Spirit in Nature

             
It is winter break for a couple of days at the Living Wisdom School, so I am branching out and taking a few extra days in February, March, and April to share my love of nature and spirit with children.

 We started out this morning with three students in a small group setting. I begin each session using the Flow Learning™  techniques from the 

Sharing with Nature Foundation 

                          and the Education for Life principals. 

These techniques give a teacher or parent a structured simple way to guide children into a direct experience in nature that is uniquely their own. I highly recommend this for teachers when exploring nature with children of all ages. These activities along with books are all easily accessible on the
Sharing with Nature Foundation Website. 

The first stage of the sequential flow learning is:
Awakening Enthusiasm  

We began with a circle, mindful dance, and two songs. We awoke our energy with the Superconsciousness Living Exercises and then centered our energy with a few yoga postures. The yoga postures used today were reflective of the environment in the park.

Warrior
"I joyfully manifest the power of spirit"

                                         

Positioning ourselves in our warrior asanas


We played another game that introduced our surrounding habitats and the wildlife animals that live there.
In this game I had prepared cards with photos. Each child took a card and acted out their animal and gave clues to everyone else.
We all had fun guessing the animals.

              After we finished the game the expedition began. We were looking for river otters, raccoon's baby salmon called; fry, and baby seals on the beach. Excitement filled the air as we began our journey in search for animals.

We began by using our compass. Our car was parked in the southwest corner of the park. We headed north to the crest of the river.

The second stage of the sequential flow learning is:

Focused attention. 

               We walked the trail and took a little break(above) to play the "Sound Map Game".  Each child sat perfectly still closing their eyes and began to count all the sounds that they could hear close by.
I was surprised to hear the "made up sounds" that they were coming up with. What fun that was.

We ventured up a very steep hill to find out that we were on the wrong side of the creek to view the baby salmon. So with great enthusiasm we headed back the way we came.  With a short detour we came upon the salmon imprinting pond.

The third stage of the sequential flow learning is called:

Direct Experience. 

I read the information and picture information for the children on park signs that is stated below:

 About 70,000 chum fingerlings are first introduced into the Les Malmgren imprinting pond at Carkeek Park each winter, and 5,000 additional eggs are provided to approximately 25 elementary schools that raise and release their salmon into the imprint pond at Carkeek Park each spring as an activity of the Salmon in the Schools Program. The young chum are held in the pond under the care of diligent volunteers and fed for about three weeks to imprint them to the “smell” of the creek system, which helps them return as adults to spawn.

This is a picture of the pond we were able to see today. They were able to directly see the baby salmon and experience the long swim that it would take the salmon to head down the creek.

The rest of the morning we were following the river to the Puget Sound and the trail that the baby salmon have to swim in order to survive in the wild. We passed over many foot bridges and paths together. 

This is almost to the Puget Sound along the rivers edge. The children kept talking about how far the little fish had to swim and how hard it must be. There were many predators along the creek edge just waiting for a mid-morning snack.

 All along each path and on the beach the children gathered small pieces of bark, lichens, mosses, seaweed, pine-cones, shells, and beach glass off the ground. 

I wanted to do a nature craft with the children and this would help to complete the last segment of the flow learning sequence.

The fourth stage of the sequential flow learning is called:

Shared Inspiration 

This is the stage where children begin to absorb the inner state of beauty and awareness. They often will say to me:"Oh, I just love it here. Please let's stay longer. Can I come back tomorrow? 

Above in the photos are the nature collages we created by using all the items we collected from our morning walk through the trails and on the beach. These were glued carefully and artistically placed on each piece of bark. They were very mindful in placing them in just a certain order. 

We ended the day sharing in a circle what our favorite activities had been and what we experienced. Together with parents we chanted three aums blessing Carkeek Park and all the animals. 

It was a beautiful winter outing as our souls joyfully connected with spirit and nature. 

Until tomorrow with our next nature group goes to Carkeek Park in Seattle, Washington. 

Expanding circles of peace with all that is.

This past winter I have been focusing more on the aspects of "Sharing Nature with Children®

I have been teaching nature now for over 20 years and it never ceases to amaze me how energized children become after climbing a tall trail, seeing tiny fish in a stream, seeing seals on the beach or a small frog in a pond.  They become inwardly changed. Through these short nature experiences the children beg for them again and again. Nature is profound healer for our spiritual souls.

My prekindergarten class during the month of January explored the Northwest animals of the wintertime.

