Chinmaya Vrindavan Toddlers

January 29th, 2012

2012-01-30T11:52:00.003-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Butterfly Pose, Cat Pose, Downward Dog

Shlokas:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmetiVasuthe Sutam Devam
Vasuthe Sutam Devam
Ekatantaya Varkratundaya
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
Oh Great God Hanumanji, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kahoगायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2, 3, and 4

Art Project: Paper bag Bird puppet

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10, Colors

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

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

Story Segment: The Ant and the Bird story.

End of class:सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaHॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: It was a nice Sunday this week and as always it’s always lovely to see our enthusiastic kids and parents. We started our class with chanting Om three times and then went on to do our yoga stretches. We learnt how to stretch like a cat along with all our other fun poses.
After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. The kids were eager with their requests. It is nice to see so many of them joining in and singing to make the Bhajans enjoyable. We loved to dance to Great God Hanumaji and खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho. The kids had lots of fun with this and got really creative with the things they do.
Then it was Gita chanting time. We learnt the fourth verse today. We are getting better with our Gita chanting. We were able to chant the first, second, and third verse fluently as a group. After Gita chanting we got to practice our colors in Sanskrit.
Today at craft time we made a PaperBag Bird Puppet. The kids made some awesome birds. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time. Puja and her family brought in snack for the entire class.
After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘The Ant and the Bird’. We learnt that one good deed deserves another. After the story we got to play a quick game of “Bird Vadhathi” which is similar to Simon says. The kids had a lot of fun following along with their Bird Puppets. It was a great class.
We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

January 22, 2012

2012-01-23T21:15:00.003-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Butterfly Pose , Tree Pose

Shlokas:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmetiVasuthe Sutam Devam
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
Oh Great God Hanumanji, I bow to thee
नन्दलाला यदुनन्दलाला - nandalAlA yadunandalAlA
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svah
Atma Rama Ananda Ramana (My Prayers, pg.54)

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2

Art Project: Sun maskSanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10

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

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

Story Segment: The story of Sun God and Wind God taking a vacation.

End of class:सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaHॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: It was very nice to see the eager kids and enthusiastic parents on this cold and wintery morning. As usual we started our class with chanting Om three times. We really needed to warm up on this cold morning and Reshma aunty (Lakshmi’s mom) lead us through the yoga and warm up stretches.

After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers like Satvik, Diya, Rohini, Nagaraj, and Krishna were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. Today Ramya aunty (Satvik’s mom) helped us with the bhajans. She even brought in a keyboard. The kids were really excited and we got to learn a new bhajan “Atma Rama”. Then it was Gita chanting time. We chanted the first, second, and third verses of chapter 12. We are getting better with our Gita chanting and we are going to keep practicing our verses.

Today at craft time we made Sun Masks. The kids shined bright through their masks. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time. Srinidhi and her family brought in snack for the entire class.

After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘The Sun God and Wind God wanting to go on a vacation’. We learnt that we have to be thankful to the elements of nature like the Sun, Wind, and Rain for a good harvest. After the story Meena aunty (Diya’s mom) showed us how Pongal (Harvest Festival) is celebrated in Tamilnadu. We got to hold a pot and play a game of ‘passing the pot’. The kids and parents shared in their languages how they wish each other during the harvest festival. It was lots of fun.

We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T23:35:00.005-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Tree Pose

Shlokas:
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
Vasudeva Sutam Devam

ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
Oh Great God Hanumanji, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH
Gajananam Bhoota Ganadi Sevitam

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2 ,3Art Project: Japa Mala

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10, Colors

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

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

Story Segment: The story of how Hanumanji crossed the mighty ocean to find Sita

End of class:सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: We started our class in the New Year by wishing each other a nice warm ‘Happy New Year’. It was nice to see all the enthusiastic children and parents after a long break. It seems like all the kids have gotten a little taller over the past two weeks.

We started our class as usual with chanting Om three times. We then did our yoga stretches. We did lot of fun stretches like the Tree pose, Turtle pose, and Lion pose. It was absolutely adorable to see the kids do the Turtle pose and pop up their heads to say “Hari Om”.

After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. Today we learnt a new Shloka बुद्दिर्बलं – buddirbalaM. The shloka highlights all the wonderful qualities of Hanumanji. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. Today we learnt a new Bhajan “Great God Hanmanji” and the kids loved to dance to this new Bhajan. The kids were eager with their requests. It is nice to see so many of them joining in and singing to make the Bhajans enjoyable. Then it was Gita chanting time. We chanted the first, second, and third verses of chapter 12. We are getting better with our Gita chanting and we are going to keep practicing our verses.

Today at craft time we made Japa Malas. The kids did an awesome job beading their Japa Malas. After we made the Japa Malas we learnt how to chant ‘Ram’ with it. The kids did great. After craft it was snack time, Rohan and his family brought in snack for the entire class.

After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘How Hanumanji crossed the vast ocean to find Sita’. We learnt about all the amazing qualities in Hanumanji.

We ended out class with the closing Shlokas. Aarthi was in the auditorium.

December 18, 2011

2012-01-01T11:04:00.003-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Bee Pose , Tree Pose, Snake Pose, Dog pose

Shlokas:

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

श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam
वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं - vasudEvasutaM dEvam (My prayers, Pg.15)

ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
Subramanyam Subramanyam Shanmuganata Subramanyam
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH
Jaya Jaya Devi

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2, 3

Art Project: Mouse Candy Cane Ornament

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10, Colors

Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45) Snack/Juice: Provided by Madhu Aunty : धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: The story of the Lion and the Mouse

End of class:

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: Today was a very cold morning. The kids and the parents were all bundled up and trying to stay warm. It is always nice to see the eager and enthusiastic kids in the class. The kids are settling in well and doing great with our class routine.

We started our class as usual with chanting Om three times. We were all a little sleepy given the cold weather. We needed to wake ourselves up for class, so we did our yoga stretches. We did lot of fun stretches like the Bee pose, Tree pose, Turtle pose, Lion pose and Snake pose. The kids enjoyed buzzing like a bee in the Bee pose, roaring like a lion in the Lion pose, and popping up to say “Hari Om” in the Turtle and Snake poses. It was adorable. We learnt how to do the downward dog and called it the Dog pose.

After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Vikram and Shruti were helpers with the Shlokas. The rest of the class did an awesome job repeating the shlokas in their loud and enthusiastic voices. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. The kids were eager with their requests. We practiced our new bhajan ‘subrahmaNyam subrahmaNyam’. It is nice to see so many of them joining in and singing to make the Bhajans enjoyable. We loved to dance to Great God Ganapathy and खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho. The kids had lots of fun with this and got really creative with the things they do.

Then it was Gita chanting time. We chanted the first and second verses of chapter 12. We are getting better with our Gita chanting. We were able to chant the first and second verse fluently as a group. We are going to keep practicing our verses.

We made a yummy craft at craft time. We made a candy cane mouse ornament. The kids made some really cute mouse. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time.

After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘The Lion and the Mouse’. We learnt that no one is too small to help and kindness is always repaid in kindness. After the story we tried to remember the colors learnt last week. We added a few more colors to our list. The kids did a great job of remembering the colors. After we learnt our colors, little Krishna visited with us and played a quick game of “Krishna Vadhathi” which is similar to Simon says. The kids had a lot of fun following along with Krishna. It was a great class.

We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

Happy Holidays and see you all in 2012!

December 11, 2011

2011-12-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Prayers: ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Butterfly Pose , Tree Pose, Snake Pose

Shlokas:कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaHsubrahmaNyam
subrahmaNyam, shaNmukhanaatha subrahmaNyam
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2 , 3

Art Project: Peacock

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10, Colors (Green & Blue)

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

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

Story Segment: Ganesha and Karthikeya story

End of class:
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: It was nice and warm to see all the eager kids and parents in the class on a cold morning like today. The kids are settling in well and doing great with our class routine.We started our class as usual with chanting Om three times. We were all a little sleepy given the cold weather. We needed to wake ourselves up for class, so we did our yoga stretches. We did lot of fun stretches like the Butterfly pose, Tree pose, Turtle pose, and Lion pose. We did a new pose called the Snake pose. The kids squirmed on the floor and popped up their heads to say “Hari Om”. It was adorable.After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Diya lead us through ‘karaagre vasate lakshmIH’, Athreyi lead us through ‘vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa’, Krishna lead us through ‘Sri Rama’ and Shruthi lead us through ‘Buddir Balam’. The rest of the class did an awesome job repeating the shlokas in their loud and enthusiastic voices. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. The kids were eager with their requests. We learnt a new bhajan ‘subrahmaNyam subrahmaNyam’ today. It was a little hard but the kids put in a great effort. It’s going to become a favorite soon. It is nice to see so many of them joining in and singing to make the Bhajans enjoyable. We loved to dance to Great God Ganapathy and खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho. The kids had lots of fun with this and got really creative with the things they do. Then it was Gita chanting time. We chanted the first and second verses of chapter 12. We are getting better with our Gita chanting. Today we learnt the third verse and we are going to keep practicing our verses.At craft time we made beautiful peacocks. The kids made some really colorful and sparkly peacocks. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time. Radhika and her family brought in snack for the entire class.After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘Ganesha and Karthikeya’. We learnt about Lord Ganesha’s devotion for his parents. After the story we spoke about the lovely colors in a peacock. We even learnt how to say blue and green in Sanskrit. We also got to play a quick game of “Karthikeya Vadhathi” which is similar to Simon says. The kids had a lot of fun following along with Karthikeya. It was a great class. Hope to see you all one last time before 2012!We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

December 4, 2011

2011-12-06T09:11:00.007-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Butterfly Pose , Tree Pose.

