Spirit and Nature dancing together

Many of you may or may not know that one of my creative hobbies is birdwatching. I have been exploring the habitats of birds and migration patterns for over 30 years. I find it exhilarating to witness beautiful and incidental sightings of ordinary birds in their own habitat.

 About 12 years ago, I was taking a workshop with naturalist Joseph Cornell, we were learning how to use our voices to call birds in a dynamic way.  I can be honest with you, I have not mastered that skill but I found the joy welling up inside me that I might have the opportunity to be still enough to actually hold a wild bird some day.

Well yesterday was that day.

I always tell my students when we are going outside in nature, it is the animals kingdom " world" that we are entering. We have to be mindful and still to listen while we become aware of everything around us.

The children and I had just finished a beautiful morning circle singing, one of Yogananda's chants,

"I am the Bubble, make me the Sea."

 We all went around the circle, and shared while holding a musical heart.  Each child was invited to acknowledge their own unique expression answering the question, "What makes your heart sing?"

 The children were very still and receptive. But working with young children the energy can change almost at any moment. We had sat long enough listening to a creative storytelling session about nature and the children were clearly ready to explore free play in our playground.

The children had only been out for about a minute, when one of the little girls noticed a baby bird that had fallen on the ground. They ran to get me. They were very scared for him. We had an attack from a large crow about two weeks before, so they were very protective of this little young Chickadee.

I tried to pick up the bird, but he just kept trying to fly very low to the ground. He wasn't hurt but was a little stunned and shaken up. I slowly picked him up and placed him back on a tree limb but he quickly flew to a neighboring fence. There he became trapped.

Meanwhile the mother over head was very loud and had realized the baby was no where in the nest or in sight. I could not see the nest, but she was gathering food, and looking desperately for her.

In the meantime, the small bird lay motionless behind the fence. After about five minutes I came around the corner to retrieve her. She could see that I was not going to hurt her this time. I was able to carefully pick her up in the palm of my hand and speaking gently to her.

We all weren't sure exactly what to do? We have small bird boxes on the fence that were made for the Living Wisdom School, so we opened the top and placed the baby bird gently inside. We left the top partly open so the larger birds could not get inside.

Shortly about 20 minutes later, the little Chickadee jumped out on the top of the birdhouse. Then she jumped to the fence. Her mother then was able to see her and quickly jumped to the next post. The little bird in joy flew to his mother. They both then flew back up where the Mother continued to feed her. It was a rare site to see.

Now the children in our classroom witnessed the whole experience. What joy and relief  it brought for all of us to see that the tiny bird made it back safely to its nest.

 This was a rare drama to witness which could have turned out differently in many ways. We all were thrilled and our spirits were dancing together with nature so harmoniously right outside our classroom window today.

Here is our classroom story we finished writing together. This will be made into a book for the classroom.

Keep you heart still, enter the silence of nature and let me know what you find out there.

Joy to you 

Chandi

It's Springtime, It's Springtime and Mother Nature sings

We are having a particularly glorious spring this year in the Pacific Northwest.

When the flowers begin to bud and the ground begins to swell with warmth, an inner glow also becomes apparent in all of us. I was raised here in Seattle, and over time the winter months have become longer, with an added gray cloud cover that never seems to clear. But our weather reports this spring are unusual in that they refer to a strange phenomenon called: sun breaks.  So you see, sometimes we just begin to feel the expansion of moving out of our homes and dig our hands in the soil or just listen to the returning sweet song birds in the trees.

I too have been away from my computer and spending more of my time with several large projects that take me outside in the fresh air.

In my Living Wisdom Classroom we have covered several new units this spring and also rekindled our annual events, the Mother’s Day Tea and our Living Wisdom Joyathan.

It would take weeks to describe all our daily activities to you in detail.  That means I will have some nice events to write on this summer, when school is not in session.

(Double click on photo to see all the projects)

But for now, let me say that we began the month with flowers and frogs.

When you first look at this, it might seem like a patented preschool education prescription for teaching--focus on words that begin with “F”--but honestly, this didn’t occur to me at all.  I choose my own curriculum by the energy of the students, looking at what will uplift them, along with the rhythm of what is happening right outside our classroom window. All too often a typical Early Childhood curriculum talks only to the intellect.  It doesn’t take into an account the child’s feeling nature and physical components. Too often we talk, talk, and talk with young children, when what they need are need “direct experiences”.  I have found, by working spiritually with young children that they already know much of what I am trying to teach to them.  I have witnessed that learning is for many an act of remembering.  They already know almost everything you are educating them about. It is a profound truth for me, this an awakening of the young soul. It is an awakening and remembering from the past. I don’t like to purchase online curricula. What I want to share with the children in my classroom are truths that are a part of their everyday world.   Some subjects that will educate children for a lifetime include: how to be a true friend, how to work harmoniously with others, how to show compassion, how to be calm in a hectic world, and how to find true happiness within their own being. These are my goals as an Education for Life Teacher.

