Nov 22 2009

Next class : Dec 6, 2009;

Aarthi in class. Please pickup the children in front of the classroom at 11.30am.

Announcements:

None

Nov 22, 2009:

Beginning Prayers:

• Om Saha navavathu


• Early morning prayer - Karaagre Vasathe Lakshmi


• Prayer for Lord Ganesha - Vakratunda Mahakaaya


• Prayer for Goddess Saraswathi - Saraswathi Namastubhyam


• Prayer after lighting the lamp - Shubham Karothi Kalyanam


• Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu


• Sarva Mangala Mangalye

Story:

• Gajendra Moksha story

Craft:

• Coloring by numbers - Parasurama's Axe

Ending Prayers:

• Asatho maa sath gamaya


• Om Poornamadah Poornamidam

Bhajans:

• Great God Ganapathy (click here for audio)


• My God is so Great (click here for audio)

Bhagavad Geeta:

• Chapter X Shloka 1
  

Comments:

• We did all our beginning prayers. Explained the simple meaning of Karagre Vasathe Lakshmi. When we did Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu, Mamatha Aunty asked them to close their eyes and try to see Vishnu. It was a bit of a challenge :-) Then with Aunty describing His various features, they tried to visualize again and it was a little bit easier. We discovered it is very difficult at their age to keep their eyes closed even for a few seconds- they are afraid they are going to miss out on something important if they do!!!
• It is a delight to watch them do the "Great God Ganapathy" Bhajan and "My God is so great" is also coming along very well. We may soon have to introduce a new Bhajan.
• We then explained the coloring project - it was color by numbers today and they had to color Parasurama's Axe. When they were told that Parasurama was an Avatar of Vishnu, someone wanted to know what an Avatar was. It was really funny and amazing that when we were explaining that it is an Avatar when God comes down to earth to destroy the bad people, like in the case of Rama coming down to kill Ravana and Krishna coming down to kill Kamsa etc, someone commented that "Oh, it's like Gravity"!!!!!!!!!!! It is really wonderful to see how these little minds are working!
• We told the story of how the elephant king Gajendra was saved by Lord Vishnu when his foot was caught in the mouth of an alligator. After the story, we did a quick review by asking some questions and a small discussion on how many elephants could fit in our classroom.
• We practised the first Shloka from Bhagavad Geeta Chapter X. After it was announced that those who can come up and say the Shlokas individually would get stickers, we got a lot of volunteers and nearly two thirds of the class has the Shloka by heart and got the stickers!!! Good work, parents..keep them practising it at home. More great prizes will be there next month for those who can do it well and alone without any help! Have a good thanksgiving weekend. We are thankful to have your little ones brighten up our Sundays!! We will see you in December.

Reminders:

• Keep practising the Geeta at home.