Please find below the summary for the 17th Session of our Class.
Opening Prayers: We all sat straight, criss-cross, hands folded, chanted together 3 Oms, then Sahana Vavatu, Ganesha Slokha -Vakra Tunda, Saraswathi Slokha- Saraswathi Namasthubayam, Krishnaya Vasudevaya, Ramaya RamaBadraya, Guru Brahma and Tvameva Mata
Yoga : Children did Thoppukaranam, Tree Pose, Bhujangasan and Butterfly Pose.
Refresh /Quiz: We divided the class into two teams and had quiz session with them wherein pictures were shown about personalities or God's or Stories which we had shared with them over the past classes and they had to identify the name, story and Alphabet associated with it. We saw that children participated joyfully in this exercise and we are planning to continue to do this every week.
Brainstorming : We discussed how we would feel if we come into a classroom and everyone starts screaming loudly or when they are having a sound sleep and siblings start playing drums in the next room. None of those feel right and we introduced our next letter.
Introduction : Q is for Quiet. Quiet is to be tranquil, calm, and undisturbed. It is a state of calmness of the mind.Children gave beautiful examples of how being quiet helps like being quiet in the library helps to read , quiet at night helps to sleep well, Quiet in the classroom helps to study well , being quiet in movies helps them to watch movies joyfully etc...Everyone agreed that one needs to be quiet to study, sleep, pray, watch movies or even listen to music. When we are quiet, we are more focused and we can listen to others. This in turn allows us to work better.When we have a quiet mind , we also tend to be happy!
We displayed two words: LISTEN and SILENT. Former means to pay attention and the latter to be quiet. Children were very quick in identifying that both the words had the same letters but spelled differently.!
Next we displayed a picture of a child holding ears. We asked children what they observe and came to the question of why do we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth. They were again very quick in responding that they need to speak less and listen more.
We concluded that we truly listen when we are silent.
Story time : Through the story of The Turtle who did not listen, we reiterated the importance of listening and being quiet.
Game : Children enjoyed listening to bhajans and dancing around during the freeze /Statue game.
Attendance : Class Attendance was taken and children had their water breaks.
Brainstorming : We also spoke about Q is for Never Quit. This was the most beautiful discussion amongst children so far. A few children spoke about how they are scared of water and stopped taking swimming lessons, or how siblings stopped going for musical instruments because they felt they were not good at it. One of them responded very assertively that we should not give up, we should keep trying and you will be better and good at that activity! This was explained with an example of how the child was scared of water and now is great at swimming and loves swimming .
Story : We told the story of King Bruce and the Spider. How a tiny insect gave this life changing lesson and confidence to a mighty king to keep trying. If at first we don't succeed, we try , try and try again. Don't Quit!!
Game : Paper Toss. Each child tried tossing paper balls into the bin. Even though they could not get it on the first attempt , they kept trying and eventually all of them were able to get them into the bins!
We Chanted the Alphabet song.
After this, we went for arati and dispersed from the hall.
It was another interesting session today, and we look forward to the next session.
