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')
* करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
* शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam
* बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM
Meditation: 1 minute
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14
Story: indrajit; raavaNa himself; The fire test
Words of the week: indrajit; raavaNa; sanjIvinI parvatam; agni;
Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'
Activity: Coloring pages of hanumaan bringing the sanjIvinI mountain; raama and raavaNa duel; fire test for sItaa
Game time: Know your boundaries AND four corners
End of class:
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
We started the class with the 3 om-s. Some of the children were saying the om really long... not because they were holding there breath longer, but they were sipping a small wisp of air in between and continuing to stretch their om-s :). After having a good laugh over it, we did our regular prayers. The meditation time was quite. We discussed how meditation is not just about sitting quietly and chanting in our heads, but also, keeping our minds focused and calm. We gave examples of how the mind could wander and think of birthday parties, cakes, presents, donuts, etc. :).
We have been practicing gItaa chanting in full swing. Parents, we urge you to register at the earliest, as the online registrations will close very soon. The children are doing very well. Encourage them to practice everyday.
During story time, we reviewed many bits and portions of the story covered so far. It was amazing to see how perfectly the kids knew all the little details epic so far! We then continued to hear what had happened after kumbhakarNa was slain. raavaNa's son indrajit consoled his father and assured him that he will go back to the battle ground again. He was rampant on the battle field, killing many a monkeys. He then shot powerful darts and made raama and lakShmaNa swoon! The only remedy was 4 herbs found on a mountain called 'sanjIvinI parvatam'. But that was situated in the far far himaalayas. hanumaan was sent to fetch the herbs. Since he could not identify the herbs, he brought the whole mountain back to lankaa, in order to save time! Once the brothers were revived, hanumaan took the mountain back and replaced it where he originally brought it from!! We understood the importance of cleaning up after we use any toys or books or anything else! After that, indrajit was slain by lakShmaNa. raavaNa was drowned in sorrow. He went himself to the war field and fought fiercely. Finally, he faced raama. A very fierce battle ensued. But in the end, raavaNa was killed by raama, using the astra that sage agastyaa had given. On hearing the new of raama's victory from hanumaan, sItaa was overcome with joy! She was dressed up like a queen and brought in a palanquin to raama. But raama stood cold and stern. He told her that he did his job of rescuing her and now, she was free to go anywhere, because she lived in a stranger's house for so long. On hearing this, sItaa was flabbergasted! She was so devastated that she asked lakShmaNa to set up a fire and she entered into the fire. Then, fire God himself came, declared her purity and gave her to raama... We have stopped the story at that and eager to see what happens finally :).
We then did our coloring pages. We were such a good, keen and listening class that we had time for two games today! We had a lot of fun.
Our next class is filled with a lot of surprises! We can't wait to see all that the class has in store :).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
* 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')
* करग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karagre vasate lakShmIH
* समुद्रवसने देवी - samudravasane devI
* शुभं करोति कल्यणम् - shubhaM karoti kalyaNam
* बुद्दिर्बलम् - buddirbalaM
Meditation: 1 minute
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 14
Story: indrajit; raavaNa himself; The fire test
Words of the week: indrajit; raavaNa; sanjIvinI parvatam; agni;
Likhita japa: Practice writing 'राम'
Activity: Coloring pages of hanumaan bringing the sanjIvinI mountain; raama and raavaNa duel; fire test for sItaa
Game time: Know your boundaries AND four corners
End of class:
- ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
Rashmi aunty and Kusuma aunty:
We started the class with the 3 om-s. Some of the children were saying the om really long... not because they were holding there breath longer, but they were sipping a small wisp of air in between and continuing to stretch their om-s :). After having a good laugh over it, we did our regular prayers. The meditation time was quite. We discussed how meditation is not just about sitting quietly and chanting in our heads, but also, keeping our minds focused and calm. We gave examples of how the mind could wander and think of birthday parties, cakes, presents, donuts, etc. :).
We have been practicing gItaa chanting in full swing. Parents, we urge you to register at the earliest, as the online registrations will close very soon. The children are doing very well. Encourage them to practice everyday.
During story time, we reviewed many bits and portions of the story covered so far. It was amazing to see how perfectly the kids knew all the little details epic so far! We then continued to hear what had happened after kumbhakarNa was slain. raavaNa's son indrajit consoled his father and assured him that he will go back to the battle ground again. He was rampant on the battle field, killing many a monkeys. He then shot powerful darts and made raama and lakShmaNa swoon! The only remedy was 4 herbs found on a mountain called 'sanjIvinI parvatam'. But that was situated in the far far himaalayas. hanumaan was sent to fetch the herbs. Since he could not identify the herbs, he brought the whole mountain back to lankaa, in order to save time! Once the brothers were revived, hanumaan took the mountain back and replaced it where he originally brought it from!! We understood the importance of cleaning up after we use any toys or books or anything else! After that, indrajit was slain by lakShmaNa. raavaNa was drowned in sorrow. He went himself to the war field and fought fiercely. Finally, he faced raama. A very fierce battle ensued. But in the end, raavaNa was killed by raama, using the astra that sage agastyaa had given. On hearing the new of raama's victory from hanumaan, sItaa was overcome with joy! She was dressed up like a queen and brought in a palanquin to raama. But raama stood cold and stern. He told her that he did his job of rescuing her and now, she was free to go anywhere, because she lived in a stranger's house for so long. On hearing this, sItaa was flabbergasted! She was so devastated that she asked lakShmaNa to set up a fire and she entered into the fire. Then, fire God himself came, declared her purity and gave her to raama... We have stopped the story at that and eager to see what happens finally :).
We then did our coloring pages. We were such a good, keen and listening class that we had time for two games today! We had a lot of fun.
Our next class is filled with a lot of surprises! We can't wait to see all that the class has in store :).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ruchi aunty and Meera aunty:
We all began with three loud Om's and shlokas followed by meditation. Today in meditation we all sat for full 3 minutes counting the name of Lord Rama. It is a great accomplishment that we can now sit quietly with our full focus on Lord's name for this much time. All of us did very well. No one was distracted and everybody concentrated and remained quiet. Well done first graders!!
It is almost time for the Geeta Chanting competition. Please register for the competition as soon as possible. We all have been practicing with lot of enthusiasm. Let's all do our best chanting the shlokas.
Story time covered the topics of Indrajit (chapter 35), Ravana Himself ( Chapter 36) and The Fire test (chapter 37). We learned that the real cause of Ravana's sorrow was his wrongful act of abducting some one's wife.Also he was never ready to see his own faults and only listened to people who praised him. We also heard about the battle between the spiritual hero Rama and the intellectual hero Ravana. At the end Rama destroyed the ten headed Ravana.
Coloring session was next.All of us colored chapter 35,36 and 37. We have now reached the end of the book. In the next class we will give the books back to all of the kids. We will also recap all the events and stories according to the pages colored by the kids.
Before we realized, it was time to go home. The class ended with arti and pledge.
