Next Class: May 4th
Reminders:
1. In our May 4th class, we will be going outside (weather permitting) to make some yummy butter. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately.
2. We will be having a sign-up sheet for the Inaugural Souvenir Project at our next class. If you are interested in participating, please leave your name and contact info. Also, please feel free to ask any questions... we'll do our best to try and answer them :-)
The Class Photograph is scheduled for May 18th.
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Om Sahanavavatu
Shlokas
Saraswati Namastubyam
Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu
Ekadantam Mahakayam
Mookam Karoti Vaachalam
Manojavam maruta tulya
Apadama Pahattaram
Ramaya Rama Bhadraya
Gita Chanting
Chapter 14 verse 1 to 5
Activities
Concentration Time : Shell game
Letter of the day : X for Excellence
Story : Thomas Edison
He worked for a long time on making a light bulb. After the thousandth time his light bulb failed, a reporter asked "Mr. Edison, how does it feel to fail so many times?" Edison replied with surprise, " Fail? I haven't failed at all. I now know a thousand ways not to make an electric bulb." Edison's achievements and accomplishments are attributed to his hard work and perseverance.
Two frogs
Once there were 2 frogs. A big fat one and small tiny one. The big frog was always proud and told others how big and strong he was. One day they went into a diary farm and both fell in a bucket of milk.
The big frog tried many times to swim and come up and then come out of the bucket. But as he kept flapping he got tired and stopped. the little frog kept encouraging the big frog to continue using his flippers so that he could churn butter. but the big frog gave up. The little frog continued his work thinking ' I think I can' and finally saw a blob of butter and then stepped on it to jump out. Hard work and perseverance leads to Excellence.
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Section A : Ruchi Vyas and Reshma Arun
We all were excited to see each other after our spring break. Although we had low attendance, we all had a lot of fun and excitement in our class. As the children started coming in, we all discussed about what we did during the spring break. We all had interesting things to share. Once we settled down the class began with three, loud Om's followed by shlokas. Meditation time was next. We all did a good job concentrating and sitting quiet for sometime. We sang some bhajans and danced along with the songs. We sang "Great God Ganapati" and "Khate Bhi Ram Bolo".
Today we talked about letter "X" for eXcellence. We asked kids the meaning of excellence and how we achieve excellence. Many students replied that excellence means good job, or doing something outstandingly well and that we can achieve excellence by practice, dedication and perseverance. We did a brainstorming exercise by asking students if they knew how to write their names as soon as they were born or knew how to talk when they were only a baby. Also, we discussed whether they knew how to tie their shoelaces when they were a baby. The answer to all of the above questions were "NO". We talked about how we learn to do all of these things as we grew up. Well, the answer is practice, practice and more practice. Doing the best everyday in each task leads us toward excellence in that task; it becomes our second nature.
We heard the story of the great scientist Thomas Edison. All the students participated in a ball game where they tried to catch the ball. They tried to catch it even if they failed one, two or three times. At the end we all realized that by practice and patience you can win the game. At the end of the class we did creative likhita japa on a beautiful peacock feather drawing. We asked the students to continue their japa at home and use different colors to write 'Om'.
Have a great week and we look forward to see all of you next weekend.
Section B
Jacqueline Gaines and Meena Rajan
It was a beautiful sunny bright morning and we started the day with a small circle of friends. We started as usual with 3 aum's followed by shlokas. We learnt the new shloka ramaya rama bhadraya. After the shlokas we did our bhagawat gita. Parents please continue asking the children to tell their shlokas and bhagawat gita regularly.
After this we did our favorite quiet time followed by shell game. We had a quiet time of 3 and half minutes today. This was followed by our favorite alphabet safari. Children started with letter A to X. As we revisited all the letters children both told the word it stands for and it was amazing to see how they connect the different words.
We heard the story of Thomas Edison about his perseverance and how he tried a thousand times to find how to make a bulb. After this we heard the story about two frogs and how the little frog with its hard work and perseverance made his way out on his own from the bucket of milk.
We had a great time watching the high school students graduating from Balavihar and I am sure children are listening and learning so parents do try and attend the arati and pledge in the auditorium. Todays balavihar was wonderful have a great week we can't wait to meet you again next week.
