12/21/14 Class update

We began the class with our usual OM chanting 3 times. Then all kids gathered up front to Gajananam group chanting couple times. We had a new concept today- the circle time where we all gathered on a sky blue blanket on the floor and got closer to each other. 

We read a book of beautiful color pics of Gods and Goddesses. We began with Ganesa's different names. Gajanana, Uma sutaa, Mooshika Vaahanaa, Lambodaraa, Mahakaaya, ganapathy and Eka danta.

The next God was Muruga. Kids were happy to spot peacock in the picture. We saw couple names of the God- Kumaraswamy and Karthikeya.

Saraswathy was the next Goddess- we chanted the slokam Saraswathy namasthubyam holding each others' hands. We also saw saraswathy Maata is the Goddess of knowledge and we begin to worship her before the start of any learning activity. Maata has 4 hands- 2 plays the veenai- one has a book; other a maala.

Story time was also in the circle and we all laid down in our tummy supporting the chin with palms. How did Ganesa get a big tummy and why did he belt a snake around was the story we heard.

For a stretch after the circle seating, we did our ever loving action bhajan "come here my dear Ganapathy".

A small potty break and a quick stroll in the hallway for a change from class room ambiance to feel refreshed.

Yummy chocolate chip cookies were relished in the snack time.

Coloring- we chose Lambodara (the big bellied Ganesa)

Reminders- Please bring in a box of crayons.

a water bottle

a hand sanitizer.

Our next session is on the Jan 4th 2015. Happy Holidays. Happy new years and enjoy the nice break and stay warm.
Hari OM

Madhuram teachers-

Rajesh and Vidhya

12/14/14 class update

Dear parents and children,

After a great jeopardy quiz in the assembly, we settled down in our class. Siddharth, our new friend joined our class today and we are all happy to welcome him :)

We started the day with our usual opening prayers- OM 3 times, followed by Gajananam slokam. We did a word by word chanting (say and repeat) and then two words and repeat and the third time we all chanted together :) Yay! Good job kids!

We talked about different names of Ganesa. Gajanana, Ganapathy, Eka danta (revisited the story) and Mooshika Vaahana (revisited the story)

We wanted to do the Story where Ganesa ties the serpent as a belt, we will revise this story next week.

Our action Bhajan, come here my dear ganapathy is as always a big hit with our little friends. It is always a beautiful sight to watch tiny hands and feet moving and singing at the same time :)

We took a potty break and then had yummy snacks.

After snacks we chanted Saraswathy slokam- Saraswathy namasthubyam.

** Saraswathy maatha is the goddess of Knowledge

** we pray Saraswathy maatha before learning anything 

** She holds a Veena.

** has a maala on one hand and a book on another.

Our coloring activity had Saraswathy. Kids all did a fabulous job!

We concluded with closing verses and sticker rewards.

Few Reminders-

1. Please bring in a box of crayons.

2. A water bottle

3. A hand sanitizer

4. Parents who volunteer for snacks, please remember it's a nut free School and we request to please bring in nut free snacks. Please do not bring any juice as these little children tend to waste most part and we want them to teach not to waste food. Water should be fair enough to quench thirst after having any cookie or cracker.

Our next class is on 12/21/14. See you all then. Take care and stay warm :)

Hari OM

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram teachers

12/7/14 class update

Dear parents and children,

On a very cold and a windy day we met after a couple of weeks' Thanksgiving break in Balavihar. 

FYI- next week (14th) in the assembly there will be a Bhagavad Gita quiz in jeopardy style (very simple and basic questions on Gita- sample sent out in emails past week, if missed, please check  http://www.bbnjbalavihar.com/doc/GitaQuizv2.pdf

Please try to be at the school at 9.30 for assembly. It will be nice fun :)

After the assembly, we got together in our classroom for our regular session. We had just 2 children present today. Hope all kids doing well and are staying away from cold and taking care.

