Hari Om Parents,
Welcome back after a long 2 week break. The following is what we did during this week's class.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Karegre vasate" (page 11 in My prayers book)
4. "Akanda-mandalakaram" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
5. "Ajnana-timirandhasya" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
6. "Gururbrahma" (page 61 in My Prayers book)
7. "Samudra vasane devi" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
8. "Saraswathi namasthubyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
9. "Subham karothi kalyanam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
10. "Karacharana krithamva" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
11. "Bhramaarpanam bhrama havih" (page12 in My Prayers book) - New
Activities:
- We practiced our Geeta chanting. Please continue to practice the slokas with your kids. They will be learning slokas 41-56 & that will be their requirement for the Geeta Chanting Competition. Please refer to the following website gitachanting.net for the right pronunciation. Most kids have familiarized themselves with the first 3 slokas! Please record videos & send your individual child chanting the shlokas to the Geeta Chanting Team cnjbalaviharhouses@gmail.com to earn house points. I have recorded the class group chanting.
- We have introduced most of the Dainikaprarthanah (means Daily Prayers) & 3 slokas from the Gurustoram. Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning, (lighting the lamps / evening) after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer & daily prayer.
- If you have some extra time at home, please have the kids complete their coloring pages in their Bala Ramayana coloring books. Some kids have missed a class or 2, & we have had a few abbreviated sessions due to other activities & were unable to fit the coloring activity in. Please stop on Lesson 19. Please reiterate that the kids are recalling the story as they are coloring.
- We had 2 high school seniors come in to teach with us. They used puppets to narrate the continuation of our journey.
- We played 4 corners & a game of boundaries.
- We ended with some coloring.
- We had to cut the class short as there was a stage performance, that we all enjoyed.
After Anoushka & Shivani finished their narration of the Golden Deer portion & Ravana carrying Sita away portion of the story with puppets, we continued on to reiterate some key points. We told them that Ravana did not listen to Marica's stern advise against trying to offend Rama, due to his blind desire to capture Sita. We also talked about how Rama thought, if the deer was actually real, then he would capture it for Sita so that she can have it as a pet. If it ended up being a raksasa, then he would kill it. Either way, he thought that he had nothing to lose, even though Lakshmana did not approve of his plan. After Marica called out for help in Rama's voice, Lakshmana was still very hesitant to leave Sita alone as he did not want to disobey his brother.
Please go to the below link to check out the pictures from this week's class
Regards,
Keerthi Kobla & Rukmini Sriram
