March 21

Next class : Apr 11, 2010;

Aarthi in Auditorium.

Announcements:

A big thank you to all the parents who visited our class today. Hope you enjoyed your visit. We would appreciate it if you can take some time to provide your feedback at http://www.chinmayavrindavan.org/balaviharfeedback/. The form is available only for a limited time so please do it at the earliest.

March 21, 2010:

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
• Prayer before eating - Brahmaarpanam
• Prayer for Hanuman - Buddhir balam yasho dhairyam
  

Story:

• Samudra Manthan.
  

Craft:

• Coloring page - Sree Rama
  

Games:

• Bingo
  

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)


• Ekadantaya Vakratundaya

• Khate Bhi Ram Kaho

Bhagavad Geeta:

• Chapter X Shloka 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5

Comments:

• We did the beginning prayers together. Today we tried a new strategy - we got those who still haven't memorized it to come up to the front of the class for each Shloka and repeat it after us.
  
• They did the first 3 Bhajans on their own.
  
• We then discussed the meaning of the new Bhajan Khate Bhi Ram Kaho and we practiced the first stanza. We then introduced the new Stanza which they seemed to enjoy very much. After that during coloring, many people came up with their own lines - sword fighting bhi Ram Kaho, Swimming Bhi Ram Kaho etc :-)
  
• We again colored a beautiful picture of Sree Rama. Rama Navami is this Wednesday, 24th March. On 27th March, Hanuman Jayanthi celebrations will take place in the Vrindavan Ashram.
• We decided on the roles for acting out the Samudra Manthan story.. we are going to have a tough time deciding the actual roles for our end of the year performance :-) There is a lot of competition!!
  
• Parents came in to the class for a visit. The children were all very excited but did their best to continue what they were doing. We finished acting it out. Once we decide the roles based on the children's availability over the next few weeks, we will start practicing in earnest. Maybe we will even assign a few simple lines for each child to say.
• We then played a game of Bingo - we use this game to reinforce identification of the Gods and Goddesses. It turned out to be a bit chaotic today though:-)
  
• We then practiced our Geeta chanting. After they did the first 3 Shlokas on their own, we practiced the last 2.
  
• We then did the ending prayers and lined up to get stickers for our charts and our snacks.
• We know a lot of parents are anxious to know if their children participate in class - we try to do our best to make the class as interactive as possible. And honestly, we don't think there is even one kid who has not spoken up or come to the front of the class at some time or the other to recite! They are a very talkative bunch . Of course that means our class does gets a bit chaotic at times :-)
  

Reminders:

• Please keep up your practice during the two week break even as you enjoy the good weather outside and remember to bring in your charts for more stickers next time.
  
• Please register your child for the Geeta Chanting competition on May 2nd. Please click here to register your child.
• Please print the chart if you did not receive one in class. You can find the link on the left.