We began with the usual opening OM chanting 3 times and did the Gajananam slokam. The two children marveled in reciting the slokam.

Since we had very few strength in class, we had a group class with amrutham. Our children answered questions asked and did a great job coloring! Good job kids, Parents please give them a hi5 from us and from you :)

The Amrutham teacher lead the class with the Saraswathy slokam- Saraswathy namasthubhyam (which we have covered in ours)

Some points about Goddess Saraswathy-

1. Blessing us with Knowledge and teaching us to write and learn

2. Playing musical instrument the Veena

3.Having 4 hands 

4.Holding a book in one of the hands and a mala in another.

5. sitting on a lotus

6. Swan is Her vehicle

We repeated the slokam a couple times and also learned 

Yadevi sarva bhutesu- 

Vidhya roopena samsthithaha-

Namastasyai namastasyai 

Namastasyai- namo namaha- 

Another slokam on saraswathy maata. (this second slokam is a little tricky for our little mouth and young talkers, we will eventually go through these slightly tougher ones towards the end of the school year... by then, they will be familiarized with the prime slokas, learning more is always merrier :)) )

A potty break and then yummy munchkins snack time and then got to color Saraswathy maata pic.

We concluded with the closing prayers and sticker rewards.

Our next class on 12/14/14.

Please send in- 

a box of crayons

water bottle and

a hand sanitizer

Hari OM

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram

11/16/14

As announced we had Back to Balavihar, where parents get a chance to visit their kids' classroom, meet with the teachers and gets to know how the teachers have planned with the lesson for the year. Since ours is a parent-child class, we as teachers make sure that parents know what's happening in our class and how are we going with the curriculum and activities given to the children. Our classroom BTBV presentation was pretty much an open question-answer session. We had it more interactive way answering parents queries if any.. Only point we brought in was class presentation in the assembly this year will be Mothers' day presentation which occurs in May 2015. (this is a joint presentation with Amrutham class- pre K kids, joint I mean we will have one class presentation followed by the other class)

The following were not discussed on the BTBV- but just a reminder as we have seen these announcements coming in between some of our earlier classes. Please feel free if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks

1. Gita chanting participation. (Applicable to Parents in our class- quote from memory or open book reading- chapter 15) 

2. Slokathan (adult participation- happens every last Balavihar Sunday of the month) and 

3. What's in the name as a family (any significant meaning of the names or why you have been named/ meaning of your name can be shared in the assembly with all names in the family) This is one of the ways of introducing your family to the Big BBNJ Balavihar family.

Class update-

As usual we started with OM chanting 3 times. We went over the Gajanananam slokam, where we normally say-repeat one word at a time, we also did two words together and repeating the same. We did Saraswathy slokam in the same manner. 

We had less number of children today and also some parents would want to attend their older child's BTBV session, they had to leave and some kids wanted to go with their parents.   

A potty break followed by snacks. We wound up with closing prayers and sticker rewards (re-enforcer) for children.

The next session is on Dec 7th and please enjoy Thanksgiving break! Have a great one.

Hari OM

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram

11/02/14

Hari OM dear kids and parents-

We as usual started with Om 3 times followed by Gajananam slokam. We learned 2 new names Mahakaya and Lambodara.

Ganesh Ji's other names seen so far- Gajanana, Uma sutaa, Eka danta, Mooshika vahana, Ganapathy.

We then did Saraswathy slokam, emphasizing on her seat- lotus, her instrument- veenai and the vehicle -swan (hamsa pakshi)

We had an early potty break today. Thank you all parents for pioneering the effort in asking the concerned people to open the hallway bathrooms.. if not, those who want to use might have walked all the way up to the cafeteria area in the cold, windy weather.

We moved on with action bhajan come here my dear.(Parents please sing when the child performs and if practiced this way the child will sing and do someday :) )

Story time saw 2 stories- one revisited and one new. Mooshika vahana was quickly done and 'belting a serpent o' part story was done today...that is the big bellied Lambodara story.