Shlokas:

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmetiव
क्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् वरदे कामरूपिणी - saraswati namastubhyam varade kAmarUpiNI

ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
नन्दलाला यदुनन्दलाला - nandalAlA yadunandalAlA
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH
Jaya Jaya Devi

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2

Art Project: Monkey puppet

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10

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

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

Story Segment: The story of Crocodile and the Monkey’s heart

End of class:सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaHॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: It’s starting to get cold outside but it was nice and warm to see all the eager kids and parents in the class today. The kids are settling in well and doing great with our class routine.

We started our class as usual with chanting Om three times. We then did our yoga stretches. We did lot of fun stretches like the Butterfly pose, Tree pose, and Lion pose. It was absolutely adorable to see the kids do the Turtle pose and pop up their heads to say “Hari Om”.

After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. Some of the little helpers were able to lead the Shlokas all by themselves. Great job kids and thank you parents for helping them practice. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. The kids were eager with their requests. It is nice to see so many of them joining in and singing to make the Bhajans enjoyable. We loved to dance to Great God Ganapathy and खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho. The kids had lots of fun with this and got really creative with the things they do. Then it was Gita chanting time. We chanted the first and second verses of chapter 12. We are getting better with our Gita chanting and we are going to keep practicing our verses.

Today at craft time we made Monkey puppets. The kids made some really cute Monkeys. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time. Diya and her family brought in snack for the entire class.

After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of ‘The Monkey and the Crocodile’. We learnt that in a difficult situation if we stay calm and use our wit we can overcome our problems. After the story we spoke about how the face of the Monkey reminded us of Lord Hanuman. We also reviewed some of our other Gods and Goddesses and their interesting features. It was lots of fun.

We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

November 20, 2011

2011-11-21T07:10:00.008-05:00

ANNOUNCEMENTS
The next Balavihar class will be on December 4th at the Cafeteria at Cross Roads Middle School.

Please bring in a set of crayons; scissors, and glue stick every class for craft.

Please click on http://chinmayavrindavan.org/ for details and updates on the upcoming events.

Hari Om.

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Butterfly Pose, and Tree Pose

Shlokas:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
नन्दलाला यदुनन्दलाला - nandalAlA yadunandalAlA
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Krishna kaho peete bhi Krishna kaho
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH
Jaya Jaya Devi

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2

Art project: Krishna puppet

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 – 10

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

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

Story segment: The story of Krishna and Govardhana Mountain

End of class:
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: Today was a surprisingly a nice warm fall morning. It was good to see all the kids and parents after two weeks. The kids seem to be settling in well and getting used to our class routine.

We started our class as usual with chanting Om three times. We then did our yoga stretches. We did lot of fun stretches and even did a Butterfly pose. It was lovely to see the kids fluttering like beautiful little butterflies. After being butterflies, we exercised our voices and roared like the lion in our Lion pose.

After Yoga, it was time for Shlokas. The kids loved to help lead the Shlokas. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. The kids were eager with their requests. Today we decided to try remembering Krishna in whatever we do. We even switched खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho to khaate bhi Krishna kaho. We had lots of fun with this and got really creative. Then it was Gita chanting time. We learnt the second verse of chapter 12. We are going to keep practicing our verses.

Today at craft time we made Krishna puppets. The kids decorated their Krishnas beautifully. After working hard on their craft, it was snack time. Radha and her family brought in snack for the entire class. During snack we spoke about Thanksgiving, which is coming up next week. Kids and parents shared their Thanksgiving traditions and the reasons they are thankful for this year.

After snack we counted to 10 in Sanskrit and got ready for Story time. Today we heard the story of Krishna and and the Govardhana Mountain and tried to tie in thanksgiving traditions of “Vridavan”. After the story Krishna came to play with us. We enjoyed a fun game of ‘Krishna Vadhathi’. We got to learn some new words in Sanskrit. It was lots of fun.

We ended out class with the closing Shlokas.

November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T18:55:00.004-05:00

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

Yoga segment: Stretches, Lion Pose, Turtle Pose, Snake Pose , Tree Pose,

Shlokas:

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:

Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
नन्दलाला यदुनन्दलाला - nandalAlA yadunandalAlA
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1, 2

Art Project: Spider puppet

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 - 10Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Satvik, Sneha and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: The story of Anansi, the spider

End of class:
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
Aarati and Pledge at the Auditorium

Comments: We met today after quite a long break or at least it seemd that way! The kids seem to have grown taller already! It was a lively session today. We started out as usual by chanting ॐ (Om) 3 times and moved on to do our stretches and Yoga during which we did some fun poses including forming a jungle of trees! After Yoga, we moved on to shlokas. Our little helpers are getting really good with leading the shlokas ! we learnt a new shloka on our favorite God Hanuman. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we started with Bhajans. We first sang our all time favorite Ganapathy song! We learnt a new song on Rama, खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho. We decided to try remembering Rama in whatever we do. We also came up with some suggestions like painting, dancing and singing. We will continue to add to the song by and by. Then it was Gita chanting time. We learnt the second verse of chapter 12. We are going to keep practicing our verses. As it was craft time, we counted 1 - 10 in English and Sanskrit while we waited for the packet to be given out. For craft, we made spider puppets. We had all kinds, scary ones, colorful ones, cute ones and funny ones. Then, it was definitely time to take a snack break! Today, Satvik and family brought in the snacks. After snack time, we got ready for our story about Anansi, the spider. Anansi loved good food and he asked his wife to make pumpkin pie. While she cooked, he couldn’t wait for it so he went for a walk and along the way, he wanted to have the Pizza that Rabbit made and the Mac and Cheese that the Monkey made and the cupcakes that the Hog made and all the other yummy food some of his other friends made. He told each of his eight friends to tug at one end of the string that he tied around each of his eight legs. It happened so, that all his friends tugged at his legs at the same time since all of the yummy got ready at the same time! Poor Anansi had to jump into the river to get rid of the strings tugging at his legs and by the time he got to their houses, they had already finished up their food and so did his wife by the time he got back! Since he was greedy for all the food, he had to go hungry! After story time, we had enough time to do our ending shlokas and head to the Auditorium for Aarati and Pledge. Today’s class was a lot fun and it is nice to see that all the kids have settled into the class pattern quite well.

October 16, 2011

2011-10-19T11:19:00.000-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Snake Pose, Lion Pose, Stretches, Tree Pose, Turtle Pose

Shlokas:

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
श्री राम राम रामेती - SrI rAma rAma rAmeti
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:

नन्दलाला यदुनन्दलाला - nandalAlA yadunandalAlA
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
जय जय देवी -jaya jaya devI
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1

Art Project: Diwali Sparkler

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 - 10Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Ananya, Aditya and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: The story of Narakasura

End of class:
ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - oum jaya jagadeesha hare
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: It was a cool, fall Sunday. So we decided to warm up with Yoga after starting with our 3 Oms. We did some stretches and poses, roaring like lions and hissing like snakes and playing peek-a-boo like turtles and of course jumping like monkeys! Now that we were all warmed up, we sat down and chanted some shlokas. Vikram and Diya helped by leading 2 shlokas and Krishna helped us learn a new one on Rama. We also chanted ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times. Then it was time to sing some Bhajans. Today’s Bhajans were Listener’s Choice! Diya requested a Krishna Bhajan and then Reya requested everyone’s favorite Ganesha Action Song! Then we sang the Gayatri Mantram. Of Course, we had to sing Neeraja’s favorite जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI ! Then we revised our Bhagavat Gita Chapter 12, first verse. We discussed a little about the CORD Walkathon. It was then time for our craft of the day. Since Deepavali is coming up soon we made sparklers with glitter foam and icecream sticks. The children had a lot of fun making the craft today! After that, we counted 1 - 10 in English and Sanskrit and said ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and had our snack. Today, Ananya and Aditya brought us the snack and we said धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH) to them! After snack, we had story time with Madhu Aunty. She told us the story of the Evil Narakasura and how Lord Krishna destroyed him and freed the world! In South India, this is considered to be the reason we celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights! In North India, we celebrate the festival of lights as the day Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after destroying the evil Ravana! In both cases, it is the prevelance of Good over Evil! Let the lights of Deepavali destroy the darkness of the mind and make it shine with love always! Then we sang the first stanza of Aarti and finished with ending shlokas. Next week, we hope to meet you all at the Mercer County Park, East Picnic Area!

