Hari Om Parents,
Today was the 1st class of Balavihar!! It was wonderful to meet your lovely kids and all of you!!
Here is the summary of what we covered in the class today:
Opening Prayers: After we went to our classroom 'Krishna' we all sat in a circle crisscrossing our legs, hands together in Namaskar pose, kept our eyes closed, and then we all chanted three OMs and then chanted the Opening Prayers - Sahana Vavatu. And we together chanted Ganesh sloka -Vakra tunda, Saraswathi sloka- Saraswathi Namasthubyam and Guru sloka - Guru Brahma and invoked their Blessings as we are starting the new Bala Vihar session this year.
Discussion time: Explained why we say Hari Om when we see each other and explained how we do it - by keeping hands together in Namaskar pose and greeting each other 'Hari Om'.
And emphasized that kids need to start greeting each other and their parents & family in the same way.
Introduction & Ice breaker round: We asked everyone to introduce themselves and by first saying Hari OM and then telling us:
Who is their Favorite God?
What is their Favorite Color? and
What their Favorite Sport is?
And we got wonderful answers and everyone responded well.
Attendance: Attendance was taken by each saying Hari Om when their name was called.
Yoga time: We together did 3 times Brain Yoga - Thoppukaranam which is also one way to pray to Lord Ganesha. And explained how this stimulates our brain also
Game: Color Game : Based on the favorite Color kids shared earlier, we grouped them by their favorite color and asked them to discuss together and share any things which are of their favorite color. We got interesting responses.
Brainstorming time: We discussed God Ganesha, his elephant head, his long trunk, his tusk, large ears, his big belly, his love for food, his vehicle 'moshak' and why we pray to him first.
We discussed Ganesh's parents and brother. We discussed Ganesh's form and explained the significance of each part of his form and explained Ganesha's vehicle -Moshak.
Sloka time: We chanted Ganesh sloka 'Vakra tunda Maha Kaya' - we explained the meaning of each word of the sloka.
Story Time: Ganesh and the divine Mango story -Kids listened with attention and answered questions on what is the vehicle of Subramanya?, why Ganesha was right when he went three rounds around his parents, and who won the race and obtained the Divine Mango.
Activity: Ganesha picture was provided to kids for Coloring.
Exit Ticket: Kids were asked to finish their Coloring sheet and bring it to the next class.
Meet with Parents: All the kids got busy coloring, while we met parents who joined us in the classroom at 10:40 am and explained the class curriculum and weekly class format and answered questions from parents. Parents were given a copy of the 2023-2024 Handbook, and were asked to write their kid's name and you can send it with them for reference in the classes.
And then we all went to the Main hall for Aarthi and Pledge.
It was a very interactive and exciting first class with kids, many of the kids participated very well and shared with us what they know about Lord Ganesha.
And we are so proud that kids sat all by themselves without parents around and participated very well in class. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with your wonderful kids and are looking forward to all the classes.
Note: From the next class, you can bring kids directly to room Krishna before 9:15 a.m. and then pick them up from the Prayer Hall after Aarti & Pledge.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Next Class:
Sept 17th
Whatsapp group: (Most parents joined if any parents have not joined please do so now)
KG group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HyEHtwC59rSIEZnaAV17Fk is the self-subscription link for parents to join.
Pranams
Mahalakshmi & Chandarani.
