Class on 10/25/15

Hari OM Dear Parents

Today's class began with our regular opening Prayers OM chanting 3 times followed by Sahana vavathu. We would like all children to chant these opening verses loud and clear. So please make them practice at home (it will not take more than 5 minutes :) )

We continued learning the qualities in the Dhyana slokam. Yasas- fame and Dhairyam-courage/Being Brave were the topics for today.

We learned how to achieve fame- Hardwork and honest approach towards a noble goal makes us famous.

We saw the story of our Guru Chinmaya JI.

Dhairyam-
What is it?
Doing the right things despite difficulties and obstacles.

Why courage?
To shed an unwanted habit in our life.

The difference between being foolish and being courageous was understood with simple examples.

We heard the story of Ratnakara a robber who later became Valmika rishi and wrote the greatest epic Ramayana. How brave he was to give up something totally irrelevant he had.

To err is human. We make lot of mistakes. But accepting and apologizing needs to have courage. That mind is a strong mind.

Art Projects-
Today we started doing the backbone possessing all good qualities to get a great physical posture and a strong and clean mind. We worked on Buddhi and Bhalam. (we will continue every class until we finish)
The next art project is the Thoran making. We continued working on the second leaf. We plan to do 11 leaves as we finish, we will tie them and you can decorate your pooja place/spot at home.

We worked on the first 5 couplets of Guru Stotram. This week's homework is to keep practicing all  lines (1 to 5) every night before bedtime (ideally) or any time is convenient. But we need to practice.
Kindly mark initials in the prayer log (assembly handout)

Important Announcements.
Please send in pencils, erasers, markers and crayons all in a pencil case.
Please send in a Healthy nut free snack.
Please send in a hand sanitizer.

Attached is a pic which prettymuch summarizes the class.

The next class is on 11/1/15.
Thank you.

Regards
Dhairyam Teachers.

class on 10/11/15

Hari OM Parents and Children.
Today we had a little longer assembly and we got back to our classes a little beyond 10.
We commenced our session with OM chant 3 times followed by opening prayers Om sahana vavatu...
We would like all kids to chant the opening verse loud and clear (no scream) We will do this every session so by the end of the year they will be mastering in slokas which we regularly chant.

We then continued from where we left last week- Bhalam. We saw the story of a boy who had unbelievable mind power (strong mind)
We had fun activities to determine the physical and the mental strength.
1. we did a yoga pose (a tree pose) and stood like statues stating how strong we are physically. We then did super brain yoga (the thoppukaranam- sit-ups we do in front of Lord Ganesa) about 10 times.
2. we then did couple times a mind power game- hide an object and go seek.

The kids all participated with utmost enthusiasm and happiness. They were all happy as they knew they were strong/ or close to getting stronger physically and mentally. Good job children! way to go!!

We had our snack time- Please remember to send in NUT FREE HEALTHY SNACKS.
We chanted first 3 couplets of Guru Stotram. This is a must slokam for all grades. Most kids are familiar, few aren't, no worries! we will do it as many times we can and practice makes near perfection.

We started ART activity today with Thoran making. (Thoran= the auspicious mango leaves all tied together at the entrance or pooja altar) We planned to make 11 leaves and we will tie them like a thoran and the kids can have them decorate their pooja room/pooja place at their respective homes. We did just 1 leaf today and will finish this in 11 classes (1 leaf a class as planned) They all showed their creativity in decorating so beautifully. Durga auntie has worked so hard in making the kids do this. We have more fun art projects to go.. kindly wait and watch out for the same :)

We had a surprise test- picked couple kids randomly and made them recite the Dhyana slokam. They all did a great job! keep up the good work!!

We concluded the session with Santhi mantra- Om poornamadhap poornamidham... this again will be done every closure of session and in a few weeks, kids can memorize.

The assembly handout will be issued for those who do not have in coming weeks.
Kindly refer to the previous blog posts (September 2015 onwards) for the supply list to be brought in to the class and regarding the Snacks. Please remember ours is a NUT FREE SCHOOL ZONE.

