Amrutham Class---December 21st!!!!

Hari Om Parents,

It was rather a small and cozy class size today!!! We had ALOT to accomplish today! Today was the LAST class for the year 2014 so I revised EVERYTHING we have learned so far in this past 12 weeks. 

If you have missed reading the blogs, this will give you the full scenario of what we have covered so far. Few parents asked me to write more details about the shloka so I will give more details in this blog.

We have covered 9 Shloka this far:

1) Om saha navavatu saha nau bhunaktu
saha viryam karavavahai
tejasvi navadhitamastu ma vidhwishavahai
Om shanti shanti shantihi (Page 7)

2) Vakra-Tunda Maha-Kaaya Surya-Kotti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva-Kaaryesu Sarvadaa

3) Sarasvatii namastubhyam 
Varade kaamarupini 
Vidyaarambham karishyaami 
Siddhirbhavatu me sadaa  

4)  Ya devi sarva bhuteshu Shakti rupen sansthita
Namastasyay Namastasyay Namastasyay namo namah

5) Ya devi sarva bhuteshu Laxmi rupen sansthita
Namastasyay Namastasyay Namastasyay namo namah

6) Ya devi sarva bhuteshu Vidhya rupen sansthita
Namastasyay Namastasyay Namastasyay namo namah

7) Om sarve bhavantu sukhinah
sarve santu niramayah
sarve bhadrani pashyantu
ma Kashciduhkha-bhaag-bhavet
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih (Page 24)

8) Vighneswaraya Varadaya Surapriyaya Lambodaraya Sakalaya jagathitaya

Nagananaya shrutiyajna vibhushitaya Gauri sutaya gananatha namo namaste 

9) Om purnamadah purnamidam

purnat purnamudacyate

purnasya purnamadaya

purnamevavasishyate 

Om santhi santhi santhihi

hari om shri gurubhyo namah harih om (Page 25)

We sang our favorite bhajan taught by our special guest Pushpa aunty:

Come Oh bulky stomach Ganapati, You are the son of Shiva Parvati

Riding a Rat-o, Belting a serpent-o, you have the face of an elephant-o

We offer you modaka payasa, you are the steno of Veda Vyasa

Come oh bulky stomach.......

Please ensure us Vigna Vinasha, you are the guru of examination pass-a

Come oh bulky stomach.......

Click here for the Bhajan!!!!! 

More topics that was revised today:

Trinity:

Brahma:

• Hes the creator of everything

Vishnu: 

• Hes the preserver/protector!
• He has Shesh naag over his head
• He holds below things in his hands:
• Gada
• Sudarshan chakra or just chakra
• Lotus
• Shankh

Shiva:

•  Hes the destroyer of ALL evil
• He has snakes around his neck
• Ganga river flows from his head
• There is a crescent moon on his head
• He holds below things in his hands:
• Trishul
• Damru
• Kamandal

Goddesses:

Saraswati:

• Gives us knowledge
• Her vehicle is swan
• She carries below things in her hands:
• Veena
• Mala
• Veda or books
• Lotus

Lakshmi:

• Gives us wealth (coins as per children)
• Her vehicle is owl
• She sits on lotus
• She carries below things in her hands:
•  Lotus
• Coins

Durga:

• Gives us strength
• She sits on tiger

Revised 5 names of Ganesha:

1) Ganapati

2) Ekdantaya

3) Gajanan

4) Lambodaray

5) Vakratunday

Revised Ganesha:

Parents (Mother-Parvati, father-Shiva)

His favorite food Modaka and laddoo

His vehicle is a mouse

He has BIG head so he can think BIG

He has BIG ears so he can listen MORE

He has a BIG belly so he can digest GOOD and BAD

He has small eyes so he can FOCUS/CONCENTRATE

He has small mouth so he can talk LESS (cause when you talk less, you listen MORE)

Revised Gandhiji :

He was one of the freedom fighter who helped in Indian Independence

He was born in Porbandar India

We call him "bapu-ji" with love

Revised Navratri:

Talked about all 3 goddess we worship during Navratri

Nav means 9 and ratri means nights

Revised Diwali:

Good vs. Evil

Good always win---Emphasized to make good choices NO matter how small the choices are. Briefly revised the story of Ramayana.

Reiterated the fact that "Sharing is caring" and we must continue do that especially as we celebrate this holiday season. 

Last but not the least, we watched a 10 minute video about how Ganesha was formed, how he got his name Ganesha!!!!

Our next class will meet on January 4th!!!! Happy holidays and wishing you ALL a VERY healthy and a prosperous New Year!!!!! See you NEXT YEAR!!!!!!

