Jun 7, 2020 - KG (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents,

Today was our last balavihar session for this Sunday PM KG 2019-2020 Balavihar year. Many thanks to the parents. All of you made it possible for us to have wonderful sessions both in class and online. We are very grateful for your children and each of them has something unique and special that they brought to the class. We really enjoyed spending time with them every weekend.

As discussed in the class please look out for the registration links for next session and the summer eBalavihar camp. Wish you a great summer and look forward to bumping into the wonderful faces in the ashram soon. 

2019-2020

June 7th  2020 / 12:45 PM

1. Today after the initial prayers, we had one child lead each of the slokas and the rest of the class repeated after them. 

2. We then took a walk down the memory lane from the start of the year and asked the children the stories, games, art, events from our all our sessions. It was fun to revisit some of the pictures that we have shared with you in our weekly report from Sept 2019

3. Pledge: We completed going over the remaining lines from the pledge along with stories & discussion. 

For the Lord's grace flowing through us we discussed the xample of Flute, and the air flowing through it without any 'dirt' or 'obstacles' to create melodious music. Similarly if we keep our mind and body pure, Lord will spread love and good deeds through us to the community.

For 'responsibilities' we discussed what each of the children in KG is responsible for. What if they don't do their daily tasks (brushing, showering, eating, sleeping, studying, praying,etc) , how difficult it will be for the parents and the family to function. Similarly how it will impact the larger community if everyone is not responsible and do their tasks.

For Service of the county we showed a video, and also discussed various ways in which they can serve: Army, nurse, doctor, fireman, police, keeping the streets clean, feeding poor people, etc

   We stand as one family

bound to each other with love and respect.

We serve as an army,

courageous and disciplined,

Ever ready to fight

against all low tendencies and false values,

within and without us.

We live honestly

the noble life of sacrifice and service,

producing more than what we consume,

and giving more than what we take

We seek the Lord's grace,

to keep us on the path of virtue, courage, and wisdom.

May Thy grace and blessings

flow through us

to the world around us.

We believe that the service of our country

is the service of the Lord of Lords,

and devotion to the people

is the devotion to the Supreme Self.

We know our responsibilities;

give us the ability and courage to fulfil them.

Om Tat SaT 

 

1. Service of county: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHlYTFbfhL4 

 

4. We had the parents join the class and presented our annual show in the form of the video that we put together with their help: Alphabet Safari 2019-2020

5. We followed with the Slokas video that some of the children volunteered for

6. The parents joined the children for Aarti and prayers

 

 

 

Pranams

Rajesh Jayakumar

Priya Nambiar

May 31st, 2020 - KG (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents,

We wrapped up another wonderful Sunday afternoon session today, with an enthusiastic bunch of kids. We would like to thank the Parents for being regular communication with us on a regular basis through whatsApp since we switched over to the Zoom session. We understand how stressful these past few weeks have been, for not just for our families, but our communities, cities, states, countries and the entire world. 

IBut we are thankful to be part of our wonderful Chinmaya community, with the blessings of our Pujya Swamijis, the patience shown by you, the parents, and support from our Chinmaya co-ordinators, we have had a very successful transition to our Sunday KG session using Zoom. We must express our sincere thanks also to the children who got adjusted to this online session so well. For Priyaji & I, we eagerly looked forward to Sunday afternoon, during these past few weeks, to see the cheerful, smiling and enthusiastic young faces. 

Today we completed our second-last session for the year and we would like to provide a quick summary of what we have accomplished this year.

 

2019-2020

May 31st  2020 / 12:45 PM

1. We have completed the entire Alphabet Safari from A through Z.

We have enjoyed covering all the Alphabets and the numerous stories and videos we went through in the class with the children. I am attached the link to the class working slide deck that we used throughout the year: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Av3f7OwNIXRcCSvEV-4sRGPN8fJ7XZ8ncMUvxQm-LUg/edit?usp=sharing 

I know many of the parents are using this deck to revise the alphabets with their children for the videos. From Slide#1 to #73 is more like a working section which we used during the class. Slide#74 onwards is the consolidated list of Alphabets. Please feel free to keep a copy of this. Once we wrap up the class next week, we will share the final output of the Class Deck and the google drive link incase you need copies

2. We have complete almost the following slokas (we have already shared the lyrics before, just resending for a consolidated set):

1. Opening Prayer

 

OM Sahana Vavatu

Sahanau Bhunaktu

Saha Viryam, Karavavahai, 

Tejasvi Navaditamastu, 

Ma Vidvishavahai

 

2. Ganesha

Ekadantam Mahaakaayam

Lambodara gajaananam

Vighnanaasakaram devam

Herambam pranamaamyaham

 

3. Sarawati

Saraswati Namastubhyam 

Varade Kaama-Roopini

Vidyaarambham Karishyaami 

Siddhir-Bhavatu Me Sadaa

 

 

4. Rama

Apadam apaHataram 

Dataram Sarva Sampadam

Loka Bhi Ramam Sri Rama 

Bhuyo Bhuyo Namamyaham

 

Ramaya Ramabhadraya 

Ramacandraya Vadhase

Raghunathaya Nathaya 

Sitayah Pataye Namah

 

5. Krishna

Mookam Karoti Vachalam

Pangum Langhayate Girim

Yatkripa Tamaham Vande

Paramananda Madhavam

 

6. Hanuman

Manojavam Marut Tulya Vegam 

Jitendriyam Buddhi Mataam Varishtham

Vaataatmajam Vaanara Yooth Mukhyam 

Shri Raama Dootam Sharnam Prapadye

 

3. Pledge: We have covered quite a bit of the Pledge as well going over its meaning with various examples are stories. The bold section is what we have covered in the class thus far with meanings conveyed in the form of discussions, stories and videos. For videos we go through the videos, followed by questions about the characters, what morals they learned from the story, and does it apply to them, etc

   We stand as one family

bound to each other with love and respect.

