October 24th class

Prayers:

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

Shlokas:

* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

Bhajans:

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

Game Segment: hanumAn vadati

Comments: It was a special session this week. We met at the Mercer County Park’s East Picnic area, all geared up to walk 5 miles(2.5miles one way)! We had a brief session of shlokas and bhajan and even managed to squeeze in a short game of hanumAn vadati so that we could get warmed up for the walkathon. The weather was amazing and the park was very scenic! We all gathered at the start of the bike trail and the walkathon began, led by Swamiji at 11.00 AM. We came back at about 12 noon and were provided with sandwiches. Overall we had a lot of fun and it felt like a fieldtrip! A special thanks to all our toddlers who participated. Great job! We will meet at Cross Roads on 7^th November at 10.00 AM.

October 17th class

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Butterfly Pose, Sunrise/Sunset and Tree Pose, Downward dog Pose, surya namaskara

Shlokas:

* नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye (Mahalakshmi shloka)

* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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

Bhajans:

जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI

आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 and 2.

Art Project: Durga Puppet

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

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

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10

Story Segment: The story of Mahishasuramardhini

Game Segment: durgA vadati

End of class:
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: It is Vijayadashami, today, the 10^th day of victory after Navaratri. It is the day for Vidhyarambham. It is believed that any endeavor started today will be a very successful one! We learnt, today, that we say Om saHanA vavatu every time before we begin the class to say that we are each others’ friends. In Yoga, we did our popular lion and butterfly poses and went on to do a complete surya namaskAra. Our new shloka of the week was on Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. We discussed that wealth here is within us and does not mean money or things. It is never too early to start learning this in life. During bhajan time, we started with our all time favorite gaNapathy song and also sang AnjanEya veera and jaya jaya dEvi. We find that our children have started casting away their shyness and are becoming more interactive each week. It is great to hear them sing the shlokas and bhajans with so much energy! It is our pleasure to have such involved parents too. Your enthusiasm drives us to strive to make the class more and more interesting. Keep up the good work! :) We chanted the first shloka of chapter 11 of Bhagavat Geeta and started with the 2^nd shloka. Please continue with practicing at home. For our craft today we got to make beautiful Durga puppets and decorate with rhinestones. The children let their creative juices flow. They had a great time doing the craft. Tired from all the work, we took a short snack break after chanting brahmArpaNam. Today’s snack was provided by Dakshata and her family. After snack it was story time. We heard the story of how Mahishasuramardhini which is the goddess with the combined powers of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi fought with the mean Mahishasura for 9 days and destroyed him on the 10^th day and that’s why we celebrate vijayadaSami on this day. Today’s Arati and Pledge was at the auditorium, however, we managed to find some time to play a game of durgA vadadti. We hope to meet everyone of our toddlers at the Mercer County Park next Sunday for the CORD walkathon. You can bring strollers for the very young ones if they start feeling tired. Refreshments will be served at the end of the walk. Have a great week.

October 10th class

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Butterfly Pose, Sunrise/Sunset and Tree Pose, Downward dog Pose

Shlokas:

* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

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

* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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

Bhajans:

जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI

आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra
गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 line 1, 2

Art Project: Lotus Magnet

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

Snack/Juice: Provided by Sowmya Aunty: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Sanskrit lesson of the week: श्वेत – White, पीत - Yellow

Counting 1 - 10

Story Segment: The Kantil and the crocodile – an Indonesian folk tale

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

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Today’s class was about saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. We started with our Yoga session with Anitha Aunty. We had fun doing all the animal poses and we learnt the downward dog pose where we got to walk with our hands and stretch like dogs. We discussed about Navaratri where we pray to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. At Shloka time with Anandhi Aunty, we learnt a new shloka on saraswati, saraswati namastuByam and the new bhajan that Rupa Aunty taught us was jaya jaya devI on Durga. We sang the older bhajans too and our all time favorite, Great God GaNapati!! The children all said the shlokas and sang the bhajans loudly and clearly! We were so happy! Nanda Aunty was ready with Geeta Chanting next. We chanted the first 2 lines of Chapter 11, 1^st verse. For our craft today, we made Lotus magnets for our refrigerators. Saraswati sits on a श्वेत – White lotus. When we look at our pretty lotus magnets on the fridge, we will remember saraswati and pray to her. We said ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and had our snack. Jim uncle and Vasava uncle came and spoke about CORD walkathon. We are going to have a lot of fun on October 24^th when we meet for the walkathon. It will be like a field trip! The much awaited story time was next. Today, Nanda Aunty had a story that did not happen in India. It happened in a country called Indonesia. We really loved the story and it had a funny ending. The crocodile was a meanie and tried to attack the nice buffalos that helped him and learnt a hard lesson. Today we did not have much time for a game but we did count our 1 – 10s in Sanskrit and English. The children remembered their numbers very well in both languages. Our toddlers make us proud! We concluded with arati and ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH. We can’t wait to meet you all next week. Happy Navaratri to everyone!

October 3rd Class

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose, Butterfly Pose, Sunrise/Sunset and Tree Pose

Shlokas:

* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

* कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddhirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

Bhajans:

आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra
गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 line 1:

Art Project: Monkey Mask

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

Snack/Juice: Provided by Nalanya and Prachi Aunty: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10

Story Segment: How HanumAn helped find Sita

Game segment: HanumAn vadati


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

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Another fun filled session went by. The children have slowly begun to warm up and started making friends. Since the weather was sleepy and cold, we decided to warm up with Yoga stretches with Anitha Aunty! We became lions and snakes and butterflies! The new stretches for this class were Sun Rise and Sun Set and the tree pose. Fantastic job by the children!! We are very proud of our very active toddler class!! Today, we learnt a new Shloka on HanumAn. We talked about HanumAn and thought it would be a good idea to pray to him to make us clever and brave and strong just like him!! Everyone remembered the Shlokas we learnt last week and we said them again. Rupa Aunty taught us a brand new Bhajan on HanumAn and we had a great time singing Great God gaNapathy and gaNesha Sharanam with her! Nanda Aunty taught us the first 2 lines of chapter 11 of Geeta. Although it may seem that the children are not saying the verses, it is truly amazing to see that they will be reciting their verses beautifully by April. Parents, please remember to keep practicing with the kids at home as well. Reinforcement at home helps the children learn faster and it can be a fun activity to do with them! After Geeta we made monkey masks for our craft! The children all wore their masks that they made and became little HanumAns! They were so adorable! We said BrahmaarpaNam and had our snack. Then it was Story Time with Nanda Aunty! The children helped her find HanumAn from her bag!! Our little HanumAn played a game of HanumAn vadati with Rupa Aunty and jumped and danced around! We finished with Arati and Om poorNamadaH