March 6th class---Class 18!!!!!

Hari Om parents!!!!

First of all, "Thank you" for your commitment to Balvihar and your involvement with your children. It is a team effort and we cant accomplish our goals successfully without your part.

As always we started our class with:
3 Oms
Starting prayer "Om Sahana vavatu...."
Called upon Ganesha to help us remove our obstacles "Vakratunda mahakay..."
Called mata Saraswati to help us learn "Saraswati namastubyam..."

Took attendance while our children responded by saying "Hari om"

We covered letters N and O last week. So I asked our children what letter comes next. Ofcourse they all said P. But we have to skip P and Q as once you pray, you become "Quiet" hence it comes at the end of our alphabet Z.

R is for Right:

What do you mean by doing the right thing? We hear it all the time? But does it really mean?
The right thing to do is what is morally good, just and correct.

Why should we do what is right?
When we do what is right, it brings us happiness and rewards. That's why we should always do whats right no matter what others say or does.

I asked them few questions below to see what they think is the right thing to do:

1. Your best friend wants to tease someone. He wants you to do the same thing. Is that the right or wrong thing to do?
2. Keshav and Arjun are in a park eating ice cream. After they finished eating the ice cream they toss the cups out in the park. Is that the right or wrong thing to do?
3. You got a lot of candies from trick or treat on Halloween and you want to eat them before dinner time. Is that the right or wrong thing to do?

Told them a story about "The Rock on the Road"

We also made a list of things that are "right thing to do" EVERYDAY!!!!

• Pray before going to bed
• Brush your teeth
• Turn off the lights when not in use
• Help our parents in whatever way we can
• Clean up your room
• Put your shoes, bagpack in the right place

S is for Smile:

What is a smile?

They all smiled at me and said this is a smile---CUTE!!!

It is a facial expression of joy and pleasure.

We smile when we are happy. Funny and happy things makes us smile. We always want our friends and family to smile too.

When we smile:

• We feel happy
• We make friends
• We stay healthy
• Our parents are everyone around us are happy

It takes more efforts to frown than to smile. Smile is contagious. One person smiles and it continues from one to another.

We talked about our homework "TO SMILE" Everyday as we get ready for school everyday here is what we will be doing:

• Do we have our lunch bag?
• Did we grab our bag pack?
• Do we have our water bottle?
• Did we put our clothes on? Socks? Shoes?
• Did we wear our SMILE?

We ate Snacks and also took bathroom break. We spent the last 15 minutes coloring letters R and S while I checked their folders to ensure they are complete.

Next class is on March 13th. Keshav's family has signed up for snacks for next class.

Here are details on the future classes:

March 13th

March 20th

NO CLASS on March 27th

NO CLASS on April 3rd

NO CLASS on April 10th

Back to Class on April 17th

With Prem and Om,

Meena

February 28th--Class 17!!!

Hari om parents!!

We almost has a full house, but missed few children. Hope you had more fun than we did in our premam class!!!!

As always we started our class with:
3 Oms
"Om sahana vavatu..."
Calling Ganesha so he can take away our obstacles and we can be ready to learn by saying "Vakratunda mahakay..."
As we were ready to learn we recited "Saraswati namastubyam...."

As we were reciting all the shlokas I realized few of our children don't know some of the shlokas. (Starting shloka, closing shloka, etc) Please continue to recite the shloka that way they learn the shloka/s that are part of Balvihar no matter in assembly, every single class, etc.

We are moving right along with our curriculum. Today we talked about:

N for Nobility:

What is Nobility?
Nobility is having high moral standards and having strong character.
This was hard for children to understand let alone be able to say the word itself

How can we be noble?
We can be noble by taking care of others and putting others first.

Gave them an example of Roshan falling down on the floor (pretend). Shriya passed by but didn't help Roshan as she didn't know Roshan. Navyashri passed by where Roshan had fallen down but didn't help Roshan as she was in a hurry. As Sahana passed by she helped Roshan get up and get him to his seat. This was a noble act.

Told them the story of Noble Cow how she got her life back being honest with the lion and keeping up with her promise. Please ask children to tell you the story that way it reinforces the rewards of being honest.

