October 24th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)


Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4

Story: Glass of Milk

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We had a fun outdoor balavihar class today!  It was a nice beautiful day, quite warm for an October morning, we should say.  We combined both the sections and had a few friends from 'Bridgewater balavihar' too joining us.

We started off with sahanaavavatu...  We then did the geeta chanting practice of the 1st 4 verses of chapter 11.  They were all so loud and clear in their chanting!  They were probably trying to do justice to the outdoor location chosen for the class today :). 

Since the walk was for raising money for rural development in India, we spoke about why we were at the park, what our role was in assisting the not so fortunate children.  It was amazing how much the children already knew!

To emphasis the purpose of the walk, we heard a story called 'The Glass of milk'.  There was once a poor boy who was very hungry and cold.  He did not know where to go and stood in the cold for a long time.  Finally, not able to bear it anymore, he thought of asking someone for food and knocked on the door of a house near by.  A kind looking young lady opened the door.  At that moment, the boy hesitated to ask for food.  So, he ended up asking for just a glass of water to drink.  But that lady brought him a tall warm glass of milk instead.  With that, not only his hunger was quenched, he felt warm and energized!

Many years later, that same lady was admitted to a hospital with a grave disease.  When a doctor was looking through her charts and saw the name of her hometown, his eyes lit up.  He went to see the lady and, lo and behold, it was the same lady that had energized him on a cold winter day, years ago!  He was a doctor now!  He immediately took over her case, gave her the best treatment and took special care of her.  After a long battle, she was cured and well enough to go home.  When the bills were being made, the doctor asked to see the bills for his approval.  When it came to him, he wrote something on the bottom of the bill and sent it to the lady.  The lady could not hold her tears back, for, it said, 'Paid in full, with a glass of milk'!!  The deed of kindness she has sown had come right back to her!  Even if you never see the deed again, atleast you would have made the world a better place.

We related to this story, our act of giving to the needy.  We have just assisted in making the world a better place for someone we may never come to know.  But atleast, we know we did our share in helping them.

We finished the class with 'pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam...'.  But wait, we were not done yet!  We did some warm up stretching, exercise and yoga poses, in order to get ready for the fun five mile walk, we were so looking forward to.  The day was beautiful and the weather was perfect!  We couldn't have asked for a better day to be out in the park.  It was a fun, fun balavihar class today!!  By the way, we have some pictures uploaded from today.  Check them out on the top left hand side of the page.

October 17th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Meditation: 1 minute


Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4

Story:  ahalyaa

Words of the week: ahalyaa; gautama rishi

Activity: Coloring page of stone turning into ahalyaa

Game time: I spy... along with questions

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
•  aarati and pledge in the auditorium

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
The children are getting into our balavihar routine wonderfully!  They know the scheme of activities and are ever ready with their enthusiasm throughout the class.  After our beginning prayers, in order to celebrate 'vijayadashami', we also chanted 'annapUrNe sadaapUrNe...'  During meditation, we focused on 'raama naama' (remembering Lord raama during meditation).  Looks like a lot of the children are practicing the geeta chanting at home.  They were very comfortable with the words to the first verse.  They needed leading for the 2nd and 3rd though.  We also started the 4th verse today.  At this pace, if they keep practicing regularly, come April, all of them will be pros at chanting :). 

We spoke about the story of ahalyaa in story time.  We saw how indra disguised himself as sage gautama and tricked ahalyaa.  She had turned into a stone.  On the touch of raaama's divine feet, she regained her original form.  mahrShI gautam came back.  Then raama, lakshmaNa went towards mithilaa nagara with sage vishwaamitra.  We were all very curious as to what happens there.  Here's a hint - someone is getting married!  We've told the children to come dressed up in colorful (preferably Indian) clothes, to celebrate the wedding :).

They colored the picture of the stone turning into ahalyaa.  Then, practiced writing राम (raama) in sanskrit.  Parents, please make sure you send the composition books with them every class.  It is very important for them to carry with them, all the supplies needed, for each class.

We played a game of 'I spy...'  Aunty would ask a question and the children had to point out the picture from the chart.  They sure know their raamaayaNa trivia so far :).  They did very well!

We have a bunch of smart kids really.  We got talking about good vs bad.  Where is God?  Why don't we see him physically?  How come if God is in the food, we eat Him?  We ended up talking about bad guys, to bullying at school as well!  They certainly know their ground rules.  They were reeling away ideas regarding how to handle such situations!!  Talk to you kids about these discussions. It is quite interesting and entertaining as well.  It is also amazing how much they know and how far they think!

