Friday, November 15, 2013

November 3rd Jersey City Balavihar Class Journal

K Blog


Om 3 times
Shanti Paath Sahanavavatu
Bhagvan Ganeshji’s prayer : Vakratunda Mahakaya
Guruvandanam: Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu
Daily prayers Pg 15 My Prayer Book) : Since students did well in recalling verses of  Karagre Vasate prayer,Saraswati Namastubhyam prayer and need very little prompt, we are moving to Brahmapanam prayer before lunch next time.
Yoga and Meditation: Students are learning how to breathe while doing yoga poses.
Sanskrit (Latika book): Students identified body parts (vadanam, Netrah, Karnas, Naasika, Hastah.Padau) learning to name them. They named the colors of each other shirts, parts of body ( teeth are Shwetah etc) and colors they see in nature( sky is neelah etc) in Sanskrit.
SaskritWriting: A, AA, Ee, EEE. They read the letters shown to them.
D for Dad: We learned why Daddy is respected as God (Pitrudeo Bhav). Important virtues we benefit by are kindness, wisdom, strength, love. Next class we will learn how differently girls and boys bow dad.
Activities:
Reading Interview answers: Hats off to Suraj, Surya and Satwik! They were very bold and brave in their presentation before class. They read their answers! Suraj even read questions! Great reading skills of all.
Coloring Page: D for Dad.Next class we will glue the summary.

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1st Grade

The past Balavihar session was a special one as we celebrated Deepavali. All the kids were dressed up in traditional clothes and were in high spirits!

We began our class with the Dhyaana Shloka - Om Sahanavavatu (pg 9) followed by attendance and the daily prayers (Karaagre Vasate, Vakratunda, Saraswati Namastubhyam, Bramhaarpanam, Shubham Karoti, Kara Charana - pages 14-17 of the My Prayer Book). We also revised the Gruru Sthothram till verse 8 (pg 85-86). We ended the first part of the session with singing Atmanivasi Ram – we are just left with the last verse in this bhajan, which we will learn after we finish the Ramayana story.

Please ensure that the kids practice all their prayers at home. Some of the kids are not at the same level as the rest of the class. Daily practice will help us proceed with the rest of the curriculum for the year.

Instead of carrying on with the chapter wise story telling of Ramayana, we skipped lessons and covered the story of Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya as we wanted to discuss the reason for celebrating Deepavali. We learnt that Deepavali means “Row of Lights” and that the people of Ayodhya lit lamps and were celebrating on the streets as they were happy about Lord Rama returning to the kingdom after completing an exhile of 14 years and defeating Ravana. The sparkling lights helped Lord Rama’s group to see the way and know where to land their Pushpavimaan as it was very dark.

The kids described how they celebrate Diwali at home – getting up at the crack of dawn, taking a shower and wearing new clothes, lighting lamps, candles and fairy lights at home, bursting crackers, eating lots of sweets and other homemade goodies as well as visiting friends and family. We also touched upon the fact that in some places Diwali is celebrated over a period of 4-5 days and includes Dhanteras, Lakshmi Puja and Bhai Dooj/ Bhau Beej.

For their activities, I gave out earthen diyas to the kids and they decorated it with sparkling stones and rainbow stickers. Then each of them placed a candle in the diya, which they said they would be lighting in the evening.

We concluded the class with the closing prayer - Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaha (pg-19). The kids are now familiar with the prayer as well as its meaning.

For their homework, please make sure the kids revise their vowels and prayers. I will be testing them in this upcoming class.

See you at the next class. Please be sure to bring you folders.







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2nd and 3rd Grade: Lord Hanuman


Teachers: Vani Aunty; Anisha Aunty

Hari OM All,

Below is the class review until now for Hanuman section (2nd and 3rd graders). It is important reminder for parents that children should carry Balavihar Folders and their My Prayers books to each class. The teachers mark up the prayers that they have to learn and practice at home. Parental co-operation is much appreciated.

Who is Lord Hanuman?

Hanuman is son of King Kesari (king of monkeys) and Princess Anjani and incarnate of Lord Shiva.

Why was Lord Hanuman born?

The rakshasas were wrecking havoc on earth. The Rakhsasa king Ravana had obtained boon from Lord Shiva that he may not be killed by any other rakhshsa, deva or any other divine being. The only exceptions to this boon were human beings, monkeys and bears. The Devas (and King Indra who is the king of devas) approached Lord Vishnu to seek his help. Lord Vishnu decided to be born as Rama , son of Dasratha.

Lord Shiva, upon hearing this decides to be born as Hanuman, to serve and assit Lord Vishnu in his Rama Avatara (meaning to Avatara to be explained as incarnate, another form of, taking birth as….)

What is the story behind Lord Hanuman's birth?

Indra is threatened by a rishi performing penance. He sends a courtesan/dancer named Punji-Kasthala from his court to distract the rishi. PK succeeds but gets cursed by the rishi that she will be born as a monkey. She begs for forgiveness so curse gets changed. She will be born as monkey but can assume human form. She gets born as princess Anjani.

Princess Anjani gets married to King Kesari. She prays to Lord Shiva daily. One day wind God Pawan appears to her and informs her that she will give birth to a son and he will be a great man with many qualities. That son is Lord Hanuman.

What are the qualities of Lord Hanuman?

Children drew pictures of what qualities they remembered of Lord Hanuman. Some observations made by the children:

He has a Gada (given by indra- watch movie to know complete story)

He lifted a mountain

His tail can become really long and was on fire. (one of his boons from the fire god is that fire will never harm him)

He can become really big and really small

Why are we studying Lord Hanuman?

He was the ideal son, ideal friend, ideal devotee, and could accomplish any task that was given to him, but he was never arrogant and always remained humble. We want to know more about how and why he became that way so that we can be more like him (not monkey faced!) but by absorbing his qualities inside and becoming perfect!

Activities so far:

Children need to know the names of all persons in the narration above and how they link together. FLOWCHART/FAMILY TREE of how these persons link together.

Hanuman Mask

Hanuman Qualities Spine

Shlokas known so far (some need practice):

Om Sahanavavatu (Prayer for Peace)

Vakratunda Mahakaya (Invocation of Lord Ganesha)

Saraswati Namastubhyam (Invocation of Goddess Sarawati)

Buddhir Balam (Enunciation of Qualities of Lord Hanuman)



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