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Appreciation, Calm, Education for Life, Experiential learning, Focused Attention, Meditation, Teaching Spiritual Principles
Circle Time
Every morning, in every Living Wisdom School classroom from preschool to middle school, the school day begins the same way. Circle Time is a special part of the day for the class to come together in unity, set the intention for the day, share and support one another, and send collective well-wishes to friends, family, and all of humanity. A short meditation is part of each classroom’s Circle Time. For our Preschool and Kindergarten classes, a highlight of Circle Time is being a “Shining Star.” Each day a new student is a Shining Star, taking turns in this role to lead the blessing, “light” the candle, and be a…
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Affirmations in School
Lately, I've been enjoying introducing affirmations to the Primary class at various points in the day. I've found that doing a brief affirmation introduces sweet and positive spiritual moments throughout our day. We learn a new one weekly...
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Pasta Meditation
Here’s a mindfulness/meditation activity from Nitya Ferrari, who taught last spring at the Living Wisdom School in Assisi, Italy. Originally, this activity was done with beans at the LWS in Nevada City, CA, but Nitya gave it a distinctly Italian flavor. At LWS in Nevada City, Narani did a “quiet time” activity that worked very well. The children wore blindfolds while sitting on the floor. They were given each a handful of beans. The beans were of 4 distinct shapes (garbanzo, large white beans, small black beans and pinto beans). The task was to sit quietly with eyes closed behind the blindfolds and separate the beans into 4 piles in…
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Building a Labyrinth with the Tools of Maturity
A Cucumber Seed has returned from our summer vacation. It is great to be back at school here at Living Wisdom School in Beaverton, welcoming new families and seeing familiar faces. Our Upper Elementary teacher, Matthew Fredrickson, shares here a story of one of the activities our school community was up to this summer. Recently, a group of students from our Living Wisdom School created a labyrinth next to the garden at Ananda Center at Laurelwood, one of our favorite field trip destinations. The idea to construct a labyrinth, or a maze, or something occurred to me last spring while pondering soccer-field-sized overgrown plot adjacent to Laurelwood’s garden. I first…
