TKG Academy

First Days of School

We opened the doors to the new school building to let in the timid and fresh faces into our classroom on August 10th, 2009.   Two months of hard work of Rohini and Laxmi Prabhus, who made and built the structure in the hot summer, were finally about to pay off in the bright shiny faces and cute words of the little ones learning inside.

It was a new excursion for teachers and students alike.  Laxmipriya devi dasi and Gopi gita devi dasi invited ten students: Jayadeva, Ava, Nitai, Gandiva, Arjuna, Zara, Rama, Padma, Nimai and Bala, to the classroom this year.  Other teachers are: Mother Sucharya, Mother Rasakeli, Mother Yogamaya, Mother Nitai Lila and Haridas.

And what a journey it has been!  Here, I post a couple of the highlights of the months of August, September and October.

The first task to any preschool kindergarten class is to discuss with children the rules and practice following those rules.  Eyes Watching, Ears Listening, Kind Words, Hands to Self, Walking Feet.  We went over what happens when we follow those rules and how crazy the class would be if we didn’t!  Kids were still getting used to being away from their mommies and some took a little time to adjust, but that’s okay.  We let them know, through our love and hugs and cuddles, that we can make the transition as easy for them as possible.  Of course, the classroom is also filled with games, puzzles and educational toys to get their mind off of the missing.

The next task is to help them develop the skills to work with each other lovingly. 

Especially important for the preschoolers.  Little songs and practicing loving gestures, role-playing kind words and role-playing sharing help us all along the way.

The kindergarteners separated for the academics to the Big Gurukula Building, where they began their study of Sing,Spell, Read & Write, an excellent Phonics/Reading program that has been in use here at the Gurukula for over 20 years.   They study Saxon Math as well.

The Preschoolers also study SSRW and practice letters, shapes, colors, basic motor skills such as cutting, drawing and gluing,  through games and activities.  And then of course there is individual play and group play, through all kinds of building blocks, puzzles, animals, and more.

Highlights:

                      

8/17  Nimai so proud of his block tower

8/19  Bala copies a simple pattern block design shown by the teacher

August 17 – 21:

Letter B:  Making necklaces with beads, broccoli stamps, counting beans, making B Butterflies, Bear Puppet and learning about what bears like to eat and where they find them, Belly Button Book, Boat craft and talking about Srila Prabhupada’s Voyage on the Jaladuta

Science: Bears & Butterflies

Art: Drawing waves, cutting straight lines, stamps painting

August 24 – 28:  Radhastami Flowers and Cards

Letter C:  Explored the Rathayatra Cart with the preschoolers,  practiced and discussed Construction, cars & tires & locomotion, and learned about cats.

Below, the kids bang away with their lil hammers.  One day it would be nice to have a real Tech Ed for the kids… big and small.  Or a wood bench with nuts, bolts, screws and holes.

Here Padma explores the Ratha Yatra cart while showing the little car she made.

 

August 31 – Sept. 4

Letter D

Science: Dinosaurs.  Books, Classifying Dinosaurs, Dino Puzzle(Bala just loooves the pterodactyls)   

Art: We make daisies with paper plates and go look for daisy type flowers all around the temple and school property.

Dhenukasura:  The kids dress up as cowherd boys… and donkeys.  We make donkeys with tails and act out the whole story of Krishna and Balaram tossing Dhenukasure in the trees.  We sing the Talavana Forest songs and have a blaaasstt!!

   

September

We celebrate 5 birthdays in September!  Happy Birthday to Arjuna, Gandiva, Rama, Padma, Jayadev, and Nimai!! 

Just a sample of what we did this month:

E for Elephants:  We made elephant puppets, talked about the different places in the world that they live, watched elephants on National Geographics, went on a peanut hunt and counted, sorted and shelled the peanuts that we found.

F for Fishies, and Flutes

The kids were mesmerized by how Krishna’s flute might sound and the story of Krishna’s flute.  They also got to play a real live flute and make sound.  Jay!

 

G for goats, grasshoppers, grapes and garden

Here kids are cutting grass and decorating their grasshoppers with the cut grass.

October

The auspicious month of Kartik and Damodar Month, where Krishna stole butter from the gopis!  A major project for the children was making paper machey butter pots.  Thanks to Krishna and Manny for their help and inspiring this project!!

On the last day of Kartik, Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji’s altar was adorned with the kids butterpots, hanging right in reach of Krishna to grab a mouthful.  :D  The other pots were in front of Gaura Nitai’s and Jagannath's altars.

Also this month, a big Happy Birthday to our lil Bala!!

Again, below is just a sample of projects done this month:

10/1

H for heart, helicopters, horses and homes…

Here they use simple shapes to create a house.

10/7  I for Insects:  A whole thematic unit, including reading, writing, math, science, and art.

We collected all kinds of insects from the surrounding neighborhood.. talked about how many legs they have, the similarities and differences.  Counted and classified them.  Had them crawl all around us eeeek!  and colored different insect diagrams.

Kids pearing in their cups to show us the creepy craawwly little bugs they have gathered.  Dont forget!  A spirit soul is also in each of these insects, so handle them caaarefully.

10/19  J for Jets, Jaguars and Lord Jagannath, we made Jagannath Faces out of shapes.  watched and read the Jagannath story.

10/26 learned all about the letter K…  Read more in the next blog!