October 9, 2011

2011-10-09T23:03:00.008-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Snake Pose, Butterfly Pose, Stretches, Tree Pose, Turtle Pose

Shlokas:

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
सर्व मंगल मांगल्ये – sarve mangala mAngalye
नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye (Mahalakshmi shloka)
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:

जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH

Gita chanting: Chapter 12, shloka 1

Art Project: Connect the dot cat

Sanskrit segment: Counting 1 - 10
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

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

Story Segment: The story of 2 cats and the monkey

Game segment: hanumAn vadati
End of class:

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
Aarti and Pledge in the Auditorium

Comments: It was wonderful to meet our little friends after a 2 week gap! They have familiarized themselves with the class routine and fallen into a comfortable pattern. We started with our Om chanting. At yoga, we did our usual poses and did a new one today, the snake pose! After Yoga, we said our shlokas. Vikram helped us start the shlokas with वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa. Today’s new shloka was नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye on Goddess Lakshmi. After chanting ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times, we moved on to Bhajans. Neeraja wanted the class to sing Jaya Jaya Devi and so we started with that! All the kids did a beautiful job singing the Bhajans! They were amazing! We started our Gita chanting today by learning to chant the first shloka. Although it may seem like the children are not saying much yet but they pick up at an amazing speed and chant with appropriate pronunciation! After Gita chanting, we needed a snack break! Before that we learnt to count 1 - 10 in English and Sanskrit! Then we said ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and got ready for snack time. Today’s snack was provided by Nagaraj and family. After snack time, Ram uncle (Vikram’s dad) spoke about CORD Walkathon that is going to be on the 23rd at Mercer County Park. CORD is all about sharing and giving to help the people in need. Today’s story helped us understand that sharing is very good and everyone can be happy by sharing rather than being greedy and keep toys and treats to ourselves. In the story, the two cats, Ramu and Somu found a nice yummy cookie on the floor and started fighting over it instead of sharing it. Kapish, the clever monkey decided to trick the cats and eat the whole cookie himself without sharing. So he broke the cooki into 2 halves and kept eating a bit from each half in the name of making it equal portions for each cat! In the end he ate up the whole cookie and Ramu and Somu didn’t get any piece of it! Then the cats realized that they should have shared the cookie with each other! After story time, we did a connect the dots cat craft. Then HanumAn came to visit us in class and we played hanumAn vadati with him. We concluded with the ending shlokas and went to the auditorium for Aarati and Pledge. We had loads of fun today! Hope you did too! See you next week.

September 25, 2011

2011-09-25T22:05:00.005-04:00

Prayers:

ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu(My prayers, pg. 6)
Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Butterfly Pose, Stretches, Tree Pose, Turtle Pose

Shlokas:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH(My prayers, pg. 43)
सर्व मंगल मांगल्ये – sarve mangala mAngalye
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam(My prayers, pg. 44)
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI
Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH svaH
Art Project: Durga Puppet

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

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

Story Segment: The story of Mahishasuramardhini

End of class:
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: Navaratri is fast approaching and everyone is getting ready to celebrate Durga devi for nine days! In keeping with the spirit of the festival, we dedicated today’s class to the goddess. We started as usual by chanting 3 Oms and sahanAvavatu. During Yoga, we stretched a bit and did a lot of fun poses. We roared like lions, stood like trees, buzzed like bees and fluttered like butterflies. All the workout got us refreshed and ready for shlokas. Today, we learnt a new shloka, सर्व मंगल मांगल्ये – sarve mangala mAngalye, in praise of Durga devi. Then we chanted shlokas on Saraswathi, Lakshmi,Vishnu and Ganesha. We chanted ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times and got our singing voices ready for Bhajans with Rupa Aunty! We started with Devi bhajan and also sang our favorite Ganapathy bhajan and then sang Gayatri Mantram. During craft time we made beautiful standup Durga puppets. We started getting a little bit hungry and then came snack time! We said our Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam. Today’s snack was provided by Aditi Umesh and family. Today is special because it is Aditi’s birthday! Thank you Aditi for sharing a treat with us and spending your birthday with us! After snack there was just a few minutes left for us to listen to Madhu Aunty’s story about how Durga devi destroyed the evil Mahishasura and became Mahishasura Mardini – the reason we celebrate Navaratri. Before we knew it, it was time for ending shlokas. It was a fun class today! See you all on October 9th.

September 18, 2011

2011-09-18T18:35:00.004-04:00

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

Yoga: Stretches, Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Turtle Pose, Lion Pose

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः – Om gam gaNapataye namaH

Bhajans:
गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
Oh great God Ganapathy
जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI

Art Project: GaNesha Puppet

Snack/Juice: Provided by Rohini’s family धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: How GaNesha got his elephant head

Game segment: GaNeshaH vadati

End of class:
ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः sarve Bavantu suKinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments:
We had our first full session today. Most of our friends seem to have settled down by now and are doing wonderfully well! We started the class by chanting 3 Oms. Then we wanted to warm up on this cold ‘fall weather’ day. So we did some Yoga stretches with Rupa Aunty and did some fun poses like butterfly, lion and turtle. There were a great number of roaring lions today! Once we were all warmed up, we sat down to say some Shlokas with Anandhi Aunty. We prayed to Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, and Govinda(Vishnu). We chanted ॐ गम् गणपतयॆ नमः Om gam gaNapataye namaH 5 times. The children were truly amazing! It is great that the parents are participating well too. We encourage active parent participation as this is what will keep the children involved and interested. Children like to do what the adults do rather than what the adults say! After Shlokas, it was time to sing some bhajans with Rupa Aunty. We reviewed Ganesha Sharanam and got up and did our favorite Ganapathy song. The new Bhajan we learnt today was Jaya Jaya Devi on Godess Durga. After singing, it was craft time. Meena Aunty brought in Ganesha puppets for us to make out of brown bags. We had some funky looking Ganesha puppets! The children were so proud of their wonderful creations and so were we! All the work made our little buddies a bit hungry and they had the yummy snack brought by Rohini’s family. Thank you Rohini and family for bringing in the snack today! We got to know about the CORD walkathon that is going to happen on the 23rd of October. After snack it was time for a story with Madhu Aunty. Today’s story was about how Ganesha got his elephant head. And guess who came to listen to the story too?!! Ganesha himself visited our class today! The kids got to give Him a Hi5!! After story time, Ganesha stayed on to play the Ganesha Vadati game with us. That was a lot of fun! Before we knew it, it was time for winding up. We sang the first line of Om Jaya Jagadeesha Hare and finished with the ending shlokas. We had a great time today and hope you did too!! Can’t wait to see you all next Sunday again!

September 11, 2011

2011-09-13T16:18:00.005-04:00

The Toddler team would like to welcome the new and returning families to the New Year(2011 -2012)! We are very excited and look forward to a wonderful journey together!

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

Yoga: Stretches, Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43
सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)

Bhajans:
गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)
Oh great God Ganapathy

Snack: Provided by Toddler team

End of class: ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
Aarati and pledge were done in the auditorium.

Comments: It is truly wonderful to be back to Balavihar! We have many many new friends this year and a few from last year!It is amazing how much our little buddies have grown over the summer!Since it was Opening Day, we did not get to spend too much time together as we were getting settled with the new group.From next week, we will be having a full class and a whole lot of fun things to do.

We are glad that classes are back in session – look forward to seeing you every Balavihar Sunday!

June 5th class

2011-06-06T10:40:00.002-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, King Dancer Pose.

Shlokas:

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM

Bhajans:

गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ बुर्भुवः सुवः Gayatri Mantram – Om burbhuva suvaha
Oh Great God Hanumanji, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो– khaate bhi Ram kaho

Geeta Chanting: Chap. 11; verses 1 - 5

Games: Hanuman vadati, mama nAma, shiraH skandau jAnu anguli, colors,

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

Potluck Lunch: provided by Toddler class families

End of class: ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: We had a wonderful year end picnic today! The weather cooperated by being just right. We took the class outdoors and had loads of fun! We had a few grandparents visiting our class. We started with the 3 OMs and then went out doors to the picnic area and did our Yoga stretches. After Yoga we said our shlokas and sang bhajans. Then Sri AlukaH came to visit us and we fixed his eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hands and legs and he hugged all the kids to thank them for it. Then he got really tired and had to go back to sleep. After this the children did their favorite shiraH skandau song and went as fast as they could! It was then time for a quick Mama NAma game and before we knew it, it was time for lunch. So the kids did a quick round of colors in Sanskrit game while the parents set up for lunch. Thanks to all the enthusiastic parents/grandparents we had a delicious feast with a variety of yummy food! Then it was time for goodbyes! Congratulations to all the toddlers who will be moving up to Pre-K in September! We will miss you! It has been a memorable year and loads of fun working with such amazing kids! Have a Happy Summer!

May 22nd Class

2011-05-22T23:21:00.003-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose.

Shlokas:

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH –Vikram and Shravamti
शुक्लाम्बरधरम् विष्णुं – SuklAmbaradharam viShNuM –Aswini and her mom
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa -Aadhya
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM - Navya, Anushka, Dia and Rhea
Dattatreya shloka - Shravamti

Bhajans:

Bhajan on Lord Hanuman by Tejas and his mom
Bhajan on Lord Rama by Shravya and her mom
Ganapathy Bhajan by Satvik’s mom
Come here my dear Krishna Kanhaiah by Dia and her mom
Bhajan on Lord Rama by Reya and her dad
Oh Great God Hanumanji, I bow to thee
खाते भि राम कहो– khaate bhi Ram kaho by Vikram and Rupa Aunty

Geeta Chanting: Chap. 11; verses 1 - 5

Art Project: Friendship bracelet by Aniketh and Akhilesh’s mom

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Samvrit and Family

Story Segment: Bheema and Bakasura

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: What a fun class it was today!! We had 4 new friends who may be joining us next year. It was the last Parent Participation session for this year and we had an amazing response to this event all through May! We started out with our 3 OMs and did some Yoga stretching exercises and moved on to Shlokas. We had so many volunteers for the shlokas. Special Thanks to Vikram, Shravamti, Aadhya, Ashwini, Anushka, Rhea, Navya, Shravya, Tejas, Reya, Dia, Satvik and all our wonderful Toddlers who did an awesome job with the shlokas and Bhajans. During Bhajan , we came to know about the hidden talents of the Moms and Dads! Tejas and his mom started with a Hanuman Bhajan. Then Satvik’s mom taught us a Ganapathy Bhajan to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little star. Then it was Shravya’s turn to sing a bhajan on Lord Rama. After this Dia and her mom sang a cute Bhajan on Lord Krishna followed by Reya and her dad with another Bhajan on Lord Rama. We, of course, had to finish off with our favorite Hanuman Bhajan and our new favorite Khate bhi Ram kaho! After Bhajan we sat down and recited our Geeta shlokas 1 – 5 of Chapter 11. After this it was time for craft. Aniketh and Akhilesh’s mom taught us how to make friendship bands with beads and pipe cleaners. Everyone loved to make beautiful friendship bands! After craft we had our snack time after chanting brahmArpaNam. Today, Samvrit and his family provided the snack. After snack time, we had the last story of this year’s Balavihar with Nanda Aunty. Nanda Aunty will not be able to join our class picnic on June 5th. So she said good bye to the toddler class today. Hope some our friends graduating to Pre-K next year will be in her class! The story was about how Bheema killed Bakasura and saved the people of Ekachakra village where the Pandavas went into hiding for a whole year. Then it was time to finish off with the ending prayers. In all we enjoyed today’s class and all of the parent participation sessions. Thank you once again, Parents, for taking the time and making the effort to make it really fun for the children! See you all on June 5th. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

May 15th class

2011-05-15T21:02:00.002-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose.