We  joyfully created a beaver den and crows nest in our classroom by using all natural materials. The children learned about the parts of each and how the animals create their habitats.  This was used for their dramatic play.

 Clipping their painted bark to the beaver dam, adding sticks and branches. 

Children focusing on painting bark etchings during art.

Left to right above: painting animal tracks, science experiments with bird feathers, art tree blown habitats,
clay nests, crow tracks at the beach in the sand, making our beaver dam,
animal tracks in the ice, drawing of crows and animal tracks, bird sound games. 

The above picture is a collage of animal tracks, stories, clay figures, science experiments using feathers, bird sound games and of course outdoor tracks explored in ice and sand.

This unit lasted for over a month. The grand finale was "direct experience" to Carkeek Park in Seattle, Washington. The children were able to expand their own realities and build on the nature activities they used in our classroom. This enabled them to explore the park with a new sense of wonder and reference toward nature, but also working with nature. We searched for fish, beavers, listened to the coyotes, a viewing in binoculars of parental aerie of hawks training the young eyas to fly, and watched a large band of crows as they mysteriously welcomed us to the beach.

There's noting quite like crawling in a large tree cavity that can hold all your friends.

This was an amazing large tree that was growing interestingly along the trail. The children had to immediately climb it .



To finish off the unit the children painted murals the next day about their visit to the park.







I just love the photo above. This is a young student in our class and his mural he drew. It  perfectly captures the real essence of nature and absorption. He first drew in the bottom photo, the ground and all the animals hibernating in the ground. Then he drew above that the trees and the animals above living in the forests. The third photo was all the birds, that live in the sky and the last picture on top was the "heavens". He drew all the planets, stars, moon and galaxies.


This spiritually summed this unit up for me.  Isn't it wonderful to be witness how much children begin to absorb in nature and feel a part of all of it?  This can last for a lifetime. It can be the foundation for many children and adults.

We need to take our children out in nature when ever we can   Just to breath the fresh air, feel the energy from the trees, watching and listening for animals.

 My I leave you today with a wish for all children, that they can explore nature this spring and experience the glory of expanding their  circles of peace and realizing our true oneness with all that is.

Let me know what you find out there.

Come Gather Round...

This is the time of the year when our pre-kindergarten class is sharing experiences around the seasonal activities of winter. I thought that I like to feature a story from one of our classroom activities.

A winter time favorite in my classroom  is: The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen

This is a sweet book  for children ages, 4-8 years with a theme based around, gratitude, generosity, love, and kindness. These are all qualities that I want to teach in our classroom.

The story begins with a widow, Sarah who carefully watches the children outside her living room each morning . The bus stop for school, is at the foot of her driveway.   She notices all the children are wearing new mittens except one little boy. She thinks:" Why isn't he wearing mittens?" That evening Sarah knits a pair of mittens and hangs them on the spruce tree at the end of her driveway.  The little boy notices the mittens  on Sarah's spruce tree and places them on his hands.  Sarah is delighted and begins to surprise all the children each morning, as she knits new mittens, and hangs the pairs on the tree. 

The children secretly become part of her new family. Now in the joyful spirit of giving, someone places a large basket of yarn on Sarah's doorstep. She excepts this spiritual gift just as the children excepts her  handmade mittens. The circle of joy and harmony is like a song of love that is shared by all.

After our morning circle, the children in our class were able to make their own mittens to place on our nature table in our classroom.  Each child's hand was measured and then tiny slats were cut all the way around the mitten.

The children selected the yarn that they wanted to use to decorate their mittens. By holding with their left or right hand, they would wrap the yarn carefully with the opposite hand. As they wrapped different designs were made on the front and back of their mittens, This was such a great eye hand coordination activity for this age group. At the end of the yarn string, they just tucked the end piece into the slat. the children then started to layer a second and third layer to their mitten.

The children then finished and hung their mittens on the winter nature tree in our classroom.

To the sheer delight from all of us, we looked outside and it had began to snow.  So we quickly put on our coats, hats, mittens and ran out on the playground to share in the excitement  of a spontaneous light winter snow shower. 

A perfect ending to a glorious sweet winter morning in Seattle. 

With Beauty before me may I walk.

Christmas week is a time for inner reflection while recapping this past year's documentation on this blog, "Inside Out" and contemplating the beauty that lies before me for the coming year in 2013. 

This past year I have added many new technical experiments to my blog including: YouTube videos, iPhone applications, linking up with new inspiring bloggers and I am thrilled to have upgraded to a new iPhone.