Meena Arvind

December 7, 2014 Amrutham class

Hari Om Parents,

It was after two weeks I saw kids but they were still quite enthusiastic. They all were very happy. I started my class chatting with them about their weekend and I think Akash mentioned he was going for bowling in the evening.

Anyways, we started with invocation shloka.
We chanted Om three times, then Saraswati Namastubhyam and Vaktratunda Mahakaya.
All the kids know these shloka and I asked them to sing it. After that we were joined by two of our friends from Madhuram class and Madhuram class teachers, Rajesh and Vidhya.

I talked about Goddess Saraswati. I introduced new shloka

Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Vidya Rupena Sansthita.!
Namastasye Namastasye Namastasye Namo Namah!

Kids now know that Goddess Saraswati has four hands and she plays "Vina" with two hands. In other two hands she has "Mala" & "Book". They now know that she gives us "knowledge"

Her favorite birds are peacock and swan and she sits on a white Lotus.

After that we had bathroom break. Thank you Rajesh and Vidhya for helping out. Kids had snack and colouring as part of their routine.

We ended our class with ending prayer.

See you all this Sunday.

Dhruti

Amrutham Class---November 2nd!!!

Hari Om parents,

Thank you for your continued support and your involvement in Amrutham class. Appreciate your feed-backs, support in signing up for snacks, asking questions, etc which help us help your children better.

As always we started our class with 3 Oms. Continued with:

• Opening prayers ("Om Sahana vavatu.....)
• Then we called upon Ganesha to remove any obstacles that might hinder in our learning at Bal Vihar. We recited Shloka "Vakratunda...."
• Once all the obstacles were removed we were ready to learn and call upon Goddess Saraswati to give us the knowledge and to help us retain our learning. We recited Shloka "Saraswati namastubhyam..."

While we had volunteers help with the bathroom break (which happened in the first fifteen minutes of the class) I told them the story of Ganesha and how he was born and got the face of the elephant. Please ask your children to tell you the story cause I got ALOT of ohhhhh and ahhhhh so they were very attentive and amazed.

Once everyone returned we talked about:
Trinity: (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva))

• Brahma:
• He's the creator of everything.
• Vishnu: I showed them a picture
• He's the  protector/preserver.
• He has below listed "things" in his hands:
• Gada
• Sudarshan Chakra or just chakra (some couldnt say Sudarshan)
• Shankh
• Lotus
• Hes protected by the "Shesh-naag"
• Shiva: I had a nice visual for them
• He's the destroyer of ALL evil/bad things
• Father of Ganesha
• He has the below listed things:
• He has river ganga flowing from his head
• He has crescent moon on his head
• He has snake in his neck
• In his hands he has:
• Trishul
• Damru
• Kamandal

We continued to learn about the "belongings" of the Goddess':

• Saraswati: She gives us "knowledge"
• She carries:
• Vedas
• Sitar
• Lotus
• Her vehicle is Swan
• Lakshmi: She gives us "wealth"
• She carries:
• Coins (as the children wanted to call it)
• Lotus
• Her vehicle is Owl
• She sits on lotus
• Durga: She gives us "strength"
• Her vehicle is tiger

We had snacks (Doritos chips and water) and did a coloring of Shiva with all the stuff he holds to help them remember.

We finished our class with closing prayers. We did "Om Sarve bhavantu..." and "Om purnamadah...."

Few announcements:

• Please continue to send the following items for each class:
• Crayons
• Folder to keep their work safely
• Leak proof water bottle
• Snacks if your children is allergic to any foods just to avoid any mishaps.
• Continue to recite Shlokas with your children--they are doing amazing.
• Please continue to take your children to the bathroom before dropping them to the class room.
• NO CLASS next Sunday.
• Next class is on November 16th and its our back to Bal Vihar class. ALL Madhuram and Amrutham parents will meet directly in our class room after the assembly. Please come prepared with questions or concerns you may have so that we can look forward to having a GREAT year....!!! 
• We will be having our class "Thanksgiving lunch" in the cafeteria at 12. Please sign up for the potluck--food to bring by going to the below link:

Click here to sign up for the Thanksgiving Potluck

Have a great week ahead!!!!!! Hari Om!!!!

Amrutham Class---Oct 26th

Hari Om Parents,

Wishing you ALL a VERY Happy Diwali!!!! Happy New year (to some of you) and Happy Bhai-duj!!!!!! We had a great class with everyone dressed up SO well in their traditional outfits. Thank you for dressing them up!!!!!