Shlokas:

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
Mooshika Vahana by Reya and her dad

Bhajans:

Oh Great God Ganapathy, I bow to thee
गणेश शरणम् - gaNesha sharaNam (My prayers, pg. 7)

खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
सुब्रह्मण्यम् सुब्रह्मण्यम् – Subrahmanyam Subrahmanyam (My Prayers, pg. 62)

Art Project: Lion puppet by Vishnu and his mom

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Toddler team

Story Segment: The Cap seller and the monkeys – presented by Rhea’s mom and dad
Game Segment: Colors, Counting 1 - 10, शिरः स्कन्दौ जानु अन्गुलि-shiraH skandau jAnu anguli (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: We had a slow start today and weather was a bit sleepy but we picked up later on. We said our 3 Oms and did some Yoga stretches to wake us up. After Yoga we started our Shlokas. We had a few helpers come up and lead the shlokas. As part of parent participation theme Reya and her dad said the Mooshika vahana shloka on Lord Ganesha. We moved on to Bhajans. After a long time we sang our favorite Ganesha action song. We had help from Roshan’s mom, Rhea’s dad and Pooja’s mom with the bhajans. After bhajans we had a little game of colors with Rupa Aunty. The children remembered their colors very well! Good job kids! After colors, we did our craft for the day. Today’s craft was an adorable lion puppet put together by Vishnu’s mom. It is Narasimha jayanthi today, the birthday of Lord Narasimha (the lion faced and human bodied avatar of Lord Vishnu) hence the lion puppet. After craft we chanted brahmArpanam and had our snack. After snack time, we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready for our special story time with Rhea’s mom. It was a story about the monkeys and the clever cap seller. The cap seller put his bag of caps under a tree on the way to the city and took a nap. Meanwhile, the monkeys that lived on the tree climbed down and took all the caps and wore them. The cap seller was shocked to see this when he woke up. He began thinking of a way to get his caps back from the monkeys. While he was thinking he sneezed. The monkeys imitated him and sneezed too. Then he got an idea. He threw his cap on the floor. The monkeys followed him and did the same! He got back all his caps and went and sold them in the city. The moral of the story is that we should never give up hope and faith in God and always should believe in ourselves. The kids all got special caps from the ‘cap seller’ and were really excited about them! It was a lot of fun. Thank you Rhea’s mom and dad for the enjoyable story time! We then did the head shoulders knees and toes song with Aryan and Lakshmi’s mom. We sang Om Jaya Jagadeesha Hare and finished off with the ending prayers. See you all next week!

May 8th class

2011-05-08T23:29:00.000-04:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose, downward dog pose.

Shlokas:

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
गुरूर् ब्रह्मा गुरूर् विष्णुः gurUr brahmA gurUr viShNuH (My prayers, pg. 9)

Bhajans:

खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
Rama and Govinda bhajans by Sravamthi and her great grandmother

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5

Art Project: Special Art work for a surprise
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: provided by Navya and family.

Story Segment: The hunter and the birds – presented by Satvik’s dad

End of class:
सर्वे भवतु सुखिनः – sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
Aarati and Pledge in the Auditorium

Comments: Today is a special day for 2 reasons. It is Pujya Gurudev, Swami Chinmayanada’s birthday and also it is Mothers’ day. We started with our 3 Oms after wishing all the mommies a very Happy Mothers’ Day! We then did our Yoga stretches and warmed up for our class. After Yoga, we started the shlokas. Our little helpers Vikram and Navya started Vakratunda Mahakaaya on Lord gaNEshA. As part of our first Parent participation activity, we had Sravamthi and her great grandmother sing a couple Bhajans for us on Lord Rama and Lord Govinda! They did an amazing job and we really enjoyed singing the Bhajan with them! We learnt a new shloka, गुरूर् ब्रह्मा गुरूर् विष्णुः gurUr brahmA gurUr viShNuH and said it for our Pujya Gurudev. At Bhajan time with Rupa Aunty, we sang khAte bhi Ram kaho and tried to list so many activities during which we can remember Lord Rama. It was a lot of fun! We worked on a very special craft today in which the children had to fold some circles, cut them in different designs and stick them on the squares. The children had to write their names and give them back for a special surprise that they will get back on May 22nd. Then it was snack time. Today is snack was provided by Navya and family. After snack time we had a special story by Satvik’s dad. We all had to tell him all the birds’ names first and out of them he picked doves to tell a story about the hunter and the doves. The doves wanted to go near a big banyan tree which is also known as Kalpa vriksha (the magical tree that makes our wishes come true!) So they flew to the tree and found some grains of rice under the tree. The doves were very hungry and they started eating the rice grain. Meanwhile, the wicked hunter put a great big net on them! They were stuck now and tried to flutter their wings hard but couldn’t fly. The leader of the dove came up with the idea that if all of themflapped their wings together at the same time, they could fly with the net. So they tried that and guess what! They made it! They flew with the net until they came to Mr. Mouse (on whom Lord Ganesha rides!) and asked him to chew away the net with his sharp teeth. So the mouse chewed and chewed and cut open the net. The happy doves were free again! They thanked the mouse and flew away home free! What we learn from the doves in the story is that if we work together as a team, we can achieve many things in life! It was a great story and Satvik dad presented it in a very interactive and enjoyable manner! Thank you very much for taking the trouble and presenting us this wonderful story! After story time, we said our ending shlokas and went to the auditorium for the Mothers’ day special program. It was an all together fun class today and we can’t wait to meet the kids next week!

April 17th class

2011-04-17T22:21:00.002-04:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Butterfly Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose, downward dog pose.

Shlokas:

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
श्रि राम राम रामेति, रमे, रामे, मनोरमे, सहस्र नामःततुल्यं राम नाम वरानने
Sri rAma rAma rAmeti, rame, rAme, manorame, sahasranAma tatulyam
मनोजवम् मारुत्तुल्य वेगं जितेन्द्रियं बुद्धिमताम् वरुष्ठं
वातात्मजम् वानरयूदमुख्यं श्रि रामदूतं शिरसानमामी
Manojavam mArutatulya vegam jitendriyam buddhimatAm varushtam
vAtAtmajam vAnara yUdamukhyam Sri rAmadUtam shirasAnamAmI

Bhajans:
खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho
Oh Great God Hanumanji
गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः – Gayatri mantram – Om bhUrbhuvaH svaH

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5

Art Project: Monkey puzzle
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: provided by Toddler Team.

Story Segment: Bheema and Hanuman

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;
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: head shoulders knees and toes; Hanuman vadati

End of class:
सर्वे भवतु सुखिनः – sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Comments: We had a slow start today but picked up later on. We also had a few visitors in our class. As usual we began by chanting the 3 Oms. Then it was time for Yoga. Rupa Aunty had some fun Yoga poses for the children to do. After Yoga, we had many helpers come forward and do the shlokas with Anandhi Aunty. We are so proud of our little friends who come forward so willingly to lead the shlokas! Today, we learnt a new shloka and Bhajan related to Lord Hanuman since it was his birthday yesterday. Since the Gita competition is almost here, we spent some time today trying to do mock chanting sessions. We chanted as a group and then some kids came forward to chant without adult help. April 19th is the last day to register online for the competition. We encourage parents to do so. Even if the children are not able to chant all the 5 verses allotted to them, they could still come forward and chant as much as they know. As you might already know, it will be a group chanting with an opportunity for children who wish to chant individually after the group chanting, time permitting. It will typically be during the first time slots on Saturday, April 23rd. Look out for our e-mail/blog update regarding exact time later during the week. After Gita chanting, we reviewed our colors with Rupa Aunty. Then we chanted ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and had our snack. After snack, we did our monkey puzzle and got ready for story time with Anitha Aunty. Today, Anitha Aunty told us a story about how Hanumanji taught the proud Bheema a lesson. Bheema was too proud of his strength. One day when he was walking in the he saw an old and weak monkey lying down on the ground and his tail was in Bheema’s way. It was actually Hanumanji who disguised himself as the old monkey. Bheema thought he could move the monkey’s tail with his little finger but he couldn’t. Then he tried with his whole hand, both hands and finally went on all fours to try moving the tail but in vain. Finally, he understood that it was no ordinary monkey! He bowed before the monkey and asked him who he really was. Hanumanji then revealed his true self and blessed Bheema. From that Bheema was never too proud of his strength! We then had a little bit of time to play a game of hanumAn vadati after a long time! We also squeezed in a quick head-shoulder song before we ended with the finishing prayers. It was a yet another fun class today! We hope to see many of you at the Ashram on Saturday at the Gita competition. Enjoy the spring break!

