December 13th Class

Words of the week: वृकः (vRukaH - wolf); मेषः (meShaH - sheep)

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)
* वसुदेवसुतं देवं - vasudevasutaM devaM (My prayers, pg. 15)

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1, 2 & 3

Bhajans:

• गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
  
• अम्बा देवी सरस्वती - ambaa devI saraswati
• गोपाला गोपाला - gopaalaa gopaalaa
• कृष्णं वन्दे नन्दकुमारम् - kRuShNaM vande nandakumaaram
  

Snack/Juice: Provided by -- Meera Nair and Abhinav Mundayath - धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story: The boy who cried 'Wolf!'

Art Project: Sheep Hanging Puppet

Sanskrit segment: Numbers; Shapes.

Yoga segment: Surya Namaskaara; stretches.

End of class:

• ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
• Aarti and pledge in the auditorium
  

Comments: This was such a fun, fun class! Our kids are so smart - that we already have established. The whole class is becoming like one large family. The parent participation is very essential for the kids of our age group. When the kids see that the parents are having fun, the kids naturally take the tempo from them. We have so much fun, don't we parents! We certainly have a group of parents very willing to involve with all the activities the children are doing. We do not mention as often as we would like to. But surely parents, your participation is very much appreciated and applauded!

Although it was a short class as per schedule, our class was packed with activities. After the regular shlokas, bhajans and Geeta chanting, we went on to hear a story - about the 'Boy who cried Wolf!' We learnt that it is not a nice thing to trick people or tell lies. They saw that the boy learnt his lesson the hard way, but he sure learnt it! Our kids were very smart to learn the lesson from the shepherd boy's mistake - never to tell lies. We then made our very own - Sheep puppets - to take home and take good care of :)

The kids know almost all the shapes we have learnt in Sanskrit! They see the picture and identify the shape almost instantaneously now. Good practicing kids and good training parents :)

We loved the stretching and bending during the Surya Namaskaara and also some jumping as an added bonus at the end of the class. It sure was fun. But parents, please be reminded that it is advisable to discourage the children from running around during or after the class. One thing, it is distracting to the other kids. Secondly, the rest of the kids tend to follow suit. Most of all, they could slip and get hurt. So please, discourage running around.

Have a great week until we meet next Sunday. Stay warm!

Snippets: The question during the shloka time was 'what instrument does Lord Krishna hold in his hand'. The children replied 'a flute'. The follow up question was 'what does it do - play music or make noise'. One of the parents replied 'depends!' (on who is playing it :)