 The iPhone has advanced my skills as a photographer, while enabling my ability to record information to my parents automatically in this new age of technology and energy.

 "Inside Out" has reached almost 11,200 page views that expands the globe. That alone is truly inspiring to me. When I began this blog, I wasn't even sure, if or how anyone would find it. This is what you hear bloggers often say. It takes a level of detachment to write weekly, while putting your heart and your passion on the line. My motto has been: "Well just get over it." Either people will read it or they will pass it by. My blog isn't for everyone.

 I personally would like to thank everyone who has read it this year and shared this blog. Simply passing it along to others is a blessing in disguise. I am deeply humbled and grateful.

I wanted to review this week, the most popular entries since I have started writing in August of 2011. I will start with the top six .

Coming in at number 6 is: Come Gather Round / Books for the holidays.
http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2012/11/come-gather-round-books-for-holidays.html

I am thrilled this years entry made it into my top six. I am glad that my spiritual book list was so popular and actually had an author, Carin Berger contact me personally to thank me. I still will be featuring my, Come Gather Around Series, along with new added pages featuring spiritual books for children and families. New books will be added monthly, as I find them in my travels. Do you have a special spiritual favorite? Let me know about it and I will research the story, to see it can be added on my favorite lists.

Coming in at number 5 is: Accepting a moment in Divine Gratitude

http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2011/12/accepting-moment-in-divine-gratitude.html

 This entry was life changing personally for me last Christmas and I have dedicated this year to actually practicing living one day of gratitude at a time.  I actually participated in my own experiment this summer at taking a photo a day to document my gratitude.

 This short entry features a mini short film by Louie Schwartzberg. I review this video often because it truly uplifts my spirit. 







Coming in at number 4 is: A week together
http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2012/02/week-together.html 

This is another entry that is dear to my heart. This particular entry is all about Education for Life and the Foundation years. I also love to watch how the children have grown in our classroom over the past year using these principals.

 Coming in at number 3 is: We live in joy!
http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2012/02/we-will-live-in-joy-free-cd-giveaway.html

I am happy to announce this Valentine entry and the song highlighted was our "theme song" in our classroom last year. It was written by one of our parents, Eva Tree.  Thank you for listening and reading about our valentine activities.

Coming in at number 2 is: What color is your hearts energy?  
 http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-color-is-your-natural-loves-heart.html

This entry has many memories shared in my classroom. The children love to feel their energy in their hearts and expand their love each day to others. Thank you for reading it and sharing in our joy. 

Now here is where a little drum roll happens.....

Coming in at number 1 is:The light is inside each one of us”
http://chandi-holliman.blogspot.com/2011/10/light-is-inside-each-one-of-us.html 

 
 This is my favorite entry, I have written to date and humbled that it is the most popular.
 It came to me right after a deep morning meditation. I don't take any credit for my writings personally. These are messages from the divine.


I also would like to thank a few very special people who have helped share the message of "Inside Out."

My editor and writing professor  Bekka Davis,   and the Education for Life teachers who share ideas and inspirations together weekly.

 I would also like to thank, Susan Tara Meyer from River Blissed and Sally Haughey from Fairy dust teaching. Susan and Sally are kindred spirits with very successful blogs of inspiration.  I have learned so much from them.

I would also like to thank my spiritual guides, Joseph Cornell from Sharing Nature with Children and Nitai Deranja the founder of the Living Wisdom Schools. Both of these great souls have been a guiding light for inspiration and my service to children and families.


With Beauty before me and behind me as I walk,
The year ahead looks very exciting and promising.

Aum, Shanti,
Chandi

May this day be merry and bright

 At this time of the year children begin to ask all types of interesting questions. Isn't it fun?

 You can see their little minds are just churning away. 

How does Santa Claus really get from the North Pole on a sleigh? Does he really exist? I also love to watch the older children just go along with the fairy tales just to rekindle the familiar warmth of their childhood memories. I can't really remember when my children were told about Santa Claus?  Naturally I try to stay clear of anything commercial in my classroom and inspire the children's imaginations.

I believe that as a parent you just have to be ready each Christmas for that ultimate question and be able to think fast on your feet. Are you willing to tell the truth or play along with the child's imagination of believing in our myths and fables that we are accustomed to during the holidays?

While we were in class this past week, the children began to tell the story of Santa Claus that has been passed down from generation to generation. I was trying to tell them one of the fables that has been told about Saint Nicolas. 

