Educating Young Students From The Inside Out

Educating Preschool students from the "Inside Out"

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Our Planetary Home and our place in the Universe Part 2.

Our Planetary Home
Our place in the Universe


This is part two from our class today on families, home and community building. We are celebrating "Stone Soup" with our school community next week. Each class is contributing to the meal. This week we have been reading and telling the story by:


Award-winning artist Jon J Muth. He retells the favorite tale of a selfish community who is tricked into creating a delicious soup from stones. Set in China, in Muth's beautiful landscaped watercolors. This is a newer vision taken from an older German folktale. I am in love with how this book takes compassion and weaves the community together.  The Living Wisdom School celebrates this event with our families each year as our Thanksgiving tradition.
Setting the scene for re-telling the story together. All the children have a part to play.

Our new reading and acting corner. The children have many books and materials for telling their stories together

To continue our playful events around "families" today we had a fishing pole where the children fished for family member puzzle pieces. The pieces were then placed together into puzzles.  These are activities that I like to provide for the Foundation years, at the Living Wisdom School.



Hum, I think this is how it goes?

Showing pictures and telling stories at lunch time. This gives the child a greater sense of confidence  while speaking in front of a group. 
Family Wall
Can you show me your dog? Where is he?

These experiential activities begin to keep children's hearts open toward as an expansive view of their classmates lives. It is a joy to experience their sense of wonder, as their values of compassion are beginning to expand and grow towards each other.

I will end with a quote from the Education for Life book written by J. Donald Walters: 

For education to prepare children for meeting life realistically, it should encourage them to learn from life itself, and to view with skepticism a body of fixed knowledge that has been passed on unquestioned from one generation to the next.
Education must above all be experiential, and not merely theoretical. The student should be taught, among other things, to observe the outcome of any course of action, and not to depend blindly on the claims of others as to what that outcome is supposed to be, and therefore will be.




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Our Planetary Home and our place in the Universe



Our Planetary Home
Our place in the Universe

 Our theme for my classroom curriculum this year is:
"Our Planetary Home and our place in the Universe."

This is our family "go fish" game.
We started the year with our theme:"All the World is our Friend." unit.  We continued with our "Animal Kingdom" and now we are into our gratitude month.  This month encompasses our human family, homes, traditions, school community and our spiritual community. This week our parents have been bringing special family photos and we have been creating all sorts of games, puzzles, and books. 

Playing our family puzzles games.
This is me and my Dad on Halloween.      
 In deep gratitude, we are humbly giving thanks to our families at the Living Wisdom School and though out the world this month.  

Many Blessings All,
Chandi
 

Friday is my deadline for the book giveaway.

Almost 100 of you have seen this blog post and free giveaway since Monday. But unfortunately I can't enter you unless you comment and send me your information?  We have two days remaining.

 Here is a review by the publisher below.

 

From the Publisher

* A parents' and teachers' guide to developing children's concentration, self-discipline, and compassion, as well as heartfelt qualities like openness and enthusiasm. * Includes more than 90 techniques and exercises drawn from the author's experiences as a teacher and director of the Living Wisdom School, a nonprofit elementary school that emphasizes nonsectarian spiritual principles and practical skills for living. * Recommends books, music, games, and other resources to help grown-ups nurture calm and compassionate kids.

About the Author

Susan Usha Dermond has spent the last 18 years of her 30-year career in education in alternative schools, including 12 years as a teacher at the original Living Wisdom School in Nevada City, California. She is now the director of the Beaverton, Oregon, Living Wisdom School, and also a columnist for modern mom.com.

Many Blessings,
Chandi

Sunday, November 13, 2011

First Give-away on "Inside Out"

It is an exciting moment on this blog. Thank you for your emails, verbal comments and expressions of love that you have given me since starting this blog in August.

Susan Usha Dermond has offered our first give-away . Susan Usha Dermond will be sending out a copy of her book; Calm and Compassionate Children. I wrote a book review on this blog in September.

I will be giving the book away this Friday, November 18th. So please comment below and you may be the winner from a random drawing for this deeply inspirational book. I look forward to your comments.

 Many Blessings and thank you, Chandi

I am as Steadfast as a rock.









The fall has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest and we are enjoying every minute of it. This is my first year with this particular group of students so I am venturing slowly into "nature," taking them on short hikes as they become familiar with my style of being in nature.






I have two rules in nature. The first one is to cross the street safely together, using our street-crossing poem. The second rule is expressed by a small song I sing: "My eyes have to be on you!" If the children aren’t able to control their little bodies, then I have to hold their hand personally until they can be safe. This is much too confining for three or four-year-olds, so I get respectful responses from the beginning.




 This particular morning we were out collecting leaves in our baskets.





 We had such an exciting time together, as they led me in an exploration to find our new little forest of baby trees. Across the street from our school is a vacant school that has several varieties of natural plantings that are currently not being tended to. I thought that taking care of these little trees might be a good service project for our class. Children are so curious in nature, and love to expand their own realities outside the classroom. 