I chose to focus on flowers and frogs this month for the expansion that I sensed that these subjects could bring to a child’s soul. So often we see children picking dandelions in the grass and making a bouquet for their mothers, or witness their delight in finding new flowers that they have never seen before in the organic gardens at our Living Wisdom School.

When we studied frogs, we were able to go out and look for them in a nearby stream.  We made frog habitats, drew their life cycles, created three-dimensional models of frogs, painted original stories about frogs, and stimulated learning with acting out stories from the classic, Frog and Toad, tales about true friendship by Arnold Lobel. The time in my classroom is both teacher and child directed. Notice I didn’t mention anything about teaching letters. Children can learn these from their parents or grandparents in a family setting. The classroom activities are rich with play, art and creativity to uplift the child’s soul.

These simple truths open their hearts in love for the experience of harmony and build on the capacity to love that we try to cultivate through-out the year in our classroom. Isn’t this wonderful?  We often forget about the simple experiences of childhood.

Look at this one!

Here are some of the samples of our time together.

A child handing me a flower that they picked for me. 

True friendship holding hands and picking flowers together

I want to end with a thank you to all our children in my classroom this month.  We have had a memorable spring as Mother Nature sang to us through her beauty.

Listen, Listen, Listen

Have you heard that it has been snowing in Seattle,Washington since last Saturday, January14th?  The predictions were that this was going to be the worst storm in Seattle's history, and maybe if you are in cold home without power this evening, you may be thinking that the predication's were correct! I do hope this evening finds your family warm, safe and shielded from the natural elements.

Since all the local schools are closed,  I have been at home all week working on my student evaluations for our midterm at the Living Wisdom School. I have been missing my students this week, so I wrote to the parents for pictures of them in the snow.

How many joyful memories can you remember playing in the snow for days on end?  Do you remember possibly arriving home cold and wet? In the Northwest our snow consisted of mostly wet water and the clothing we had in the 60's, well it isn't anything like the children own now.  I have many memories of proceeding to hop in a hot bath and then my Mom would began to prepare hot tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Or how about hot chocolate with the small tiny marshmallows floating on the top? I know my mom made the best hot chocolate.

Then within an hour, I would change clothes that have been warmed up by the heater, and I was off out the door again. Children love the snow and the coldness doesn't seem to bother them. I wish, I could say that now about myself.

I love these memories of childhood. May all our children be blessed with rekindling memories of sledding with friends, sculpting snowmen, snowball gatherings and enjoying close family time in this truly magical moment with Divine Mother's snow.

Bath in her beauty and connect together with nature's divine rhythm that is calling us to listen to the deeper meaning of life in pure joy. 

Listen, Listen, Listen!

Let me know what you find out there?

Joy to you 

Teaching children with spirit

The Staff at the Living Wisdom School recently had an evening promotional event meeting new  potential parents at our local Parent Map Preschool Event.  If you were unable to attend here is a video that I compiled for our Living Wisdom Booth. It shows some of our activities that we participate in each day. I hope you enjoy it. More information about the Living Wisdom School is located on our website.

Spirit in Nature

A beautiful video came today, from my friends at Sharing Nature with Children. The Living Wisdom Schools across the globe use these techniques in their classroom.. Enjoy!

Nature sings praises aloud

 

This week was our last ceremony for our winter festivals of the light that we have been celebrating since November.

I have started following on Facebook, a well known story teller and felt artist: Suzanne Down.  Suzanne is the creator and business owner of Juniper Tree School of Puppetry Arts in Boulder, Colorado. I have found her to be an extraordinary artist and storyteller. I hope to meet Suzanne in person and expand my felting skills by taking one of her many workshops she offers. In her January newsletter she included a story about the blessing cake for the New Year. If you feel to contact Suzanne about the story, she can add your name to her monthly newsletter. This sounded like a wonderful project for our new year celebration at the Living Wisdom School.

I began the night preparing my cake and writing individual Education for Life,skills for living qualities on all the stones. Each one was wrapped in a small piece of foil. Then I made the angel food cake and dropped each one into the cake. 

I spread all the pieces out evenly so when the cake was finished it would be easy to slice a piece that included a wishing stone. I then covered all the stones with the remaining batter and baked the cake as usual. 

We placed our New Year angel, candle and cake at the table.  We sang a short blessing, poured our peppermint tea and I sliced the cake. Each child pulled out their blessing for the year.

They placed their blessing rock into their New Years box. These boxes had been made the day before. These little boxes are very special for young children. They can hide all their magical treasures for the year inside.

After we finished the children and I gathered our coats, hats and boots to celebrate the morning outside our classroom. The sun had just come out and it was a lovely brisk morning. 