April 10th class

2011-04-10T19:54:00.004-04:00

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.

April 3rd class

2011-04-04T12:58:00.005-04:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose, downward dog pose.

Shlokas:

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

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

Ganesha Gayatri –ऎक्दन्ताय विद्महे वक्रतुन्डाय धीमहि तन्नो दन्ति प्रचोदयात्
EkadantAya vidmahe vakratunDAya dhImahi tanno danti prachodayAt

बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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:

खाते भि राम कहो पीते भि राम कहो – khaate bhi Ram kaho peete bhi Ram kaho

गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)

Oh Great God Hanumanji

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5

Art Project: Peacock coloring sheet
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: provided by Rohan and family.

Story Segment: Krishna and Sudama

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;

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: head shoulders knees and toes

End of class:

सर्वे भवतु सुखिनः – sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH

Aarati and Pledge in the Auditorium

Comments: First Balavihar Sunday in Spring! The weather was good enough for a fun filled, action packed class indoors. Some of us decided to get all dressed up pretty! We started with the Oms and did Yoga with Rupa Aunty. The children were such a great mood today. They made up a new Yoga pose, “the froggy pose” and we jumped about like little frogs! Then we got ready for Shlokas. Great job, Vikram, Shruti,Anushka and Navya, coming and help Anandhi Aunty lead the shlokas! We are so proud of all our toddlers! Then we learnt a new Bhajan on Lord Rama and tried to add new words in the Bhajan that sang about how we should think of Lord Rama whatever we do. Then we sang our very first Bhajan : Ganesha Sharanam after a very long time. After Bhajans, it was time for chanting the Bhagavat Gita with Nanda Aunty. We have only 2 more Balavihar sessions before the competition. Parents, please make sure the children are registered. As you already know, they will be chanting as a group. If any child wants to come up front to chant the Gita shlokas during next Balavihar, they can come forward and lead. After Gita, it was time for a very quick review of colors in Sanskrit. Then it was snack time. We thank Rohan and family for bringing our snacks today. After snack we counted our 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready for our story of the day with Anitha Aunty. Krishna visited us today to hear the story. It was about the friendship of Krishna and his BFF, Sudama. Although, Krishna was a king and Sudama, so poor that he didn’t even have enough food at home, Krishna hugged him and welcomed him and treated him very well. Sudama forgot ask Krishna for help in all his excitement in seeing him after such a long time but when he went back home, he found that his wife and children had a great big palace and lots of clothes, toys and delicious food! Krishna had given even without being asked. He had known what Sudama’s family needed! Krishna was a true friend, indeed! After the story we colored pretty peacocks with all the colors we learnt! It was almost time to go as Aarthi and Pledge were at the auditorium but we managed to squeeze in some time for our new Shirah, skandau… song and sung it as fast as we could! It was a fun class today! Can’t wait to meet you all next Sunday!

March 20th class

2011-03-21T14:33:00.003-04:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Vajraasan, Tortoise Pose, king dancer pose, downward dog pose.

Shlokas:

• कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
• असतो मा सत् गमयः – asato Ma sat gamayaH

Bhajans:

• Oh Great God Hanumanji
• Oh Great God Ganapathy
• गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ बुर्भुवः सुवः Gayatri Mantram – Om burbhuva suvaha

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5

Art Project: basket of eggs
Shloka before meal: ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam (My prayers, pg. 45)

Snack/Juice: provided by Aditya and family.

Story Segment: The goose and the greedy farmer

Sanskrit lesson of the week: आलुकः AlukaH - Potato
Parts of the body: शिरः shiraH - head; नेत्रम् nEtram – eye; कर्णम् karNam – ear; नासिका nAsikA – nose; मुखम् mukham – mouth; पादः pAdaH - foot
Counting 1 – 10

Game Segment: head shoulders knees and toes
Gods and Goddesses: Lord Siva, Lord gaNesha, Lord kArtikeya and Goddess pArvati

End of class:
सर्वे भवतु सुखिनः – sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH
Comments: Our class was fun today! As usual, we started with the 3 Oms and did our Yoga stretches. We learnt the tortoise pose. After this we said our shlokas. Today, we learnt असतो मा सत् गमयः – asato Ma sat gamayaH. After shlokas we sang bhajans. Then it was time for Geeta chanting. The children have started chanting confidently. We hope to see many of our little friends come forward and lead the chanting with Nanda Aunty in the coming weeks! Please make sure to register for the competition if you have not already done so. Then we had a quick game of guessing the names of the Gods/Goddesses. This time, we played it a little differently. Rupa Aunty would sing a line from one of the Bhajans of the God and we had to guess the name of the God. The children did remarkably well and also supplied the other names that the Gods were known by. Then we said Brahmaarpanam and had our snack. Today’s snack was provided by Aditya and family. After snack we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready for our story. Today’s story was about a farmer who was very poor and hardly had any food to eat. He found a magic goose in the forest who gave him a golden egg which he sold and got a lot of money to buy food and clothes and toys. Every day , he wanted more and more and the goose kept giving him more golden eggs, one a day. The farmer became greedy and decided that he was going to cut up the goose and get all the golden eggs out, instead of getting one at a time. The goose was very upset with him and ran away into the jungle! The farmer learnt not to be greedy and be happy with what he had. We then did our craft. It was a basket of eggs. The children had to pick up a basket each and six eggs each from the heap in the center of the circle. After they got their pieces, they helped their neighbors get their pieces and glued the eggs to the baskets. It was fun watching them. Then we had a new song : Head, shoulders, knees and toes and we sang it in Sanskrit! Then Shri AalokaH came to visit us and did the song with us(although he did not have shoulders or knees )! Then it was time to wind up and we said the finishing shlokas. There is no Balavihar on March 27th. See you all on April 3rd.

March 13th class

2011-03-13T22:54:00.004-04:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Goddess Pose, king dancer pose.

Shlokas:

• वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
• वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg. 15)
• कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
• Ganesha Gayatri – ऎक्दन्ताय विद्महे वक्रतुन्डाय धीमहि तन्नो दन्ति प्रचोदयात्
EkadantAya vidmahe vakratunDAya dhImahi tanno danti prachodayAt

Bhajans:

• Oh Great God Ganapathy
• सुब्रह्मण्यम् सुब्रह्मण्यम् – subrahmaNyam subrahmaNyam
• आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra
• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 5

Art Project: dog puppet origami

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Pooja and family.

Story Segment: The greedy dog and the bone

Sanskrit lesson of the week: आलुकः AlukaH - Potato
Parts of the body: शिरः shiraH - head; नेत्रम् nEtram – eye; कर्णम् karNam – ear; नासिका nAsikA – nose; मुखम् mukham – mouth; पादः pAdaH - foot
Counting 1 - 10

Game Segment: Gods and Goddesses: Lord Siva, Lord gaNesha, Lord kArtikeya and Goddess pArvati

End of class:

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Aarthi and Pledge at the auditorium

Comments: Another beautiful, though breezy, Sunday went by. We were all a teeny bit sleepy today! We had to turn our clocks forward. We started with the 3 Oms. Warm up Yoga with Rupa Aunty helped us shaky away our sleepies a little bit. We thought of the big waters in Japan and dedicated all our prayers to the people in Japan. We have more volunteers coming up front and leading shlokas. It is very nice to hear them recite the shlokas so well! After this we decided that we still had some of those sleepies sticking to us and so, we got up and danced and sang our all time favorite Ganapathy song. Then we practiced the Geeta, verses 1 – 5. Then it was time to play our new guessing game: Names of Gods/Goddesses. Today, we learnt about kArtikeya who is the brother of gaNesha. He rides a peacock (mayUraH) and has a spear known as Vel. Some of his other names are subrahmaNya, Guha, Murugan, KumAra. We also learnt about Goddess pArvati, who is the wife of Lord SivA. We saw 2 pictures in which she looked different. Some of her other names are durga, kAli, dEvi. We will practice these different names at home. For craft today, we did an Origami style dog puppet to go with today greedy dog story. Today’s snack was provided by Pooja and family. After snack we did our 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready for Anitha Aunty’s story. This story was about a hungry dog who found a nice juicy bone to chew on. While he was enjoying the bone, he felt thirsty and went to a little stream. When he looked at his reflection with the bone in his mouth, he thought it was another dog inside with a bigger, juicier bone and wanted to get the other bone as well. When he opened his mouth, his bone fell into the stream and he lost it forever! If he had not been greedy, he would still have his bone to enjoy! After story time, we met Sri Alukah and played a game with him. Then it was time for ending prayers. Today’s Aarathi was at the auditorium.

March 6th class

2011-03-06T23:13:00.003-05:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Goddess Pose, chair pose.

Shlokas:

• वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
• वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg. 15)
• बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
• कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
• Ganesha Gayatri –
ऎक्दन्ताय विद्महे वक्रतुन्डाय धीमहि तन्नो दन्ति प्रचोदयात्
EkadantAya vidmahe vakratunDAya dhImahi tanno danti prachodayAt

Bhajans:

• Bolo bolo sab mil bolo Om namaH SivayaH -
• Oh Great God HanumAnji, I bow to thee
• Oh Great God Ganapathy

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: bunny craft – provided by Meena Rajan (Diya’s mom)

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Shravamthi and family.

