Hari Om Swamiji, Parents, and Coordinators,
We had a busy class this week.We started class with Om chanting 3 times, followed by Om Namah Shivaya 11 times, on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivarathri. We explained to the children the significance of Shivaratri.
We chanted Om Sahanavavatu, Ekadantha Mahakaayam, Saraswathy Namosibhyam, Kaaragare Vasathe. Please do practice at home with the children so that they may be able to say these prayers without any hesitation.
We also made the children get up and do Brain Yoga 10 times as some of the children were quite sleepy and we wanted to get them motivated and alert for class.
We sang the alphabet song until the alphabet N and continued with the alphabet lesson. We learnt that O is synonymous with Obedience.
The children were not able to explain the meaning so we explained it to them with examples and asked them to identify whether a particular action is an act of obedience or not.
We further clarified the meaning by playing the game " Simon says" but substituted Teacher for Simon.
So when we asked them to do a particular action without saying Teacher Says, they were not supposed to complete that action. The children had a very enjoyable time playing the game and were in fact having so much fun that they wanted to play more. This was a practical way to explain the significance of the meaning of obedience.
We then narrated the story of the obedient child Vikram, who was so brave in an adverse situation and waited patiently for his father, as his father had asked him to do, even though the perilous situation seemed to overtake them. We further discussed why we should listen to our elders, that their experience and knowledge gives them the ability to guide us.
On the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivarathri we taught the children 2 Shiva bhajans.
- Bolo Bolo Sab Mil Bolo Om Namah Shivaya
- Namah Parvathi Pathaye Hara Hara
Please refer to the following link for a mp3 link to the bhajans as recorded by Chinmaya mission, Dallas. Children at this age learn more from listening therefore please play this to them often.
https://cmdfw.org/audio/?cmdfwcall=Y&dir=Bhajans/Shiva%20Bhajans. Please encourage the children and sing along with them.
We also taught the children the Chinmaya Pledge as that is also a part of their curriculum.We colored the O coloring page from the text book which was as always enjoyed by the children. They were excited to share their finished coloring pages with us.
We chanted Bhagwad Gita along with the television broadcast. Please continue to chant the Gita with the children and encourage them to participate in the Geeta chanting competition.
As per the text book the next alphabet is R which stands for Right. We explained to the children that P and Q will be explained later and that we must go through some more alphabets to understand the meaning of the words that describe P and Q.
We then started the alphabet R is for Right-when we brainstormed with the kids about the meaning and some of them pointed out that it is the right direction, so we explained to them that their answer is correct, however, we are referring to doing the correct action, and identifying what is the correct or right thing to do.
We narrated the story of the King who kept a huge rock in the middle of a road, to see whether the citizens of his country would do the right action of removing the rock from the road. He hid behind a tree to observe his subjects.
Every person who encountered the rock, either avoided or complained about it but did nothing, until an old fruit seller, with a basket of fruits in his hand, tripped over, fell and dropped his precious fruit which were his source of income. A small boy who happened to be there at the same time saw this and was very disturbed and immediately ran to rescue the elderly man of his predicament.
However, as he was a small child the rock proved to be too heavy for him and though he tried with all his might he was unable to move it. At this point the king came out from his hiding place, assisted the little boy in moving the rock, and thanked him for taking the right course of action.
The children enjoyed the story, and then we asked the children to pack their bags and went to the prayer hall for arthi and pledge.
Thank you for sending your beautiful children to class. We enjoy their company and look forward to their interesting stories.
Hari Om,
Sevikas,
Ulka, Bhargavi and Priya