O for Obedience:

What is Obedience?
Obedience is dutifully doing what one is told to do without protesting or asking questions.
Shriya said it means to "follow directions" She earned a HUGE smiley sticker for nailing the answer.

How does obedience help us?
Obedience helps us to achieve harmony and bring discipline.

Why are we obedient to our parents and teachers?
Because they know whats best for us.

We played a game similar to "Simon says". I would say "Teacher says" raise your hand and they would raise their hand. If I say Meena aunty says clap your hands, it doesn't count and they would be out of the game. Towards the end EVERYONE were able to follow the directions to the core and showed how obedient they all are.

We had Veggie straws for snack and took a short bathroom break.
We colored letter N and Letter O.
I checked everyones folder to make sure their work is complete. I marked some of the work--incomplete. Each activity is to reinforce their learning hence important they complete each task.

Navyashri got a SMILEY sticker since she had EVERY single activity/coloring complete!!!! Way to go, Navyashri!!!!

Our next class is on March 6th. Arijit's family has signed up for snacks for the next class.

With Prem and Om,
Meena

February 7th--Field Day to Swami Narayan Temple!

January 31st--Class 14th!!!!!

Hari om parents!!!!

We had a great class with a almost all kids back from vacation etc. Although we missed Abhigna, Pranav and Sahana. Hope to see you soon back into your new years routine.

If felt like FOREVER since we had our class but nevertheless NOONE forgot our routine. As always:

We started our class with " 3 OMs"
We chanted "Vakratunda mahakay....." and asked Ganesha to help remove our obstacles. We are often sleepy, tired, etc etc so we always need Ganesha's help to take away any vighna that can stop us from learning.

We now chanted "Saraswati namastubyam......" asking Saraswati mata to help us learn. Meenaaunty especially needs to call upon her so I am blessed with her knowledge so I can pass it down to the children. Without her knowledge we cant learn and succeed.

Revised from last weeks letter-H is for happiness and I for Intelligence.

We moving on with our alphabet safari chugging to the alphabet J and K today

J is for Japa
Boy did I get all sorts of answers for what J stands for. I got a really good made up word that I wished I remembered. We all switched our regular KG hat and put on the Balvihar hat in order to find the word that we would be using but I admit I didn't expect them to guess this word.

What is Japa?
Japa is repeating God's name with devotion
Why do we do Japa?
It helps us focus and concentrate
Why do we need to concentrate?
So we can learn and succeed
These were the basic questions we circled back and forth in different ways to ensure they understood. Showed them a Japa mala that we use to chant shlokas. We will be making that in class since a lot of students joined after our open house-we made it then.

We played a memory game to emphasize our learning. I divided the group in two teams: Team Rama and Team Krishna. I showed Team Rama a picture of Saraswati Mata for 25 seconds. Asked them to remember what they see till I ask them. Did exact same thing with Team Krishna. Now each team  gets to shout out 1 thing they remember from the picture. They actually did very well and saw things I didn't even expect them to notice. Our Team Rama won!!!!!!!

K is for Kindness
What is Kindness? They immediately said being NICE
Why should we be kind? Cause its nice, kind is what they said. I taught them a new concept of karma. What goes around, comes around!!!!!! If we be nice to someone that's a good karma and will come back to us positively. If I be mean to someone, they will always remember that unkind behavior and will not be nice to me BUT if I be nice to someone they will also be nice to me.

I asked a bunch of questions and they were supposed to answer whether that act was of kindness or not. For example: Tony drags his dog with the leash and kicks his dog when it does not run fast enough. They all said that's mean. Gave them 7-9 sentences but they answered most of them correctly.

I had couple of stories to tell to emphasize act of kindess but due to delay from assembly we were running behind so didn't get to stories.

Harish had made kites for Makarsakranti/Pongal he passed out and stringed the string to the kites. Kids were super excited. He also briefly talked about the festival.

I had planned for new shloka today but that's for next class now.

Next class is on February 21st. Next week (Feb 7th school needs the building so we don't have class but have planned a field trip to Swami Narayan Temple in Robbinsville) Shriya's parents have signed up for snacks for the Feb 21st class.

With Prem and Om,
Meena Arvind

January 24th--Class 13th!!!! SNOW DAY!!!!

Hari om parents!!!

We didn't have class on January 24th cause we got cancelled for SNOW!!!!

Meena Arvind

Janary 10th 2016----Class 12!!!!!

Hari om parents!!!

What an amazing start of the New Year 2016!!!!! As I was printing coloring sheets this morning, I was debating how many to print to save a tree, turns out we had 12 kids and even a NEW friend, Arijit join us starting today.

We spent few minutes welcoming our new friend as we got to know a little about him. Hes very energetic, very friendly and became friends with Roshan instantly. We went over the rules again with our new friend so he feels belonged in our Premam class and we can have an amazing class each Sunday.

As always:

We started our class with 3 Om's

To help us remove our obstacles (todays obstacle was tiredness and sleepiness due to early class) we called upon Ganesha "Vakratunda mahakay...."

Once we were vighna free, we called upon Saraswati mata to help us learn, "Saraswati namastubyam..."

We did the pledge at a slower pace so they can understand the meaning of it.

We revised the class from going back to G for God. It has been 3 weeks since we met last so wanted to see if they remembered anything. Lots of different answers, God is everywhere, he helps us, he gives us things, but Roshan gave the MOST accurate answer (the one I was looking for), He can make impossible things possible. That earned him a "Keep it up" sticker so he keeps participating and does well.

H is for Happiness:

Wow, how do you explain this to KG age children?

So I made a VERY strong attempt to get this through in an absolute silly manner but I bet they will remember every time they hit a hurdle that keeps them from being happy.

I asked what does happiness mean? The BEST answer  (after several right ones) I got was from Anurag saying happiness is this--with a BIG smile!!!! So cute and so true.

Happiness is a state of mind that you choose to be in. Our mind experiences many emotions such as anger, sadness, cranky, happy, sad, etc But we need to choose to be happy NO MATTER what the situation comes because happiness just like any other emotion is VERY contagious. So if you are happy, people around you also become happy.

Got everyone off their comfy seats and formed a choo choo train. This train's name is "Happy train" so clearly your ONLY job while on this train is to be happy. You cant be sad, disaapointed anything while on this train. As planned, I told them all that we will be going outside to the playground to play on the swings, slides, tag etc etc. They all got super excited and couldn't wait to go out and play. We chugged the train outside of our class singing We are the happy train---hari om hari om, blow the whistle, choo choo,........We walked to the front door and they got disappointed seeing that it was raining. I had to remind them that we are on happy train and cant experience any other emotion except happiness. They cheered themselves up to ride the happy train as we chugged back to our Premam class. I said the Pre-k class is having their New Year's party, having pizza, cookies, and juices and asked if they would like to join the fun, ofcourse they couldn't wait to have those mentioned yummy treats. As we got to the Pre-k class (as per plan) the teachers and children at pre-k were taking a nap. Some kids got disappointed yet again but upon a nudge and a reminder of the happy train rules, they laid their heads down on the bench to join the fun of napping for 2 minutes. We all chugged back to our class very excited and with our intact state of mind--happiness. I asked them where they want their next stop to be, by this time they had caught on the rules and the agenda. They said they want to go to Disney World, so we circled around the class few times, I put a chair in the middle and said, you have reached Disney world. One child said I am Mickey mouse, another said I am Donald duck and everyone took imaginary pictures/videos/autographs etc with them. Our next and last stop was pizza party that turns out to be snack party but they did amazing staying happy the entire train ride.

To wrap that up, gave few examples that things don't always work out the way they want or wish but they have to put their focus on being happy.

We colored a "Happy Train" for H while we ate the snacks.

I is for Intellectual:

If I thought happiness is hard to explain to KG age, God help me with intellectual. LOL

Intelligence is the minds ability to understand and learn things. It also helps you choose between right and wrong.

They all said they love icecream and that makes them happy (during the conversation about happiness) I asked after 1 bowl, do you think its right to eat 2 more bowls, some said yes definitely cause they love icecream, others said no because that will make them sick, give cold, etc. That is your intellect helping you decide whether or not you should eat more icecream.

Harish read them the story of Ganesha and Kartikeya/Murugan and how Ganesha using his intellect circles around his parents 3 time and wins the fruit that Narada had given to Lord Shiva to give it to his son.

We revised ALL alphabets learned so far:

A for Aspiration

B for Brotherhood

C for Cleanliness

D for Daddy

E for Enthusiasm

F for Friendship

G for God

H for Happiness (today)

I for Intelligence (today)

Aakash remembered and gave right anwers for ALL the letters and got a "Super work" sticker.

Vibhu answered H for Happy instead of saying H for hat, hen, etc. after being asked to put the Balvihar thinking hat. He earned a "Super" sticker

We have finished 3 shlokas till now and had asked children to learn and recite in class today. So Vibhu, Navyasri, Aakash and Vikram attempted to recite the shloka in front of the class. Some missed words here and there, others missed one shloka entirely or two.

1st Shloka: "Asota ma sadgama...."

2nd Shloka: "Shri ram ram rameti....."

3rd Shloka: "Ed dantam maha kayam......"

Navyasri earned this weeks "Rock star sticker" by reciting all 3 shloka very nicely, clearly and without missing anything. Way to go, Navyasri!!!!

No class next Sunday instead you can plan to attend the Samskriti Mahotsav in the Vrindavan ashram in Cranbury. There will be kite making activities, etc. as well.

Next class on January 24th at 9:30 am in our Premam class, no assembly this month unless something changes with the High school.

Vibhu's parents have signed up for snacks for our class. Please bring packed snacks for 17 children, no juice please!!!!

With Prem and Om,

Meena Arvind

December 20th 2015--Class 11th!!!!!

Hari om parents!!!!

We had a GREAT LAST class of the year 2015!!!!! Children came well prepared, ready to learn and lots of enthusiasm.

As always we started our class with:
3 Om's
Ganesha Shloka---"Vakratunda mahakaya...."
Saraswati Shloka----"Saraswati namastubyam..."

We brainstormed about what we talked about last class. We started with G is for God but couldn't finish it as they said because they were not focused. Continued asking questions what can God do? What does he give us? Where is God?

God can make impossible things possible. Like how a brown cow can eat green grass yet we get white milk. It is a miracle by God. God gives me many gifts some we don't even account for, for eg. Air, eyes to see, nose to smell, ears to hear, etc etc. God also gives us many other gifts. We discussed some of the things that we are really thankful for. Home, clothes, toys, family, and food. We did a project where we glued God's gift in the center of the page and glued all gifts we thought we think are gifts and we need to be thankful for that. Please check your children's folder to see their work.

We all agreed that God gives us many gifts and we need to thank Him for that. How do we thank God? We thank Him by saying Shlokas and doing prayers. How do we perform prayers? We discussed that in detail on how to bathe God and how to dress God. And how we do aarti on special days and shloka everyday. Taught them the ingredients that goes into making God's soap so we can bathe Him. Panchamrat----Milk, Yogurt, honey, sugar and ghee!

Steps:
Take God's clothes off (by removing flowers, actual clothes etc.)
Pour water on
Put panchamrat on
Rinse
Put kum-kum/sandlewood, and flowers

Pop quiz time----Give me the 5 ingredients that goes in the panchamrat? Taalin earned the "Rock star sticker" as he answered the question correctly...:-)

Next week yet again they will get a chance to earn Rock star sticker but this time I am giving them ALL a chance to do so. I told them whoever recites ALL 3 shlokas learned so far correctly will earn the ROCK star sticker next class.

Sloka #1
"Asota ma sadgamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrytyor ma amrutam gamaya"

Shloka#2 
"Shri Ram ram rameti
rame rame manorame
sahastranama tattulyam
rama nama varanane"

Shloka #3
"Ekdantam Mahakayam
Lambodaragajananam
Vignanashakaram devam
Herambam pranamamya-aham"

Have a GREAT holiday break!!!! No classes for the next two Sundays.
Next class is on January 10th. Arjun's family is signed up for snacks for that class.

See you in 2016!!!!! Be blessed!
Meena Arvind