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Dharma 2B - ABC of Dharma

2017-2018

Class Information -

This class covers: Introduce some key moral values and Hindu etiquette through the alphabet and stories from Hindu scriptures. Teach the recitation of ‘OM’, Gayatri Mantra.

Children should be able to learn some basic Dharma vocabulary in this year.

Ages: 5-6 / Grade: K-1

Download PDF copy of book: CLICK HERE

Classroom: Cafe 3

Teachers -

Teachers:

Devasree Mukherjee
Kruti Joshi

EMAIL teachers: Click HERE

Teenage Volunteers:

Jeevan Venkatesh
Rani Mukherjee

Class & Homework-

May 13th-

FOR PRESENTATION ON MAY 20TH:

A friendly reminder that our class presentation is on Sunday May 20th. Please bring your child dressed in an Indian attire at at 9:30 am. We would like to do a stage rehearsal of our presentation with those wonderful posters that your child has made, if possible. And last but not the least, a humble Thank you -

Thanks to all the parents for bringing your child to HATS Level 2B Dharma class. Its been a pleasure to spend time with your child. Over the school year, we have shared many stories, learnt many things, laughed, shared vacation stories, festivals, field trips to the temple upstairs and made many memories. Hope your child enjoyed the ABCs of Dharma as much as we have enjoyed teaching them. The two teen volunteers - Rani and Jeevan has been very supportive and helped out with the class, tremendously. The class would not have been as much fun, had it not been for their Hangman games, providing weekly class updates and helping kids as and when needed from sharpening pencils to dropping them off to their next class. We had a fun time giving stickers and candy as prizes on many occasions. We ended the year after the last test with Root beer floats.

Again, thank you so much for sharing your kids for the hour. We had a great year and hope your child takes all the learnings into the next year.

We look forward to seeing you again at HATS, next year.

May 6th-

Material Covered in Class:

We continued with our Class Presentation practice one more time. And we got the posters back from all but one remaining student.

Homework:

Please revise the shlokas on the back of the book and the Jai Ganesh bhajan.
The kids will be saying them as part of the class presentation on Sunday May 20th.

April 29th-

Material Covered in Class:

We had a fun class today. We continued practicing for the class presentation. 4 kids are still missing their posters. Next week will be the last week to bring them in.
Then when all the kids arrived, we had the final test of the year. Most of the kids did well. We had a tie of 5 kids for the highest score.
To relieve the class of the stress from the test and enjoy the great weather, we had root beer floats outside. Kids got to run around and expend the high energy from the sugar and ice cream!

Homework:

Practice the shlokas at the back of the book. Kids that have not yet turned in their posters please do so by next week.
Our class presentation is now scheduled for the Annual day on May 20th.

April 22nd-

Material Covered in Class:

We had an amazing class, with 100% attendance, despite being off for two weeks and having an extended class! We started off class, by making sure all the kids knew the dates for everything.
Here are the important ones -
April 29th: We have a test next week, on the letters M-Z, and 2 bonus questions from A-L. There will be root beer floats and vanilla ice cream after the test.
May 20th: We are having our class presentation, so we need all the students to be at temple by 9:45 that day. They will saying the morning prayers in the Assembly and introducing themselves by presenting the posters that they made about their names and what they mean.
May 20th: The Annual Day.
There are four students who still need to bring their posters. Next week is the last week when they will be able to bring in the posters before the Class presentation.
During class we learned about the letters X, Y, and Z.
The word we learned for the letter X was Kshama, which means forgiveness.
For Y, we learned Yoga, Yashodha, and Yajna.
- We told them the story about Krishna’s birth as well. One day, Kansa, Krishna’s Uncle, was told that his nephew would kill him because he was a bad King. As a result, he locked up his sister Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva. Whenever Devaki had a child, he would kill him, and he did that six times. The seventh child was Lord Brahma. The seventh child was the one that disappeared into a voice and said “The one that will kill you will be born soon.” Then Krishna was born. He was born when all the guards fell asleep. The prison door also unlocked, so Vasudeva took Krishna to the river. It was pouring and dark outside, so the Sheshnaga, the snake that Lord VIshnu rests on served as an umbrella for Krishna. When Vasudeva reached the river, it was overflowing from the rain. He took Krishna on his head and started walking through the river. The river kept on going higher and higher up until it touched Krishna’s feet. As soon as the water touched the feet, the river immediately calmed down. Vasudeva went to Dwarka where he met his friend Yashodha, and they switched babies.
For Z, we taught them about sleep, and they all practiced a five minute yoga nidra.
After that, we reviewed every word from each letter M through Z. Debbie Auntie also gave away the answers to some of the test questions.

