Balavihar Week 9 Section 1

December 09, 2012 

Meditation Time:

The class started with chanting "Om" three times and then we did our beginning prayer "Sahanaavavathu" followed by our meditation. During meditation we try to keep our minds focussed on the little Krishna who has a peacock feather on his head and on the one who has beautiful anklets on his legs who loves butter and who tries to steal butter from the pot. We have been missing Pushkala Aunty from last week who is on a trip to India. Suvarna Aunty was there to help us out and will be there with us for the next week too. Thankyou Aunty for being with us and at the same time Pushkala Aunty we are missing you very much :( 

Guru Stotram:

We did upto the 11th verse and concluded with the 14th verse.

Bhajan: 

Radhae Radhae Radhae

Bhagavad Gita:

We did the Gita chanting upto the 8th shloka. Today we had divided the class into two groups to see which group is able to do the chanting loud and clear. The children have been asked to memorise till the 5th sloka for the next class. Most of the kids are already good but needs a bit more practice. 

Bhaagvatam Time:

 

• Today we learned about the three kinds of Devotion, 1) Taamasic Devotion 2) Rajasik Devotion 3) Saatvik Devotion. Taamasic Devotion is that kind of devotion where people filled with anger, hatred, jealousy pray for their selfish needs. People with this Guna always tend to be lazy not wanting to do anything. The second kind of devotion is Rajasik where people pray for material gains. People in this category always have a lot of worldly desires to accomplish. The third type is Saatvik Devotion which is the highest form of devotion where the devotee prays to the Lord not for anything but only out of love.  In this kind of devotion the devotee keeps on thinking about the Lord and his glories. We said some sub stories too to explain clearly.
• Then we did the story of Sati who was an ardent devotee and wife of Lord Siva. We learnt how Daksha, Sati's father was very proud and arrogant and how his pride finally brought him to a big fall. Please ask the kids to retell the story and what moral they learned from it. 

 

Likhita Japa:

We could do the Likhita Japa only for 5 minutes so we have requested the kids to do the rest at home.

Aarti and Pledge:

Finally we winded up the class with Aarti and Pledge. See you all next week. 

 

Thanks,

Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty  

Balavihar Week 9- Section 2

December 09, 2012 

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 8th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

During chanting time we learnt Bhagvadh Geetha chap 13- verse 1 - 5

We reviewed last  weeks lesson -Kardama & Devahuti

Today we learnt the story of  Kapila and Sati.

We learnt about how to be pure and have good thoughts. There are modes to achieve this. Please ask your kids to retell at home.

Please ask your kids at home to retell the story.

Next week we will continue and learn  a new story.

Action Required:

Parents make sure that children are bringing in a new note book for the likhita japa. 

See you next week!

