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