Feb 28 Class: Section 1

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: One minute of silence and complete accuracy in shell counting. Good going, guys! We need to work on not moving, at all, during our silent time. Some of us still shift our bodies a little ;-) We will continue to work towards our goal of 2 minutes by the end of the year — and we all agree that we can do it!!

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shlokas 1, 2, 3 and 4 click here for text and audio

Letter of the Week: "R is for Right" and "S is for Smile"

Storytime: "Pollyanna" Our story today illustrated how even though things may seem difficult, we need to practice what Pujya Gurudev instructed us to do ... "Keep on smiling!"

Likhita Japa:
• राम – 21 times click here to view

Sanskrit Words of the Week: none click here to view complete text

Ending Prayers: OM Poornamidah click here for text

Comments: First of all, we want to thank all the families for a wonderful time at Swamiji's bhiksha yesterday. It was a lot of fun — and all that food was absolutely delicious! We started out class today chanting "Parrots, Parrots, listen to me ..."

After our morning prayers and chanting, we reviewed our letters that we have studied thus far — with complete gusto, we are happy to add. Our letters today were "R is for Right" and "S is for Smile." One of our friends raised his hand and politely explained that we were missing a few letters. After O comes P and then Q. (Can't fool these 6 year olds.) Aunty explained that he was right — in the alphabet we learn at our regular school. But because "P stands for Prayer" and "Q stands for Quiet," we will not be able to fully understand these until we go through all of the other Vedantic letters first. So go figure, P comes after Z.

Today's emphasis was on "S is for Smile" — and how important it is for us to keep smiling, even when things seem hard and difficult. There is always a positive side to something and we should constantly be looking for it. To illustrate this concept, Aunty told the story of Pollyanna, a little girl who had lots of difficulties in life — but in the face of all those hardships, she always found something positive to smile about.

Parents, you will be extremely proud to know that your children have made tremendous leaps in the likhita japa segment. We were delighted to learn that nearly every child is able to write राम with confidence and accuracy on the dry erase boards. There were only two or three children who still wanted to use the tracing cards. Everyone else did independent writing — and they did great!!

We began our first day of formal rehearsal for the End of the Year Performance. Some roles were assigned and we practiced our stage entrance. As you can imagine, it was a little chaotic in the classroom when we started. Well, we take that back — it was quite chaotic ... but in a really fun way:-) Because of time constraints, we were not able to assign all of the children their roles. However, we assured them that within the next few classes everyone will know their role. And, more importantly, everyone will have a puppet and a part to play. Just so you know, parents, we plan to document all of our rehearsals so we can share them with you at the end of the year. Once every child's role has been determined, we will post all the details on the blog for you.

From this point onwards, we will be working on the play during class — after we have completed our curriculum. There may be times when we need you to be patient with us and let your child remain in class a few extra minutes after our ending time. Also, we request (actually beg) that everyone arrive on time. Because we have so much to go over in class, we really need every minute of class time.

Two thumbs up on the Geeta chanting, kids! We are now on Shloka 4. We will start Shloka 5 in March. Please continue to work with your child at home. We really recommend utilizing the Geeta blog for proper pronunciation and memorization. Each shloka is broken up into individual lines to make study more efficient. Definitely check it out if you haven't done so. Also, you can register your child on-line.

It sure was fun spending all this time with you kids this weekend. Have a super week — and we'll look forward to seeing you again on Sunday.

Sheshu, we hope you are feeling better :-)

Feb 28 Class: Section 2

Sevikas: Kalpana and Ruchi

Morning Prayers: Our weekly prayers, proceeded by saying OM 3 times.

Quiet Time: One minute of meditation. The kids were really wonderful!

Bhajans: Ganapati

Activity: Coloring page

Comments:  We reviewed our alphabets that we have learned so far. Today's lesson was "O is for Obedience." The children had fun listening to the story of our own Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayandandaji.

At the end of class — we had half of our practice for the talent show, which was fun!

• Please try not to miss any of our classes for the remainder of the year.
• Please arrive to class on time.
• We will be practicing for the "End of the Year Performance" from 11:00 to 11:30 in our classroom.

Feb 21 Class: Section 1

Sevikas: Nanda, Ruchi and Jacqueline

Click here for kid's Art Gallery.

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 and 15 seconds of silence — with some accurate, focused counting afterwards. Because we did so well in our last class, we decided to try and "pump up" our time a little. Turns out that we were a little too restless to make the full time. Guess we had too much of a winter break. Next week we're going to build up our focus muscles a little more before we move on. Our goal is 2 minutes by the end of the year.

Geeta Chanting: Shlokas 1, 2, 3, and 4 click here for text and audio

Bhajans: Ganapati, Ganapati click here for text and audio

Letter of the Week: "O is for Obedience"

Storytime: March of the Penguins

Sanskrit Activity: Counting (1 to 10) and "Heads, Shoulder's Knees and Toes."

Likhita Japa: none

Sanskrit Words of the Week:  वृक्षः (vRkShaH, tree), वृक्षशायिका (vRkShashaayikaa, squirrel),  भल्लुकः (bhallukaH, bear), वानरः (vaanaraH, monkey) click here to view complete text

Ending Prayers: Aarti was conducted in the auditorium.

Comments: After our long, unexpected winter break, we all got back into the Balavihar groove pretty effortlessly this morning. At 10:00, the children quickly laid out our floor quilts, moved the tables out of the way, took off their shoes and sat in a circle to begin our morning prayers!

After our prayers and morning disciplines, Aunty brought out a globe and the much loved book, "March of the Penguins" to begin our lesson for the week – "O is for Obedience." This story was a wonderful example of how rules must be followed, for the good of the individual and for the community. Honestly, at the end of the story, we felt as though the penguin story contained all the values we are learning!

We want to thank all of you for having your children complete their drawings.We have a huge pile to go through — and look forward to posting them in our art gallery. Definitely check back in a few days to see all the children's interpretations of the animals — you will be in for a visual treat. We are really getting excited about seeing these drawings materialize into puppets for our annual performance!

Parents: please don't forget that we are having our bhiksha with Swamiji on Saturday, February 27. Nanda or Indira will be sending a confirmation email to everyone within a few days. So please check your inbox and make sure you receive one. This is such a great opportunity to meet with Swamiji — and we are grateful that this time slot is available for us. So, in addition to your appetite, please make sure you bring your questions!!

Well, looks like we are going to be seeing a lot of each other this weekend – Saturday at the ashram, and then back again for our weekly party with God on Sunday. Until then, enjoy the sunny weather. And kids, we promise to keep our fingers crossed for another snow day tomorrow.

Don't forget to keep practicing the Geeta ...
Stay warm!

p.s. Anoushka, we were really happy to see you today!

Feb 7 Class: Sec 1 & 2

Balavihar was cancelled because of winter storm conditions.