September 20th Class

Words of the week: मूषकः (mUShakaH - mouse), मयूरः (mayUraH - peacock)

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIh (My prayers, pg. 43)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
• सुब्रह्मण्यम् - Subrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)
• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
  

Snack/Juice: Provided by Rhea, Aurelia, Ram Uncle -- धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story: Ganesha and Subrahmanya squabbling over the mango.

Art Project: Coloring pictures of Ganesha.

Sanskrit segment: Ganesha vadati. Numbers.

End of class:

• ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: It was our first full session today. Kids did wonderfully on the shloka, bhajan and geeta segments. We have an awesome class of attentive kids! They did their homework and remembered the two sanskrit words we had learnt last week and added two more to the collection today! Good work parents :) Art project was coloring of Ganesha. It was a delight to see the unique works of art produced by each child. They loved jumping to गणेशः वदति उत्त्पततु (gaNeshaH vadati uttpatatu - Ganesha says jump) in the sanskrit segment.

Snippets: When Ganesha was sharing the mango with his brother Subrahmanya, the lesson learnt was that we have to share with our brothers, sisters and friends also. Our toddler said "sometimes..., we can share with mommy and daddy also"! How thoughtful :). Well, the catch phrase being 'sometimes' ;)

September 13th Class

Words of the week: पिपीलिका (pipIlikaa - ant); कपोतः (kapOtaH - pigeon)

Prayers:

• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
• कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIh (My prayers, pg. 43)
• वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
  
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
• सुब्रह्मण्यम् - Subrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Ishaan and Vikas -- धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story: Ant and the Pigeon - Aesop fable

End of class: ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH. Aarati and pledge were done in the auditorium.

Comments: Today was the first day of balavihar for this year. We had lots of new friends along with friends from last year. We can't believe how much you have grown during the summer! We are certainly glad to have you back. To the new friends, we extend a warm welcome. It was a short class today. We got to know each other by names (although it will take us a while to remember all of them :). We familiarized with the class structure. Everyone sat in a circle and did all the prayers, bhajans and geeta chanting wonderfully. Good job class! The kids came up front to aunty for story time and wow, do we have a crowd of smart kids! They were all so attentive and interactive in the very first class. We are sure they will give us more work by the end of the year :)

From next week, we will be having a full class and a whole lot of fun things to do.

We are glad that classes are back in session – look forward to seeing you every balavihar Sunday!

Snippets: During the ant and the pigeon story - 'the ant bit the hunter's leg to save its friend, the pigeon'. "oh, oh! Biting is not a good thing to do..." said one of the toddlers very sweetly. (Din't it take Lord Krishna the whole 18 chapters (of Geeta) to explain this to Arjuna :)

Balavihar 2009 - 2010

Hari OM!

Welcome to the Toddler Balavihar Blog.

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We look forward to spending a very fun and spiritually enriching year with you and your child!

The Toddler Team