Until now we have seen stories of

1.Gajanana (elephant faced), Uma Sutaa (son of parvathy) and Ganapathy (Leader of the ganas) in one story.

2. The writing of Mahabharatha as Maharishi Vyasa recites- The Eka Danta (single tusk) story.

3. The Mooshika vahana story (mouse becomes the vehicle) and

4. The Lambodara story (big bellied, tying the snake as a belt)

Parents please discuss the stories with children at your story hour, Thanks :)

Snack today was less salted potato chips and fruit snacks. Thank you Maanav for the yummy snacks- that was really a big bag for our little tummies- yes we are not Lambodara ha ha ha

Coloring activity was the Mahakaya pic from the textbook.

With closing verses we wound up the session, rewarding with a sticker.

The next session is on 11/16/14 and it's Ishaan's turn to bring snacks. Also on the same day before we go in for the Thanksgiving break, we have all our BBNJ balavihar family Thanksgiving lunch at the cafeteria. Parents kindly signup for potluck items (menu in the email sent in the luckypotluck spreadsheet) (it is voluntary and please do not feel pressured)

For our class snacks, please volunteer and sign up ( we have the sign up sheets) in bringing little munches for our sweetest munchkins. Thanks :)

Annually, Balavihar has a Bhagavad Gita competition, though not for our toddler kids, it's always nice to learn certain new slokas ( agreed they are tongue twisters at this age ) but an effort is always commended :) Also, adult category has memorizing and chanting and/or reading open book (pronunciation and pace and clarity are the criterion looked for judging if reading) Parents are more than welcome to partake. This year's subject is chapter 15 and practice was started in the assembly. (2 verses or 3 every assembly) 

Reminders-

1. Please bring in a box of crayons

2. Water bottle

3. Hand sanitizer (use your own brand for the kids' safety)

Next class is on the 16th November.

Thank you.

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram Teachers

10/26/14 class updates

Hari OM Dear children and parents-

Today we had just 3 children in our class with one parent each. We as usual chanted OM 3 times in the beginning. We then talked about Diwali, the famous Indian festival. Today we are so happy that the parents talked about how Diwali is celebrated in various parts of India. People from some states celebrated on the Naraka chaturdasi while others on the following day, the amavasya. While Lakshmi pooja is performed in some of the states, in some other states (West Bengal) do the Kali pooja. One of the parents, explained how Kali pooja is absolutely different from Durga Pooja (navarathri). If Durga matha is considered as a calm idol, kali matha is considered aggressive and sacrifices are performed as part of pooja in West Bengal, India. It was nice to know a lot of details about the great festival.

Today’s class we revisited what we have done so far this year. We chanted Gajananam slokam and the Eka danta story. As teachers, we are happy that all kids know the story and how Lord Ganesa acquired the name, Eka Danta. The other names of Lord ganesa we saw so far are... Gajanana, ganapathy, Uma suta (story we did already) and Mooshika vaahana (story done). We will learn the stories behind other names in subsequent classes.

We learned Muruga is Ganesa's brother and our coloring activity had a Muruga on a peacock page. Introduced the “vahana” of Muruga similar to Ganesha (peacock is Muruga's vahana).

The kids had a small stroll in the Hallway for potty break followed by snack time.

Snack time- Thank you Rhiya Parmar family for the snacks and juice. We really appreciate the fact that though Rhiya missed today's class their parents brought in snacks. Thank you parents, please volunteer to bring in snacks ( Now we are good until Jan 2015). Kindly do not bring in juice boxes as the little children merely waste 3/4th the juice and it's not nice to see food getting wasted. Please remember it's a nut free snack time. Thank you so much.

Before concluding the session with the closing prayers, we did our action bhajan, "come here my dear ganapathy.." (please refer to the lyrics in earlier updates, thanks) The children likes to do this, we will subsequently learn one more action bhajan. Please make it an enjoyable practice time at home. 

