Diwali Celebrations and Picture Day : Thank you

Dear SILCers:

Thank you all for making Diwali celebrations at SILC a success and fun event.

It is good to see you all today at SILC. You are all dressed for the diwali celebration and picture day. .

Thank you all for bringing a sweet or snack or dish to share. Many of you have spent lot of time, effort in preparing a variety of very yummy dishes. It is very satisfying to see all of you enjoying the food and festivities.

Some of you have shared how Diwali is celebrated in different parts of India. Thank you for sharing those experiences. One particular story Riya told on how Diwali is celebrated in her native Punjab stuck to me -- lighting the lamps and keeping the doors open during the night so that Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) will come inside the home. Is it possible to do keep the doors open during diwali while living in Minnesota - the ice box of America? I couldn't resist this thought and the chuckle.

SILC is growing. And it is growing big. I think this is the first time where getting all the SILCers into a group picture proved to be a challenge. But Ralph - our official photographer (I took the liberty to give him that title) managed to get the group picture. Thanks to Ralph for taking all the family pictures with the backdrop of arts class creations. We will share these pictures with all of you soon.

Decoration of diwali diyas is fun. I can see many kids and grownups - immersing themselves in that craft. It appeared to me that the tables got too crowded. Each experience at SILC teaches us something - so, it is going to 200 diyas spread across 4 different tables :) next year. Thanks to Neelam for arranging the diyas and Lisa for coordinating the decoration and to all the parents who helped in this activity.

It is all colorful joy all around.

The first issue of "The SILC Times" is released today. A big thanks to Erin - our Asst Principal and editor of the news letter, Lisa - our art teacher and the composer of the news letter and Anushka, Kavya, Mahima, Meera - our editorial team - for bringing out a beautiful and best issue out. Hope you all had a chance to read it. Please make sure that you do the quiz from the news letter - to know your teachers better.

There will be two more issues of the news letter (one on January 23rd and another April 24th). There will also be graudation year book at the end of the current academic year. Please start thinking about contributing to these these issues.

As outlined in the news letter, please make sure that you visit SILC Blogs to catch up with the news and announcement; and also to see the lesson plans/assignment your teachers are posting.

You can go to http://www.silcmn.com and click on "Classes" to visit different SILC Blogs. For the current academic year, the main blog is http://silc0910.blogspot.com (the one you are currently reading now). For each class, there is a separate blog (silckannada, silctamil, silcart, silcpreschool, etc. all followed by .blogspot.com).

Enjoy visiting these blogs and please feel free to leave a comment or feedback to the SILC blogs.

Sincerely yours
Siva Jasthi
Principal