September 25, 2011

Hari OM!

Beginning Prayers

• Om Saha Navavathu
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Saraswathi Namastubhyam

Bhajans:

• Rama Lakshmana Jaanaki Jai Bolo Hanuman ki
• Om Shiva Om Shiva Paraatpara Shiva

Stotram:

• GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 9) - We did sloka 1, 2 and 3

Story:

We recapped the story from last 2 classes.  We continued the story of how Rama and Lakshmana went with Vishwamitra to help him fight the demons.  We talked about how Rama and Lakshmana were very excited about this adventure and how they enjoyed Mother Nature when they walked through the forests.  We discussed the arrival of the princes at the Dandaka forest where they heard the story of Tataka.  Rama challenges Tataka to a fight and kills her.  Vishwamitra praises Rama and teaches him the use of divine weapons.

Rama and Lakshmana along with Vishwamitra crossed the River Ganges on a raft and finally reached Vishwamitra's ashram 'Siddhasrama'. The next day Vishwamitra started his Yajna and for 5 days and nights everything went smoothly.  On the 6th day Marica and Subahu appear in the sky ready to disrupt the Yajna: Rama uses the 'Manavastra' to tie Marica in a bundle and hurl him near the sea; he then uses the 'Agneyastra' to kill Subahu. Vishwamitra complete his yajna without any problems.  

We concluded this week's lesson by talking about how Vishwamitra decides to take Rama and Lakshmana  to Mithila to attend a yajna conducted by King Janaka.

The teachers talked about CORD and the CORD walkathon and about Navrathri celebrations. 

Activity:

The kids put Sri Rama's feet on the River Ganges. (Part of the Sri Rama Trail)

Radha aunty taught the kids how to do a Toran in class today.  The kids enjoyed putting the various pieces onto a string and Radha aunty took some pictures of the finished craft. 

Meditation/Japa:
We had a minute of quite time doing Rama Japa.

Games:

Quiz - we had a quiz about last 2 weeks story. The boys and girls participated very enthusiastically and we were happy to note that they have been paying attention to the Ramayana story.

Conclusion:

We attended the Assembly today. 

Comments:

We had about 75% attendance today. We would like to see all the kids attend regularly.  The kids were quite enthusiastic and attentive.  We learned the bhajans by dividing the students into two groups and each group sang a verse and alternated them and finally learned the 'Om Shiva' bhajan.  We also had a quiz about the Ramayana story from the last 2 classes and we had to split the class into 2 teams.  The girls won the quiz by 2 points.

We learnt a lot of new names today and it would help if the kids reviewed the Tataka and the Marica/subahu stories in the Bala Ramayana book.  We attended the monthly assembly today and all the 1st graders who were present behaved very well and fully participated in all the slokas and bhajans. 

We did not have enough glue/scissors in class for the kids.  They had to share it with their friends.  Please make sure the kids bring in their own scissors, glue, crayons etc so they are not waiting for their turn with these items.

Each student received the assembly handbook and they should bring it to the class every week.  We have copies for the students who missed the class today and will hand it over to them next week.

Reminders:

Please try to send the following items in your childs bag:

1. Crayons
2. Pencil
3. Notebook
4. Glue
5. Snack/Drink
6. A folder to keep their pictures/artwork.
7. Scissors
8. 1st grade Balavihar books - Bala Ramayan, Ramayana characters and a copy of 'My Prayers'; assembly handbook.

Next class is on October 2nd 2011.   It is also back to balavihar day.