~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

Balavihar Week 8- Section 1 and 2

December 2, 2012 

Beginning prayers
            .    'om' chanting - 3 times

·     Meditation 

·     Sahanaavavatu

·     Gurustotram verses 1-9 and 14th verse

Bhajan

Radhae Radhae Radhae

Gita chanting

       Bhagavadgita 13^th chapter 1 - 6 shlokas

Story time

·     Varaaha Avataar

·     Kardama and Devahuti

.     Kapila

Ending prayers and pledge

.     Aarati and pledge in the auditorium

The class started with meditation followed by "Sahanaavavathu".  Then we did the Guru Stotram up to the 9th verse.  We did the bhajan "Radhae Radhae Radhae".  As with the  Bhagavad Gita, we did upto the 6th verse. The kids are doing a good job in chanting. Keep up the good work! As with Bhaagvatham, we learned the second avataar Varaaha Avataar, where Maha Vishnu took the form of a boar to save mother Earth from the oceans of pralaaya. Brahma Ji created Manu and Shataroopa, the first man and woman and asked them to go and live happily as a family.  But Manu didnot know where to live as earth was buried deep under the oceans of pralaaya and asked for help. Bhagavan always takes the most appropriate form to help situations. He took the form of a boar because boar posseses a very good sense of smell and thus could locate mother earth easily.  Then we did the story of Kardama and Devahuti and learned about their son Kapila. Kardama was a great sage and Devahuti was the daughter of Manu (the first man). They got married and lived a life full of penance and sacrifice. They had 9 beautiful daughters and one son. The son's name was Kapila. He was an incarnation of the Lord. Kapila was  famous as a divine teacher and a great sage. He is the founder of the Saankhyan philosophy. One day Kapila's mother, Devahuti asked her son to teach her how to gain freedom from the cycle of birth and death. He told his mother to attain freedom, one must've a pure heart and to attain that there are 7 ways :

1. Obeying the rules of Life
2. Performing one's Duties
3. Seeing Work as Worship
4. Chanting God's name again and again
5. Trusting God as a trusted, beloved friend
6. Seeing the Blessed Lord in all creatures
7. Loving God

We explained the points more by telling them some sub stories too. Please ask your child to retell the stories that they heard today. We didn't do the Likhita Japa today as we were running short of time. Make sure everyone gets in a new note book as there are kids still with old note books and no pencils :( We concluded our class with Aarati and Pledge in the auditorium. See you all next week.

 

Balavihar Week 6: Section 1

November 11, 2012 

Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times

·       Meditation 

·       sahanaavavatu

·       gurustotram verses 1-7 and 14th verse

Bhajan

Radhae Radhae Radhae

Gita chanting

·        Bhagavadgita 13^th chapter 1 - 4 shlokas

Story time

·         Sage Kashyapa

·         Hiranyaksha 

Likhita Japa

·         Writing ‘Om Namo Narayana’ in Sanskrit

Ending prayers and pledge

·        Aarati and pledge 

The class started with meditation. We turn off the lights, and try to focus our attention on Lord Krishna by describing him beautifully so that all the children can get a beautiful picture in their mind. Today we had few late comers in the class.  Parents, we request you to bring kids to class in time.  If the child walks in the class between the meditation, the rest of the class will get distracted so we are forced to put them outside until the lights are turned  back on.  As of Bhagavad Gita, we did 2 verses (3rd and 4th). Most of the kids were good with the first two verses, which is really good.  As with the story, we did 2 stories today.  Ask the kids about the story they heard today. Each story had a good moral in it. Sage Kashyap's story showed us, "As we Sow, so shall we Reap". We talked about the importance of having the attitude of gratitude to all who make our lives comfortable.  Hiranyaksha's story gave us the lesson that it is very bad to be arrogant. We told them the well know story of rabbit and tortise to show them an easy example of arrogance.  The story very simply and clearly shows that prides goes before a fall. We winded up our class with Aarati and Pledge. See you all next week. 

  

Action Required:

Parents make sure that children bring in a new note book for the likhita japa. From next week on we are going to start a new likhita japa and those books will be put under the sanctum of the new temple in Chinmaya Vrindavan.

 

Thanks,

Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty

Balavihar Week 6- Section 2

November 11, 2012 

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 7th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

We sang Radhe Radhe Radhe during Bhajan time.
During chanting time we learnt Bhagvadh Geetha chap 13- verse 1 and 2

We reviewed last  weeks lesson -Matysa Avataraa

Today we learnt the story of Sage Kashyapa  and Hiranyaksha.

The moral of the story is what you Sow is what you Reap.

For example if you sow Mango seeds you get Mango fruit not Apple.

Similarly our thoughts and action need to be clean and pure.

Please ask your kids at home to retell the story.

Next week we will continue and learn a new Avataraa of Lord Vishnu- Varahaa (Boar)

During Likhita Japa time we wrote OM and also talked to kids about upcoming festival - Diwali.

  

Action Required:

Parents make sure that children bring in a new note book for the likhita japa. From next week on we are going to start new likhita japa and those books will be put under the sanctum of the new temple in Chinmaya Vrindavan.