Reminders- Please bring in a box of Crayon, a water bottle and a hand sanitizer to quick cleanse palms.

The next class is on the 11/02/14. Please remember we "fall back" due to time change :) 

Thank you.

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram

10/19/14

Hari OM dear parents and children.

We as usual started the session with Chanting OM. We had two new comers today and the kids were happy to welcome the new friends. The two new friends, though relatively new to the Balavihar atmosphere did not hesitate much but did join the group slowly.

We chanted the Ganesa sloka.

Story time- we did an interactive story exchange session on the Vyas ji- Ganesh Ji duo on writing the Mahabharatha and Lord gaining the name Ekadanta. Most of the kids are aware of the story, the rest seemed understood. This is a morale booster for us the teachers, the children and parents.

Song and Dance- we completed the bhajan. The lyrics goes like-

 Come here my dear ganapathy - 

you are the son of shiva parvathy

Riding a mouse o- belting a serpent o-

you have the face of an elephant o.

Parents please help your children to sing and dance with tiny actions. Thanks.

A short potty break, where the kids took a small stroll on the hallway for a quick refresher.

Snack time- Thank you Ishan and mom for yummy snacks today. parents, please volunteer to bring snacks for the class (about 10 kids now) It's a nut free class and juice is not a must. Thank you. We have the signup sheets, please feel free to pick a balavihar Sunday and signup.

Coloring activity- we colored the ganesha pic from the text book, Glory of Ganesha. We kindly request parents to buy this book (you can contact the front-desk at building 500)

This is our prescribed text, though the children (most of them) can't really read, there are some cute pictures for them to color and while coloring they might understand the story taught in class even better.

We concluded with the closing prayers.  

Reminders-

Parents please do not forget to bring in a water bottle (labelled preferably) for the kids. A box of crayons and a hand sanitizer to cleanse palms after coloring activity and/or before snacks.

A gentle friendly reminder to register ASAP as the registration will SOON close (by admin) 

Wishing you and your Family a Very Happy Diwali. Next class is on 10/26/14.

Thanks

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram teachers

10/12/14 class

Hari OM dear children and parents

We began our today's session with chanting OM 3 times.

We all were in a circle to chant the Ganesha slokam Gajananam (there are a few kids who recite loud and clear, parents please do not get worried- as the year progresses they all will fall in the right boxes, just that as 3 year old' or even smaller kids they'll take a while to mingle in- as such we meet only once a week!)

How did Ganesha gain the name Ganapthay was the story we saw also, the same story said how the Lord got the elephant head and gained the name Gajanana. Please talk to your child about the story, ask them what happened next to keep up the momentum. We quickly went through the other names we have learned so far like Mooshika Vahana (story done already) Uma suta and Eka danta (story done)

We have a small homework for the next session- discussing the Ganapathy/gajanana name oriented story and the Mooshika Vahana story to be discussed at home and the kids have to tell in the forth coming class.

We did a breathing exercise- inhale raise your arms above the head and exhale and bring the arms all the way down saying haa

We had potty break- the kids had a little recess and walk time at the hallway.

Snack time- Please volunteer in bringing snacks to our class of (7 or 8 kids) No Nuts please and juice is not a must. Please make sure all kids carry their OWN water bottle

Coloring activity- Those who had the Glory of Ganesa book, we picked the Vyasa-Ganesha story of writing the Mahabharat with the broken tooth. (Eka danta story) page was colored. Those did not have the book, we gave them separate Ganesha pics to color. Please bring in some crayons for your child.

Before wrapping up, we chanted the saraswathy slokam (Saraswathy namasthubyam) again forming a circle. Then we concluded with closing prayers.

Reminders-

Parents please do not forget to bring in a water bottle (labelled preferably) for the kids. A box of crayons and a hand sanitizer to cleanse palms after coloring activity and/or before snacks.

