Educating Young Students From The Inside Out

Educating Preschool students from the "Inside Out"

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

March comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb.

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb?

The month has been full of activities but I have been going in slow motion it seems in March. 

This photo I took early in the month of March. The sun in Seattle is just beginning to break through the clouds but we are still having inconsistent weather patterns. Maybe I'm having inconsistent weather patterns too? 
  But there is always time for a quiet story on stormy spring days. 

"Come gather round, with a friend on the left and a friend on the right. 
Come gather round for a wonderful story." 



My last entry I wanted to share with you one of my favorite spiritual books for young children. This delightful book is all about energy and color. 

The book is entitled: The Great Blueness and other predicaments by Arnold Lobel. This is a sweet story about a color, energy and how light effects us in our environment. It may be out of print but I recommend that you order it from the Library. 


I don't want to give away the story too much. This is the joyful wizard after he has created all the magical colors of paint. 

This story lives on my bookshelf of " Chandi's favorites.

May your heart be filled with gladness this spring.
  I hope you all enjoy the last few days of March as April gently rolls in.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

What color is your natural love's heart energy today?

 I am soon to be celebrating my tenth year of teaching at The Living Wisdom
School which began on April 17th, 2002. I founded the
school as the Living Wisdom Preschool in Lynnwood, Washington,
with three students. The school incorporated into a non-profit in the fall of 2006.
We have grown successfully each year and are now well over 40 students in
our school in Shoreline, Washington.

I have written curriculum for teaching spirituality and yoga for young children now for about 15 years through our Living Wisdom Summer Yoga Camps, group outings, and our Sunday School curriculum.


The activity I am writing about today was created by my very first students
in the early years of the preschool. It has deep-seated roots in yogic
philosophy; the inspiration for this activity came from a small book
called  "Do it Now" by J. Donald Walters. This little book has 366 practical
ways to improve your life and is a perennial guide for body, mind and spirit.




Time and time again, this is one of the students' most favorite activities of the year. It permeates all that we do in our yoga sessions, art explorations and for a intuitive way to view our general well being in the classroom at any given moment. 

 This activity is given to older preschool children or Kindergarten age. The children are paired up with students that they aren't naturally drawn to play with ever day. They are given six bottles, a large water container, two small containers to mix colors in, and two drops of food coloring. They have to work with their partners to create six different colors using only the two drops of food coloring.
During the process many delightful things begin to happen. The children are given the opportunity to work closely together to solve problems. If,  after mixing, two bottles are exactly alike, that they have mixed, they have to slowly pour out one of the bottles to create a new transformed color.



As a teacher, it always amazes me to watch this process on many levels. At the end of the process, we line all the colors along our window sill in the classroom.  The colors of the rainbow are components of what may be called your “energy body.”  These colors have different rates of vibrations, and harmonize with our energy field in the body. At several different moments during the day, we actually go over to our bottles and chat about where are energy is today.

Is our energy from our heart "green"for healing, or growth? Is our energy red for cheerfulness, love, or laughter. Is it "pink" for the expanded heart of our love? Is it "blue" for calmness? Is it "yellow" for wisdom? Is it "orange" for creativity and a fiery enthusiasm? Is it "violet" for high thoughts and kind thoughts to others today?  Is it "indigo" for pure feelings, devotion, love of beauty? Or is it the "white" for  the blend of all the seven colors of the rainbow: all-forgiving innocence, mental clarity,  and a heart that is kept open to the needs of others?


What color is your energy today? 


But most importantly for the young child it is their ability to feel their heart's natural love and how they can uplift their consciousness and thoughts to expand their love to others. Sometimes I love to watch them talk about how the colors make them feel -- or I will just catch them setting by the colors and talking about all kinds of things. 
 
Here the children are creating color charts for their healing food booklets. 

We are all so affected with colors and our natural settings. What color is your natural love's heart energy today? Share this with your children. Explore the opportunities and let me know what happens for your classroom or family setting.
In the next couple of days I will share with your some of the selected books that go along with this theme.
Please stay tuned later this week. 
Joy to you!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Leap Year CD Giveaway Announcement

Leap year got a little away from me this past week. 

I'm proud to announce our Leap Year giveaway for the CD "Sail Away", by Eva Tree,  is actually one of our readers from India.

Congratulations! 

Kaveetaa Kaul


CD giveaway : Sail Away from Eva Tree.

I am thrilled to have met Kaveetaa over Facebook and she is a Montessori teacher that lives in Mumbai, India. 
 Congratulations Kaveetaa and bless you.  Thank you for all your lovely comments.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all the entries and for sharing your comments this past month on Facebook and "Inside Out". 

May we all be one in that light someday.