Jan 5, 2025 - Kindergarten (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!! Looking forward to a great year ahead with kids!!

We had the 9th class of Balavihar. Here is the summary of what we covered in the class today:

Opening Prayers & Sloka: We started with three OMs and then proceeded with Opening Prayers - Sahana Vavatu, Vakratunda Mahakaya, Saraswati Namastubhyam, Krishnaya Vasudevaya, Ramaya Ramabadraya and Samudravasene Devi. 

 

Attendance: Attendance was taken and each kid responded by saying Hari Om.

Introduction for the Next Letter: Letter 'H' is for Happiness   

Brainstorming: We discussed various instances which made us happy and sad. And explained that Happiness is a state of the mind and is actually not related to any object or person. It is us who choose to be happy or sad. 

Exploration: We took the Happy Train Ride and went together like a train around the classroom and went to different stations (like Candy land, Amusement park, School, Pizza place etc.) and learned not to be unhappy when we did not reach the desired destination. We explained that we should be content with what we have and be happy in all situations and always encourage happy thoughts.

Activity 1: Kids drew pictures of various things which make them happy. They came up with creative ideas, like friends, chocolate, and their favorite superheros. We discussed how you can find happiness from things like food temporarily, but it is up to us to decide to be happy in all circumstances. 

Yoga: Children did Thoppukaranam, Vrikshasana, Bhujangasana and the butterfly pose (Baddha Konasan) 

Introduced to the next letter: I - stands for Intelligence and that Intelligence is the mental ability of understanding and learning new facts.

Brainstorming: Kids were asked questions on what is mind? What is Intellect? We explained that Intellect helps us decide what is right and what is wrong and our Mind helps us recognize specific objects or situations. Our intellect gives us good advice; but, to become a good person, we must also learn to listen to our intellect, just as we listen to our parents.

Exploration: We learnt the difference between humans and animals is that humans possess a well developed mind and an intellect, while animals do not. And that we need to use our Intellect wisely by making the right choices. We discussed a few situations on how our intellect helps us in making the right decisions. 

Story Time: Through the story of the Celestial Fruit, we learned how Ganesha used his intelligence to win the race. While Karthikeya set off around the world on his peacock, Ganesha took some time to think and did seven Pradakshinas around Lord Shiva and Parvati instead. We learned how we must use our intellect to be successful! We also colored a picture of Ganesha as a reminder of the story. 

We did the closing prayers and went to the temple for Aarthi. 

We had a wonderful and engaging session with the kids! Looking forward to the next class on Jan 12th. 

Pranams,

Shreya and Veda