Hari Om Parents,
We started our class by writing Likhitha jaapa (writing the name of any Ishta devata god's name), then followed by daily prayers (Page 11 of My Prayers book) and learnt Nirvana Shatakam. All kids are given printouts of the same. Please help kids memorize the same.
We continued with India the sacred land. We talked about India's freedom movement.
First known famous freedom fighter was Mangal Pandey who was a soldier in the British Army and fought against them. First war of Indian independence is called Sepoy Mutiny which took place in 1857.
Princely states got together and revolted against the British. Few famous, very well-known people are Rani Jhansi Lakshmi Bai- she was queen of Jhansi, she lost her husband and Jhansi had no heir to the throne so she adopted a child. As per British rule if your kingdom had no heir you had to surrender your kingdom to the British. India had many Women rulers but the British didn't accept it this was one way they were trying to take the Princely states into their control. This was the reason for Jhansi Lakshmi bai to revolt against Britishers and fight. She fought very bravely and died in the war. Most of her pictures depict her as fighting with a child in her back.
Nana Saheb Tope and Tatya patil fought from Meerut against the British.
The first war was unsuccessful due to lack of unity amongst all the states and people.
In the 1900's few leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, M.K Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu were few key leaders.
Mahatma Gandhi believed in Nonviolence and propagated Nonviolence. India's freedom was achieved through the Nonviolence movement. He was a lawyer who was able to bring the people together in this freedom movement.
Few key movements in the Indian freedom movement are
Swadeshi movement- This movement led to nationalism, the boycott of the foreign goods was done and clothes, salt were locally manufactured and local business started improving which helped the local community as well.
Quit India Movement- During World War II Gandhi and other congress leaders decided to take advantage of this situation and all the congress leaders started the Quit India Movement. This led to the British finally deciding to leave India and India gained independence on August 15th 1947.
Sardar Vallabhai Patel is referred to as Iron Man of India as he was the key person who united 500 odd princely states together under the United India.
We had given all kids an assignment to bring ingredients and mention their names in their native language and also how the food item was prepared. We were glad to see all children tell one each recipe and also show us the ingredients and tell their names in their language.
We had to stop our class here as it was time for our parents visiting the class. Brief presentation was given on what was covered so far and what we will be doing next few months and also discussed Class Play.
Then it was time for the fun part. We teamed up parents and children, children had to be with different uncles or aunty and not with their parents. Together they were asked to take a quiz.
Kids were able to help aunties and uncles get through the quiz. We had lots of fun and hoped that children and parents enjoyed it too.
We encourage parents to help kids to learn Chapter 5 of Bhagavad Gita along with other prayers taught in class. It was about time for Aarthi and Pledge so went to the Prayer hall.
Thank you Parents for taking time and stopping by to see what and how we are doing in the class with your children. Attaching the presentation and also presentation on India's freedom movement which was covered in class.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DON'T HAVE BALAVIHAR NEXT FRIDAY 14TH MARCH AS ITS A MAKE SNOW DAY SESSION.
Few Links for learning to chant.
1. Ganesha Panchratnam (Page 30 in My Prayers).
1.1. Link to rendition with lyrics in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4lZCKxeJFE or
1.2 Link: https://youtu.be/Oyo0FWP9fB8?si=ZaYVDepNkX0YWShI (play at lower speeds for kids to follow lyrics and hear clearly
2. Nirvana Shatakam (Printouts were shared)
2.1 https://youtu.be/rKx7K13OvQ4?si=lM6g_ZtX0kdF5Sfo - Uninterrupted Line Guided Chant - YouTube
3. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 (1-29 shlokas) is available in the 2024-25 year handbook. The link to Gita by our swamiji is as below.
https://youtu.be/1RnjJPiI9y0?si=_IeXKqpWjrPoqNbO
Please make sure to send the below to every Balavihar class.
1. An empty notebook to write Likhitha jaapa and notes.
2. Two sharpened pencils.
3. Daily Prayers book.
4. Balavihar Handbook
Please join the class WhatsApp group by using the link below
https://chat.whatsapp.com/E0cfUe3NUDYCBwYVKD7tyg
The WhatsApp group will be our primary medium of communication. Please feel free to reach us on our phones/ via WhatsApp or you can reply to this email as well.
With Regards,
Shivram & Anuradha
