Section 1
Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline
Prayers:
Quiet Time: 1 minute of silence. We then played a concentration game where the children had to sit focused, with their eyes closed, and listen to how many shells were dropped into a bowl. For our first attempt at this exercise, they did great! This is not an easy game ... By the end of the year, these kindergartners will probably be able to sit quietly longer than the big kids!
Bhajans: none
Geeta Chanting: Practiced "श्री भगवानुवच" (shree bhagavaanuvaca) See comment section below for more details.
Story: God is Everywhere.
Activity/Games: Used a magnifying glass to find a very tiny picture inside a bigger picture.
Craft Project: none.
Likhita Japa: Practiced writing राम 21 times. (click here to view.)
End of Class Prayers: OM Poornamadah and the Chinmaya Pledge.
End of Class Prayers: OM Poornamadah and the Chinmaya Pledge.
Comments: Wow — what a great group of students we have! The aunties are definitely going to be challenged throughout the year :-)
Parents: You will notice that your child has a feather in his/her backpack. Be sure and ask them to show you how they should practice with it. We will be using feathers throughout the year to emphasize proper pronunciation with our Geeta Chanting practice and shlokas. With this feather your child will be able to see the difference between a "b" (alpapraaNa – unaspirated) and "bh" (mahaapraaNa – aspirated) sound. It was quite exciting to see all the kids reciting "bh" "bh" "bh" this morning, as they watched their feathers ripple with each utterance!
Today our lesson was "Where is God?" We asked the children where they thought God was – and lots of answers were given ... in heaven, in outer space, in a pooja room, etc. Some of the children shouted out that God was everywhere. But when asked if they could see God, everyone agreed that they could not see Him. We then did an activity involving magnifying glasses and tiny pictures to help us make the analogy that in order to see God we needed a special tool like a magnifying glass. Our special tool, however, is a pure mind. And that is what Balavihar is for – all of our classes will help refine our "special tool" so that we can see God – all the time, everytime!
Auntie then told a beautiful little story about a teacher who gave every student an apple and told them to find a place where God was not and then eat the apple. Every child hid somewhere where they thought God could not see them and ate their fruit. Everyone, except one little girl ... who could not find any place. When the teacher asked why she did not eat her apple, the little girl answered "because God is everywhere." "Very good!" said the teacher. "You are absolutely correct!"
We sure enjoyed spending the morning with your children — and anticipate a wonderful year together! Enjoy this beautiful weather ... we look forward to seeing you again on October 4th.
p.s. Please don't forget that we will have a short parent/sevika meeting at 11:30 after our next class.
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Parents: You will notice that your child has a feather in his/her backpack. Be sure and ask them to show you how they should practice with it. We will be using feathers throughout the year to emphasize proper pronunciation with our Geeta Chanting practice and shlokas. With this feather your child will be able to see the difference between a "b" (alpapraaNa – unaspirated) and "bh" (mahaapraaNa – aspirated) sound. It was quite exciting to see all the kids reciting "bh" "bh" "bh" this morning, as they watched their feathers ripple with each utterance!
Today our lesson was "Where is God?" We asked the children where they thought God was – and lots of answers were given ... in heaven, in outer space, in a pooja room, etc. Some of the children shouted out that God was everywhere. But when asked if they could see God, everyone agreed that they could not see Him. We then did an activity involving magnifying glasses and tiny pictures to help us make the analogy that in order to see God we needed a special tool like a magnifying glass. Our special tool, however, is a pure mind. And that is what Balavihar is for – all of our classes will help refine our "special tool" so that we can see God – all the time, everytime!
Auntie then told a beautiful little story about a teacher who gave every student an apple and told them to find a place where God was not and then eat the apple. Every child hid somewhere where they thought God could not see them and ate their fruit. Everyone, except one little girl ... who could not find any place. When the teacher asked why she did not eat her apple, the little girl answered "because God is everywhere." "Very good!" said the teacher. "You are absolutely correct!"
We sure enjoyed spending the morning with your children — and anticipate a wonderful year together! Enjoy this beautiful weather ... we look forward to seeing you again on October 4th.
p.s. Please don't forget that we will have a short parent/sevika meeting at 11:30 after our next class.
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Section 2
Sevikas: Kalpana and Indira
Prayers:
Quiet Time: none
Story: Talked about the word "Ambition" and its definition. We asked the children what their different ambitions were — and we got a variety of answers! Tanvi and Aditya even said they want to be scooba divers ...
Activity/Games: Played a name game.
Craft Project: Colored a picture of "A is for Ambition."
Comments: We are very excited to have your child join the Kindergarten class — we will be having a year of fun activities and learning!
We began our Alphabet Safar1 today — starting with "A is for Ambition." It was fun having the children share all their ideas and ambitions. We also played a Name Game to help all the children learn each other's names. Afterwards, se spent some time doing likhita japa. This sheet is in the blog. (click here to view and print) Feel free to print it out at home and have your child practice their japa on a regular basis. We are extremely delighted with how well the children did — we know you will be, too!
In order to make your child's experience in class a positive one, we ask that you please remember to send in the following items:
• a box of crayons
• a copy of "My Prayers"
• a folder binder
It's also probably a good idea to send the above school supplies in a back pack ... that way everything will make it home nice and safely :-)
We will be having a parent/sevika meeting sometime in October. A notice will be sent to you before class so that you can make sure to put it on your calendar.
Have a great break! Look forward to seeing you on October 4.
