Class Recap Feb 24th (Ruchi and Rukmani)

Hari Om Parents and Guardians,


We had a very good class today full of fun and excitement. We started with morning prayers followed by meditation. In story time we covered the topic of Hanuman finally reaching Lanka and finding Sita in Ashoka vatika. We learned how beautiful the city of Lanka was and how Ravana was full of pride. Although he had lots of power, he was using it in a wrong way. We also learned how intelligent and humble Hanuman was and also he was full of devotion to Lord Rama. In each and every step he took he remembered Rama and asked for his guidance and blessing in his mind.

After the story we played the game "obstacle". We created some obstacles in the class room and the students were asked to hop on one foot and reach the goal. The one who reached without any problems were declared Hanuman. Guess what our whole class became Hanuman. We had a whole vanar sena!

We sang our favorite bhajan "khate bhi Ram bolo" and then did some Geeta chanting. Afterwords we colored our books. We concluded after Aarti and Pledge.

See you all next weekend. Take care and stay warm.

Class Recap Feb 10th ( Ruchi and Rukmani)

Hari Om Parents and Guardians,
,
The Balavihar session on Feb.10th was interactive with great enthusiasm from students and teachers alike. The session began with morning prayers followed by meditation.( It would immensely help if parents can help their child with reciting those short prayers at home regularly.) We then jumped into retelling the fascinating story of Ramayana. Students were able to recall the story told earlier using Q&A and the much awaited story began. Sugriva who is lost in royal pleasures is persuaded by Hanuman to wake up and take action to fulfill his promise to Rama and Lakshmana. He forms a large canard army to go in all four directions to search for Sita. Rama has a premonition that Hanuman who is heading South with Jambavan, Angada and other vanaras, would probably bring good news about Sita's whereabouts and blesses him. Hanuman and his group have an encounter with Sampati, Jatayus brother and find out that Sita has been taken by Ravana across the ocean and is sitting lonely under a tree in a beautiful garden. Of course, it is Hanuman who is chosen to cross the ocean and he encounters obstacles on his way and finally lands in Lanka.

The story led to a discussion about not giving up, trying harder, being focused and reaching the goal just like Hanuman. We all pretended how we could grow big and strong with our arms and legs spread wide and lifting our bodies up, symbolically conveying that we can gain strength and power through concentration and effort.
We sang the bhajan, "Atma nivasi Ram" with action and added a new one about Anjaneya, "Veera Maruti, ghambheera Maruti". Students colored the appropriate page in the coloring book.
A question about Lord Ganesha has been thrown in for kids to find out -  What does Ganesha hold in his four hands?  Pl. Help if you know.
Please recite the DAILY prayers with the children at home. Reminder - registration is open for Geetha Chanting Competition. Next Balvihar class is on 24th Feb. see you all!

Class Recap 3rd Feb. ( Ruchi and Rukmani)

Hari Om Parents and Guardians,

We had a wonderful class today. Like always we started with morning shlokas followed by meditation. Every body was eager to know what happened in our story.So story time came next. Today's segment was particularly long. Lots of events occurred. Rama and Lakshmana met Hanuman. Then they met Sugriva and heard his side of the story. Both (Rama and Sugriva) promised to help each other. Finally Bali got killed by Rama and Sugriva became the king of "Kishkindha". Now it was Sugriva's turn to help Rama and Lakshmna find Sita. There were lots of interesting side stories as well.

We all had a thoughtful discussion about the comparison between  Rama / Bharata and  Sugriva / Bali. All of us agreed that although each pair were brothers there was a huge difference. Rama and Bharata were ever loving towards each other but Sugriva and Bali had jealously and power of hunger amongst themselves.

Afterwards we played the game zip-zap-zop. Also we played the game where we all pretended to be mountains, trees and tiger etc. It was so much fun.We did coloring and sang our Bhajan "Atma Nivasi Ram".

Before we knew it, it was time to go home! Have a wonderful week. Stay warm.