April 1st-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we went over the letters U, V, and W.
The words in U are Uma which is another name for goddess Parvati.
Utsava is our main festivals. For example Holi Diwali.
In the letter V we learnt the words Veda which are the four book the gods wrote. These are the books 1. Rigveda 2. amavada 3. Yajurveda 4. Atharvaveda.
The final letter is W. The words in W are work. They say that bhagavan does not like to be a couch potato and be lazy he wants us to be working.
The final word is Worship. We learnt over the year that there are nine different ways to show our bhakti to Bhagavan, One way is Worship.

Homework:

Please review the prayers in the back of the book.
We still need a couple of posters from some people.
We also have a test coming up that consists of the whole book, so please prepare.

March 25th-

Material Covered in Class:

We started off class by revising the words from the letter “S”.
First we discussed Saraswati.
- We told them that they should always respect books and technology because we can learn from them.
Then we talked about Shiva, and what each ornament on his body represents.
We talked about seva, svarga, and satya.
- Seva means that every job is important.
- To give them an example, we told them a story about Krishna. One day, Yudishtra was having a puja, and when guests come over, they usually help the host. Krishna came very late, so there wasn’t much work to do. The only job left was cleaning the dirty dishes. All the guests told Krishna that since he was a God and King, he didn’t have to do it. After dinner, none of the guests could find Krishna, so they started looking for him. They found him cleaning the dirty dishes in the kitchen. This shows that even Krishna, an Avatara of Vishnu, helped clean dishes, or do seva at a party.
- Svarga is another meaning for heaven, and satya is truth.
Then we learned about the letter T, with the words Tilak and Teertha.
- Tilak is the mark that people doing pujas put on their forehead, and teertha is a good place for worshipping.
After that, we went upstairs to the temple to see the celebrations going on for Ram Navami.

March 11th-

Material Covered in Class:

In class we reviewed P and Q. Then we moved on to the letter R.
We reviewed 4 words with R - Rani, Rishi Respect and Rama. One of the kids came up with another name starting with R-Ravana.
We told them about the Ramayana - another Dharma word starting with R. We spoke of how Hanuman showed Respect to Rama by being his friend through the years in the forest and during the war. We then spoke of how Rama showed Respect to his father by agreeing to keep his word and going to the forest. Next we spoke of how Bharat showed Respect for Rama by ruling the kingdom in His absence and returning it to Him, when Rama came back from the years in Forest. We spoke of Sita inspite of being a Rani decided to accompany Rama out of respect.
Lastly, we talked about Rishi and how a Rishi spends time worshiping god and reading the holy books.

Homework:

Please go over the prayers in the back of the book and if you have not brought your poster in please do because we will be presenting them and saying the prayers.
Please also note that the annual day has moved to May 13th from the 6th. Please let us know if you will not be able to make it.

