Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

October 25, 2009

Oct 25 Class: Section 1

Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline


Prayers:

Quiet Time: One Minute of Silence.  We're getting better! — the kids sat absolutely still for 45 seconds. The focus game is still a bit challenging, though. We had a handful of the class get the number count right ... everyone else was off by 1 or 2. We sure are proud of you guys ... keep up the good work!!

Bhajans: none

Story: How Father's Day Came to Be.

Videos to watch with Mom and Dad: Ganesha Circles the World (click here to view) and Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me (click here to view.)


Comments:  We reviewed our alphabet thus far: "A is for Aspiration, B is for Brotherhood, and C is for Cleanliness."

Today was "D is for Dad."

We talked about some of the important qualities of God (and what things God gives us.) Auntie wrote them on the chalkboard so we could keep track of all the great answers. "God is strong, God is invisible, God protects, God gives us food and good health, God gives us love." Then the children were asked which person in our family has some of these exact same qualities. Everyone shouted out "Dad!" (Moms you will be pleased to know that your name was shouted out, also. But we had to explain to the children that Mom starts with the letter "M" ... and we'll be getting to that letter soon ;-) Anyway, after all the children shared their stories about how cool their dads are, we settled down to do our activity project: a keychain for Dad (click here to view.)

After our activity, we brought out the tracing sheets for likhita japa. The children are doing very nicely with their handwriting. Nearly every child was able to sit with the tracing sheets independently as they wrote राम, राम, राम ... We spent some time reiterating what sound each letter makes. Once the children finished writing 21 times, we pulled out white boards for them to practice on. A good number of the kids were able to write without any auntie assistance — and some were able to write राम without any visual guides! We will definitely be continuing this exercise during every class ... and if the kids keep up this great pace, we'll be introducing more likhita japa learning in the upcoming months.

We started Geeta Shloka 2 today. Please continue to work with your child at home. All of our assigned shlokas are on this blog (audio included.) Some of the kids clearly know Shlokas 1 and 2 ... hats off to those moms and dads! We will be working with Shlokas 1 and 2 through November, probably introducing Shloka 3 at the middle/end of December.

Hard to believe that we will be breaking until November 15 ... sounds so far away. Hope everyone has a peaceful and relaxing mini break. Kids, please continue to do your chanting and likhita japa at home. And if you get kinda bored next Sunday, because you're missing Balavihar, ask mom or dad if you can check out some of the videos and animations we've bookmarked for you. Also be sure to visit the Chinmaya Kids Website for some games and fun.

Next class we'll be learning "E is for _____" And nope, it's not "Ear," "Elephant" or "Easy."

See you all soon!
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October 18, 2009

Oct 18 Class: Section 1

Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline

Prayers:

Quiet Time: One minute of silence — although a few of our friends got a bit restless after 40 seconds ;-) Afterwards we played our concentration game and nearly everyone got the shell count correctly. Definitely our kindergartners can focus when they want to — not one child counted out loud. Everyone did the number count in their head (which is not easy for this age group.)

Bhajans: none

Art Activity/Games:  Scratch Art (click here to view.)

Likhita Japa: None

End of Class Prayers: Aarti and prayers were done in the auditorium with Swamiji and all the classes. 

Homework: Diya Greeting Card (click here for assembly instructions and sample.) The children are to give it to someone they love.

Videos to watch with Mom and Dad: A Garden Dream (click here to view) and Typolution (click here to view.)  These are both short and nicely done animations on cleanliness and pollution. Definitely check out "Typolution" — it's completely done in type! (The kids really get a kick figuring out which letters are being used.)


Comments: Today was "C is for Cleanliness." We talked about how we all understand that we must keep things clean – like our rooms, our bodies, our clothes, etc. But what about keeping our "inside" clean? What does that mean? Everybody raised their hands to share some ideas about what these unclean feelings and behaviours might be. Jealousy, fibbing and teasing were top on the lists ...

After our story and discussion we did an activity to help us understand that with constant work and diligence, we can take away all of our "gunky stuff." And what will be revealed after all that cleaning and polishing is God. Lots of 'good old elbow grease' was being done in the classroom today — and in the end every child got to put a beautiful image of a God or Goddess in their backpack to take home and cherish. So kids, remember that all this hard work will always be worth it! Click here to view our activity project. 

Today's class was abbreviated because we went to the auditorium to see the Sixth Grade's presentation on Diwali. The kids gave a great performance and our kindergartners sat very nicely and attentively throughout the show! Nice job guys ....

Recap: "A is for Aspiration," "B is for Brotherhood," and "C is for cleanliness." Please have your child give some thought to next week's class: "D is for ______." Here's a hint: it's not "dog" or "doughnut." :-)

We wish you and your family much joy and love during this special holiday. We look forward to seeing everyone next week for our weekly party with God!

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October 11, 2009

Oct 11 Class: Section 1

Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline

Prayers:

Quiet Time: Wow — these kids are doing great! We accomplished  one whole minute of absolute silence (with very little to no movement.) Afterwards the children played the focus game. Many of them got the correct number of shells that we dropped into the bowl. Very impressive! We're thinking that at this rate, we're going to be able to sit for 1 minute and 30 seconds by November.

Bhajans: none

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shloka 1 


End of Class Prayers: OM Poornamadah

Homework: None

Videos to watch with Mom and Dad: Sufficiency Children (click here to view), Chanda Mama (click here to view) and Stone Soup (click here for a fun version from Between the Lions on PBS.)


Comments: Today was "B for Brotherhood." Auntie told us a wonderful story about how a magic stone boiling in a pot of water brought an entire community (who had been hoarding vegetables) together to make a fabulous pot of soup — and enough for everyone to enjoy and warm their hearts with! Once auntie jots this story down for us, we will post it in the blog to read whenever we want. It really is one of our favorites ...

