Amrutham Class---February 8th!!!!!

Hari Om Parents!!!!!

We had a very busy morning today! Most of the kids were tired, distracted, hungry etc etc etc. Next few classes we plan to side track the learning to bring back the excitement and the freshness to Bal vihar Amrutham class. 

Sorry for the repetition (for parents) but it somehow works wonders with little children and builds their confidence in the process. 
This always breaks the ice and open the class with most participation and excitement.

We chanted 3 Oms. Did you ask your children the new meaning of Om? If you haven't already, you have two weeks to do so before you return to Bal Vihar on February 22nd. :-)

We asked Ganesha to bless us and take our obstacles away before we begin our learning for the day at Bal Vihar by reciting "Vakratunda Mahakay......"

As soon as Ganesha blessed us and opened the door of learning for us, we called Goddess Saraswati to give us knowledge and retain our learning by reciting "Saraswati namastumbhyam......"

We had a full class today out of which alot of children missed last class so we revised last weeks' learning extensively.

We revised:
Shiva

• His two sons: Ganesha and Kartikeya
• His third eye (didnt talk much details to avoid confusion for their age)
• His wife--Parvati
• His vehicle---Nandi the bell (bull---male cow)
• His 3 names:
• Kailashnath
• Bholenath
• Natarajan
• He performs the dance called "Taandav" when hes angry
• He has snakes around his neck
• He has ganga flowing from his head and a crescent moon
• He sits on leopard skin cloth/seat
• He carries "Damru" "Kamandal" "trishul"
• He wears a 'mala' made of Rudraksh
• We worship Shiva in a very special way by doing special pooja to the "Shiv-ling" (Please ask your children---how? Hint---Ask them something about taking a shower and the process

We also revised the 2 shloka:
"Om namah Shivay"

"Om Tryambakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan
Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat"

(Please keep reciting ALL shlokas learned. They shouldnt forget the old ones while learning the new shloka)

Today we learned about 2 special days/festivals that happened in the month of January:

• Republic Day---Jan 26th 
• Makar sakaranti---Jan 14th

India celebrated its 66th Republic day on January 26th and invited Barack Obama---president of United States of America along with his wife Michelle Obama to be the chief guest at the parade and celebrations in Delhi, India. Kept it very simple for kids understanding yet expanded on their knowlege. Little knowledge is better than NO knowledge. What does it mean to become republic? Every household, school, city, country has their rules. Republic day is the day when the Constitutions of India came into place replacing the Government of India Act. 

We further discussed India:

• Indian Flag--Also called (Tiranga)
• Gets the name from the 3 colors---Orange (saffron), White, Green with the Ashok chakra in the center
• India's National animal--Tiger
• India's National Bird---Peacock (It dances when it rains out of happiness)
• India's National flower--Lotus
• India's National fruit--Mango
• India's National language---Hindi

We celebrated Makar Sakaranti on January 14th. The name defers depending on what part of India you are from. If you are from Gujarat you would call "Utarayan", if you are from Punjab you would refer it as "Lohri", most of the southern India states refer as "Pongal". Makar Sakaranti is a harvest festival just like Thanksgiving. In celebrations we fly kites, eat "shakarpongal", eat "chikki" made out of sesame, peanuts, mixed nuts, puffed rice etc etc.

We listened to the song "Kai-po che" from "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam"

We ate snack (wheat thins) and also took bathroom break. 

Closed our class with closing prayers "Om purnamidah....."

Few Reminders:

• Please continue to recite shlokas with your children. When we introduce a new shloka to the class we recite each shlokas for 5 times.
• Continue to ask your children about their class lessons on your way home to emphasize the learning process.
• If you didnt sign up for snack rotation, please see me before or after class to do so. 
• Some of the children in our class are GREAT at reciting shloka/s and we would highly recommend to sign them up for Shlokathon. Please ask Dhruti or me for more information on it and we will guide you in the right direction.

NO Class next week, Next class is on February 22nd.....See you then!!!! 

Meena Arvind