Story Segment: The proud lion and the clever bunny

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;

Counting 1 - 10

Game Segment: Colors, Gods

End of class:

ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare (My prayers, pg. 22).
सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Spring is in the air and we find that the children are warming up to Balavihar. Each week, they surprise us by taking little steps towards being big kids! We began with our Yoga warm up and did the Shlokas. The kids are enthusiastic about coming up and leading the shlokas. This could provide a good opportunity for parents to review our shlokas with the children so that they can come forward to lead each week. We learnt the Ganesha Gayatri today. During Bhajan segment we had 2 dancing songs today – Our all time favorite – Great God Ganapathy and new favorite- Great God Hanumanji. It was a lot of fun! After Bhajans we chanted Geeta and reviewed the 5th verse. Then it was craft time. Meena Rajan, Diya’s mom, was kind enough to volunteer to bring in bunny craft kits that she had made for all the children. We are thankful to her for putting in time and effort to put this together. If you would like to volunteer to help with craft activities and ideas, please feel free to let us know. After we made our craft, we quickly reviewed our colors. When Rupa Aunty showed a color card, the children shouted out the color in Sanskrit, without being prompted! We had a new game today about Gods/Goddesses. Rupa Aunty gave clues about the Gods and their different names and the children had to guess which God. Today, it was Ganesha and Lord Shiva. Ganesha’s other names are: Vigneshwara, Vakratunda, Gajaanana. Lord Shiva’s other names are: Nataraaja, Neelakanta, Mahadeva. After this we moved on to story time. Our story was about a clever bunny who not only saved himself but also all the other animals in the jungle by his cleverness. There was once a very proud and mean lion who claimed to be the king of the jungle. He would always eat up the poor animals all the time. All the animals had a meeting about this and decided that they would send one animal each day to the lion for him to eat and he in turn promised to leave the other animals alone. It was decided that the rabbit was the first one to be sent to the lion. Now, the bunny rabbit did not want to be eaten and he thought of a clever idea that not only would save him but also his friends. He went late to the lion’s den on purpose! The lion was very upset and shouted at the bunny. The bunny said that he was about to be attacked by another lion in the jungle who claimed to be king of the jungle. Our mean Mr. Lion got very very angry when he heard this and asked the bunny to show him the ‘other’ lion. The bunny took him to a deep well and said that the ‘other ‘lion was inside the well. The silly lion looked at his reflection in the water in the well and thought it was the other lion and pounced inside the well to attack the ‘other’ lion and was never seen or heard of again! The bunny and his friends lived happily in the jungle. After the story, it was almost time to begin winding up. So, we counted from 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready to sing Om Jaya Jagadeesha Hare and finished off with Sarve Bahavantu Sukhinah and Om Poornamadah. Remember to turn your clocks forward next Sunday. See you all at 10.00 AM at Balavihar.

February 27th class

2011-02-27T22:49:00.003-05:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Goddess Pose

Shlokas:
• वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
• वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg. 15)
• बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)
• नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye (Mahalakshmi shloka)

Bhajans:
• Bolo bolo sab mil bolo Om namaH SivayaH -
• Oh Great God HanumAnji, I bow to thee
• गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ बुर्भुवः सुवः Gayatri Mantram – Om burbhuva suvaha

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Diya Rajan and family.

Story Segment: Shiva drank the hAlahAla poison during the churning of the ocean

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;
आलुकः AlukaH - Potato
Parts of the body: शिरः shiraH - head; नेत्रम् nEtram – eye; कर्णम् karNam – ear; नासिका nAsikA – nose; मुखम् mukham – mouth; पादः pAdaH - foot
Counting 1 - 10

Game Segment: Colors, Mr. Potato Head (Shri AalukaH)

End of class: ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.
Aarthi and Pledge at the auditorium

Comments: Today was yet another fun filled session. We are so glad that it is slowly beginning to warm up, weatherwise and also in our class! The children are opening up more easily. It seems like they are having a good time! We started with Yoga stretches and moved on to shlokas, followed by Bhajans. Some of the children came forward to lead the shlokas. Great job Vikram and Sravamthi! We learnt a Bhajan on Lord Shiva, Shivaratri is around the corner. We also sang our new favorite Great God Hanumanji and the Gayatri mantram. We will be learning more Gayatris pertaining to the various gods in the coming weeks. Then we had our Geeta chanting practice. The children are pretty much getting the hang of it. We came to know that the toddler class has to recite verses 1 – 5. The online registration form is now available in the Chinmaya Vrindavan website under the Geeta Chanting Contest 2011 section. After chanting practice, we went to work on our colors in Sanskrit. This is becoming one of our most favorite sections of Balavihar. The children did extremely well with the colors, especially, when they had to identify the colors on various objects. Then we said ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and had our snack and juice. Then we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit and then got ready to hear Nanda Aunty’s story. Today’s story was about how Lord Shiva drank up the deadly poison that came out when Devas and Daityas churned the milky ocean using Vasuki the snake as the rope and Mantara mountain as the mortar. Shiva drank up the poison to save the Devas and the Daityas from the effect of the poison. But Parvati was worried that Shiva would get sick from all the poison so she held his throat to stop the poison from going down into his body. As a result, Shiva’s neck turned blue, hence the name Neelakantha. After story time, we had a new visitor today! He is Shri AalukaH (Mr. Potato Head). We learnt about the parts of his body in Sanskrit such as eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hands and legs/feet. We decided to try naming these parts on ourselves. Before we knew it, it was time for Aarthi and Pledge at the auditorium. We said Om PoornamadaH and ended today’s session. See you all next week at Balavihar.

February 13th class

2011-02-13T23:17:00.003-05:00

Prayers:
• ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Goddess Pose

Shlokas:

• वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
• कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIH (My prayers, pg. 43)
• वसुदॆवसुतं दॆवं – vasudEvasutaM dEvaM (My prayers, pg. 15)
• बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

Bhajans:

• Oh Great God HanumAnji, I bow to thee
• गायत्रि मन्त्रं - ॐ बुर्भुवः सुवः Gayatri Mantram – Om burbhuva suvaha

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: Decorated hearts door knob hanger

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

Snack/Juice: provided by the Toddler Team.

Story Segment: Hanuman helps Rama and Lakshmana

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; मित्र – mitra – friend; Counting 1 - 10

Game Segment: Colors, Mama Mitra

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

Comments: Our topic today was about Hanumanji. We did our 3 Oms and some Yoga stretches. We learnt a new pose, the Goddess pose, today! After the warm up, we sat down and said our shlokas and then had Bhajan time. Today, we learnt a new song today just like our favorite Great God Ganapathy called Oh Great God Hanumanji! The children had a lot of fun singing it. Then we sang the Gayatri mantram. We moved on to Geeta chanting practice. Today we heard many of the kids recite loudly and confidently. They are beginning to feel more and more at home, which is very good to know. After Geeta chanting we had craft time. We decorated hearts today and made door knob hangers for Valentine’s Day. We reviewed our colors just before snack time. We were very impressed that all the children remembered even the new colors. It was very cute to hear some of them say ‘bluetah’ for blue! After snack time, we got ready for today’s story by counting 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit. Today’s story was about how Hanuman brought the Aushadi mountain to save Rama, Lakshmana and the other monkeys and bears in Rama’s army. Indrajit, the son of Ravana, sent the Brahmastra, the biggest weapon there is, to put the monkeys and bears in Rama’s army to sleep. Rama wanted to protect the monkeys and bears that love him so much and decided to take the astra on his self and so did Lakshmana. Only Hanuman and Vibheeshana, Ravana’s brother, were immune to the Brahmastra. Everyone including Rama and Lakshmana had fallen asleep under the spell of the Astra. Then Vibheesana adviced Hanuman to bring three plants from the Aushadhi Mountain, the smell of which will wake up Rama and Lakshmana and the entire army. Hanuman flew to the Himalayas and reached Aushadhi Mountain but didn’t know where the magical plants were. So he decided to bring the entire mountain. As soon as he brought it to where Rama and the others were, the smell of the magical medicinal plants revived Rama and Lakshmana and all the others! Hanuman went to all the trouble out of love for Rama. After story time we played a new game called Mama Mitra. It is very much like Mama Nama except when the music stops we had to say Mama Mitra… and say a friend’s name. Then it was time to leave! We sang Om Jaya Jagdeesha Hare and finished with the ending slokas. We had a really great time today. Hope you enjoy the class as much as we do! Enjoy your week!

February 6th class

2011-02-06T16:33:00.004-05:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose,

Shlokas:

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

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

• बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

Bhajans:

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

• suBrahmanyam suBrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)

• जय जय देवी - jaya jaya devI

• Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: Ant and the dove coloring sheet

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Advai and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Ant and the dove

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; Counting 1 - 10;

Game Segment: Colors, Mama Naama

End of class:

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

sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Today was a nice and sunny day, a perfect Balavihar Sunday! We started by chanting Om three times and did our usual Yoga stretches and said our Shlokas. After Shlokas, we sang Bhajans and moved on to Geeta chanting. After Geeta chanting, we did some coloring of the ant and the dove which was our story of the week. Then we reviewed our colors in Sanskrit with Rupa aunty. Today we learnt 2 new colors पाटलः pAtalah – pink and धूमलः dhUmalaH- Purple. The children love the color game. We will continue to add more new colors in the coming weeks. All that learning made us really hungry and we sat down to have our snack after chanting ब्रह्मार्पणम् – brahmArpaNam. Today’s snack was provided by Advai and family. We quickly wound up the snack time by counting 1 to 10 in English and Sanskrit and got ready for story time with Nanda Aunty. Today’s story was about how the ant and the dove became friends. The ant accidentally fell into the river while walking along the banks and had a very hard time trying to get to land. The dove watched this from its tree and felt sorry for the poor ant and threw a leaf to the ant. The ant gratefully climbed on the leaf and reached the land safely. Another day, when the hunter was aiming to shoot the dove, the ant bit his leg thereby making him miss his aim and alerting the dove to fly away. The ant and the dove have become the best of friends since that day!
After the story, we played our favorite game of Mama Naama with little Krishna. Please remember this game as we are going to add a surprise element to it next week! Before we knew it, it was already time for our finishing prayers and aarthi. We will again meet next Sunday at 10 AM for yet another fun Balavihar session. Thank you for joining us today.

