For Diwali, this past year, Roma Foi and her friend organized an annual Diwali banquet to benefit a charity in India called the Gandhi Leprosy Seva Sangh The funds raised were sent directly to Roma's family in India to buy supplies needed for those affected by leprosy. In addition to donating to a worthy cause, the banquet allowed all of our little ones to get involved in the community, learn about their Indian culture, meet new friends, and perform on stage for the first time to a Bollywood song in front of a live audience!
This was definitely a debut performance for many of the littles, including Arjun! He was the youngest in the age range from 3-9 and probably the proudest, most excited little performer of the bunch! He absolutely cherished every second of this entire experience from learning the dance for the first time to the actual stage show on the day of the banquet! After several weekly practices lead by Roma Foi, all the kids did an amazing job on performance day and definitely made it a memorable experience for all! What an excellent idea by Roma Foi and her friend! Daddy and Mommy were very proud of Krish and Arjun for their dedication to practicing and their amazing performance! The song they danced to, Subha Hone Na De, is still at the top of their favorites and Arjun still requests to play it in the car, calling it "Hello Kendi Cam"!
Happy Diwali!
Ariyan and Krish always so happy to
get to see each other!
Sevak and Arjun!
Ba having pizza with the boys!
Performance Time! (Introduction, Zoomed In Performance, and Zoomed Out Performance, respectively)
Performers proudly receiving trophies for their Dance! Roma Foi thought of everything!
Binal, Roma, Shefali and I - Proud Mommies!
Since the show was such a hit, Krish, Ariyan, Nyla, Arjun, and Sevak actually performed the dance again many times at different occasions.
Carrollton Christmas Party at Roma Foi's House when Raj Kaka proposed to Priti!
Krish's last day of Kindergarten, May 26th, was an emotional one! His KG class had become like a second family this year with so many close bonds formed not only between classmates but between students and teachers as well! Krish's best friend Reian was his classmate this year for the second year in a row after Pre-K, and we have been so appreciative of having Mrs. LaMendola as our teacher this year! She has been teaching Kinder, Primer and 1st Grade for over 10 years at Greenhill and is truly amazing with this age group! In addition, her teaching fellow, Mr. Jackson, was also one of the coaches for Krish's football team and summer basketball team! Krish also formed a close friendship with two other boys in his class this year in addition to Reian: Dusty and Desi. The four became so close that the teachers often referred to them as "the four amigos"!
Mommy chauffeuring Krish, Reian,
and Dusty to the KG end-of-the-year
party at Pump it Up! Ready to celebrate
the end of a wonderful school year!
His last day of school did not consist of a fancy end-of-year party but a sweet and simple good-bye that gave the teachers and students a great opportunity to really interact and just enjoy being together as a classroom family one last time! The kids loved doing one of their favorite classroom activities, Freeze Dance, for the last time as well!
Last year, for Week of the Young Child, Krish's Pre-K class with Ms. Gio and Mrs. Shrestha performed the play One. It was equally one of the cutest performances I've ever seen and such a treat to watch. I wanted to share it now since I realized I had not posted it last year. Hope you enjoy!
During Week of the Young Child, Krish's Kindergarten class performed the cutest rendition I've ever seen of one of our favorite fairy tale stories: The Little Red Hen! One of the best things about the play was that Arjun loved it so much! He loved watching his big brother and all of his friends perform, and he loved the story, the songs, and watching all the costume animals come to life!
Mrs. LaMendola's class definitely did an amazing job, and they all looked so cute! Check out the video below!
In the spring semester, one of the units of study in Kindergarten was light and color. Thus, Krish and his classmates voted on a way to present this theme and they chose to transform their classroom into a Rainbow Land on St. Patrick's Day 2016! Just like Bug Headquarters, it was a special treat for parents, teachers, and other school mates to see and learn from the creativity that inspired this young class' transformation of their classroom!
Welcome to Rainbow Land!
Classmates pointing the way to go.
Mixing primary colors to make secondary colors!
Putting the colors of the rainbow in order!
The kids gave gold coins for visiting their station and participating in their prepared teaching activity.
Arjun and Daddy learning about color and light.
Proud Daddy with Krish!
Proud Mommy with Krish!
Turning in seven gold coins to receive our rainbow badge made by our very own little Kindergartener!
Krish, Dusty, and Bobby (football teammates as well as classmates) being silly!
One of Krish's favorite memories of his Kinder year is performing in the Nutcracker Suite, a ballet by Peter Tchaikovsky! The Kindergarten Nutcracker musical is one of the oldest traditions at Greenhill, dating back 65 years! Every year, each of the 4 Kinder classes are assigned 2 songs from the play, culminating in eight ballet performances of the entire musical. The head of school narrates the story, while the Kindergarteners perform their dances in a production put on for all the parents and many other GH students as well.
This year, Krish's class was split into the boys who were the Russian Cossacks and the girls who were the Sugar Plum Fairies. They looked beyond adorable in their costumes on performance day! The entire semester, they practiced their dance in music and drama class, and Krish loved every bit of it! He practiced his part many times for us before the big show and even wanted to perform it in our Shah Family Reunion Talent Show this summer! (an oversight on Mommy's part because it would have been such a cute performance!)
Some of the other performances in the musical included the Chinese Tea dancers, the Candy Flutes, the Toy Soldiers and Mouse King, and the Spanish Chocolate. The musical is usually performed in the black box theater on Greenhill's campus, but since the new Marshall Family Performing Arts Center was not completed yet, the show was held at the George Bush Elementary School next door and the entire performance was recorded for the children's families! Click here to view the amazing production! You will surely be in for a treat!
Mrs. LaMendola's Russian Cossacks!
Ready to watch the show at George Bush
Elementary!
Arjun excited to see Krishbhai after the show!
Krish's Class Boys - The Russian Cossacks!
Krish's Class Girls - The Sugar Plum Fairies!
The Candy Flutes!
Krish and Bobby
Krish with Dada and Ba after his performance!
Mommy and Krish!
Daddy and my handsome, little star!
My dashing Russian Cossack!
Krish eagerly practicing his dance during the school year!
During the fall semester, Krish and his classmates, along with the help of their teachers, turned their classroom into a Bug Headquarters for parents and other students throughout preschool and lower school to come visit and learn what they learned through this unit of study!
They did an amazing job and as parents we definitely got some insight into how much they are learning at school!
Mommy and her little Hornet!
They even dressed the part! Little bats and hornets!
Arjun admiring the work!
The Bee Hive!
Arjun learning about the life cycle of a butterfly!
