October 16, 2011

Hari OM!

Beginning Prayers

• Om Saha Navavathu
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Saraswathi Namastubhyam
• Ramaya Ramabhadraya

Bhajans:

We reviewed the following two bhajans.  The children are now quite familiar with these.

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

Stotram:

• GuruStotram (My Prayers, Page 9) - We reviewed slokas 1, 2 and 3. 

Story:

We recapped the story from the last class.

Then we moved on with our story where Rama couldnt wait to see Rudra's bow.  He looked at Sage Vishwamitra to ask for permission and after seeking his blessings, lifts the Rudra bow with his right hand and bendsit/breaks.  Everyone hears the sound of the string, and now Sita is to be married to Sri Rama.  Word is sent to King Dasharatha to come to his son's wedding.  Rama weds Sita, Lakshmana weds Urmila, Bharata weds Mandavi, and Shatrugna weds Srutakirti.  The wedding is very well celebrated in Mithila and Ayodhay.  King Janaka is a little sad that his dearest daughter will be leaving his home but he consoles himself saying that's her rightful place.

As King Dasharatha and princes are returning back to Ayodhya with their new wives they run into Parasurama who challenges Sri Rama to life Vishnu's bow.  Sri Rama does so, and fires the arrow to kill the fruits of all of Parasurama's penance.

Activity:

Wedding Gift:  We thought it appropriate to gift Sri Rama with some gift for his wedding.  The only thing we could coem up with that Rama does not have are bad habits.  So, we wrote down our bad habits/mischiefs on a piece of paper and dropped in a gift box for Sri Rama.  This way we lose our bad habits and Sri Rama being so perfect will not be affected by it.  The entire class came forward to hand over the gift to Sri Rama.

Diwali Diya:  The kids made a diya for Diwali and decorated it.

Meditation/Japa:
We did 'Likhita Japa' today.  We wrote the name of Lord Rama in absolute silence, 11 times.

Games:

Hangman: We played hangman to recap the story from last week. 

Conclusion:

We concluded by doing the Aarthi and Pledge in the assembly.

Comments:

We had 10 kids in class today.  It was nice to see everyone so well dressed for Sri Rama's wedding to Sita.  We also talked about Diwali in class today.  In the spirit of the wedding and Diwali, Diya's parents brought in savory and sweet puris to share with the class.  The class enjoyed the treat. Thank you Diya.

Please work with the kids to learn the Gurustotram.  They are struggling a little with shloka 2.  We would like to move on to the next set of stotrams but we need to make sure they all know the first 3 well.  We have a wonderful and enthusiastic set of kids in our class and it is a pleasure to be around them on Sundays.

Next week, there'll be CORD Walkathon and we hope to see all kids and family at Mercer County Park to show our support.  Please register ASAP if you have not done so already and be there at 930.  Kalpana aunty and Radha aunty will be there with their families.
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.