January 30th class

2011-01-31T10:54:00.002-05:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree 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)

· नमस्तेस्तु महामाये – namastEstu mahAmAye (Mahalakshmi shloka)

Bhajans:

· gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH swaH

· – nandalAlA yadunandalAlA (My prayers, pg. 53)

· suBrahmanyam suBrahmanyam (My prayers, pg. 62)

· Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: Tortoise

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Sourya and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Bunny and the Tortoise

Sanskrit lesson of the week: raktaH- Red peetaH- Yellow haritaH- Green neelaH- Blue shwetaH- White krishnaH- Black ; Counting 1 - 10;

Game Segment: Colors, Hanuman vadati

End of class:

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

sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: We had yet another fun filled Balavihar class yesterday and there were again many new friends who joined us this time. We started with the Yoga warm up followed by our shlokas and bhajans and Geeta chanting practice. Then we made the tortoise magnet for craft. Then it was snack time. Today’s snack was provided by Sourya and family. After snack time we wound up, and got ready for the story about a bunny and a tortoise having a race. The tortoise kept on walking slowly but steadily while the bunny, though he started early and went very fast, got distracted along the way. He ate too much and fell asleep! In the end, although the tortoise was walking slowly, he kept his focus and that made him win the race! Whereas the bunny was very lazy and so came in last! Then we had a game of colors with Rupa Aunty. We tried out a new game where we tried to play Hanuman Vadati with just the

colors. We played Hanuman vadati after a really long time. As usual, the children loved to touch and play with our little Hanuman who visited us! Then it was time for Aarthi and ending prayers. We hope to see all of you next Sunday again at Balavihar. Have a wonderful week and stay warm!

January 23rd Class

2011-01-23T21:32:00.007-05:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Lion Pose, Stretching, Butterfly Pose, Cobra Pose, Tree Pose, Namaskara

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)

Bhajans:

· aÉÉrÉÌ§É qÉl§ÉÇ - Á pÉÔpÉÑïuÉÈ xuÉÈ gAyatri mantraM - oum bhUrbhuvaH swaH

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

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

· Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: coloring blocks

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Avni and family & Special snack from Satvik and family : धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Theme: sharing: Aansi and the turtle(a Nigerian tale)

Sanskrit lesson of the week: U£üÈ raktaH- Red mÉÏiÉÈ peetaH- Yellow WûËUiÉÈ haritaH- Green lÉÏsÉÈ neelaH- Blue µÉåiÉÈ shwetaH- White Ì¢üwlÉÈ krishnaH- Black ; Counting 1 - 10;

Game Segment: Colors

End of class:

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Aarati and Pledge in the auditorium

Comments: On behalf of the Toddler team we would like to extend a warm welcome to our new friends! We hope you enjoy your Balavihar sessions as much as we do. As usual we started by chanting ॐ three times and went on to Yoga with Rupa Aunty. After warming up with Yoga stretches, we said our shlokas and sang Bhajans. We learnt to sing the aÉÉrÉÌ§É qÉl§ÉÇ (Gayatri mantram). Many of our toddlers have memorized the shlokas have started requesting favorites! We moved on to Gita chanting with Nanda Aunty. Our Sravamti did an awesome job of chanting all the 4 verses!! Way to go! As Nanda Aunty rightly pointed out, even though the children are used to different languages spoken at home, they have caught the right Sanskrit pronunciations just by listening. So, let’s put the sponge in their brain to work and help them absorb all the good stuff! We reviewed colors in Sanskrit. We played a color guessing game and the children loved it! Most of them have the colors memorized. They had colored a rectangular block each with one of the colors: U£üÈ raktaH- Red, mÉÏiÉÈ peetaH- Yellow, WûËUiÉÈ haritaH- Green, lÉÏsÉÈ neelaH- Blue. We will be using these to play a surprise game next Balavihar class. We will also be adding more colors in the coming weeks. We had our snack break following this. We thank Avni’s family for providing the snack and juice today.Also, our special thanks to Satvik and family for bringing us special Sankranti treats! After snack we wound up by counting 1 - 10 and got ready for story time. Today Nanda Aunty told us a story about a little boy named Aansi and his turtle friend. The turtle wanted to get out of the water where it lives and decided to take a walk. Meanwhile, Aansi, a little boy, went looking for some delicious yam to cook and eat for lunch. By the time lunch was ready, the turtle had reached Aansi’s home. Aansi let the turtle in. The turtle was hungry too and hoped that Aansi would invite him to lunch. Now Aansi did not want to share his food and wanted to have it all to himself! So he set the place for the turtle and when the turtle walked up to the dining table, he told the turtle that his hands were dirty as he walked all the way and he needed to wash up. When the turtle slowly went to wash up and get back, Aansi had finished one of the yams. Now, again, he told the turtle that his hands had again become dirty and sent him back to wash up once more! Before the turtle could get back, Aansi ate up all the yams and did not leave anything for the turtle. The turtle decided to teach him a lesson for not sharing. So he invited Aansi for lunch in turn and made the yummiest of dishes and set them at the table in his home under the water. When Aansi came he wore a jacket filled with stones in the pockets to make it heavy for him to sink under water to get to the turtle’s table. The turtle told him that he needed to take out his jacket and sit down to lunch. The moment Aansi removed his jacket, he became light weighted and floated up and up and away to the surface of the water and never got to eat the delicious food at the turtle’s place! The moral of the story: We should always be willing to share with our friends and not be selfish! If Aansi had been kind and shared his lunch with the turtle, the turtle would not have played a trick on him! At the end of class, we chanted ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH and completed today’s class. Today’s Aarati and Pledge were at the Auditorium. Hope to see you all next week. The new parents, please be sure to provide us with the name of your child and your e-mail ID to be included in our mailing group.

January 9th class

2011-01-09T19:43:00.002-05:00

Prayers:

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

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

Shlokas:

· वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

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

· बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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

Bhajans:

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

· आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

· aÉÉrÉÌ§É qÉl§ÉÇ - Á pÉÔpÉÑïuÉÈ xuÉÈ gAyatri mantraM - om bhUrbhuvaH swaH

· Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: coloring blocks

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Anushka and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Theme: Pongal/Makar Sankaranti/Uttrayan/Lodhi:

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

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: A new year, with lots of promises, has started and has brought a few new friends to our Toddler class. On behalf of the Toddler team we would like to extend a warm welcome to our new friends! We hope you enjoy your Balavihar sessions as much as we do. As usual we started by chanting ॐ three times and went on to Yoga with Anitha Aunty. After warming up with Yoga stretches, we said our shlokas and did Bhajans with Rupa Aunty. We learnt to sing the aÉÉrÉÌ§É qÉl§ÉÇ (Gayatri mantram). We moved on to Gita chanting which we were reviewing after quite a break. We learnt about colors in Sanskrit today. The children colored a recatangular block each with one of the colors: : U£üÈ raktaH- Red mÉÏiÉÈ peetaH- Yellow WûËUiÉÈ haritaH- Green lÉÏsÉÈ neelaH- Blue. We will be using these to play a surprise game next Balavihar class. We had our snack break following this. We thank Anuska’s family for providing the snack and juice today even though they were not able to join us for class. After snack we quickly wound up and got ready to talk about a festival coming up over the next weekend. In Tamilnadu it is called Pongal. In Andhrapradesh, Karnataka it is called Makar Sankaranti. In Gujarat it is called Uttrayan and in North India it is known as Lodhi. It is the harvest festival, a thanksgiving to the Sun God and Nature for a good harvest. We shared a few views about how it is celebrated in different parts of the country. We could continue to discuss some more during the next Balavihar session if anyone is interested in sharing more information. We did manage to find the time to play a game of mama naama. We passed our little Hanuman around and introduced ourselves to him. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun! At the end of class, we sang ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare and chanted xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH and ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH and completed today’s class. We will meet on the 23^rd of January, 2011.

