List of the "Words of the Week"
Prayers Recited:
- OM saha naavavatu ("My Prayers," pg. 6 )
- Early Morning Prayer ("My Prayers," pg. 43)
- Before Studies Prayer ("My Prayers," pg. 44)
- Before Evening Lights Prayer ("My Prayers," pg. 45)
- Guru Brahma ("My Prayers," pg. 9 -- third shloka of Shree Gurustotram)
- Lord Hanuman Shloka
Bhajans:
- Ganesha Sharanam ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
- Jaya Ganesha ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
- Gopaalaa (2nd verse)
- Subramanyan (My Prayers," pg. 62)
- Aanjaneya Raghuveera ("My Prayers, pg. 21)
Snack: Provided by Vansh Linga and Siddarth Madireddy -- धन्यवादः!
Story: Tortoise and the Hare
Art Project: Sponge Art Picture of Mouse.
Sanskrit: We read the book "Big, Little" by SAMI, played shashakaH vadati., using our new opposite words, शीघ्रम् and मन्दम् . Also we reviewed counting.
End of Class: Poornamadah.
Comments: Happy Birthday to Vansh -- he turned four on Friday! (Not a toddler anymore, mom and dad ...)
We had two new friends join our class today! We want to extend a very warm "Hari OM" and welcome to them. We look forward to seeing them every Sunday morning, and hope they will have a great time with their classmates.
Our Geeta Chanters are doing super -- no question about it! Today the children belted out the shlokas (no parental help) with the greatest confidence they've shown all year. Honestly, we are so proud of them! As of this morning, we have 15 students registered, which is fantastic. However, our chanting won't seem complete without everyone there. So, if you have not registered your child, please do so. Even if they do not have all three shlokas memorized, they should not miss out on this day. What is important is that they feel the uplifting rewards of having chanted their shlokas with their friends. There is no way to truly measure the pride and self-esteem these children will experience by being part of the group chanting and receiving a medal for all their effort. They will remember this day for a very long time.
Even though we had a lot of material to cover in class -- we still managed to get through it all -- on schedule! Today was especially busy because we did something a little different during our art project time. Because the children have done extremely well with their Sanskrit learning this year, we want them to have something to remember their friends and class with during summer break. Sooooo, from now until class sessions end, we will dedicate our art segment to the children creating a page for a book that will be completed at our end-of-the-year party. They will make their own animal picture book in Sanskrit. Parents, please keep your child's drawing somewhere safe (and unwrinkled), so that we can work on assembling the pages together in June. (Click here to see a sample of the book.)
Also, mark your calendars for April 15 - 17. Swamiji will be giving a discourse on Bhagavad Gita, chapter 12. This is a wonderful opportunity to spend some focused satsang time at the ashram and put things into perspective! Please be sure and join us.
We're going to miss everyone during break. Have a wonderful vacation -- and enjoy all that outdoor playing.
Oh yeah, kids -- don't forget, we've got a pizza party with Swamiji on Saturday, April 11. I'm guessing we're going to have a lot of fun that day :-)