Happy Diwali! ~ Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didid

Balavihar Week 5- Section 2

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 6th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

We sang Radhe Radhe Radhe during Bhajan time.
During chanting time we learnt Bhagvadh Geetha chap 13- verse 1

We reviewed last  weeks lesson -Pariksit Meets Shukadeva 

We learnt the first Avatara of  Lord Vishnu - Matsyaavatara.

Lord Vishnu takes the form of a fish. Please ask your kids to retell the story at home.

During Likhita Japa time we wrote OM and the kids were very creative.

We talked about Navrathri festival. We discussed how this festival is celebrated in different parts of India (i.e. ) Golu, Durga Pooja, Garba/Ras.

Here are some pictures we discussed in class, of the Devis, and an example of a Golu!

We concluded the class with Arathi and Pledge.

Next week we will meet up in Mercer County Park for Cord Walkathon. 

See you all next week. ~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

Balavihar Week 5- Section 1

October 21st, 2012 

We started our class by chanting "Om" three times and meditated for 5 minutes. Then we did our opening prayers "Sahanaavathu". Followed by that we did the Guru Stotram upto verse 6 and concluded with the 14th verse "Tvamey va maatha cha". Then we did the bhajan "Radhe Radhae Radhae". Children are doing very good with the bhajans. We continued practicing Gita chanting upto the 2nd verse today. We did the Likitha Japa "Om Namo Naraayanaya". 

Bhagavatham Time:

The children initiated and did the recap of the story we did last week.  Today we  started with the stories that Shukadev Ji told King Pariksit. The first one was Matsyaavatara. We learnt today why Maha Vishnu took the form of a fish. The Lord took this form to protect the Vedas from the demon Hayagreeva, who stole the Vedas and hid it under water.  We discussed in very simple terms what the Vedas are and that there are 4 Vedas. 

Fun Project:   We explained the meaning of the word "Pralaya" by making a paper boat. We did it to explain creation and destruction in an easy way. 

Our next class will be at the 'Mercer County Park'.  It will be on October 28th, Sunday 10 a.m.   After a brief class, we will all be walking for CORD  walkathon.  See you all there.  Please plan ahead, so you arrive on time.

Thanks,

Pushkala Aunty & Deepthy Aunty

Balavihar Week 4- Section 1

October 14th, 2012
We started our class with our opening prayers "Sahanaavathu" and then we mediated for 5 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto verse 5 and concluded with "Tvamey va maatha cha" verse. Then we did the bhajan "Radhe Radhae Radhae". Today we started with the Bhagavad Gita chanting. This year we are doing the 13th chapter. Today we did the first verse. We have distributed copies of the chapter we are doing. Make sure they bring it to class every week. Parents please ask your children to practice this at home. We did the Likitha Japa "Om Namo Naraayanaya". Make sure children bring in a note book and a sharpened pencil for it. 

Bhagvatham Time:During the recap, the children filled in the details regarding the story we have heard so far. We then went ahead with the story for today. 
Topic of the Day:

• Brainstorming: A Question

• Activity: Am I On Gaurd?

• Game: Red Light/ Green Light

• Tale: King Pariksit meets Shukadeva

Brainstorming: A QuestionWhy Pariksit, a nice king, did a bad act of putting the snake around the sage's neck?
It was because the king was not on gaurd. He was not alert. His hunger, thirst and tiredness made him to do the act. The noble king lost his  mind  momentarily and could not make right from wrong. From Pariksit's story we all learnt that we should always be alert. Our mind should always be on gaurd or else we may say or do wrong things. We made the children understand it by making them stand up and chant together "Om namo naaraayanaya" continuously, loudly, looking at the picture of the Lord. When we are on gaurd, our minds will be aware that we are chanting and we are only thinking of the Lord.  

Game: Red Light/ Green LightWe played a game in the class to see who all are alert. 

