Week of October 19th, 2015

Diwali: Festival of Lights

The learning about India continues!

This week, our classes learned about the festival of Diwali in India. Though this sacred holiday won't occur this year until November this year, it was close enough to be a part of our lesson plans this month. We learned that Diwali, a festival that is similar in its importance to Christmas for Christians, is a spiritual holiday for all faiths in India that basically celebrates the power of light over darkness.

Food, music, fireworks, beautiful colored sand art on the streets and thousands of small clay pot candles line the streets, helping to coin the celebration the "festival of lights". People also enjoy playing dice games, taking their chances on luck, and meditating over positive outcomes for the year to come.

In class as we looked at pictures of this celebration, we also had fun pretending the small LED light was our candle.  The children also reviewed what we have learned about India so far, and we watched a neat video from National Geographic on the festival, as well.

The three year old class reviewing facts!

We are still enjoying singing the bat song! =)

Don't forget to ask your child about this week's lesson using the extender questions!

PS--Extra neat fact! One of our parents shared with me over the last few weeks that she visited India recently, and she shared some awesome photos of her trip with our students. Thanks so much for contributing,  Adrienne Jamail! =)

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1) What country are you learning about in music? India

2) Did you learn about Diwali and the festival of lights? What do the people light to celebrate?  Candles and fireworks!

3) Do you remember one of the games that people like to play during Diwali? Dice!

Week of October 14th, 2013

DIWALI: Festival of Lights and

The ancient art of snake charming!

Today we enjoyed learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali (several places around the world have already celebrated, and India is due to celebrate the first week of November)! Thought to traditionally be a harvest festival and expression of light towards darkness (good towards evil) it is also speculated that the millions of lights, lamps and fireworks serve a very useful purpose as well. The rainy season and flooding in India brings many insects and bugs, and the smoke from snuffed ceramic pot lamps, candles and firecrackers are thought to help alleviate the pests!

We also explored the ancient art of snake charming today in music (also thought to have originated in India). I showed the kids several videos of snake charmers using circular breathing and flutes to "hypnotize" cobra snakes in baskets, and we mimicked this motion as I played a recorder and I encouraged the children to sway in the same direction I was moving.

I explained to the children that cobras aren't actually able to hear the music, but are mimicking the snake charmer's movements with the flute as a means of their own protection, anticipating the threat of danger. We also talked about the snake's posture, and what it means when the "hood" appears on the cobra. Find questions below to ask your child about class today to encourage an extending conversation at home! :)

Speaking of questions, our older children worked on asking questions at the end of today's class. Quite often, when you ask a young child if they have questions, they will raise their hand in anticipation and offer a statement. (And many times, it is a statement that doesn't relate to the conversation at hand! HAHA!)

Today, we worked on staying on the relevant topic (snakes, snakecharming, India) and we focused on the beginning statements of questions:

"WHY...?"
"WHO...?"
"HOW...?"
"WHERE...?"

This kept the kids on task and they were congratulated when they were able to think of a relevant question! Speaking of questions, see today's "Extension Conversation" questions below!

The infants Listen to "Thumri", a traditional Indian love song, while exploring
wooden instruments!

1. What was the festival of lights called? Diwali Festival of Lights

2. Where does it take place? India

3. What do they do for festival of lights? Harvest, sing, dance, light candles, clay pot lights, fireworks, etc.

4. When it floods in India, what happens to the insects? There are too many of them! (The smoke helps keep them away!)

5. What animal does the charmer keep in the basket? A snake! Specifically--a cobra. Extra points: when the sides of the cobra's neck stand out, they are showing their "hood". And that is when they feel threatened!

6. Why does the snake move when the snake charmer plays? The snake is following the movement of the flute. The snake can not actually hear music, but can feel vibrations.