हरी ॐ
Dear Parents,
Dear Parents,
We had a couple of new students in our class, which meant starting from scratch. A quick revisit helped the new children catch up. Our class structure, if you are not aware, goes like this.
Opening Prayers: Om Sahanā vavatu, followed by the chants Om Sree Ganeśaya Namaha, Sree Saraswatyai Namaha, Sree Sat Gurubhyo Namaha.
Meditation: A few minutes of silence preceded by chants of Om. This helps calm the children, helps us maintain a quieter classroom and keeps them attentive during class.
Story: The Kuru family tree was revisited, starting with Shantanu. This week, we went ahead with the lesson to cover the return of the Kaunteyas to Hastinapura(after the passing of Pandu) amid the joy of the elders and the jealousy of the Kauravas - Sage Vyasa's foretelling of doom and despair, provoking the elderly queens (Satyavati, Ambika and Ambālika) to retire to the forest - Duryodhana's hatred of Bheema, and his ploy to kill him using the Kalakuta poison - the return of Bheema, stronger than the might of many thousands of elephants - the introduction of Kripa acharya, his sister Kripi and her husband Drona acharya - Drona's background as Drupada's friend, Drona's rage and promise of revenge for the humiliation in Drupada's court(for being just a 'lowly commoner wanting to befriend royalty') - the incident of the ball in the well, retrieved through Drona's expert marksmanship - the felicitation of Drona and his subsequent appointment as the teacher for the Pandava and Kaurava princes.
This week we will resume with Ekalavya's story, and will continue with Guru Bhakti(reverence to our Gurus).
Game: We managed another quiz this week, based on the new portion covered in the Mahābhārata.
There will be a ceremony of sorts to begin the House events for this academic year. Since Grade 5 belongs with Arjuna's arrows, please wear any shade of green this coming Friday.
See you all at 7pm on Friday, Oct 18th!
Pranāms,
Akshay and Nivedita
