Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
Yoga segment: Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose.
Shlokas:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg. 15)
श्रि राम राम रामेति, रमे, रामे, मनोरमे, सहस्र नामःततुल्यं राम नाम वरानने
Sri rAma rAma rAmeti, rame, rAme, manorame, sahasranAma tatulyam rAma nAma varAnane
Bhajans:
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ बुर्भुवः सुवः Gayatri Mantram – Om burbhuva suvaha
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
सुब्रह्मण्यम् सुब्रह्मण्यम् - suBrahmanyam suBrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)
गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
Oh Great God Hanumanji
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)
Snack/Juice: provided by Aniketh and family.
Story Segment: How the little squirrel helped Rama build a bridge to Lanka
Sanskrit lesson of the week: रक्तः raktaH- Red; पीतः peetaH- Yellow; हरितः haritaH- Green; नीलः neelaH- Blue; श्वेतः shwetaH- White; क्रिष्नः krishnaH- Black; पाटलः pAtalaH- Pink; धूमलः dhUmalaH- Purple; नारंगः – nArangaH – Orange.
Gods/Goddesses: राम - rAma; हनुमान् - hanumAn
Parts of the body: शिरः shiraH - head; स्कन्दौ – skandau – shoulders; जानु jAnu – knees; अन्गुलि anguli – toes; नेत्रम् nEtram – eye; कर्णम् karNam – ear; नासिका nAsikA – nose; मुखम् mukham – mouth;
Counting 1 – 10
Game Segment: mama nAma, head shoulders knees and toes
End of class:
ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).
सर्वे भवतु सुखिनः – sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
Comments: Today was an almost full class. Many of our friends came after a long break. We started with the 3 Oms and then did Yoga with Rupa Aunty. After the warm up we went on to say the Shlokas. There were many eager volunteers today for Shlokas, Bhajans and even Geeta chanting. The new Rama Bhajan was very interesting to the children and they enjoyed singing along! It is awesome to see all the kids chanting and singing loudly! Parents, please review the Geeta with the children at home whenever possible. They will be chanting as a group on the 27th and any child who wishes to come forward and chant individually will be able to do so after the group chanting. After Geeta, we had a quick game of guessing the Gods’ names. Today it was about Lord Rama and his favorite, Lord Hanuman. After this, we reviewed our colors for some time. Today we learnt a new color – नारंगः nArangaH – orange. Harini wore a dress in the new color! After this it was snack time. Today Aniketh’s family since he had a birthday last week! After snack time, we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and then it was time for Nanda Aunty’s story. Today’s story was about how a little squirrel wanted to help when the bears and monkeys were building a bridge to Lanka to go with Rama and rescue Sita from the mean Ravana. The bears and monkeys were really big and they were able to throw big rocks and boulders in the ocean. The little squirrel was too small to carry such huge rocks. The squirrel thought of a way to help. He took a dip in the water and then rolled over on the sand in the banks. The sand stuck to his body. He then ran to where the rocks were thrown and shook the sand over it. The sand helped in binding the stones and making the bridge strong, a little at a time. Soon the bridge was ready and Rama went to Lanka with all the monkeys and bears and fought against the evil Ravana, defeated him and brought Sita back. Rama was very pleased with the squirrel for helping out and He stroked the squireel on his back and that is why the squirrels have three stripes on their backs! After the story we played Mama Nama after a really really long time with Mr. Bear. Then we had time to sing our new head shoulders knees and toes song. We tried to sing as fast as we could and then really slowly! It was a lot of fun! Before we knew it, it was time for finishing the class. We sang Om jaya Jagadeesha Hare and finished with the ending shlokas. See you all next week in Balavihar.
