Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline
Prayers:
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
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shloka 1 and 2 (click here for audio)
Story: How Father's Day Came to Be.
Art Activity/Games: Keychain for Dad (click here to view.)
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.)
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!