Tale: Pariksit Meets ShukadevaWe learnt how king Pariksit got together with a lot of learned sages like Vyaasa, Vashista, Atri, Bhrigu, etc.  Then, a very learned sage Shukadeva came by too.   They all suggested that Pariksit  listen to the glories the Lord, that are sung in the bhaagavatam, to attain eternal peace, since he was cursed to die in 7 days.  In the following classes we will be learning the stories that were narrated by Shukadeva to King Pariksit.  

The aarti and pledge were done in the auditorium today. Please register for the CORD Walkathon which will be held on Oct 28th at Mercer County Park. See you all next Sunday.
~Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty 

Balavihar Week 4- Section 2

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 5th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

We sang Radhe Radhe Radhe during Bhajan time. 

Bhagvatham Time: 

 

We reviewed last two weeks lesson -How King Parikshit meets Kali. 

Tale: Pariksit meets Kali
Where does Kali reside? - recap 

5 places: 

1) untruthfulness
2) arrogance
3) lust
4) cruelty

5) Rajoguna 

Today's story-

 The curse

King Parikshit was in the forest and lost track of time.  He was hungry and very thirsty. He saw sage Samiska's ashrama. The sage was in deep meditation and king Parikshit took a dead snake and threw it round the sage's neck. His mind was not on guard and he acted this way. We should always be on guard and do the right act.

Sringi, sage's son got angry on king Parikshit and cursed.

 

Tale: Pariksit Meets Shukadeva

Parikshit learnt about the curse and was very sad and returned to the palace. 

King Pariksit handed over the palace to his son and went to the forest. He  got together with a lot of learned sages like Vyaasa, Vashista, and others.  He also met a very young learned sage Shukadeva, son of Vyassa. They all suggested that Pariksit  listen to the glories the Lord, that are sung in the bhaagavatam, to attain eternal peace, since he was cursed to die in 7 days.  In the following classes we will be learning the stories that were narrated by Shukadeva to King Pariksit.

See you next week! 

~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

Balavihar Week 3- Section 2

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 4th verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse. 

We sang Radhe Radhe Radhe during Bhajan time. 

Bhagvatham Time: 

We reviewed last two weeks lesson - Names of avataras; we talked about how Bhagavatam was written  followed by story of Narada Rishi & how King Parikshit meets Kali. 

Tale: Pariksit meets Kali
Where does Kali reside?

 
Pariksit was about to punish Kali but seeing Kali's humility, the king let him go saying that he should not see him anywhere in his kingdom. Kali asked King Pariksit to give him some place to live.
King  Pariksit first  gave him 4 places to live:
1) untruthfulness
2) arrogance
3) lust
4) cruelty
Then Kali asked for a fifth place to reside. This was Rajoguna - meaning running after wealth.

What we learnt from the story? We should be truthful, not show arrogance, not be cruel, and not to run after wealth.

Playtime
Let Kali not pass. Please ask you kids at home about this game.

We then finished the class with our ending prayers, Aarati and pledge. Gautam Uncle visited us and talked to us about Cord walkathon. Please register online. This event will be held at Mercer county park on Sunday, Oct 28th.
See you all next week. ~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

Balavihar Week 3- Section 1

October 7th, 2012

Our class started with meditation which we did for 10 minutes. During meditation , the lights will be turned off in the class. So parents, please help the kids to be in class on time so that they don't miss the meditation time. We took the attendence of the class by greeting everyone with "Hari Om". Following we did the prayer "Sahanaavathu" and "Tvamey va maatha cha". We did the "Guru Stotram" upto verse 4. During the Bhajan time we did the Bhajan "Radhe Radhe Radhe". 

Bhagvatham Time: 

First we did the recap of the last class and moved on with the story. 

