April 18

Next class : Apr 25, 2010;

Aarthi in class.

Announcements:


April 18, 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:

• None.
  

Craft:

• Coloring page - Kurma Avatar
  

Games:

Ganeshah Vadati

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- 7

Comments:

• Jeevan Uncle was out today because of allergies and Jayashree Aunty had a scratchy throat so Mamatha Aunty did the shlokas and Bhajans with the kids today.


• We learnt the third stanza of the Khate Bhi Ram Kaho


• We colored a picture of Kurma Avatar.


• We played the Ganeshaha Vadati game - just like Simon says. We learnt a few Sanskrit words for this - Upavishatu - sit down, Utthishtatu - stand up, Uthpathathu - Jump, Tharathu - swim.
• We practised the Geeta in earnest - all the shlokas from 1 - 7.

Reminders:

• 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.
  
  

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.
  
  

March 7

Next class : Mar 14, 2010;

Aarthi in the auditorium.

Announcements:

There will be an open house on March 21st for parents to observe what is going on in their child's balavihar class. Pre K parents are invited to come to the classroom on March 21st at 10.55am. One of the Sevaks will receive you and brief you and bring you inside the class for the last 30 minutes.


March 7, 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:

• None
  

Games:

• None
  

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

Comments:

• The children did the beginning prayers on their own for the most part. But for the benefit of some new kids and some who are back in class after a long break we learnt it again. We discussed why we should make sure we say all the words right and heard the story of Kumbhakarna who because of mispronouncing a word, got the wrong boon!
  
• We learnt a new prayer for Lord Hanuman (Hanumat Jayanthi is being celebrated in the Vrindavan Ashram on March 27th with chanting the Hanuman Chaalisa 100 times).
• They sang the first 2 Bhajans as usual with a lot of enthusiasm.
• We started a new Bhajan today for Sri Ram. We learnt to do the first stanza with actions.
  
• We then practised the Geeta Chanting. We got new volunteers to come up today which is very good..guess many of them are practising at home! If they can bring in their charts, we can start handing out the stickers. We had one kid take home 7 stickers today!
  
• We reviewed the story of the Samudra Manthan - we will use the story to put up a skit for the end of the year show. We retold the story with the help of the kids - they remembered most of it. They formed two teams for Asuras and Devas and pretended to churn the ocean with a dupatta but it turned out to be more of a tug of war. We will continue with the fun next week.
• We had a lot of enthusiastic volunteers for the various roles. We will decide in the next few weeks after we confirm the child's availability for the program.
  
• They started singing the Bhajan Ekadantaya Vakratundaya on their own (we had decided to do it at the end)! And are they doing a good job of it! It was really very sweet to hear.
  
• We are planning to do a simple dance to go with the song..so we practiced for a while. We will get to learn more steps next week. They all seemed to like it.
• We did the ending prayers and then lined up to receive our stickers.
  

Reminders:

• Please remember to take the kids to the bathroom before class.
• 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.
  
  

Khate Bhi Ram Kaho

Bhajan : Khate Bhi Ram Kaho

Khathe bhi Ram kaho ; peethe bhi ram kaho;
Sothe bhi Ram kaho Ram Ram Ram...bolo Ram Ram Ram, Ram Ram Ram, Ram Ram Ram!

(When eating say Ram, when drinking say Ram, even while sleeping say Ram, Ram, Ram)

We will update the other two stanzas later as we learn it.