Piano Lessons at Shanti Bhavan

Amarnath from the 5th grade shows off his piano skills with this performance of "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea"

Field Day 2010

Watch the students show off their athletic skills as they compete at Field Day 2010.

Third Graders in Art Class!

Third graders with their pipe-cleaner creations made in art class with volunteer Andrea!

Hindi Class and National Anthem

The children of Shanti Bhavan perform the India National Anthem at morning assembly.




Ms. Sheeba, one of Shanti Bhavan's newest faculty members, teaches an animated Hindi class to the 7th graders.

Voice Lessons

5th grade Sabrinath during his voice lesson with volunteer Alison. Sabrinath, Bhuvenashwari (6th grade) and Thanuja (7th grade) study voice together twice a week from 6:30 - 7:30 A.M.

4th graders Dinesh, Praveen, and Shree Shakti in recorder class with Summer. Great concentration, poise, and posture!

Performances at Shanti Bhavan

Bina, a graduate of the first class, doing a classical Indian bharatanatyam dance for the Shanti Bhavan 2010 Graduation Celebration.



Shanti Bhavan celebrated School Day on July 5. The day included performances by the volunteers, aunties, teachers and of course the children.

The Third Graders are eager to share their knowledge and predict what is going to happen in their story. Our comprehension skill of the week was how to make predictions when we read. We learned a cheer complete with hand motions, “what you know + what you see and read = a prediction!”

Vel excitedly answers the last question of his weekly reading quiz for Third Grade. He was tested on weekly vocabulary words, story settings, and the difference between a common and proper noun.

Here the 4th grade class shows off their museum drawings after their activity class. When asked " Do you like the draw?" The 4th graders responded: "We love coloring and drawing things that we see around us!"

Here the 8th-12th Grade girls are seen taking Gymnastics with our Guest Volunteer Anna Rivera. When asked "What they enjoyed most about Gymnastics?" They said: We love how it pushes us to be flexible and stay open and we can apply this to life as well!

A New Year Begins at Shanti Bhavan

PT is in full swing! Here are the younger grades playing in the dirt and making beautiful designs with the flowers. The older students enjoyed playing a game of volleyball with volunteers Shreya Bhatt, Molly Huish, and Maura McNamara.

Shanti Bhavan Graduation

Shanti Bhavan celebrated its first graduation ever on June 6th. 14 students will be moving on to college to study their chosen professions. The ceremonies were filled with pomp and circumstance, with speeches by the children and special guests including S. D. Shibulal, co-founder of Infosys, and Rolf Saligmann, Consul General of Germany.



Family members of the graduates attended the ceremonies. Here, valedictorian Pushpa stands with her smiling family. The families all expressed how proud and hopeful they were of their children and thanked the staff of Shanti Bhavan for providing them with this opportunity.



The nights leading up to the graduation ceremony were filled with fun and celebration with performances by all grades, the visiting volunteers, the teachers and aunties. Here the graduating class sing "In My Life" by The Beatles.

To escape the sweltering heat during the very last week of school, grades 1-5 had the opportunity to swim for 15 minutes a day. Here the 5th graders splash and play. At the end of the day, the water from the Dolphin Pool was pumped to the watermelon fields.




1st grader Prashant thoroughly enjoys himself during a theater class led by volunteer Rebecca Versaci.




8th grader Vijay practices Pachelbel's Canon in D major during his free time. It is an all-time favorite of the piano students.

Kusuma, Sebastian, and Keerthishree play on the jungle gym during evening PT.

3st grader Rajesh works happily on his creative writing project.

1st graders excitedly show off their muscles on the soccer field!

The 12th graders relax together after morning classes.



Shreeshakti proudly presents her "My Two Homes" project to the rest of the 3rd grade.

Princes and Jeopardy with the 4th Gade

Fourth graders after performing the Little Prince for the school.



Fourth graders playing math jeopardy!

Marvelous Melodies!

In music, the third graders learn a dialogue song; the boys and the girls take turns singing to each other. “Girls, girls, I’ve been thinking what a great world this would be, if the girls were all transported far beyond the Northern Sea”





Twelfth grader, Rajini rehearses for the upcoming performance while the First graders offer moral support.