Topic of the Day:

• Tale: Pariksit meets Kali
• Brainstorming: What is Kali and where he resides
• Tale: King Pariksit's Curse  

Tale: Pariksit meets Kali

 
Pariksit was about to punish Kali but seeing Kali's humility, the king let him go saying that he should not see him anywhere in his kingdom. Kali asked King Pariksit to give him some place to live. Thus Pariksit gave him 5 adharmic places to live: Anartam (untruthfulness), Mada (arrogance, ignorance), Kama (lust), Vairam (cruelty), Rajoguna (running after wealth).

Lesson Learned:

One desiring one's own good should never indulge in the adharmic ways. One can do it  by being truthful, not being arrogant, not being cruel, and by not running after wealth.

Tale: The Curse

King Pariksit went hunting alone in the forest. After a while he felt thirsty and went looking for water. His search ended up seeing sage Samika's ashram. But the sage was in deep mediation that he was not aware of the king's presence. The King wanted to test the sage so he took a snake and put it around the sage's neck and on seeing this act of the king the sage's son, Sringi got angry and cursed the King that he will be bitten by a poisoness snake, Thakshak and thus he will be killed in 7 days. When the Sage Samika heard this he was upset with his son. The noble sage didn't even think bad about the king but instead defended the king saying that there is no king as good as King Pariksit. Such is the greatness of the sages of our land. 

Lesson Learned:

One wrong act cannot be set right by another wrong act. We explained it more  by giving examples from our day to day life like it is not good to shout and people shouting back at you. It is not nice to push someone and in turn someone pushes you back. Sameway it is not good to hit someone and someone hits you back. 

We then finished the class with our ending prayers, Aarati and pledge. Next week on we are going to start the Bhagavad Gita chanting, Chapter 13. See you all next week. 

Regards,

Pushkala Aunty and Deepthy Aunty

Balavihar Week 2- Section 1

Our class started with the beginning prayers..Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 5 minutes. We took attendance & greeted everybody with a "Hari Om". Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 4th verse. We did the bhajan "Radhe Radhe Radhe". 

Bhagvatham Time: 

First we did the recap of the last class and moved on with the story. Today we talked about Narada Rishi & how King Praiksit Meets Kali. 

The topic of the day consists of :

How was Bhagavatham written?

From the last class it was seen that all the diciples gathered around Sutaji & Saunaka rishi asked a question that how can one be happy for ever. Sutaji said that the answer was in the poem "Bhagavatam" which was composed by Sri Veda Vyasa. Sri Veda Vyasa was a very learned scholar who had written many Puranas, Mahabharata and the Vedas for the benefit of the people. But still he was not happy. One day Narada Rishi came to see him and advised him to sing the glories of the Lord. He asked him to teach the people why God takes different avataras and that way he is going to be happy. 

Who is Naradaji??

Narada ji was the son of a servant lady who lived serving saints in the ashram. Narada Ji lived there hearing the glories of Bhagavan from the saints. It so happened that one day Narada Ji's mother got bitten by a snake and died and thus Narada Ji was left all alone. After this incident Narada Ji went to the forest for mediating and Bhagavan being happy with him blessed him by saying he will be reborn as Brahmaji's son. Few years later he died and was reborn again as the son of Brahmaji. 

 

Pariksit Meets Kali

  One day King Pariksit was going around and he was shocked to see a strange sight. A mean, well dressed man, Kali was torturing a white bull and a cow was standing close by and crying seeing this. The mean man had already pulled out three of the bull's leg and was about to cut out the fourth leg. Seeing this King Pariksit got angry and asked Kali why he was doing this to the poor animal. Then the King turned to the bull and cow and asked why he was doing this. The bull answered he didn't know why ..but some say may be due to past karmas. Pariksit thought deeply and realized that the bull was the personification of Dharma & the cow was of Mother Earth. And the four legs stands for Austerity, Purity, Kindness and Truthfulness. Of these, three has already been lost and only Truthfulness remains. We discussed the four words and their importance with the class. 