March 4th-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we did Meditation. We started off with our morning prayers, and then a story.
The story was about a poor man, and a genie. One day, a poor man was sitting on a beach, wondering what he should be doing, when he saw a bottle floating in the ocean. As the bottle came closer, he saw there was a cloud thing with eyes and a tail inside. The poor man picked it up, and thought about whether he should open it or not. He decided to open it, and a genie came out. The genie said “Hello! I am a genie, and you can ask me any wish, and I will grant it to you. A warning though, I need to keep on doing a job. If you let me go without a task to do, then I will become your boss. A reminder, I am an amazing helper, but a terrible boss.” The poor man thought, should I really take the chance of letting this genie become the boss of me? Then, he came to the conclusion that since he is poor, he will always need something. That way, he can keep the genie occupied for a long time. The poor man started off by asking him for the best meal in the whole world. The genie gave it to him. The man thought Wow this really works! Then, he asked the genie for a huge house. Soon, by the end of the day, the poor man had everything he ever wanted. Then he started to panic, what more can I ask of him? I have everything that I need without even working for it. He did what all people do when they need help-ask his teacher. He told the genie to take him to the mountain that his teacher lived on, and the genie took him to it in the blink of the eye. Then the poor man went inside and told his teacher what had happened. His teacher told him that he should ask the genie to get him a bamboo tree. Then, whenever the poor man didn’t have a job for the genie, he could tell him to climb up and down the tree.
In the story, the genie represents the mind. The mind always needs a task, otherwise it will make you their slave. That’s where meditation comes in hand. Meditation makes the mind climb up and down the tree. After that, we meditated for 10 minutes.

Homework:

Due to the recent weather related closure of the school and loss of the auditorium for 2 weekends in April, our class presentation has been pushed out by a week to May 13th. Hope the kids are still able to make it. There are some kids that are yet to turn in their posters. If you are unsure if your child has turned in his/her poster or not, please contact the teachers or any of the teenage volunteers - Jeevan or Rani.

February 18th-

Material Covered in Class:

In class we reviewed the letters M,N,O and a little bit of P.
Since many people came late we revised these letters by playing Hangman. We split up into 2 teams. These teams were Jeevan and the students Vs. Rani and Debbie aunty.
We also reviewed words that were on the test that many students missed.
This particular word was Japa and Japa mala.
As people came in we started class and reviewed the prayers for the annual day.
As the class progressed we went through 2 stories and they were both about patience and how when you take your time you will come to a different conclusion than you anticipated. During the end of the class we went over the prayers and finished class.

Homework:

Please parents work with our child on the song "Jay Ganesha jay Ganesha".
Also review the prayers in the back of the book as well.
IF you have not finished the poster please bring it in as soon as possible.

February 11th-

Material Covered in Class:

The class got their test results back and kids did exceptionally well. There was a tie for the highest place and most scored over 65%. Kids got rewarded for their hard and good work with candy.
We went on with regular class work revising M and completing N, O and P. We did M for
Mandir where we all come and pray, also known as the temple.
Mata - another name for mother. Kids learnt about the good habits like listening to their mothers, helping with chores, etc.
Mantra - prayers like the Gayatri Mantra
Muruga - another name for Kartikeya
Murti - the idol that we worship at home and at the mandir.
One of the kids came up with their own M word - Mahisasura. We also played hangman to get to the name.
For N we did Narayanan, another name for Vishnu, and Narak, where people spend their lives for doing bad deeds.
O we learned about Obedience and Om.
P introduced Pita and Parvati.
Jeevan told the kids a story of Vishnu and how he rescued the Elephant from the jaws of the crocodile. Rani told the story of Parvati and her love for Shiva with Valentine's Day coming up.

Homework:

Please talk to your kids about these stories. Some kids are yet to turn in their posters. We have a few more weeks, but please do turn them in. Many thanks those that have turned them in. It's fun and amazing to see the creative way the kids are expressing the meaning of their names. It will be a wonderful showcase on the day we go on Stage for our turn - May 6th. Please let us know if you are not able to be there.
It's a pleasure to be spending time with your kids. Thank you for entrusting them for almost an hour with us.

January 28th-

Material Covered in Class:

We started off class by saying our daily prayers, practicing the bhajan, and welcoming a new student, Arnav.
Then, we handed out the tests on letters A-L.
Most of the kids did very well, and we are proud of their scores.
We will hand out treats next week for their performance.
After the test, we learned about the letter M.
The words were Mandir, Muurti, Ma, Mantra, and Muruga.
The kids came up with Ma and Mantra by themselves which was very encouraging.
We also went over some good and bad habits after that.
The kids will get their test scores back next week.

January 21st-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we discussed the letter L.
The four words that go with the letter are Lotus, Linga, Lakshmi, and Lobha.
The lotus is what Devi Lakshmi sits on. We did a small exercise in which we were supposed to count how many lotus flowers were in the picture.
The next term in the letter was Shiva-Linga. We said what the three different types of shapes of lord Shiva is the Linga.
We discussed who Devi Lakshmi is.
The final word is Lobha which means to be greedy. Rani told a story in which it described what the definition of Lobha is.
We went up stairs and saw the god and also saw the performance that they were doing.

Homework:

Next week there is a test and please get in the posters for the annual day.

January 7th-

Material Covered in Class:

We hope everbody had a great winter break, and happy new year!
We started off class by sharing what we did over Winter Break.
There were trips ranging from Cancun, to staying at home and playing video games.
We got into the class mode and reviewed the slokas on page 89 of their books.
We also learned the first sloka on page 90.

Homework:

Please make them revise the slokas we learn in class at home because on May 6th we will be leading them in front of the entire assembly. On May 6th they will also be chanting the Jai Ganesh song we’ve been learning, as well as presenting the posters on the meaning of their names. Encourage your kids to finish their poster as soon as possible-we’ve only recieved four completed posters so far (Vidya, Saksham, Aria, and Sohum). Please let us know if there are any questions and if we can help in any way. After going over the slokas, we revised every letter we’ve learned so far (Letters A-K).
Important: There will be a quiz on letters A-L on January 21st (Letter L will be bonus as we are going over it next week). Please encourage your kids to read the book and what the letters stand for, in the next two weeks.

December 17th-

Material Covered in Class:

This class we mainly focused on learning the shlokas on page 89 of their books.
On May 6th, which is the day we are presenting (With their posters), the kids will be leading the prayers for assembly. We worked on the pronunciation, and the kids should know the songs fairly well, but we’ll go over them in class every week. We also went over the Jai Ganesha song, which all the kids should have copies of as I handed out new ones in class for those who forgot.
After that, we learned about the letter K. The letter K stands for Krodha, Karma, Krishna, and Kartikeya.
We talked about how there are three ways of achieving karma, physically, mentally, and verbally. There also two different types of karma-good and bad. We did an exercise on identifying the types of getting karma and the differences between good and bad karma.
Then we told the story about how Kartikeya and Ganesha fought about a fruit that Naradha brought them. Kartikeya and Ganesha were fighting about who should get the fruit. Then Naradha said whoever goes around the world three times first would win the fruit. While Kartikeya went around the whole world three times, Ganesha went around Shiva and Parvati three times. When Kartikeya came back and saw Ganesha beat him he got mad and said he cheated. Ganesha said that his parents were the world to him, so he went around them three times. Then, Naradha gave Ganesha the fruit.
At the end of class we told a story about karma and krodha. One day a King named Parikshit was hunting in the forest. He got very thirsty, so he looked for somewhere to drink some water. He stumbled across a Rishi meditating in the forest. He asked the Rishi for water, but the Rishi didn’t respond. He was so thirsty he became irate, and started yelling at Rishi, but he was mediating so deeply, he didn’t notice. Frustrated, Parikshit found a dead snake and put it on the Rishi, and took water from the Rishi’s house. When the Rishi’s disciples found the dead snake on him, they told the Rishi’s son. The Rishi’s son became furious with Parikshit for doing that, so he cursed him saying Parikshit would be bitten by a snake and die in 7 days. When the Rishi came out of mediation and found out what happened, he told his son that although Parikshit had done bad karma due to Krodha, so did his son, but unfortunately, the curse couldn’t be repealed and Parikshit died.
Then we ended class with closing prayers which we will learn later in the year.
Have a great winter break, happy holidays, and we’ll see you January 7th!

