The winter break is over & the year 2023 is steadily pacing up! We are thrilled & excited about another fun-filled year of learning in our classrooms! January brings cold weather and snow to many parts of the country. Our theme for the month was “Winter” and our teachers planned interesting activities on winter and snow.
We had artificial snow in the classrooms as part of the science project and our children gained knowledge of the texture & characteristics of snow. Our students took a sneak peek into the color theory in the ice cube painting activity. They painted ice cubes in different colors, & were thrilled to see the new color after the ice melted down (color mixing). Infant & toddler classrooms were introduced to this season, with winter-themed snowman stories in the literature section. Our preschoolers went on to build a snowman as they listened to Snowman stories!
Along with the winter activities, Vidyarambh also celebrated Makar Sankranti, the first Indian festival of the year! It is one of the important festivals that is celebrated across northern & southern parts of India. As part of the celebration, Pre-school and PreK children explored cooking by preparing the traditional delicacy called ‘Sweet Pongal’. Sankranti also marks the changes in the zodiac and the arrangement of the earth’s dial in relation to sun. Our teachers took this opportunity to discuss earth’s movement around the sun, and the transition it brings in the weather & the harvesting season.
On the 26th of January, we had 2 cultural events to celebrate. It was Vasantha Panchami and Indian Republic Day. We celebrated Vasantha Panchami by reciting Shlokas to Goddess Saraswathi and children wrote the Sanskrit letter “OM” on a plate of rice. Later they painted Indian flags and learned briefly about Indian history to celebrate India’s 74th Republic Day. Our older kids learned a Hindi patriotic song.
It was an energetic start for the year 2023 as we began it with fun-filled Winter theme activities & moved on to celebrate Makar Sankranti, Vasant Panchami & Republic Day giving us the assurance that we are getting past the gloomy winters and entering into the sweet spring.