Hari OM Everyone,
Happy New Year! Sorry we haven't been so regular in our updates! We had a couple of very different classes end of last year - one of them a high schooler Vishnu Bhaiya had come to our class and he told them the story of Indra and Vrtrasura. The children were very excited and they got to play a game of Four corners with him to remember all the names that occured in the story. They discussed how it is important to respect your teachers and how Indra suffered because he had not.
The last week of the year we had a movie night and they got to watch 'On a Quest', a movie about Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda's life. It was nice to see so many of them sitting through to the end of the movie and some not even coming outside to get their snack! DVD of the movie is available in the bookstore if anyone is interested.
We started of the New Year by welcoming parents into the classroom for a short meeting - we have the option of doing our stage program either on May 18 which is Gita Utsavam or June 8 which will be the Annual Day or Mela. Most parents have indicated that they are available for May 18 and we have reserved a slot. We will be performing in the afternoon (between 2-4pm). Please update the google spreadsheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1php-KD1lW-3B4tO0TBsjloS7ZnQlmFXHuXxzQtJpuwY/edit?usp=sharing to indicate your child's availability, so we can start planning and giving out roles based on that.
We welcomed 2 new children Sravya and Antariksha who joined our class last week. We started with the Daily Prayers and then reviewed Dasavatara Stotram - we will soon finish it and move on to Madhurashtakam next. We then spent a while reviewing Geeta and then recorded them chanting the 3rd and 4th Shlokas. We have been rewriting the verses on the board splitting them up so it is easy for them to read. We will share that with you in the Whatsapp group. Please get them to practice at home as well. We have the Geeta Chanting competition on March 30th. There are special coaching sessions available too before the Friday Balavihar and on Saturday.
Children loved listening to the story of Jada Bharata - we discussed how thoughts are very powerful and how Bharata was born as a deer as that was his last thought before he died. We also discussed how none of our prayers or efforts don't go waste as Bharata still remembered everything from his previous life even when he was a deer. Please encourage them to read the story to you from their Bala Bhagavatam book when you can.
We then chanted the verses 53-56 along with Swamiji's video before leaving for Aarti. Link to Swamiji's recording - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BZmHJrILJI&list=PLVaQ1AsTFVEI9cHOqjnFcAsR9gi42Yu-6
Our class will be helping with the Soup Kitchen Seva this month - please sign up if you haven't already and drop off the items in the kitchen/pantry on Jan 19th before 1pm - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409044fa4a72aa1fa7-balavihar1.. There is still a requirement for a volunteer to transport all the food. And if all food items are taken there are still other things mentioned at the beginning like paper towels, cutlery etc that you can donate if interested.
Thanks & Regards
Jayashree and Suja
Jayashree and Suja
