Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline
Morning Prayers:
• OM Saha Naavavatu click here for text
• Vakratunda Mahakaya click here for text
• Sarasvati Namastubhyam click here for text
• Shree KrishnaH click here for text
Quiet Time: 1 minute of complete silence and stillness. Everyone got an accurate shell count! We are definitely increasing our time to one minute 15 seconds next class.
Geeta Chanting: Shlokas 1, 2 and 3 click here for audio and text
Bhajan: Ganapati, Ganapati. click here for audio and text
Letters of the Week: "M is for Mother" and "N is for Noble"
Story time: PunyakoTi — an all time favorite tale of a cow and her calf.
Activity: KrishnaH vadati. click here for complete text
• verbs: उपविशतु (upavishatu, sit down), उत्तिष्ठतु (uttiShThatu, stand up), उत्पततु (utpatatu, jump), भ्रमतु (bhramatu, spin), हसतु (hasatu, laugh), रोदितु (roditu, cry)
• adverbs: शीघ्रम् (shiighram, fast), मन्दम (mandam, slow)
Likhita Japa:
• wrote राम 21 times
• wrote ऊँ 21 times
Sanskrit Words of the Week: भल्लुकः (bhallukaH, bear), पाञ्चालिका (paaJcaalikaa, puppet), पिङ्गलः (piGgalaH, brown), चित्रलेखन (citralekhana, drawing) click here to view word list
End of Class Prayer: OM Poornamadah click here for text
Comments: After reviewing the Vedantic alphabet we have studied thus far, we jumped into "M is for Mother" and "N is for Noble." Our story today, PunyakoTi, best exemplifies these two ideas – what a wonderfully rich tale! This aunty could listen to it over ... and over ... and over again.
These kindergartners are quickly becoming 1st graders. They are doing very nicely with our morning prayers, and are able to tell us what each prayer means. We are still only on shloka 3 with our Geeta chanting. However, in our next class (February 7) we will begin shloka 4. Please use the Geeta Chanting Blog for practicing pronunciation and memorization with your child. (click here to view) Because of the amount of material we need to cover in each class, we cannot spend all the time we wish we could on pronunciation. This blog is a fabulous tool for learning ... and you can work with your child line by line.
As you probably know by now, we are getting ready for our annual end of the year program. As of this posting, we will be having pre-production workshops in the ashram — every Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. For the next few months we will focus on creating the props and set design for our young friends' performance. We welcome help from any and everyone who wants to lend a hand in the puppet making. So please mark your calendars and come join us in the fun every Saturday.
Regarding the puppet and set designs: we have posted an announcement asking for your child to copy some animal drawings. (click here to read) Please try and have these drawings done by February 7 – and be sure to have your child bring them to class. We will be using their drawings to create life-size puppets for them to perform with. In order to be ready for Spring rehearsals, we need to start making the props now.
O comes after N ... so let's brainstorm what that could be. It's not "octopus," "oven" or "orange" What do you think it could be? Here's a hint, kids: Mom and Dad are very happy when we practice it ...
Don't forget our Ganapati bhajan. We're going to do it even faster next time we get together. Don't know about you kids, but this aunty is ready for a nap ...
Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda
