Feb 3, 2013

A wonderful on-line tool to help your child

The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13.

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• Next class is on Sunday, Feb 10

Pre-K 1 Rm D110

Pre-K 2 Rm D109

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Opening Prayer:

• OM Sahanaa vavatu

• Om sri Ganeshaya namaha, Om sri Saraswathye namaha, Om sri Sat Gurubyoh namah

Stotras:

• Karagre Vasate Lakshmi

• Sarasvati Namastubhyam

• Buddir balam yaso dhairyam

Quiet Time/Activity: Shell Dropping Game

Gita Chanting: Chapter 13, Shloka 1,2, 3, 4 & 5 (On-Line tool to help with memorization and pronunciation)

Story: Androcles and the Lion

Bhajan: Jai Jagadisha Hare

Sanskrit Learning:

Krishna Vadati

Counting 1-5

Colors in Sanskrit

Activity: Lion drawing

Likhita Japa: Learning how to write Ram

Closing Prayers: Om Pūrnamadaḥ

Comments:

It was lovely to see a full and enthusiatic class of children on this cold and snowny Sunday morning. The energy of the class was fabulous today.

We started our class as usual with chanting Om followed by the morning prayers. We then did the chants "Om Ganeshaye Namaha". This is an excellent way to think of Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswati, and our Guru. This also gives us the opportunity to learn and practice some new stotras. So after our chanting we learnt a new stotra 'Karagre vasate Lakshmi'. We also spoke about the meaning of this stotra.  By saying this stotra every morning we remind ourselves that all the strength we need are in our own hands and each of our actions is an act of the Divine. 

The kids did an awesome job at quiet time. They were able to 'meditate' for three whole minutes. Quiet time was followed by chanting the first to fourth shloka from chapter 13 in the Bhagvad Geeta. We learnt the fifth shloka today. The kids are doing amazing with their chanting.  We encouraged them to continue practicing at home.

At story time we heard the story of 'Androcles and the Lion'.  The story is from ancient Rome.  The story illustrates the beautiful freindship between the boy and the lion which was built on 'kindness.  The kids enjoyed the essence of the story.   

After story time we played a round of "Krishna Vadati" and added some new words to our Sanskrit vocabulary. We continued to practice our likita japa. Some of kids were ready to write 'Ram' on the white board all by themselves. They did an excellent job. We will continue to practice this in the coming weeks.

After likita japa, we did an art activity. Keeping with our story we made lions in class.  The kids made some very creative lions and learnt the Sanskrit word for lion as well. We then reviewed our colors in Sanskrit and practised reading our numbers from 1-5 in Sanskrit.

We ended our class with singing the first two stanzas of Om Jai Jagdish Hare followed by the closing prayers.