Next class is on 10/19/14.

Thanks

Rajesh and Vidhya

Madhuram teachers

10/5/14 class update

Hari OM

Dear children and parents, October 5th class details are updated. Thanks.

The class started a little late after the navarathri session in the assembly. We had a continuity by adding kids' navarathri experiences in the class. They were all very happy and excited to share their little observations and interpretations. We introduced the Goddesses Mahasakthi, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswathy. We then emphasized on the Goddess of Knowledge, to whom we pray to bestow her divine blessings before learning a new thing/lesson and also pray for her continual blessings. We learned a new sloka, Saraswathy namasthubyam.

We then revised the Gajananam slokam with chanting OM 3 times. The kids were excited about chanting and learning as they all formed a circle in the center of our classroom.

We then continued with our action bhajan- come here my dear ganapathy... we learned the next line from where we left last session and understood the line with a story, how Ganesh Ji gained a name Mooshika vahana. So far, we have seen 4 names of ganesh ji... Gajanana, Uma suta, Eka danta (with story) and Mooshika vahana (with story)

We had a potty break and kids had a little recess to walk the hallway for a quick change of the classroom atmosphere. As soon as they're back, we had the snack time. 

Parents please feel free to sign up for volunteering to bring in snacks for the class kids.. Please remember "no nuts". Juice is not a must, but no issues if you get them.

Parents, please send in a water bottle with your child to classroom. Please send a small hand sanitizer to cleanse their palm, after using crayons or before the snack time. Please send in some crayons with them. 

We would like the parents to re-enforce the learning at home. At this level, we ask parents to talk to the kids about the stories they learned at Balavihar. 

We colored a picture of Saraswathy towards the end of the class. We concluded with the closing prayer.

The next session is on 10/12/14. Thanks.

Rajesh and Vidhya

class on 9/21/14

Opening the session with OM chanting 3 times. We then recited Gajananam sloka and checked Ganesha's other names hidden in the sloka. (Gajanana, Uma suta) We chanted this in the Circle time. Kids had lots of fun coming to a circle than seated in their chairs.

We learned a new bhajan with action "Come here my dear Ganapathy" We did a couple of lines of the same. Aiming to complete in forth coming classes.

Story time- The writing of mahabharatha story as Mahrishi Vyas Ji says and ganesh Ji writes breaking a single tusk, gaining the name "Eka Danta"

Physical activities included 10 jumping jacks, a couple of deep breathing exercise and striking a tree pose (yoga)

Snack time

Practiced Ganapathy bhajan learned from the morning assembly. Kids learned another Ganesh ji's name "ganapathy" through the song. Aiming to complete it in the forth coming classes.

We would like parents to reinforce the learning at home. At this level, we ask parents to talk to the kids about the story, the balavihar class in general, what they like. 

The parents signed up to take turns bringing snack for the class and we concluded with the closing prayers "poornamadha poornamidam".  

Next Balavihar class on 10/5/14. Happy Dussera everyone.

Thanks

Rajesh and Vidhya

Sept 14, 2014 Class

HariOm,

The Madhuram class (toddlers) is a parent-child classroom. Every session one parent visits and gets to know in and out what's going on in the class.

Class on 9/14/14

We had an introduction as to what "Madhuram" class is all about. This was discussed by the teachers with the parents. We started with a simple Ganesha sloka. (gajananam)

Story time - we told the story of how the Lord gained the name "Eka Danta" through the Mahabharat writing story. 

We also saw the names (Gajanana and Uma suta) hidden in the sloka Gajananam.

Art time - we had the children color a big beautiful Ganesha on paper.

Snack time- we had a short snack time to pep up the toddlers.

We ended with our concluding sloka.

Requirements for forth coming classes:

1. Crayons

2. water bottle

3. hand sanitizer (to cleanse before the snack time)

Next session 9/21/14

- Teachers: Vidhya Aiyer and Rajesh Ramamoorthy