Happy vijayadashamI to all.  Make sure you register for the walkathon online.  Next week is a balavihar week.  But we will be assembling at the Mercer County park.  Follow chinmayavrindavan.org for schedules, etc.  See you all at the park on 24th.

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Before our class started with our usual agenda, we all agreed to keep our stuff in a more organized fashion. Couple of our young volunteers helped in making sure that our shoes were lined up, our bags were neatly place in one assigned table and our jackets were stacked properly. We learned that in order to have a productive class, it is very important for all of us to cooperate and keep the place neat and organized. Thank You for all the help!!

The class started with opening shlokas. All of us recited with lot of enthusiasm and energy. We did our morning meditation and tried to chant the name of Sri Rama as we sat with closed eyes. We all did very well . There was absolute silence. We have already discussed the importance of meditation and how this practice will keep all of us focused and sharp during our studies.

Today we introduced third shloka of Bhagwad Geeta (chapter 11). Kids are doing very well chanting the first two shlokas. We will be practicing more in upcoming classes. Please keep practicing at home.

The story session was very interesting. Before we started  today’s story we had a little quiz on the previous chapters. It was really good to see that kids remember all the details from the previous chapters. Since we covered “Dandaka Forest” and “Tatka”, there was a lot of interesting conversation about beauty of forests and what is scary about the forests etc. We talked about Tatka and how she was killed. We also listened about Maricha and Subahu and how Rama and Lakshmana helped sage Viswamitra protect their Yagna .

We all did the coloring and made sure that we are following Sri Rama’s trail properly on the map. We did not do the likhita japa because of time constraints.

We all will meet next time in Mercer county park. We will be taking attendance there so make sure you all are there with your sneakers, caps and sunscreen.

Let’s all make the “Walkathon” a Huge success!!

Hari Om

October 10th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM

Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2, 3

Story: taaTakaa in danDakaaraNya; maarIcha subaahu

Words of the week: taaTakaa; danDakaaraNya; maarIcha; subaahu

Activity: Coloring pages of sage vishvaamitra with raama and lakShmaNa; raama and lakShmaNa slaying subaahu and wounding maarIcha

Game time: 4 corners, but with a twist - hands and feet represented the 4 corners and the children had to lift their respective limbs when the words of the week were called out ;); raamaH vadati

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:

Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
It's Sunday morning again!  It was a busy morning with lots of activities.  We started off with 3 ॐ-s  and the beginning prayers.  The ॐ-s are getting longer and longer kids.  That's good!  They also remembered the chinmudraa, the way they keep the hands during meditation.  After meditation, we learnt the geeta chapter-11.  We had already learnt the first 2 verses.  We added the 3rd one today.  The kids are pronouncing well, looks like some of them are practicing at home.  Keep it up kids and make sure you all practice regularly.

In the story time, we heard about how sage vishvaamitra took raama and lakShmaNa with him.  In danDakaaraNya (forest), they slayed the demoness taaTakaa.  Once again the forest rejuvenated to its original splendor.  Then during vishvaamitra's yagna, raama - lakShmaNa killed subaahu and threw maarIcha far far away, with an arrow.  After that,... to be continued... ;)

Today, the children started to learn how to write 'राम' in Sanskrit!  They did very good.  Parents, we can not emphasis enough, the need to send all the supplies with them regularly.  Some of the children did not have their note books with them.  Without that, they will not be able to practice all the new things we shall learn.  Please make sure they come prepared to each class.

Then they did their coloring tasks beautifully.  During game time, we played the 4 corners game, with a spin ;).  Their limbs were representing the different corners and they had to raise it according to whatever name that was called.  Boy, do we have some attentive kids or what!  They had a blast with the game.

We ended the class with 'poorNamadaH poornamidam...'.  Have a fun week everyone.  See you next Sunday!

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

We had yet another fun filled session this morning. We all started with three ॐ followed by the shlokas. Today we learned one of the shlokas form Sri Gurustotram (verses to the Teacher). We did "tvam-ev mata ca pita tvam-ev". Everyone did very good. Some of us already know this  shloka. The meditation session was awesome today. Each one of us sat quietly for one minute and at the end of one minute everyone was able to get the marble count perfectly correct. Almost all of us got a twenty  count. (Please ask your child more about how we do our morning meditation and what is the use of marbles in this process).