Some of the children blurted out,"They are the same, Chandi." I said. "Santa Claus and Saint Nicolas are the same? Interesting? How do we know?' They all jumped in with their answers. 

I began to tell them that the story of Saint Nicolas is a folktale.  The folktale is a story, passed down verbally from generation to generation. Each storyteller tells the stories a little differently, making them more interesting and fascinating as the ages passed. Different folktales bear the characteristics of the culture, folklore and customs of the people from which they originate.

Intentionally in the Education for Life methodology we try to make teachings practical and real for children. I had to come up with something fast to make my point. This is called a direct experience using a practical method . So all at once I thought of the game,"Telephone". Maybe this will bring out the point of teaching about fables and folktales. 

I had all the children gather in a circle. I started the game, gently whispering a small part of the Saint Nicolas story immediately to my right. Then that child told the story to the partner on his right, thus continuing around the circle. When it got about half way through the circle, the whispers became completely different. Joyful smiles appeared along with silly glances towards me as they whispered. 

 In our anticipation a new part of the story had just began. As it went completely around the circle, there were many joyful laughs and surprises. The story was always very different from the one that was first whispered. The children love this game and they could quickly experience how a story could change over the course of many years and even centuries. 

Christmas is for the children. I love the familiar stories but also the sheer delight of the little daily experiences that make Christmas magical.  I am blessed to be in their company.

May this day be merry and bright.

Until tomorrow. 

 

Children and nature dancing together

This past month Nitai Deranja was visiting our school. Nitai is the founder of the Living Wisdom Schools and is currently on the faculty at the Ananda College of Living Wisdom in Gaston, Oregon.

 I had asked Nitai to join us, during our afternoon circle time. The children had been practicing a new chant and I wanted to share it with Nitai. 

It was late in our morning and we found the day zooming by.  All the children had not ventured outside yet when I realized we would be concluding our closing circle time outside in the playground  instead.

As a teacher, you try to plan spiritual activities daily for young children to uplift their consciousness and spread joy. Today was one of those times, when  Divine Mother planned her activity for us. We were just a witness to her beauty.

 See the description below written by: Nitai

 We walked out into a beautiful nature area for the close of the preschool session for the day. As we stepped onto the grass, the sun peeked around the clouds to give enough warmth for the children to begin shedding there jackets and sweaters. A slight gust of wind caused one of the trees towering over our heads to shed many of its bright yellow leaves. They came swirling down upon us in great arching circles. The children lifted their hands and began running and laughing in their attempts to catch the leaves. Their faces were lit with a sense of excitement and wonder. When the wind paused, everyone started picking up handfuls of leaves from the ground and tossing them up again over our heads. After about 10 minutes the teacher called everyone over for the closing circle. The children lead a song called “O God Beautiful”, complete with hand motions that emphasized the words, “In the forest, Thou art green. In the mountains Thou art high...” It was the perfect way to acknowledge and celebrate the children’s moment of communion with nature.

We all spotted a Northwest monkey.

 This day will be cherished and etched in my mind for many years to come. The pure joy of children and nature dancing together.

Cool clouds that gather to bless us

School is out for the summer and I have been planning ahead for the rest of June, July, and August. It feels like the summer is almost automatically planned for many of us before it begins.

This picture above was taken in the local Shoreline Ballinger Way Pea Patch directly behind our school on a cool misty morning.

It reminds me of how children, stay focused quietly in any moment and see all the little things in life. I love how focused on the moment she is. This image will stay with me this summer and give me the space to be present in all my undertakings.

I am heading off to one of our sister schools at Ananda Village in Nevada City, California. This will be the first time that I have had the opportunity to teach at the Family Camp that they hold each summer. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new families from around the globe.

Until July.

May these next few weeks bring you peace and inner joy as you prepare your summer family activities.  Please comment below and let's share together the wonder of summer and how we can continue to bring spirit into the lives of our children.

Many Blessings,
Chandi

Flowers so soft and fragile

 This is a very busy week at the Living Wisdom School. We are all finishing up our yearly projects and assignments.

School ends on Wednesday, June 13th. 

This artist told me the smiles in her flowers were their spirits smiling back at her.

My  Preschool class wanted to spend the last couple of days painting. Today the weather was so glorious.  I couldn't resist and set up our art gallery in the Living Wisdom organic garden. We began with a "fairy tale story" then created lovely garden pictures. 

These are our budding Monet apprentices. 

Don't you agree?

 

We have practiced all year by using contrasting colors in our paintings.

Monet's waterlilies

 

These were her garden"Iris's"