learning helps us...and again everything we do needs to come from a lens of intention.”

Malika Suri

“My team is typically averse to online learning, and so am I. While we are in total awe of Samara's in-person workshops, we couldn't imagine how it could come alive on Zoom. We all spent a Saturday morning glued to screens experiencing online learning in a different light. We never realised where the hour had disappeared and were left wanting more. Each one of my educators wants more sessions and it is so heartening to see their own curiosity being fuelled by Samara's facilitation style.

We have requested Samara to plan a longer-term remote learning program for us. You will hear about it soon!

If you are looking for your educators to develop their own phonemic awareness with the utmost depth and clarity, SparkEd's work is what you need. So blessed to have them help us.”

Ankur Agarwal, Founder of Arth Learning Spaces

“Now I know how to introduce phonics to my kid. Also I know how much is enough.”

Roshni G.

“Very informative. Most of the ideas are not only educative, but also helps in parent and child bonding.”

Khushboo P.

Samara's workshop was one of the most fulfilling experiences I've had at Arth. The 6 hours passed by in a glimpse but we learned so much while having fun and engaging in music, movement and lots of games. It really inspired me to take back a lot of things to our classrooms and practice it. I can't wait to have her back again!

Priya Sharma

Samara's workshop helped us make sense of phonics not only from a theoretical perspective but ensured she connected it to actual practices in a classroom situation. Her workshop used play, movement, music and sensory techniques that made learning so much more fun and engaging! Her energy was calm yet playful that made the experience enjoyable and interactive. Looking forward to having her back again.

Priyanka Chowdhury

“It is not about trying to change a child,
it’s about supporting them.”

Samara Gupta

“Every child DESERVES to have a teacher/advocate like Samara. She spoke so beautifully and passionately about building the foundation of social/emotional wellbeing of a child. I feel like this should be on a Sunday night playlist for every teacher to listen to, in order to get refreshed each week before walking back into the classroom.”

Angie G.

“I’m in absolute awe! A very powerful presentation that has my mind ticking with so many things I can add into my teaching practices and extend on what I am doing. I loved her interpretation of ADHD. This is something that I feel all teachers need to hear as part of their training. Social and emotional development is so important and the language we use has such an impact on the child. Loved this. Thank you.”

Tracy P.

“Speechless! Epic! Gold! like Sally would say. Incredible, beyond! In such a little time, a bundle of information, yes indeed, the more you learn, the more you know, but the more curious and the more you want to learn more!!! Amazing speaker.”

Nitza M. G.

“Samara Gupta was so inspiring and my favorite session so far! I whole-heartedly believe that a reframing of how educators (and all adults) think of children with different abilities ("special needs") is extremely important. Loved her!”

Joanie V. D.

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