We collected many beautiful leaves.  All week the children had been building up to our experience of gathering leaves outside the classroom. Even though technically the fall season began in September, the leaves hadn’t started turning colors until late October. How can you start a project on fall leaves in your classroom when young children can look right outside their windows  and still see bright green leaves on every tree? You can talk to them about the leaves turning soon, but until they see the vivid red and orange and yellow leaves, it won’t be as memorable an experience. It just doesn’t seem natural or real to me. So I wait as long as possible, and find that the children’s receptivity is magically heightened when they can actually see Mother Nature lifting her fall veil before their eyes. Today the colors, smells, light, and beauty of Fall were around us. 
At the Living Wisdom School we are fortunate to have the ability to create a curriculum that can respond to natural rhythms and best serve the children. I like to call our outings, not field trips, but direct experiences based on Sharing Nature with Children  by Joseph Cornell. As this book says, Once students' interest and energy is awakened and focused, the stage is set for deeply experiencing nature.



The morning was so captivating; I decided to stretch my luck. “Let’s just sit a bit and have our morning circle,” I suggested, leading the children to one of my favorite spots on the school grounds. This is where, throughout the year, I and my students practice meditation, centering prayers or yoga together. It is a very quiet spot and has an expansive view of the neighboring hillside. The site has enough large rocks for almost every child to sit on, or to share with a friend. This morning, we sat as still as rocks.
 “I am firm and steadfast as a rock.” I knew I had to catch them quickly as we settled into our sitting meditation. We closed our eyes, and felt our rocks underneath our bodies. “How does that feel?” I asked.  Next we moved to noticing all the smells we could smell. We had done this several times in the classroom, but children's natural senses are heightened in nature. This was their first sensory exercise that required being still outside. When working with young children, I have found that it is helpful to create good practices and habits, building good foundations through the use of repetition. As you take things learned inside out into nature, you can repeat the steps, but add new, creative steps along the way.  
“What do you smell?” I asked, to help them expand their practice now, in nature. They were coming up with all types of wonderful smells while sitting on their rocks. “Can you smell the pine needles?” 





  As they opened their eyes, one of the girls looked up at the tree and asked, “What is that on the tree?” Someone had painted some graffiti on the tree. It wasn’t that noticeable, and normally I don’t like to draw attention to these intrusions in nature; I want children to experience the beauty of nature as it is. But I explained what had happened, and then we all hugged the tree and thanked it for being such a profound deep presence on our school grounds. 




The following day, the children worked on our “House of Fall” by attaching the leaves carefully with yarn.


  


In the Northwest, fall can be a prolonged event or it can be a short one.  It is up to Mother Nature how long the beauty will last. A fall wind can quickly diminish the length of time we have to enjoy the beauty of the leaves. That is why we as parents and teachers need to be responsive to the moment. Take the children outside to experience the fall season as often as you can. That is where many precious living memories will be created. My most memorable hikes with my Girl Scout troop as a child involved collecting leaves, followed by warm hot cocoa and crackling fires to warm us up in the fall air.

Sharing nature with small children brings such a deepening, and draws attention to what is important in our lives. This fall, it’s not too late to take a walk with a child, stop and breathe in the colors, and feel the firm steadfast rocks beneath you.  In gratitude, we gather an inner strength from all the gifts Divine Mother has bestowed upon us this past year. 

Gather your coat, scarves, gloves, and hat.  Then, without any agenda, feel nature this week.


 

 Let me know what you find out there......





Thursday, November 10, 2011

O moon, O moon




O moon o moon
You are very white,
Everything looks beautiful
Under your light.... 


Tonight is the full moon and another beautiful day in our classroom. I like to celebrate the expansion of children's' spirit and celebrate our connection with the moon. 
Today in class the children began with a calming circle. We all began cooking our moon biscuits together.


Last month, I shared with you how I bring a group of children together harmoniously to cook. It works every-time like magic. The recipe is divided into stages. I make up recipe cards with handmade photos of the ingredients. The children choose their cards. We also talk about how important hygiene and our spiritual energy is when we cook. The children are learning on so many levels.

Thank you for giving your friend a turn at stirring.
 The day continued with our afternoon parade though the classrooms.



She was a bright light today as our full moon.


 At the conclusion of our afternoon together a special surprise of "moon bubbles" were shared. 

The children are able to share the joy of the breath, light, sight, and expansion as they watched their individual moons float up to the sky. 


May this evening bring your family into an inner state of calmness as we feel our spiritual connection with the moon and all that is. 


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Spirit and nature dancing together





My classes celebrated today our Fall Harvest Festival at my home in the Ananda Community. We live on almost 6 acres of land surrounded by many varieties of trees. Today's visit was to help harvest the apple trees. We cooked, sang, marched in a parade, played games and I told stories. Today was a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. Divine Mother was shining her sunlight down on us.




We also had a very auspicious event happen. As we were picking our apples off the tree, we looked up and saw a bald eagle was flying over head. It soared above our heads for the whole time while the children were picking apples.


The children drew cards from the recipe. Her card was cutting the butter. The others are showing respect and patience as they wait for their turns.

Team work
Stirring the apples for mini pies

This needs a little more apples on top.



Look how many I found
I can get it







  Our spirits and nature really danced today. What a glorious day we had together dancing in thy light.