December 19th class

2010-12-19T18:03:00.002-05:00

Prayers:

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

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

Shlokas:

· वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

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

· बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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

Bhajans:

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

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

· Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 – 4

Art Project: Peacock coloring page

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

Snack/Juice: provided by Upasana and family: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Story Segment: Theme: Devotion to parents: Ganesha and Karthikeya

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10; qÉrÉÔUÈ mayUraH – peacock

Game Segment: GaNeshah vadati

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: It was great to meet everyone after a 2 week break. We started with warm up and Yoga to drive the sleepies out! Then we said our shlokas. It is very impressive that many of our little friends have begun to chant the shlokas by themselves! The kids picked some Bhajans to sing, not to forget their all time favorite, Great God GaNapathy! Then we chanted all the 4 verses of chapter 11 of Gita twice. Then it was time for our art project.We colored peacocks. We learnt that the peacock was the vehicle of Karthikeya and the mouse was the vehicle of his brother, Ganesha. Then it was snack time. Today’s snack was provided by Upasana’s family, although, Upasana was unable to join us today as she was sick. It was very kind of her parents to drop off the snacks. We chanted ब्रह्मार्पणम् – BrahmArpaNam and had our snack. After snack time, we counted 1 – 10 in English and Sanskrit to help us wind up and get ready for Nanda Aunty’s story. Today’s story was about how Maharshi Narada had a contest for Ganesha and Karthikeya to win the mango (fruit of knowledge). Narada said that whoever goes around the world and gets back to him first would get the fruit. Karthikeya, immediately hopped on his peacock and set about flying around the world. Ganesha had a mouse for a vehicle and there was no way he could win this contest unless he thought of a clever way. When he thought about it he decided that his parents were the world to him and so he went to them and with their permission went around them once and went back to Maharshi Narada and claimed the prize. Hence we pray to Ganesha to gain knowledge. The moral of the story is that if we serve our parents, we will get the benefit of serving the whole world. Another interpretation would be that we try our best to look far and wide to achieve our goals but the secret lies within us. We should make the best use of our strengths and limitations to achieve success in life. The stories from our Puranas have so many valuable lessons for all ages and it is amazing that we discover new things each time we hear/learn them. Then we played GaNeshah vadati and Mama nAma where we passed around Frosty the snowman! Finally, we sang ॐ जय जगदीश हरे - Om jaya jagedeesha hare and chanted xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH and ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH and completed today’s class. We will meet after yet another long break on the 9^th of January, 2011. Meanwhile, please keep practicing the Gita verses with the children.

December 5th class

2010-12-05T21:12:00.001-05:00

Prayers:

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

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

Shlokas:

· वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa

· बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalaM (Lord HanumAn shloka)

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

Bhajans:

· आञ्जनेयवीर हनुमन्तशूर - aa~njaneyaveera HanumAntashUra

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

· Oh Great God GaNapathy, I bow to thee

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 11, shloka 1 - 4

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

Story Segment: Theme: Respect: The Lion and the mouse

Sanskrit lesson of the week: Counting 1 - 10; qÉÔzÉMüÈ mUshakaH - mouse

End of class:

xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Balavihar is one of the high points of a cold, blustery Sunday morning! We always look forward to meeting our dear little friends every week. It is wonderful to see them progress steadily week after week! We chanted our 3 Oms and did our Yoga warm up. Then we said our shlokas. At Bhajan time today, the children led most of the Bhajans and did a really good job! Today, during Geetha chanting, we finished learning all the 4 verses assigned for our class. Now we have to practice them everyday. We made a mouse puppet for craft today and the children had loads of fun making the puppet out of brown paper bags. Then it was snack time. After snack, the kids went looking for the mouse with Nanda Aunty. Not only did we find the mouse which was tiny and yellow but we also found a big blue lion! Today’s story was about the lion and the mouse. The naughty mouse tried to tickle the huge sleeping lion! After a few tries, the mouse managed to wake the lion up. The lion was very angry that he was disturbed while sleeping! He told the mouse that he was going to eat him up! The mouse begged the lion to let him go and said that he would be the lion’s friend for ever and ever if he did so. The lion laughed at the mouse and said that he himself was the king of the jungle and so big and powerful and didn’t how a teeny little mouse would help him! A few days later, the lion got stuck in a hunter’s net and just could not get out of it, however hard he tried. He started weeping. Hearing his cries, the mouse realized that his friend, the lion, was in trouble and needed help. He ran to the lion and set him free by chewing and cutting the net open! The lion realized that though little, the mouse was able to save the huge lion’s life and apologized to the mouse. From that day they became really good friends! Since Arathi and pledge was at the auditorium today, we chanted xÉuÉåï pÉuÉliÉÑ xÉÑÎZÉlÉÈ - sarve bhavantu sukhinaH and ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH and completed today’s class.

November 21st class

2010-11-22T13:17:00.003-05:00

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

2010-11-14T17:58:00.004-05:00

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

2010-11-07T20:21:00.003-05:00

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!

October 24th class

2010-10-25T13:48:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-17T22:14:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-10T16:45:00.002-04:00

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

2010-10-03T19:50:00.000-04:00

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

September 26th Class

2010-09-26T19:18:00.003-04:00

Prayers:

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

Yoga segment: Namaskara Pose, Lion Pose, Cobra Pose and Butterfly Pose

Shlokas:
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa

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

Bhajans:
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: GaNesha Puppet

Snack/Juice: Provided by Bindu Aunty (Sowmya’s mom) धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Sanskrit Word of the week: धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH) – Thank You

Story Segment: How GaNesha got his elephant head

Game segment: GaNeshaH vadati

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

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: Today was our first complete session and what an enthusiastic bunch we were! We started with Yoga stretches. The children were very good with their animal poses and full points to the parents for getting up and doing the stretches with the kids! We learnt to say a new Shloka: कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः - karaagre vasate lakshmIh. We decided to try saying it every morning before starting the day. Today we started our very first Geeta Chanting session. Pretty soon the children will be chanting their 4 verses! It never ceases to amaze us how fast they pick up! In the Bhajan segment we had a fun action song about Lord GaNesha. Everyone enjoyed singing and dancing to it! Then we got to make our very own GaNesha puppets!! Moms and Dads did a great job in helping our budding artists as they let their creative juices flow! We had a snack break after which the children grabbed their GaNesha puppets and got ready for story time with Nanda Aunty! Our friend Vikram shared his GaNesha doll with the class and everyone got a turn to touch our little GaNesha! Thank You, Vikram for sharing so kindly - धन्यवादः! We learnt about the story of how GaNesha got his elephant head following which we had a great game of GaNesha Vadati!! Guess who else joined our game?!! Little GaNesha, himself!! Then it was time for our Arati. We are so proud of our little children and enjoy spending Balavihar Sundays with them! Please check the Blog regularly for updates and photos. See you all next week.

Hari Om

September 19th class

2010-09-20T12:43:00.006-04:00

The Toddler team would like to welcome the new and returning families to the New Year! We are very excited and look forward to a wonderful journey together!

Prayers:

ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratunda mahaakaayaa

Bhajans:

गणेश शरणम् - Ganesha sharanam (My prayers, pg. 7)

Snack/Juice: Provided by Toddler team

Yoga/Games: Namaskaram (Salutation)

Ganeshah vadati

End of class: ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH. Aarati and pledge were done in the auditorium.

Comments: It was a short class today. We have quite a few new friends in class this year! We got to know each other by names (although it will take us a while to remember all of them :). We familiarized with the class structure. Everyone sat in a circle and did all the prayers and bhajans wonderfully. We enjoyed a nice game of Ganeshah vadati-the children loved jumping to गणेशः वदति उत्त्पततु (gaNeshaH vadati uttpatatu - Ganesha says jump) Great job class!

From next week, we will be having a full class and a whole lot of fun things to do.

We are glad that classes are back in session – look forward to seeing you every Balavihar Sunday!

June 6th Class

2010-06-06T14:19:00.007-04:00

Words of the week: Revision of some of the words done in prior classes, along with the take home sanskrit book.

Prayers:

* ॐ सहनाववतु - Om sahanaavavatu (My prayers, pg. 6)
* वक्रतुण्ड महाकाया - vakratuNDa mahaakaayaa
* सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhayam (My prayers, pg. 44)
* गुरुर्ब्रह्मा - gururbrahmaa (My prayers, pg. 9, 3rd shloka of 'gurustotram')
* बुद्दिर्बलं - buddirbalam (Lord Hanumaan shloka)

Bhajans:

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

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, shloka 1, 2, 3, 4 5 & 6

Story: None

Snack/Juice: Provided by -- Lots and lots of parents! -- धन्यवादः (DhanyavaadaH).

Art Project: Sanskrit book of 'Colors, Shapes, etc.'

Sanskrit segment: Reading the sanskrit book of 'Colors, shapes, etc.'.

Yoga segment: None. Played a game of pass the ball.

End of class:

ॐ पूर्णमदः - Om poornamadaH.

Comments: The grand finale! It is a bitter sweet moment... Our regular classes have come to an end for the year :(. But we sure had loads of fun to reminisce through the summer. We had a shorter version of our regular class as we had planned for a fun feast after the class.

Started the class with a few shlokas, bhajans and geeta chanting. Read the book of 'Colors, shapes, etc.'. Later, everyone got to make their own books to take home. They were specially signed and blessed by Swamiji for our littlest friends!

After that, we played a game of 'Pass the ball' and the kids got to come up and say their names and whether we will see them next year or move into pre-k class. We learnt that a lot of children from our class are big kids and are moving up. We will certainly miss you, but we are sure that you are ready for the next grade! We are so proud of your accomplishments here. Do remember to practice all the shlokas, bhajans and geeta chanting. You were a cool class of kids as well as parents! We will miss you so much.... Best of luck for all your future endeavors. Those of you who will come back to our class next year, we are sure there will be more fun in store when you come back.

After 'brahmaarpaNam..', we got to eat loads of delicious food brought in by all the parents. The food was awesome! It was a party in full swing!! We had everything from appetizers, to desserts to ice pops. The kids had a blast eating all the yummy food and chilling out with the ice-pops and juice. Adults enjoyed too, since they do not get to eat a snack at balavihar every day ;). Thanks parents for all the wonderful delicacies and also to those that helped us do all the clean up too, at the end. That was very thoughtful of you all!

We will see you all next week (June 13th), at the annual day celebrations. Enjoy your summer break kids and stay healthy. See you all soon, either in class or in the hallways :). Lots of love to you all.

Snippets: It was a very fun class and everyone enjoyed chit chatting with each other. (We do not get to do that very often amidst our busy schedules in the class :). Hence, there were lots of snippets...

May 23rd Class - Parent Participation Week

2010-05-23T13:57:00.011-04:00

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.