Sevikas: Nanda, Usha Didi, Indira and Jacqueline
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: One solid minute of silence (with very little movement) and pretty accurate shell counting. Great job, kids!
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shlokas 1, 2 and 3 (click here for audio and text)
Bhajan: Ganapati, Ganapati (click here for audio and text)
Letter of the Week: "J is for Japa"
Activities: Memory Game with objects in a tray.
Likhita Japa:
• राम (21 times)
• ऊँ (21 times)
Sanskrit Words of the Week: लिखतु (likhatu, write), जप (japa, repetition of the Lord's name), माला (maalaa, garland) (click here to view class word list)
Sanskrit Learning:
• KrishnaH vadati (click here to view text)
• Counting numbers 1-10 (click here to view text)
End of Class Prayers:
• OM PoornamadaH (click here to view text)
Comments: Today sure was a fun-filled class! After nearly a month of break, we got right back into the groove. And the best part was that we combined both classes today. So it was a great opportunity to meet our kindergarten neighbors and enjoy the morning together.
Nanda Aunty is back from India — and it sure was nice seeing her again. She brought a very sweet surprise to class with her ... Usha Didi, her daughter. Usha Didi had been in India working with CORD for the past four months. And, while she was there she learned some really great bhajans from a few of the Balavihar students in Mumbai. She taught us a bhajan today ... and this is definitely going to be incorporated into our curriculum. We could not get this bhajan out of our head throughout the entire class :-) Many thanks, Usha Didi! We will be getting the lyrics via email soon ... and once received we will post them on the blog so we can all learn it.
Click the Play Button to hear "Ganapati, Ganapati."
Our letter of the week today was "J is for Japa." Even though our class was doubled in size, we managed to carry on a healthy discussion about the meaning of "japa" and why it is important. And that japa gives us tremendous mental strength, or concentration. While on the topic of "concentration," we then played a concentration game involving 20-30 objects in a tray. Each of the children were asked to focus on all the contents for about 30 seconds and then we covered the tray again. Once everyone had a chance to study the tray, we then asked the children if they could remember everything they saw. As you can imagine, we got a variety of answers ...
We ended the class with our likhita japa and some fun games of Shree KrishnaH vadati (aka Simon Says). It was nice to burn off energy after all that hard focusing ...
Please continue to practice the Geeta Chanting with your children at home. We are delighted to hear how well many of the kids are doing. Just a few minutes a day of practicing makes all the difference in the world.
Everyone stay warm today and enjoy some steaming hot chocolate. We will definitely miss you next weekend, but look forward to another fun class on the 24th!
Ganapati, Ganapati, Ganapati .... just can't get that bhajan out of my head. Absolutely invigorating!
Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda
