Hari om parents,
Hope you all are doing well. We had a fun class on Sunday. Here is a summary of the class :
1. We chanted 3 OM's and said our beginning prayers - Om sahna bhavtu followed by a shlok for Lord Ganesha ( Vakratunda Mahakaya), Devi Saraswati ( Saraswati Namastubhyam) and one for our Guru( Guru Bramha) respectively. The kids know the shlokas by heart. 👍
2. We then chanted the Dhyaan shlok and revised the meanings of the qualities we have learned so far.
3. Brainstorming : Ajadyam or Alertness. To be alert means to be watchful. It means that one is aware of their surroundings. We played a game of I spy in class to see how alert and attentive the kids were.
4. Story time : Lazy Misty.
Misty was very lazy. She liked to wear nice things, but she would throw her clothes on the floor and leave her books, shoes and toys everywhere. Her mom would get very upset with Misty's lazy habits.
Her mother prayed to the Lord, "Dear God, let Misty realize how bad it is to be lazy!" Misty heard and laughed. " Mom, how silly you are! How nice it would be if none of us ever had to work! You don't even know what to pray for. Let me pray!" Bhagwan did not like this wicked prayer. To teach Misty a lesson, he appeared in her dream and said, " May all your work be done automatically." Misty was overwhelmed with joy.
She got up. Her bed was automatically made. She went to the sink. Her teeth were already clean. Misty was thrilled. She went to take a bath but immediately scalding hot water started falling on her. The water was too hot, but she could do nothing about it. Misty ran out of the bathroom and went to her closet to pick a nice dress for school, instead, an ugly dress came out and put itself on Misty. She shouted, "No, no, I want the other dress!" She tried to remove the ugly dress, but it wouldn't come off. Misty gave up and then went for breakfast. She wanted to eat Fruit Loops cereal, but only dry bran cereal appeared in her bowl. She could do nothing about it. Misty was helpless. She went to the sink, the water splashed all over her. Next, she tried to brush through her hair, but the brush refused to cooperate, instead, the brush comb to head into a tight ponytail, making her look terrible.
Misty did not want to go to school like this. She then realized why her mother said that laziness was bad. If she did not work on her own, she could never enjoy life, she could not eat, play or dress as she wanted. She prayed to God to let me be as before. I will not be lazy anymore. God withdrew the boon and Misty learned her lesson.
5. Game time: We introduced posture and smile check . When the teacher says with the right hand raised,"P and S check " (posture and smile check), all the children should keep their back straight and have a smile on their face. The goal of this is to check if the kids are alert as they play the game. Let us learn to be alert. Because in life only when we notice, we can act, only when we act rightly, we get the benefit. Lazy people cannot be alert.
6. Game time - Telephone Telephone game. We were super excited to try this game out with kids.Traditionally the game is played by sitting in a circle and Player1 whispers a sentence to Player 2 and Player 2 to 3 and onwards. The last person to receive the message says it out loud. Being on zoom we found a creative way to play it with kids and it was so much fun!! The objective of this game is to teach children the importance of being alert.
7. Story time: How Leo learned to be the King. Even if you are blessed with a crown like Leo, you may have to give it up, if you are lazy. Let us learn from Leo. Help all and be the king of everyone's heart. Here is the link -
8. We ended our class with closing prayers and pledge.
As we were short on time we could not do Hanuman Chalisa chanting or Geeta chanting. We encourage kids to keep practising at home. See you all in the next class at 9:15 am!! Take care everyone.
Regards,
Chitra & Rupa.