Sevikas: Mamtha Rao and Jacqueline Gaines
Morning Prayers:
• OM Sahanaavavatu (click here for text)
• Vakratunda Mahaakaaya (click here for text)
• Saraswati Namastubhyam (click here for text)
• Shree Hanumaan (click here for text)
• Shree Krishna (click here for text)
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, Shlokas 1-8 (click here for text and audio)
Letter of the Week: "Z is for Zeal"
Likhita Japa: Children learned how to design mandalas. Then they filled them in with their likhita japa.
Ending Prayers:
• OM Poornamidah (click here for text)
• Chinmaya Pledge (click here for text)
Comments: First we want to welcome our new friend, Divya, who joined us for the first time this morning! We are sorry that we will be having only one more class together before summer break, but we really look forward to spending a fun year with you after vacation. And we hope that you are going to enjoy spending Sunday mornings with all of your new friends!
We were delighted to see so many students to class on time -- especially because many of us were out late last night due to our Bhiksha with Swamiji. (We all admitted that it was a little hard to get up this morning ... but we did it!!) The aunties had a lot of fun with everyone last night, and it was such a pleasure to meet and spend time with the students and families from the other Kindergarten class.
Today we reached our last letter of the Alphabet Safari ... "Z is for Zeal." This one was not too difficult for us to comprehend. In fact, we all agreed that you can't help but know it's meaning, if you just listen to how you feel when you say the word -- ZEAL! You can just feel the vibrations and know that it's got some long-lasting power :-) ... pretty much like "Enthusiasm."
After we reviewed our letters A-Z, we settled down to share some techniques that the children can use over the summer in their likhita japa journals. We expect them to keep up their great work!! We showed them that anytime they want to make a mandala or drawing, they simply have to look around the house for a cool shape. It could be a bowl, a cup, a bottle cap, a box ... pretty much anything. And then they trace it onto their paper -- and fill it in with more shapes and likhita japa. They really did such a great job this morning, and we are pretty confident that there are going to be some amazing drawings coming out of these youngsters over the summer. We hope they will show us their journals when Balavihar resumes in the fall :-)
You gotta know ... the aunties are sad that our Balavihar Year is coming to an end. We are definitely going to miss these wonderful children. It has been such a blessing to watch them grow over the past 9 or 10 months. So much so that we can already feel their long-lasting presence in our hearts. Just know, parents: they have been instructed to come back to the Kindergarten Class and give us a hug every now and then :-) So don't scold them when they say "Wait a sec" and then run down the hall to our room.
In preparation for our summer break, we thought it would be fun to have a class party on June 5th. We are trying to get "management" approval to take the kids outside for the morning ... where we will play games, run around, blow bubbles, and eat yummy snacks. Once the aunties hear from our "boss," then we will send out an email, letting you know whether you should send along a visor and sunblock.
Bet many of you are going to take it easy each this afternoon ... maybe even go to bed early tonight. The aunties definitely are!
Sending oodles of hugs to our young friends!
(We want to thank all the parents who helped with our class activities last evening. And many, many special thanks to Madhi and Priyanka's parents for pitching in and "going that extra mile." You all made the evening Super Extra Enjoyable!