We serve as an army,

courageous and disciplined,

Ever ready to fight

against all low tendencies and false values,

within and without us.

We live honestly

the noble life of sacrifice and service,

producing more than what we consume,

and giving more than what we take

We seek the Lord's grace,

to keep us on the path of virtue, courage, and wisdom.

May Thy grace and blessings

flow through us

to the world around us.

We believe that the service of our country

is the service of the Lord of Lords,

and devotion to the people

is the devotion to the Supreme Self.

We know our responsibilities;

give us the ability and courage to fulfil them.

Om Tat SaT 

 

1. Love & Respect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEje6W9aZqk&feature

2. Low Tendencies (always be truthful): The boy who cried wolf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKdsxmShcDM 

Bhakt Prahalad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGA6ltqSsXw

3. Courage: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ed9zPmrckPo

4. Golden Mongoose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBks60WbzpY

 

4. Aarti (during these past few weeks using Zoom): The session co-ordinators provided us a very valuable tool set in the form of this Aarti video that we used towards the end of our session (this may not be accessible to you, but you can request for access): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BZfNCKHhfuXKZgpdoBQnxNzeRf0AS9jj

5. Instead of the annual stage presentation, our class has decided to put together a video presentation. Thanks to all the parents for their support. All kids will be submitting a short video of the Alphabets assigned to them(mandatory), and a sloka (optional). We are stitching that together into a consolidated video which we will share with our Pujya swamiji, session co-ordinators and the parents to review before the last session next week. Following kids are pending to submit their alphabets:

1. Adeesh

2. Sonakshi

3. Reva

4. Srivatsa (resending with minor edits)

Next Session Agenda

1. Repeat the Slokas & Bhajan

2. Review the Alphabets

3. Next couple of lines from the pledge along with stories

4. Review our class presentation video with Parents

5. Aarti with Parents

 

 

Pranams

Rajesh Jayakumar

Priya Nambiar

Feb 2, 2020 - KG (Sunday PM)

Hari Om Parents,

We had an almost full class this Sunday afternoon and had a lot of fun with the japa mala, exercise, jumping jacks and wonderful stories.  

Request parents to try and make the kids repeat the letters & shlokas we have learnt thus far, at home. This will help them remember the words. This will help us be more productive in class. 

 Weekly Update

Feb 2nd 2020 / 12:45 PM

Today's Activities

1. Guru Stotram 
2. Om Chanting with the kids in the classroom
3. Repeated the following shlokas in our class 
1. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GIOwzjRJdhV8iAghN7eP5WB1kHwqJq6O
4. Quick re-cap of all the letters we have learned so far along with characteristics & qualities that goes with each letter

• A - Aspiration - I want to be a <doctor or pilot or fireman….. >
• B - Brotherhood - The whole world is my family
• C - Cleanliness - Cleanliness is Godliness
• D - Dad - Pitrdevo Bhava
• E - Enthusiasm - 

Go, go, go & fly

Soar, soar, in the sky

Work, Work, hard and try

You'll make it just dont cry

• F - Friendship - A friend in need is a friend indeed
• G - God -

Krisna here krisna there

Krisna Krisna everywhere

God is one, God is one

God is one for everyone

• H - Happiness - Happiness is an attitude
• I - Intelligence - Think before you speak & act
• J - Japa - Ram Rama bolo Rama Rama Rama
• K - Kind - God is Kind
• L - Love - God is Love
• M - Mother - Mitrdevo Bhava
• N - Nobility - Mahatma Gandhi ki jai
• O - Obidience - 

GururBrahma GururVishnu 

GururDevo Maheshwaraha

Guru Saakshaat ParaBrahma 

Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha

• R - Right - Do Right Don't you fuss
• S - Smile - Wear a Smile to be in style
• T - Truth - Satyam Vada, Priyam vada

5. Following this the kids spent some time making the colorful japa mala.
6. Exercise/Fun time: The entire class then performed some stretching exercises and jumping jacks to get the blood flowing again after the craft work
7. The new letter we learnt today was:
1. U - Unity - United we Stand, Divided we fall

We discussed this different examples of being united we are strong. One the

example was with sticks. Trying to bend one think stick Vs trying to bend a

bundle of sticks. Then we watched a video of the story of a flock of birds and how

the escaped the hunter by being united. Please refer to this video:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rZQ9rfEd4I 

8. Closing Prayers & Pledge in the Auditorium

Next Session Agenda

1. Proceed with our curriculum and move to i and try to repeat all the letters
2. Practice our Slokas and Bhajans
3. Class drawing / craft activities with stories

Reminder & Activities for home

1. Please practice singing the slokas

OM Sahana Vavatu

Sahanau Bhunaktu

Saha Viryam, Karavavahai, 

Tejasvi Navaditamastu, 

Ma Vidvishavahai

Ekadantam Mahaakaayam

Lambodara gajaananam

Vighnanaasakaram devam

Herambam pranamaamyaham

Saraswati Namastubhyam 

Varade Kaama-Roopini

Vidyaarambham Karishyaami 

Siddhir-Bhavatu Me Sadaa

2. Parents we use this slide deck during class to drive our discussion and stories relevant to the letters we are learning in the class. Some slides contain links to youtube Videos that we have used throughout this year for showing some relevant stories. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Av3f7OwNIXRcCSvEV-4sRGPN8fJ7XZ8ncMUvxQm-LUg  

Pranams

Rajesh Jayakumar

Priya Nambiar