November 21st class

Prayers:

v ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation)

Shlokas:

v वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

v बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

v कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)

v सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)

Bhajans:

v गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

v xÉÑoÉë¼hrÉqÉç xÉÑoÉë¼hrÉqÉç - suBrahmanyam suBrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)

v lÉlSsÉÉsÉÉ rÉSÒlÉlSsÉÉsÉÉ – nandalAlA yadunandalAlA (My prayers, pg. 53)

v आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

v Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 3

Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Nivetha and family - धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Theme: kUrma avatara

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10; MÔüqÉïÈ kUrmaH - Turtle

Game Segment: qÉqÉ lÉÉqÉ - mama nAma – My name is …..

End of class:

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

xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: We had a busy class today and loads of fun! As usual we started with the 3 OMs. We stretched a bit during Yoga with Anitha Aunty and went on to our Shlokas. After Shlokas it was time for Bhajans with Rupa Aunty. We learnt a new bhajan , suBrahmnyam, today. Of course, we ended with our all time favorite, Great God Ganapathy. We did Gita chanting with Nanda Aunty and also listened to the audio CD as well. Then it was snack time. Today’s snack was provided by Nivetha and family. When snack was done, we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and quickly got ready for story time with Nanda Aunty. Today’s story was about the churning of the ocean by the Devas. They wanted to be powerful and had to drink Amrita from the ocean. The Mandaara mountain was brought into the ocean and Vasuki the snake agreed to be the rope. When the Devas were churning, the mountain slipped and fell into the ocean. They prayed to Lord Vishnu to help them. Lord Vishnu took the form of a giant turtle and went under the ocean and brought the mountain up. At first, a lot of poison came out and they prayed to Lord Shiva, who gathered all the poison and drank it up. Then Dhanvantri, the doctor of the Devas, came out with the pot of Amrita and the Devas drank it and became very powerful. We played a round of Mama Nama… with Lord Krishna who visited us today again! The children really enjoyed the game! Now they can even say Mama Naama without being prompted! Great work, kids! We sang Om jaya jagadeesha hare, chanted xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH and ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

November 14th Class

Prayers:

v ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Butterfly Pose, Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation)

Shlokas:

v वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

v बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

v कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)

v वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg.15)

Bhajans:

v गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

v lÉlSsÉÉsÉÉ rÉSÒlÉlSsÉÉsÉÉ – nandalAlA yadunandalAlA (My prayers, pg. 53)

v आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

v Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 & 2

Art Project: Connect the Dots – CAT.

Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Shruti - धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Theme: Sharing – Two Cats & the Monkey.

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10

Game Segment: qÉqÉ lÉÉqÉ - mama nAma – My name is …..

End of class:

xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: It was good to see everybody in class today. We missed a couple of aunties and some of our friends as well. We started out with our nice Yoga stretches with Rupa aunty. Then we chanted our shlokas. It is always heart-warming to see our little friends get bolder and more confident while saying their shlokas. They remembered the new shloka they learnt last week about Lord Krishna, who is the teacher of the world. Bhajans followed and we sang about Krishna, Hanuman, Ganesha and did not miss out our favorite – O Great God Ganapati! This time the children came forward leaving mom and dad behind, which is a great thing because it tells us that they are getting involved. Moving on, we chanted Bhagvad Gita Chapter 11’s first and second verses. We just have two more to go! At craft time, we counted one to ten in Sanskrit and connected the dots on our paper to make a nice cat. Creative little minds made colorful little cats! We thanked Shruti for the snacks, said our prayers before snacks. Rupa aunty spoke about the Thanksgiving Seva Project. We sincerely appreciate your interest and support for this event. At story time, we spoke about the importance of sharing and friendship. Ramu and Shamu the cats were really good friends until they found one bar of chocolate that they did not want to share. The mean monkey took advantage of it and in the name of helping them divide the chocolate, ate up all of it – little by little – leaving Ramu and Shamu with nothing but a sad face. We decided that we will share our toys, our treats and our games with brothers, sisters and friends. We all agree that Ramu and Shamu could have had a nice big piece of chocolate each if they had only decided to share instead of going to the mean monkey. We had time to did a quick round of Mama Nama… with Lord Krishna who visited us today again! In keeping up with theme of sharing and not fighting, we chanted xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH and prayed for everyone to be happy, healthy and safe. We went to the auditorium for prayers and pledge. That’s all from us this week. Look forward to meeting you on Sunday Nov 21st.

November 7th Class

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Butterfly Pose, Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation)

Shlokas:

* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

* वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg.15)

* नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye (Mahalakshmi shloka)

Bhajans:

गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

NandalAlA yadunandalAlA (My prayers, pg. 53)

आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 & 2

Art Project: Sparkler

Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Nandan Nair: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: The story of Narakasura

Sanskrit lesson of the week: mama nAma – My name is …..

Game Segment: Passing Krishna around

End of class:
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: We met after a 2 week break, today. We sure missed the children! Everyone was in a festive mood! We started out with ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu and moved on to our weekly Yoga stretches. The children were amazing! They remembered their stretches very well and also did a complete Surya Namaskara with Anitha Aunty. Today’s class was all about Krishna. We learnt a new shloka on Krishna: वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM. Our new Bhajan of the week was also on Krishna: NandalAlA yadunandalAlA. Of course, we sang about Hanuman and did not forget to sing our favorite one on the great God GaNapathy with Rupa Aunty. During Geeta chanting session we learnt the second line on verse 2. The children have already warmed up to the chanting. We could see many of them chanting very nicely. It is just a matter of days before they can master all their lines! And then, it was craft time. Today’s craft was a sparkler as it is Diwali season! As usual, our little creators did an amazing job! It was so adorable to watch them hold out their sparklers and shout, “Happy Diwali!” Followed by this was snack time. Today’s snack was provided by our friend Nandan Nair and family. We had an unexpected treat from Satvik as it was his birthday. We sang for him. At snack time, Rupa Aunty had a special message about CMTC- HomeFront Thanksgiving Holiday Gift Basket Seva project. For more details about this, please visit the Chinmaya Vrindavan website. Snack time was followed by story time. Today, we learnt about how Diwali is celebrated in South India. It was because Lord Krishna destroyed Naraka, the mean Asura! We all agreed that Naraka was a mean monster because he refused to share with others and was very hurtful to everyone and always snatched things from the people, even the mother of the Devas, Mother Aditi. He stole her beautiful earrings and hurt her. Indra the king of the Devas sought Krishna’s help. Krishna, after breaking all the magical barriers around Naraka’s palace, defeated the arrogant Naraka, early in the morning. Naraka realized his mistakes and requested Lord Krishna that everyone celeberate this day, Diwali, as the day that Good prevailed over evil! We did manage to squeeze in some time to play a new game, mama nAma (my name is…). We passed around our little Krishna who visited our class when the music played and when the music stopped, the person holding Krishna had to give him a hug and introduce themselves to Him in Sanskrit. Finally, we ended with ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH. We had a fun class today and can’t wait to meet again next week!