As always we started our class with:

• 3 Om's
• Opening prayers (Om Sahanvavantu....)
• Ganesha Shloka (Vakratunda.....)
• Saraswati Shloka (Om Saraswati....)

We discussed how each of us celebrated Diwali in our own special ways. Some said they went to someones house to celebrate, others said they went to the temple, some said they did fireworks, but everyone said they dressed up and ate lots of good food. So we told them the story about Diwali to help them understand what is Diwali all about---more than JUST festival of lights!!!!!

To re-emphasize their learning we showed a short video on Diwali, which they ALL enjoyed cause they were pin drop silent for that 5 minutes and very expressive and excited!!!!!! I am attaching the link below incase they want to watch it again.

Diwali Story--5 minute video

• We colored a picture of Ravana. 
• Had animal crackers and water for snack.
• We ended our class introducing them to the new Shloka (Sarve bhavantu..) and also did Purnamidam....

Shriya's parent is signed up for snack for next week!

Few reminders (repeat):

• Please take your child to the restroom before dropping them in the class.
• Please send crayons and folder with them every class.
• Please continue to send snack with your child, if they have allergies to avoid any situation.
• Please continue to recite Sholkas with them at home, they are doing an amazing job. It is a team work!!!!!!

Next class is on November 2nd---it is the Daylight Savings time end time!!!! Remember to turn your clocks an hour behind!!!!!

See you all Sunday!!!!!! Have a great rest of the week!!!!!!!

Amrutham class - October 19, 2014

Hari Om Parents,

It was really a fun class this Sunday. Most of the kids have opened up and were participating. We started our class with Invocation Shloka "Om Sahana vavatu and "Saraswati Namastubhayam"

After that Navayashri did a wonderful job by leading the class with very famous Ganesha Bhajan,
"Jai Ganesha Jai Ganesha Deva
Mata Jaki Parvati Pita Maha Deva"

All the kids and us teachers were repeating after her. That was very inspiring. Thank you Navyashri.

. We talked about Navaratri. Explained kids the meaning of Nav means "Nine" and Ratri means "Night" It was explained to them that we worship three differet Goddesses during nine nights. First  three days Goddess Durga, fourth to six days Goddess Laxmi and seven to nine days Goddess Saraswati.

Taught them Goddess Durga gives you strength, Laxmi gives you Peace and money (clothes to wear, food to eat etc.) and Saraswati gives you knowledge (writing, reading, music etc.) and told them the story about "Mahisasura" & "Ma Durga".

They also learned two different shlokas about Goddess Durga & Laxmi

 'Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shakti Rupen Sansthita, Namastasye, Namastasye Namastasye, Namo Namah'

'Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Laxmi Rupen Sansthita, Namastasye, Namastasye Namastasye, Namo Namah'

After all these learning,  of course they were ready for snack and colouring. They coloured Ma Durga's picture & had snack. Our bathroom break was done right at the beginning of the class. We finished our class with ending prayer.

We have a request for parents that if it's not much of a trouble for you and kids both please bring them in traditional out fit because we are going to talk about Dushera and Diwali in the next class.

Amrutham Class Teachers

Amrutham class---Oct 12th

Hari Om Parents:

Our children enjoyed Pushpa's visit SO much that we invited her again. This time kids enjoyed her and the bhajan even more since they know some of the words. Continue to play the song to them; its a cute bhajan! Am attaching the link again:

Ganpati Bhajan

Here is how our class progressed:

• We chanted the opening prayer (Om Sarvavavatu....)
• Enjoyed singing and enacting the Ganpati bhajan
• Discussed Gandhi ji:
• Born in Porbandar, India
• We call him Bapu, Bapuji with love
• Freedom fighter and nonviolent
• Discussed and learned 5 names of Ganesha:
• Ekdantaa
• Vakratunda
• Gajanana
• Lambodara
• Ganpati
• Discussed the "LOOKS" of Ganesha:
• Big head--to think BIG
• Big ears--to listen MORE
• Small eyes---to FOCUS/concentrate
• Small mouth--to talk LESS
• Big belly--to DIGEST good and bad
• We chanted Ganesha shloka 5 times slowly so children can learn (Vakratunda mahakay.....)
• Chanted Saraswati shloka slowly 2 times (Saraswati namastubhyam.....)
• Snack break--had gold fish and juice
• We colored a picture of Gandhiji
• Chanted closing prayers (Om Purnamadah.....)

Few announcements for parents:

• Please send crayons with your children every week. 
• Each child needs a folder with their names written and keep their work in there.
• Please send a leak free water bottle with your child to avoid any messes.
• No more juices for the snack--at their age they are not able to finish it and we end up throwing it and again making another mess.