We ended the day with our Aarati & Pledge. See you all in the next class.

Pushakala & Deepthy

Balavihar Week 2- Section 2

We started the class by chanting OM 3 times followed by beginning prayers Sahanaavathu & then we meditated for 2 minutes. Then we did the Guru Stotram upto the 3rd verse and concluded with Tvamey va maatha cha verse.  We sang Radhe Radhe Radhe during Bhajan time.  Both Guru Stotram and Radhe Radhe bhajan lyrics can be found in 'MY Prayers' book. And also that the next class is on Oct 7th. Bhagvatham Time:  We reviewed last weeks lesson - Names of avataras. We then talked about how Bhagavatam was written  followed by story of Narada Rishi & how King Parikshit Meets Kali.  Saunaka rishi lived in the ashrama with several disciples. One day Sutaji a learned sage visited the ashrama.Saunaka rishi asked a question that how can one be happy for ever.To which Sutaji replied that the answer was in the poem "Bhagavatam" which was composed by Sri Veda Vyasa. Sri Veda Vyasa was a very learned scholar who had written many Puranas, Mahabharata and the Vedas for the benefit of the people. But still he was not happy. One day Narada Rishi came to see him and advised him to sing the glories of the Lord. He asked him to teach the people why God takes different avataras and that way he is going to be happy.   Naradaji Narada ji was the son of a servant lady who lived serving saints in the ashram. Narada Ji's mother got bitten by a snake and died and thus Narada Ji was left all alone. After this Narada Ji went to the forest for mediatation and Bhagavan being happy with him blessed him by saying he will be reborn as Brahmaji's son.  Pariksit Meets Kali   One day King Pariksit was going around and he was shocked to see a strange sight. A mean, well dressed man, Kali was torturing a white bull and a cow was standing close by and crying seeing this. The mean man had already pulled out three of the bull's leg and was about to cut out the fourth leg. Seeing this King Pariksit got angry and asked Kali why he was doing this to the poor animal. Then the King turned to the bull and cow and asked why he was doing this. The bull answered he didn't know why ..but some say may be due to past karmas. Pariksit thought deeply and realized that the bull was the personification of Dharma & the cow was of Mother Earth. And the four legs stands for Austerity, Purity Kindness and Truthfulness. Of these, three has already been lost and only Truthfulness remains. We learnt the importance of the four words.  Austerity :- keep up to your promises  Purity :- clean thoughts  Kindness :- be kind to all  Truthfulness :- never lie We ended the day with our Aarati & Pledge. See you all in two weeks on Oct 7th. ~Indira Aunty and Sanjana Didi

1st Balavihar Class!- Section 1

Our class started with the beginning prayers:
     Sahanavavathu & Guru stotram

Students and the teachers introduced themselves and described their summer experience as an ice breaker.

What to bring to our next BV class?
Kids were asked to bring :

• My Prayer Book
• Notebook/pad for likhita japa
• japa mala for meditation
• Bala Bhagavatam book (curriculum for 3rd grade, available in book store)

What did we learn today?
We summarized the learnings of second grade BV.
We covered what is an Avatara and why does God take an Avatara?
List of Dashavatara.


What do we learn from Bhagavatam?
Story Time:
Shaunaka Rishi  lived in nimisharanya with his disciples . One day Sutaji a learned Rishi visited them.
 All the students and the teacher paid respects to Sutaji and gathered around him. Saunaka Rishi asked a question to Sutaji so that the students could benefit.
Saunaka Rishi asked "please tell us how can a person become good and happy forever". Sutaji replied that he would love to and further he continued to state that it is given in a poem written by Sri Veda Vyasa called "Bhagavatam" which has 18,000 verses.


In the next class we are going to share how Bhagavatam was written.

The class assembled in the auditorium for Aarathi and pledge.
See you next week!
~Pushkala Aunty & Deepthy Aunty

1st Balavihar Class!- Section 2

We began the class by greeting each other and started chanting OM 3 times followed by our morning prayer, Sahanavavathu.
Right after, we meditated for a minute.