After the story we worked on a class project. Today we made a mobile of the world with three children holding hands. The only problem was that when we handed out the class kits, we realized that some of the kits had all the dark brown dolls, some had all the light colored dolls, and some had all the medium brown dolls. What to do??!!! We each needed one dark brown, medium brown and light colored paper doll to complete our project. The children helped us to realize that each one of us needed to share some of our pieces with everyone else in the group — this way we would all end up with the same number of pieces to make our mobiles. Nice work kids — the mobiles turned out great!! (Click here to view the mobile.)

Sooo kindergarten friends, "A is for Aspiration," and "B is for Brotherhood" Next week we learn what C stands for ... any ideas?

Have a wonderful Deepavali! We wish you and your family much joy and love during this special holiday. Oh yeah, and don't eat too many sweets ... we certainly don't want you to suffer from a tummy ache and miss next week's fun :-)
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Oct 11 Class: Section 2

Sevikas: Kalpana and Indira

Prayers:

Quiet Time: 1 minute of silence (the kids did great!)

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shloka 1 

Story: We had two today — both related to Deepavali: 1) When Lord Ram returns to Ayodhya after spending 14 years in the forest and 2) the fight between the asuras and devas where they churned the milky ocean and Goddess Lakshmi gives wealth and amrit to all. 

Art Activity/Games:  The children colored and decorated Deepavali cards and made a diya out of playdough.

Likhita Japa: none

End of Class Prayers: Aarthi, Chinmaya Pledge and OM Poornamadah


Comments: Today was definitely a busy day! We reviewed the two Safari letters we have learned so far. "A is for Ambition" and "B is for Brotherhood."We also talked about Deepavali and what it means to us. The children made beautiful Deepavali cards and diyas from playdough.

After we completed our activities, we reviewed the bhajans we have been learning. All the lyrics are posted in the blog (click on the links above.) Please have your child practice with you at home. They can show you how beautifully they've been doing in class!

And speaking of practice ... we are working on learning the Geeta Chapter 10 shlokas in class. At this point, we are nearly complete with Shloka 1. Our kindergartners will be responsible for memorizing Shlokas 1-7. Please work with your child at home — it only takes a few minutes every day. We know everyone is very busy these days, so to make things a little more convenient we have posted the audio and text on the blog.

We'd like to remind you to please send your child to class with a box of crayons, a binder, a pencil, and  copy of "My Prayers." We would also really appreciate it if you could make a stop at the restroom before class begins :-)

We really love spending every Sunday with your children — and hope they are having as much fun as we are.  

Have a very Happy Deepavali!"

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October 4, 2009

Oct 04 Class: Section 1

Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline

Prayers:

Quiet Time: We did much better with our 1 minute of silence today. The kids were able to sit, motionless, for nearly 40 seconds. We then completed our silence with a focus game where everyone had to count shells as they were dropped into a glass bowl — all with their eyes closed. Most of the class got the count correct. We're thinking that we are going to have to make this game a bit more complicated for the children next week ;-)

Bhajans: none

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shloka 1 

Story: We had two today: 1) Washington Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge and 2) The Thirsty Black Crow.

Activity/Games: "Try to Touch the Balloon"

Art Project:  None

End of Class Prayers: OM Poornamadah

Homework: The Thirsty Black Crow (click here for assembly instructions) and visit the Brooklyn Bridge.

Comments: We began our Vedantic Alphabet today: A is for Aspiration. Auntie told a wonderful story about how the Brooklyn Bridge got built — and how difficult it was for Washington Roebling to pursue his aspiration. But, through hard work, perserverance and creative thinking, he attained his goal. She then showed us some nice pictures on the computer of the Brooklyn Bridge and gave everyone a homework assignment to do with Mom and Dad: Walk or drive across the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh yeah, don't forget to have a slice of pizza and some delicious ice cream once you get to the other side!

After the story we pulled out some balloons (tied to a stick) and had the children line up to play a game. We held the balloon up high and had the children jump to try and touch it. After a few tries (and some serious jumping), each of the kids were able to see their hard work pay off — they were finally able to give the balloon a "swat."

The children were then told another story, "The Thirsty Black Crow." It is this story that their homework art project is based on. Once they have assembled their paper toy, have them tell you the story.

And to further illustrate "A is for Aspiration" we recommend these two fun, short animations to watch at home: The Thirsty Crow (click here to view) and Kiwi (click here to view.)

Also, please note that we have posted the audio of our Geeta Chanting (Chapter 10, Shlokas 1-7.) We have already begun working with the children in learning their assigned shlokas for the Geeta Competition in Spring 2010. You will be pleased to know that your children already have the first half of shloka 1 practically memorized! Please continue to work with them at home on a regular basis — in fact, make it become part of their daily homework. It would truly be a wonderful sight to see all of the kindergartners lined up at the ashram, waiting to chant.

We thank all the parents who came to our brief meeting this morning. We realize that it was a little noisy towards the end and we appreciate your focus amidst all the activity :-) Definitely take some time to explore this blog. In addition to our class reviews, we will be constantly updating with fun things to see and do with your children at home.

We cannot express enough the importance of arriving to class on time. As we indicated in the meeting, our fun begins precisely at 10:00. If the classroom lights are off, then please wait with your child in the hallway until our "Quiet Time and Focus Game" is over. We also ask that you take your child to the restroom in the morning right before class. It is difficult for us to break during class to take the children to the restroom. If one has to go .... well, you know, then the whole class has to go ;-)

We hope that your child had fun today — we know that we did! Have a great week and enjoy this fabulous weather ... we look forward to seeing you again on Sunday.
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