 Next Balavihar class is on Oct 19th!!!!!!

See you then!!!!!
Meena Arvind 

Amrutham class--Oct 5th!

Hari Om Parents,

Hope you are having a blessed morning!

Last week started off a bit rough. We enjoy the holidays but that sometimes messes up the little ones schedule and even their comfort level. But that didnt last very long. We had a special guest--Pushpa Narayan for a special bhajan! She mesmerized the children by her singing and acting capabilities. It was astounding to see how they were ALL singing along (word or two) with Pushpa and enjoying the bhajan. Here are the lyrics:


"Come o bulky stomach o Ganapathy

You are the son of Shiva - Parvathy

riding a rat O, bending a serpent O

you have the face of an elephant O

We offer you modaka payasa

you are steno of veda vyasa

please ensure us vigna vinasha

you are the guru of examination passa"

Here is the link if you want to play it to your children:

http://www.chinmayakids.org/hellogod/ganesh/ganesha_bhajans.asp

This was a REAL treat for our Pre-K class. We read a story about Ganesha "Boogie Woogie Ganesha" They were all engaged and thrilled listening to the story--not knowing what is going to happen next. 

We had snack (animal crackers and juice) and then formed in a small group for a stretch of yoga. They really enjoyed the new aspect of that class. We will continue to introduce yoga for 10 mins whenever we can.

Again, please continue to recite the shlokas to your little ones and lets work as a team working towards the same goal.

Next class is Oct 12th!!!! See you then!!!!

Amrutham class
Meena Arvind and Dhruti Trivedi  
 

Amrutham Class--Sept 21st!!!!

Hari Om Parents,

We had yet another GREAT week. Our children who attended the first class were very comfortable walking into the class, ready to learn and have fun. We have 4 new children in the class, Welcome!!! Some were shy to begin with but as the class progressed, they became quite comfortable.

We had a quick revision of what we learnt last week and will continue to do so as well as learn new things. Keeping their age and attention span in mind, we will keep it fun and try not to overwhelm. Here are the details from this week:

• Opened the class with nice warm welcome to the children.
• Invocation shloka
• Saraswati shloka
• Revision from last week:
• Ganesha 
• Father of Ganesha--Lord Shiva 
• Mother of Ganesha--Devi Parvati 
• Ganesha's favorite foods--Laddoo, Modaka 
• Another name for Ganesha--Ekdantaya

• Added to the learning:
• Vehicle of Ganesha--mouse
• Chanted Ganesha shloka--"Vakratunda mahakaya...."
• Discussed his big trunk, big belly, tusk etc.
• "Sharing is caring" Children this age in particular dont want to share "things" so we emphasized the meaning and importance of sharing.
• Story time---Ganesha! (One Lord, so many forms)
• Coloring of Devi Parvati
• Snack time (Crackers and cheese with boxed juice)
• Closing prayers

Few announcements:

• An email will be sent out to sign-up for snack rotation. Please pick the date based on your convenience but also need to make sure that the kids are not left with no snack. 
• Bridgewater High School is a "nut free environment" and we also have children in our class with allergies so please be sure to send ONLY "nut free snacks".
• Please take some time during the week to talk to your children on what was discussed in the class. Repetition will reinforce and help them remember. We also encourage you to recite shlokas with them.
• If your child has separation anxiety, we ask you stay in the class till he/she is comfortable. But please be available in the corridor or nearby in case they need you.

There is NO class this Sunday--September 28th!!! Class will resume on October 5th!!!!!!

Have a great rest of the week!
Dhruti Trivedi & Meena Arvind

Sept 14, 2014 Class

Hari Om Parents,

  

We thought that the first class went quite well. The students, as expected, were both anxious and a little fearful. We started off with our introduction & then asked the kids their names. Some were enthusiastic and two of the kids were crying. But eventually all of them opened up.

After introductions we chanted Om three times, Invocation and Saraswati Shlokas. We talked about Lord Ganesha. Also, Ganesha’s parents Devi Parvati and  Lord Shiva. We also, introduced kids to Ganesha’s another name, Ekadantaya (one with one tooth/tusk.)  & explained the meaning as well. We gave them a Lord Shiva colouring page and they did a good job.

We gave them a snack which was a hit for them and of course, we had to do few rounds of bathrooms. Thanks to Meena who made all the rounds. We ended our class with high fives and ending shloka.

We are looking forward to a great year.

We have requested parents to send crayons and a folder to keep the kids work. We will request for snack sign up this Sunday class.

Amrutham class teachers

Dhruti and Meena