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
Story:
Art Project: Deer Paper bag Puppet
Sanskrit segment: Head, shoulders, knees and toes; Counting
Yoga segment: Stretches; Surya namaskaara
End of class:
- ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).
- ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
Comments: Good class inspite of the the weather today. It was cold and windy outside, but it was all fun and learning at Balavihar! We learnt a new shloka for Lord Krishna and included it to our list of regular prayers. We also learnt a new Bhajan for 'Krishna and Rama' - together. And started working on the 3rd Bhagavadgeeta shloka as well! Phew, that was a lot of learning.
We heard a fun story about a deer who was very proud of his shapely Antlers and almost ashamed of his thin long legs. When a hunter came to catch him, he started running. Unfortunately, his big and beautiful antlers got caught in the branches of a tree. He struggled hard, untangled his antlers from the branches and ran for dear life. When at a safe distance, he paused to think of his earlier pride about the antlers and contempt for his legs. On contemplating the happenings, he realized that - it was his legs who had helped him run for life while his beautiful antlers almost got him in trouble. He learnt that each part has its own special duty to perform and it is uncalled for to be proud about or ashamed of anything for that matter.
The kids loved the story and the moral. They were so quick to apply the moral to real life and in such simple words, that too! (see snippets :)
Kids also had a lot of fun making their own deer puppet. They traced out their hands for the antlers of their deer! Wasn't it so fun kids...
We have a wonderful group of smart children. Looks like we can't say that enough times. We keep saying that over and over :).
Snippets: After the story, aunty said "Oh, my brain makes me smart, it helps me think. But my hands can't think. Maybe I'll leave them at home today..." They squealed with laughter and replied, "then you can't eat!" Then, aunty tried saying "I have pretty eyes, but I don't like my nose. May be it should be cut off..." Our smartie pies said, "then you can't smell!" So we concluded saying that - there are so many people in the world who may not be bestowed with all senses, hence we should not be proud, but very thankful to God for what we have been blessed with, which is - A LOT!