Homework for this week is to chant Buddhir Bhalam- Dhyana slokam every night before bedtime at-least 3 times (11 times ideal) You may want to do 11 times at-least once until we meet the next session scheduled on10/25/15. Please kindly check/sign the prayer log sheet in the assembly handbook. (For those who don't have them, don't worry.. you may do once you get it)
Happy Navarathri/Dussera. Thank you!

Please refer the pic attached which summarizes today's activities.

Regards
Dhairyam Teachers

Class on 10/4/15

Hari OM
Dear Parents,
First and foremost THANK YOU all for coming and making our Back to 'Dhairyam' Balavihar class a big success. Hope you all are now clear and aware of what our curriculum talks about this year and also hope you all have an idea of how we are going to carry the class for this year.

Kindly refer to the pdf link given here (previous blog post) and also in the  first email sent on 10/4/15 for the class structure and other special events this year at Balavihar. Please do not miss to check those special events (last topic in the link) All those information given in detail in our assembly handout.

One again we thank you all for coming, for those who missed, the link should pretty much explain and you are most welcome to email us with any questions or concerns you may have.

For the new comers (first to Balavihar or first day at Dhairyam today) please kindly refer to the previous blog posts (Sept 2015 on-wards) Please reach out to us with any questions you may have.
Please kindly check for the supplies to be brought and the NUT FREE SNACKS and water bottle to be brought from home. Please kindly purchase the books (which was discussed today) (book list given in the link, also in the previous blog posts FYI)

Today's class began in our respective classroom, after our customary assembly in the cafeteria. We will start our class with the OM chanting 3 times (for a positive vibe to flow around us) and Sahana vavatu slokam. Most kids knew this and recited along but a few did not (assuming they knew but did a silent prayer and/or they are yet to learn this) NO PROBLEM- we will chant every beginning of the session and in a couple week's they all can do this very well!

We then proceeded from where we left last class, the neccessary vitamins for physical and mental backbone.
We then started with the first quality- Buddhi- The intelligence.
*An intellect is one who is able to discriminate between the right and the wrong. This is a uniue gift given to us by GOD. An intellect person is an intelligent person.

We further understood applying intelligence in 2 stories.
1. Ganesa getting the divine fruit from Siva Parvathy using his intelligence and
2. The Akbar-Birbal story of counting the number of crows.

We also did a nice fun game- on the lines of Simon says- "Hanuman JI says"
We checked how far we could able to apply our intelligence while playing. It was indeed fun!

The next topic is the next quality Bhalam- The strength.
*Physical - work with muscles and
*Mental strength- power we use to do any noble actions.

How do  we gain physical strength and
How do we gain mental strength.
These were discussed by understanding the story of "Bhimas Arrogance while meeting with Hanuman JI, who was in a monkey form"

Please kindly make your child(ren) to finish homework from last class (11 times Likhita Japa Sree Raama jaya Raama jaya Jaya Raama) and kindly check mark at the prayer log in the assembly handout. NO HOMEWORK this week. A pic posted here, talks about today's session.

We will continue the class on 10/11/15.
We had a snack time (kindly send in NUT FREE SNACKS - healthy snacks like Fruits, veggie sticks, cereal bars, cookies also fine but please avoid chips/junks/candies etc. There was someone who had a lollypop for snack today and we insist on kids to follow a healthy regime for snacks) Thanks.
Some children had no books/supplies.. please make sure that they get their own from home to avoid sharing. (Sharing drags as they tend to talk among/between themselves) Thanks for understanding.

We will conclude the class session with Shanthi mantra. Today we had the B2BV towards the closing and it was time for the (optional) language classes.
Kindly do join for the CORD walkathon coming up on the 10th of October 2015 (Saturday) and please donate for the good cause that all of us do. Thank you.

Thank you all. See you on 10/10/15 at CORD day of fun.

Regards
Vidhya Aiyer and
Durga Vemavarapu

Back to Balavihar 10/4/2015

Hari OM
Dear Parents,
Kindly refer the link given to access the information of Back to Balavihar- Dhairyam class, grade 2.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hoo7DH8OjRS0hpcWdVUUJiOUE/view?usp=sharing

Thank you.
Vidhya A and Durga V