Magical events seem to occur after we focus on spiritual natures and today wasn't any different. As we walked outside one of the little girls' looked up and there was a bald eagle floating directly overhead,circling the playground. 

I turned to the little girl who had spotted the eagle and said: "That means good luck to see a eagle right after our spiritual ceremony inside." The eagle was shortly joined by a large group of crows that were following him. That too, was unusual for a band of crows that early in the morning.

Nature sings praises aloud. We were all deeply blessed this morning and for the opportunity to feel the deeper rhythms of nature all around us. I love when four year old children are so keenly aware and can spot eagles in the sky.  This seemed like an topping to our  blessing cake! What joy filled our hearts to see the birds soar.

" Classroom Environment is Stronger than Will" Part 1.

The new year began in my classroom today but I had many opportunities for rest, service in the Ananda Community and rejuvenation over our holiday vacation.

One of my favorite things to do is create art with others and I was able to spend time with our Living Wisdom School's artist in residence, as we painted a cosmic mural for my classroom. 

In the months ahead, I will write about the nurturing aspects of the classroom environment and how effects the young child. I have been experimenting with this over the past ten years and we are just touching the surface as to the best ways we can serve the young child in their environment. In my classroom at the Living Wisdom School, I use as many natural materials and fabrics as possible. I like to bring nature into the classroom.  I use soft colors, natural lighting, prisms, mirrors, plants, crystals, aromatherapy, natural flowers, pine-cones, rocks, handmade felted materials, tree materials and beautiful music. Several of my materials are  handmade. All my materials on the walls are made from my art designs or the children's art. I do not use materials that have been purchased in stores for teaching aids.

I will save this topic for another time in greater length as a series, but I want to share a magnificent mural that we painted this past week. It was thrilling and fun to do.  

This mural is made from only the best art products and is on a fire proof paper to appeal to our fire code restrictions in our district.

  The photo was taken below after three coats of paint. We first applied gesso, acrylic polymer medium that was used on the very bottom layer to coat the paper. The result was magic. It turned the poster paper into a soft canvas to work on. At this point in the painting three light washes of aquamarine, marine blue and fuchsia were applied in a circular fashion. The paints were all student grade acrylics and applies with sponges. We did not want to have brush strokes visible on the paper. The paint layers were dried in between using hair dryers. This helped to speed up our process. We were watching the colors as they began to build on top of each other.

This was magical when I placed my finder in the gesso a faint moon face showed up. There are never mistakes in any mindful practice.

We used our fingers dipped in the gesso medium once again. Squirt bottles of aquamarine was also used to add texture and dimension.  Again more hair drying.

Small cosmic layers of designs added. These were individually wiped down and colored with an alcohol acrylic paint solution.

More light washes applied to the designs for blending the layers.

At this point of the process, I counted up to thirteen layers and we had only been at this for one day. I couldn't wait to see the final process completed. 

The next day arrived and more paint was applied in faint washes to deepen the colors.

A rich purple was now applied to tone down some of the green gesso

This is where the purple was added on top to check out the enhancement of all the colors. We added  another coat of deep fuchsia. 

We began the process of hand-painting all the small cosmic figures. My art teacher now wanted to surprise me and finish it at home. After an additional 10 hours,she was able to get the quality she was looking for. 

Every new year I like to experiment with my classroom, change the environment around, while keeping things fluid so when the children return the room seem fresh, exciting and new. 

I asked them what they thought of the new mural? Their comments to me were: "It makes me feel, kind ." Another four year old said: " It reminds me of love in my heart" Another boy said: "It is peaceful with bright light. 'The moon is bright."

As a teacher you can use this handmade classroom aid and provide the learning opportunity in several directions.

I believe through the children responses, they realized  by themselves what beauty and nature holds for them. What a great gift we can offer our children. A peaceful environment that touches their very soul from within.

Happy New Year: 2012

In order to capture 2011, I wanted to share it in some of my photos. May the light and joy of this year, carry all of us into the new year with a greater source of determination, courage and joy.

I was able to spend Christmas with two of my dearest friends from our early years at the Living Wisdom School.  The picture on the left is in 2006. The boys were in their first year of Kindergarten and the picture on the right is now in fifth grade. The boys live in different states.  Until August of 2011, they were in different countries. This was a lovely reunion for us all.

This is an arrangements of highlights: I was able to take two healing vacations to Washington's lavender festival and to our special retreat home in Palm Springs,California. I started my blog this past summer and the other photo was taken in my class from early 2011.

My husband and I moved upstairs from our home after 17 years in the Ananda Community.

High tea with my students at the end of the school year!

                                                       Remembering our dear friends

Our fourth and six graders at the Honda dealer showing them their electric car they built.

Fall Basil Harvest. The best basil I have ever cooked with.

Our first Labyrinth walk at Yoga Camp

Swimming at Yoga Camp with new friends

May we all be connected in love as we enter into 2012 together.

Happy New Year .