December 7, 2014 Class

Next Class: December 14, 2014

10:00 a.m.

Crossroads Middle School

Class room assignments for your child:

Friday@ 7:00 p.m. — C-105

Saturday @ 2:00 p.m. — C-108

Sunday @ 8:45 a.m. — Room C-106

Sunday @ 12.45 p.m. — Room C-107

Sunday @3:15 p.m. — Room C-108

Hari Om!

Today's lesson was one that always brings us much joy — "E is for Enthusiasm." As you can imagine, "Enthusiasm" is not a word that's easy to describe and explain. So after our morning disciplines and exercises, we all agreed that it would be best to jump right in and hear the story of "How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes." This beautiful story is about a little chipmunk who always wants to help, but feels like s/he is constantly being overlooked and ignored. This was definitely a concept that we could all identify with. However, as the story progressed and we learned that even the littlest creature can do noble things in this world... especially when working enthusiastically... well, let's just say that our faces lit up. Little creatures ARE  as important as all the others! And little creatures can definitely do great things!!!

To help us understand the concept of just how we can apply Enthusiasm... and how beautiful it can be... we handed out origami spinning tops to each child and showed them what it looks like when we try to spin it half heartedly. It never fails...  the spinning top quickly dies down and it certainly doesn't give us much joy. However, if we sit properly, take a deep breath, and give it a nice solid twirl, then the top will spin gracefully for a much longer time. And the best part is, we will see lots of beautiful colors emerge from our efforts. :-)

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Shokas

• Saha Naavavatu

• Ekadantam Mahaakaaya

• Sarasvati Namastubhyam

• Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu

Geeta Chanting: Chapter 15, Shlokas 1, 2 and 3

Concentration/Shell Game

Our young friends are doing great!!! We've conquered the difficult task of keeping our eyes closed... so now our focus will be on not whispering the numbers as we count them in our mind. :-)

Yoga Stretches/Exercise

Jumping around is something we definitely LOVE doing... so we make sure to spend a few minutes  burning off energy before settling into our Circle Time activities. :-)

Likhita Japa

The children practiced writing "Raama" in Sanskrit 21 times. Many children are now able to write "Raama" in Sanskrit without using the tracing sheet... so we have started introducing them to writing inside Mandala drawings, using different colored pens/markers. (Creative Likhita Japa)

Craft Activity
Today the children put Enthusiasm into practice by having a "Spin-Off" with their origami spinning tops.

Here is a wonderful YouTube video on how to make Origami Spinning Tops. All you need are 3 square sheets of paper and a lot of enthusiasm!