Geeta Chanting is coming along very well. We did the first two verse. Please continue practicing at home. In the story time we discussed about how King Dashrata allowed  young Rama to go with sage Vishvamitra to kill the demons. Guru Vasistha advised the king and the King followed the command of his Guru,trusting it would be for his good.

After the story time some of the kids wanted to sing a bhajan and so we all sang "Subramanyam, Subramanyam". We sang it loud, louder, loudest and then very very gently. All of us got energized for the next activity.

The coloring was a lot of fun. Kids did a wonderful job choosing which crayon they wanted to use to color the details in the pictures. Since we all had been sitting for a long time we took a game break. We all made a big circle and played "raamaH-vadati" and also Incorporated some yoga moves in  between.

We ended the class with likhita japa. We wrote "OM" on a laminated paper. Some of the kids finished one page and wanted to write one more page!! All the kids were absolutely quiet wrtiting and chanting in their minds as instructed. It was amazing to see how these energetic young kids were sitting so quietly and writing their OMs.

We all look forward for the next class. Please do not forget to register in "Walkathon" coming up on the 24th of this month.

Hari OM!

October 3rd Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')


Meditation: 1 minute

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1, 2

Story: Birth of raama, bharata, lakShmaNa, shatrughna; their growing years; visit from maharShI vishvaamitra

Words of the week: raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna; maharShI vishvaamitra

Activity: Coloring pages of putrakaameShTi yaaga; infant raama, lakShmaNa, bharata, shatrughna with their mothers

Game time: raamaH vadati (see link); 4 corners

End of class:

• ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:  
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
Activities are in full swing.  It is nice to see the enthusiasm of the children when they come into the class with a smile.  We started off the class with prayers, followed by meditation.  We practiced the 1st two verses of geeta chanting.  Parents, we can not emphasis enough, the importance of practice at home.  This is a tricky chapter with quite a few tongue twisters :).  We will be introducing 2 new shlokas every month, since we have to learn 14 by April.  The cd-s are being given out at the front desk.  Play them in the car or at home, as often as possible.  The kids are so smart that they will involuntarily pick up the words.  Within no time, they will be very proficient :).

In our raamaayaNa learning, we proceeded to hear all about the yagna puruSha who came out of the holy fires and gave a bowl of paayasam to king dasharatha.  He gave it to kausalyaa and kaikeyI, who both in turn shared it with sumitraa, his third wife.  They all begot sons.  kausalyaa had raama; kaikeyI had bharata; sumitraa had lakShmaNa and shatrughna.  They all learnt vedaas, upanishads, archery, etc.  When they were young lads, sage vishvaamitra visited them and asked dasharatha to send raama and lakShmaNa to help him overcome demons.  dasharatha reluctantly agreed to send them with maharShI vishvaamitra.  We had to stop the story at that as it was time for our activity of the day.

The children colored pictures of the yaaga and infant raama and his brothers.  Some of them were so fast that they went ahead and colored sage vishvaamitra with raama and lakShmaNa as well!  They all have a book of pictures each.  We collect them back every week.  That will be their take home book at the end of the year.

They are learning some sanskrit words during game time.  We played a game similar to 'Simon says...' but only, it is 'raamaH vadati...' (raama says...) in sanskrit.  They got to learn a few verbs and respond accordingly.  We then played the 4 corners game with the names of raama and his 3 brothers and finished off with a few stretches.

Parents please make sure you send the 'things to bring' without fail to each class.  It will be hard to share crayons, etc during every class.

See you all next Sunday.

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Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:

Today we had fun and productive session. We started with few yoga stretches so all of us could focus well and have good sitting posture throughout the class duration. This was followed by opening shlokas and meditation. Some of the kids were a little restless and could not sit still but we have talked about the importance of meditation and we will do better next time.Geeta chanting is coming along well. We need to practice at home. 

Story session was fun and everyone participated fully. We talked about the "Yagna" Preparation. What is a Yagna and why did Sumitra get twins. Everyone participated and lot of interaction happened between the kids. The best part though was distributing the Ramayana folder where kids are going to be coloring and making projects. It was exciting and kids did a great job writing their names and coloring first and second lessons. At the end of the school year we will give the finished folder back to the kids and it will be a wonderful art project to keep.

The last activity was a fun game called raamaH vadati (raama says.... like Simon says). The details can be found on the blog page. We all had a blast playing this game.We will continue practicing the sanskrit words throughout the year.

Please make a note that we will be changing classroom next week from D-109 to D-112. Please see the class assignment list at the front entrance of the building.

We look forward to see you all next week. 

Hari Om!