Students and the teachers introduced each other.

Kids were asked to bring :

 A note book, pencil, eraser , box of crayons, My Prayer book and Bala Bhagavatam book (both available at the book stall ).

What we learnt today:
We summarized the learnings of second grade BV (Hanuman - The superhero)
We started by introducing the avataras:

• What is an Avatara? It means God coming down and taking a form to destroy evil.
• What are the different avatars? We learned their names and how to properly pronounce them.

During quiet time we learned to write OM in both English and Sanskrit.

Please be sure to visit the blog each week for updates.
Have a nice week and see you all in class next week!

~Sanjana didi and Indira Aunty.

Hari Om!

Welcome to the Chinmaya Vrindavan 3rd Grade Balavihar blog.

Please continue to regularly visit this online journal to learn about our weekly Sunday morning class activities, as well as other important announcements pertaining to the Third Grade Class.

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Teacher Contacts

Below are the email id.s of the volunteers of 3rd grade class. Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions or concerns.

Pushkala Krishnaswamy -- swamyv [..at..] comcast [..dot..] net

Deepty Nair -- deepthy [..at..] gmail [..dot..] com 

Indira Bhaskar -- indira_bhaskar [..at..] yahoo [..dot..] com
 
Sanjana Manikandan -- sanjana [..dot..] manikandan [..at..] gmail [..dot..] com

Note : The e-mail addresses above have been ciphered ;), to prevent automatic e-mail parsing software from deciphering for mass e-mailing purposes or spams. Please translate them accordingly.

June 10th class

Beginning prayers
      ·       'om' chanting - 3 times

·       Meditation 

·       sahanaavavatu

·       gurustotram

Gitaa chanting

·       bhagavadgItaa 12^th adhyaaya 1 -  20 shlokas

Story time

·         None

Chanting/Songs

·        raama hare kRuShNa hare

Game time

      ·    bhaagavatam Jeopardy

·        Are you smarter than a balavihar 3rd grader

Ending prayers and pledge

·        pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

·        chinmaya aarati - auditorium

      ·        om jaya jagadIsha hare - auditorium

      ·        pledge - auditorium

Comments:

Rashmi Aunty and Indira Aunty:

Today was a bitter sweet day for all of us!  It is the last day of balavihar for this year.

We started off with our prayers.  They guru stotram, gItaa chanting, raama hare song are going really well.  We spoke about how we need to keep practicing the raama hare song.  We will be needing it for next year as well.  We have learnt only half of the bhaagavatam story in this year.  The children will learn the rest of it in their 4th grade class.

We have learnt so much through out the year, that it calls for putting our knowledge to a test!  For doing that, we had two really fun games.  We combined both the sections and divided into teams.  They teams chose their names.  The first was 'Team kRushNa', the second was 'Team narasimha', the third was 'Team quiz masters' (comprising of the teachers ;).  The rules were set and game explained.  The teachers' team would get a turn only if the 1st two teams didn't answer.  We started the game, projecting the questions on the screen.  We (teachers) were waiting and waiting for our turn to answer, but wow, do we have a great team or do we have a great team of kids!!  They were ready to give us more details than we asked them for in the questions!  The teachers team got only two turns!  We were very happy to see the enthusiasm and accuracy of their answers.  That was the best reward they could have given us to culminate a great year at balavihar!  

We have accomplished so much in the year and had so much fun along the way!  We got to know each other  well and shared so many wonderful learning moments in class.  It was a momentous day today as we reached the end of the year milestone.  We will miss you all next year, but very proud to see what you have accomplished.  We are certain that you will all do very well in your future years and bloom into wonderful Samaritans!  All the best for a bright future and feel free to stop by to say 'hari om' to us next year :).
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Alka Aunty and Prasad Uncle: