Hari om parents!!!!
We had rather a small class today but very eventful and lots of learning took place. As you can tell that KG's curriculum is definitely a bit more than our Pre-K last year. So every class we need to stay tuned to be able to finish the curriculum. We may miss few days because of snow etc and we also try to spend some time for festivals, etc to incorporate it well in their learning. So please, don't miss any class so they can have good continuity and so that they don't miss out on whole bunch when they are out.
Please read below for our class details:
We started our class with 3Oms
-Opening prayer--"Om Sahanavavatu...."
-Called on Ganesha to take away our distractions:
(Some of us were in Poconos and wished we were still there, few were hoping to be playing soccer, others were tired from getting an extra hour of sleep due to day light savings time ended, etc etc.)
Recited: "Vakratunda mahakay....."
Now as we were ready to learn we called upon Saraswati mata who gives us knowledge.
Recited: "Saraswati namastubhyam......"
The ENTIRE class we talked about Ramayana!!!! With Diwali coming up, we wanted to make sure children knew what's the story behind Diwali and why we celebrate it.
As always I talked/told the story first and then showed the video that replicates the same story. We have different children who learns differently. Some are auditoria and others are visual. So I try to reach to both audience by giving a little of both. I broke the story and the video into 6-8 minute so they can concentrate on each part without losing interest. At the end of the video (I would recite the story first) I would ask them questions on what happened to see if they remembered. We split the group in two teams. Team Rama and Team Krishna---both Avatars of Vishnu!
First part
King of Ayodhya--Dashratha
He had 3 queens: Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi
He couldn't have children so the sages' advised him to do the yagya. Upon completion of the yagna, he had 4 boys:
Kaushalya mata gave birth to Rama
Sumitra mata gave birth to Lakshmana and Shatrugana
Kaikeyi mata gave birth to Bharata
As they were growing up, they learned how to be a good archer, horse rides, respect their elders and gurus/teachers, etc.etc.
Second part:
Sage Vishwamitra and the prince Rama along with Lakshmana went to the city of Mithila. King Janaka was marrying his daughter Sita, (didn't go into details about Svayamvar) Instead said that King Janaka had a condition that whoever can break the special bow can marry his daughter Sita. Also mentioned that someday when they are ready for marriage, their mommies and daddy will want to make sure that the boy/girl is Indian, from a good family, is good by nature, etc.etc. Rama broke the bow and he marries Sita.
Third part:
Dashratha was getting old and wanted to renounce Rama to be new king who can take care of the kingdom and all his duties. Everyone were overjoyed by this news except one person. Kaikeyi's maid Manthara heard that and instigated Kaikeyi that if Rama becomes the king then her son Bharata will be a servant to his brother and will not become the king. Kaikeyi asked Dashratha that Rama should be send to the forest for 14 years. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana goes to the forest.
Below is the link to the video that we watched in the class, if the children who missed wants to get caught up.
You Tube Video: Ramayana story
We ate animal crackers for snack and took our bathroom break.
We did coloring to a picture of Shravan.
Hes known to be the most obedient son. His parents were blind and Shravan would carry them like a see saw on his shoulder. One time the parents were thirsty and asked Shravan to get water. He let them down from his shoulder while he went to get water. A king was near that river and upon hearing the sound by the river, he thought it was an animal and shoots him with his arrow. When he goes near to see, it was Shravan. Shravan tells the king about his parents and requests to take water for them as they are thirsty and waiting for water. The king takes water to Shravan's parents but also is honest and tells them what happened and that their son is not coming back. Both parents gets very sad but also angry at the same time. They "cursed" the king that you shall also suffer for your son the same way. Any guesses who the king was? It was King Dashratha and yes he does suffer for his son when Rama goes away to the jungle.
Talked about Karma--What goes around, comes around (from the story of Shravan) Also another way to say it is "What you give is what you get" If you are nice to others, others will be nice to you. But if you aren't nice to someone, someone or the other will not be nice to you. So its very important to be nice and make nice choices in life.
Ending shloka:"Om Purnamada, purnamidam......"
Aakash is signed up for snacks for the next class, let me know if you cant be there and I can move the next person up the queue.
NO class next week, next class is on November 15th!!!
Meena Arvind
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