November 22nd Class

Words of the week: रक्तः (raktaH - red); कुक्कुटः (kukkuTaH - Hen)

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')
* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalam (Lord Hanumaan shloka)

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1 & 2

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
• सुब्रह्मण्यम् - Subrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)
• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
  
• अम्बा देवी सरस्वती - ambaa devI saraswati
• गोपाला गोपाला - gopaalaa gopaalaa

Snack/Juice: Provided by -- Shreya & Shruti Iyer, Prayag Patel धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story: The Little Red Hen

Art Project: Red Hen

Sanskrit segment: Numbers, Head shoulders knees and toes

Yoga segment: Suryanamaskaara

End of class:

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

• आरति श्री चिन्मय सद्गुरु की - aarati shrI chinmaya sadguru kI
  

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Good weather today, kept our class small :). Yet, it was a fun class. We are doing so well with our shlokas and bhajans that we are thinking of introducing more new shlokas next class! The Geeta chanting is coming along well too. Kids, we need a little more practice on the 2nd shloka, so that we can learn the 3rd shloka as well.

Our wonderful listeners, heard the story of a hardworking Little Red Hen and have promised to be good helpers at home to their parents! They also learnt about how a seed is sown and a seedling grows from it, to give seeds back again.

We are adding more to our vocabulary collection in Sanskrit each week. The familiar song - 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes...' was introduced in Sanskrit. Lo and behold... they caught on right away to the tune and words. Most kids are already very sure of their Sanskrit Numbers too! Do we have a super duper class or what!!

We will miss you next week during the break. Be sure to keep practicing all the new things at home and we will meet again in 2 weeks.

Snippets: The question was 'Who said Bhagavadgeeta?'. Instantaneously, the children pointed towards aunty who helps them learn Geeta, with full fledged enthusiasm! (Some time ago, one child even thought aunty's name was 'Geeta' and had very cheerfully replied 'Geeta aunty', pointing to 'Rashmi aunty' :)

November 15th Class

Words of the week: कूर्मः (kUrmaH - tortoise); शशकः (shashakaH - hare)

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')
* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalam (Lord Hanumaan shloka)

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1 & 2

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
• सुब्रह्मण्यम् - Subrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)
• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
  
• अम्बा देवी सरस्वती - ambaa devI saraswati
• गोपाला गोपाला - gopaalaa gopaalaa

Snack/Juice: Provided by -- Nitin Vijayakumar and Harshini धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story: Hare and the Tortoise

Art Project: Tortoise

Sanskrit segment: कूर्मः वदति (kUrmaH vadati) along with मन्दम्, शीघ्रम् (mandam, shIghram - slow, fast) adverbs, Numbers, Shapes book

Yoga segment: Basic stretches

End of class

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
• Aarati and pledge done in the auditorium.
  

Comments: Our super duper class is grooving along well with the first bhagavatgeeta shloka and working on the 2nd one. They are super fast at picking up new sanskrit words as well. They are able to respond very well to the action verbs in our कूर्मः वदति (kUrmaH vadati) game. We introduced 2 new adverbs to this classic verb game we play - मन्दम्, शीघ्रम् (mandam, shIghram - slow, fast). Did they pick up the words or what.

We also introduced a new yoga segment today. The basic stretches were picked up very quickly as well. We have a bunch of very good listeners, don't we! We will introduce tougher ones as we go along, what do you think, kids :)

Kids, hope you all enjoyed your snack and juice at home. As we were not in the cafeteria today, we had to take our snacks - to-go. Practice being steady and diligent like the कूर्मः (kUrmaH) until we meet next week :)

Snippets: During shloka time, we were talking about Hanuman. The question asked was 'what does Hanuman give us?' The prompt answer from our toddler was 'Mountain'. Well the logic behind that, probably, was - one can only give what one has... and, fortunately or unfortunately, He has a mountain in his hand!