February 22 Class

Words of the Week: कुक्कुटशावा (kukkuTashaavaa, hen)
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
  

Gita Shlokas: Chapter 9, Shlokas 1,2 and 3.

Bhajans:

• Ganesha Sharanam ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
• Jaya Ganesha ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
  
• Gopaalaa (2nd verse)
• Om Namah Shivaya
  

Snack: Provided by Dakshatha Ravinder and Anjali Mahesh -- धन्यवादः!

Story: The Little Red Hen

Art Project: Lord Shiva Paper Sculpture

Sanskrit: Today we read two books -- "बृहत् लघु" (Big Little by SAMI) and "नीलं शिरस्त्रम, हरितं शिरस्त्रम् (Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton). We reviewed Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Shiva vadati.

End of Class: Arathi and Om Poornamadah.

Comments: Today our class activities celebrated Maha Shivaratri. In addition to our usual morning curriculum, we took a few minutes to breath deeply and chant OM Namah Shivaya 11 times.

Our Gita Chanting is definitely coming along nicely -- we really want to encourage all the parents to register their children online (Chinmaya Vrindavan Site) and join us in a day of fun gathering and chanting. Our little ones will be allowed to chant in a group (they will not be asked to chant individually), and parents will be permitted to sit with them. Please remember that the toddler group is the only age category where the rules don't apply :-) If you do want your child to compete individually, then please be sure to talk with the coordinators to find out what their guidelines and restrictions are. We have been told that the class who registers the most will have a pizza and ice cream party with Swami ji!

And speaking of pizza and ice cream -- the CORD committee has reminded us that they still owe us a pizza feast. April 11 from 12:30 - 2:00 has been scheduled -- so please be sure and mark your calendars. We have sent an Evite with the details. Please respond, we need to know how people plan to attend. If you did not receive an invite, be sure and let one of the sevikas know.

Poor Swami ji -- he's going to be awfully sick of pizza and ice cream by the time the year ends...

Also, for those parents with older school children, please note that the Ashram will be conducting a Day Summer Camp from June 22 through August 14. Details and registration are posted online. An extended day program will be available for parents who need. Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate the toddler and pre-k age groups this year.

Hope everyone left Balavihar and immediately went to the Ashram to join in the MahaShivaratri celebrations! Remember, no class next week ... yep, another week off. We wish everyone a very peaceful vacation and look forward to another fun day together on the 8th.

Priyanka, we can't wait to see you and your baby brother again! Dad says you'll be back on the 15th -- make sure to bring in some cool photos so you can share them with us.

p.s. For those who might be interested in the hip-hop 'OM Namah Shivaya' we listened to today -- the album is "Elephant Power" by MC Yogi. It is a newly released album and one you might consider having -- especially if you want to dance around the house with your children, singing the stories and glories of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva :-)

February 8 Class

Words of the Week: बृहत् (bRihat, big), लघु (laghu, small)
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
  

Gita Shlokas: Chapter 9, Shlokas 1,2 and 3.

Bhajans:

• Ganesha Sharanam ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
• Jaya Ganesha ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
  
• Gopaalaa (2nd verse)
• Om Namah Shivaya
  

Snack: Provided by Vikas Anand-- धन्यवादः!

Story: The Lion and the Mouse (Pancatantra)

Art Project: Mouse Puppet

Sanskrit: Today we read a book "Big, Little" by SAMI. We reviewed Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, KrishnaH vadati (although today we played "muuShakaH vadati" -- using our art project :-) and Counting. We also spent a few minutes tracing OM.

End of Class: Chanted Om Poornamadah. Arathi was done in the auditorium.

Comments: Even though we had a shortened class today, we certainly accomplished a lot. Our toddlers are becoming more focused -- and we couldn't be any prouder of them!

One of the new activities we introduced today was tracing OM. Every class (after we finish our prayers, bhajans and chanting), we would like to help the toddlers sit for 30 seconds (or a minute, if we're lucky), breath, say OM, and then trace the letter on the laminated cards. We realize they are still very young (and active), but we think this will help them accomplish two things: 1) for those who do not know how to write OM, they will become familiar with the writing strokes, and 2) they will begin to learn that when we say OM, we want to quieten ourselves. We plan to allow 3-5 minutes for this activity in each class. In order to reuse the lamination sheets, we must write with Washable markers only -- so, if you remember, please be sure to bring one with you to class every week.

The other development we are experiencing in class is that our budding Sanskrit scholars are now ready to explore new ways to use the words they have been learning. We are planning to take a few minutes during our language segment to read age-appropriate books in Sanskrit. Today's story ("Big Little") was a nice way to tie in number counting and body parts, as well as teach them very simple sentences. From this point onward, we will try to incorporate regular story reading (in Sanskrit) along with the games that we are playing.

We will definitely miss all of you next week. Enjoy this absolutely fabulous weather! We look forward to seeing you next class ... and please plan to schedule your afternoon on February 22 at the Ashram for Maha Shivaratri celebrations -- after Balavihar, of course.

Anouncements

Hari Om Parents,
The Toddler Sevika Team would like to wish you and your family a very Happy and Prosperous Deepavali!
Next Balavihar will be on November 10th at the cafeteria

February 1 Class

Words of the Week: जगत् (jagat, world), जनाः (janaaH, people)
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
  

Gita Shlokas: Chapter 9, Shlokas 1,2 and 3.

Bhajans:

• Ganesha Sharanam ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
• Jaya Ganesha ("My Prayers," pg. 7)
  
• Gopaalaa (2nd verse)
• Om Namah Shivaya
  

Snack: Provided by Diya Amba-- धन्यवादः!

Story: Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.

Art Project: Draw Your Own People. Children drew and colored pictures of people from diverse backgrounds. Click to view class art gallery.

Sanskrit: We reviewed "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," KrishnaH Vadati, Animals, Colors, Counting 1-10 and Counting Dogs. We also played Red Light, Green Light (रक्तः दीपः, हरितः दीपः) using verbs from "KrishnaH Vadati".

End of Class: Aarti, Poornamadah

Comments: We want to give a big welcome and "Hari OM" to two new friends, Nithin and Kaavya -- we are very happy to have you join us and look forward to spending a fun year with you!

Today our story focused on the sameness and differences in people all over the world. "Whoever You are", by Mem Fox is a wonderful book to help young ones grasp the concept of diversity -- and that even though we may look different on the outside, what we have on the inside is the same ... God living in our heart, our smiles, our joys and our sadnesses. We have posted their coloring pages in the gallery section of this blog -- please take time to show your child his/her drawing. Also, we hope to have some posters made of their drawings so we can display them weekly in our class.

Parents: please remember to bring in a Washable marker to class from now on -- the color is unimportant (although darker will be better). We will be introducing OM tracing cards for the children to practice writing on -- and plan to make this be part of our weekly curriculum.

Because of our growing class, we think it might be best for parents to share snack time slots. One parent can be responsible for bringing small juice boxes, while the other can bring in the food. If you have already signed up, then Hema will contact you regarding snack assignments. If you have not signed up and would like to do so, please make sure that you speak with Hema after class. For those of you who might not remember your assigned day, we have it posted on the blog :-) -- See Snack Sign-Up List in the announcement box.

We received a flyer today for the Geeta Chanting Competition, although no date was formally posted. We will be sure to let everyone know the details as soon as we learn them. In the meantime, keep up the good practicing -- and remember, starting in March parents aren't allowed to chant with their child :-)

Enjoy this beautiful weather! Look forward to seeing everyone next week.