May 23rd Class - Parent Participation Week

Today's class was just so awesome! The teachers took a break and let the parents engage the class. Stared off with 'Om sahanaavavatu..' in chorus. The parents led the class through various bhajans, shlokas and geeta chanting. Some of the kids volunteered in leading the bhajans and telling shlokas as well. That was the coolest!

• Pushti did 'gaayatri mantram'.

• Ishaan's dad taught the bhajan 'aatmaa raama anadaramaNa...'

• Abhijith led us with the bhajan 'ambaa devI saraswati...' beautifully.

• Nithin's 'vara veeNaa mRudupaaNi...' was very sweet.

• Shivani got comfortable on aunty's lap and led us through 'ambaa devI saraswati...'. (All kids seem to like that bhajan a lot.)

• Aarush's mom led us though 'Geeta chanting'.

Then, there was a double treat - two stories today.

• Prayag's dad read us the story 'Don't be scared little cub'. It was a nicely illustrated book where the Lion encourages his little cub to venture out in the night without being scared.

• Aarush's mom told the story 'Krishna, the invisible friend', along with showing the pictures. It was about a little boy who is scared to walk alone to school. But his mom reassures him that Lord Krishna is there to accompany him anywhere he goes.

• Ishaan chanted 'sarvopaniShado gaavo...', as if inspired by the Krishna story!

We had a fun, busy and extended art segment today. Didn't know we had such creative parents! (Would have given you more work otherwise ;). All the art projects brought by the parents were so wonderful. The kids enjoyed making the many projects.

• Aayush's mom and dad got a summery art project for everyone. All kids got to make foam visors decorated with stickers and personalized with their own names specially!

• Samaya's mom and Samiksha's mom brought foam robot projects for everyone.

• Akshay's dad showed us all how to make paper origami butterflies.

• Dakshata's mom led us in 'brahmaarpaNam...' before all the kids enjoyed the varieties of snacks on the menu today :-).
  

(They sure had a blast. Snack time was a total treat. The kids had a blast eating all the goodies. We had way too many snacks and got to take home some as well (hopefully :)).

• Harshini's mom got a fun foam project. There was a monkey, lion and an elephant. Kids got any one of these stick puppets to make and take.

• Udgita's mom brought a fun pencil holder mug for everyone. The kids were supposed to color and decorate them with crayons. As we were running late, the kids took it home to finish it later.

Wrapped up the class with 'pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam...' in chorus.

We were having so much fun that we ran over time. We needed to disperse as parents had to pick up their older children, or we would have continued our fun activities for some more time! Not to worry, we will come back with more fun for the last day of balavihar class.

Really, it was an awesome and fun class today! We truly have a wonderful set of kids as well as parents, who take keen interest in all activities of the class. We are more encouraged to come to class every week because of your active participation. Once again, thanks parents for all your contributions and your sportive spirits! You are the best!!

Below is the link to view the pictures taken today. Nithin's dad, thanks for sending it over so quickly.

Parent Participation Week pictures

We will see you all on June 6th for a brief class as well as party, and bid farewell for this year.