December 10th-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we discussed the letter J. In the letter we discussed the word japa. Japa means to be focused in what you are doing. We discussed how doing japa mala will help us focus our minds and help us to think of God. To practice Japa in class we talked about writing a God name 18 times. After we completed writing our favorite God we meditated for 5 minutes. Rani and I told the kids 2 stories. Both of the tales were about Arjun and his focus and determination to complete the tasks that were given to him.
Story #1: Arjun was with his guru Parshuram. The pandavas were practicing archery. The guru asked each of the pandavas what do you see. Most of the Pandavas said that they see the birds eye, forest mangoes and leaves. But when Arjun came he said that he only sees the birds eye. The Guru was impressed with Arjun's answer and was ordered to shoot the arrow.
Story #2: Arjun was a grown man and was married. He entered a competition. This was a special competition for only the best archers. The archers were suppose to shoot the eye of the fish which is dangling above a basin of water. They were also told they cannot look at the fish but only see the reflection. Arjun shot the arrow and it hit the fishes eye.With his determination and japa he won the challenge.
The moral of both the stories is that determination and focus will help you to attain perfection. Doing Japa regularly helps oneself to improve in these qualities.

Homework:

For next week please know the prayers in the back of the book( first 3)
Also please review the Ganesh song that was given out in class.

December 3rd-

Material Covered in Class:

We started off class with a small warm-up activity. Each kid wrote abut three things they’re thankful for. Then, we started doing the letter I. The words we talked about were Ishvara and Ishta Devataa. Ishvara means that there is one God, and many forms of the God, such as Vishnu, Shiva, and Ganesha. We told them many stories in class today that exemplifies this.
Story 1:
There was a goldsmith named Narahari. He lived a town where there was a beautiful muurti of Vishnu. However, Narahari only worshipped Shiva, and would refuse to go to the temple of Vishnu. One day, a rich merchant decided he wanted to have a son. He prayed to Lord Vishnu, and said if he was to get a son, he would give Vishnu a gold waistband. The merchant got a baby son, and he went to Narahari to make Vishnu a belt. Narahari refused to take measurements of Vishnu, because he would not go to the temple. As a result, the merchant went and got the measurement, and the goldsmith made the belt. When the merchant went to put the belt on, it was too small. Then, the merchant asked Narahari if he could add a small part to the belt. When he did, the belt was too big for the Muurti. Frustrated, he asked Narahari to go and measure the waist, and reluctantly, he agreed on one condition-he would go blindfolded. When Narahari put his arms around Vishnu’s waist, he felt tiger skin. He was very confused, because Shiva wears a tiger skin around his waist. He took his blindfold off, and saw that it was indeed Vishnu, and there wasn’t a tiger skin there. When he put his arms around it again, the same thing happened. This happened a few times and that was when he realized that Shiva was trying to tell him that all of Gods are just forms of one Supreme Being.
Story 2:
One day, Vishnu came home really late. Lakshmi got annoyed, and asked Him why he comes home late all the time. He told her that He has to feed every creature before He can eat himself. Lakshmi decided to test to see if He really did feed each creature. She caught an ant, and put in in a jar, and put the jar in a cupboard. When Vishnu came home, she asked Him if he had fed every single creature that day. When he said yes, she took out the ant in the jar, but was shocked to find the ant was eating a small piece of sugar. That’s when she realized that Vishnu really does feed all the creatures.
Story 3:
One day, Akbar asked all his friends, if they thought he was greater than God. His friends got scared, because they did not want to make Akbar angry by saying God is the greatest of all, so they kept quiet. Then, Birbal got up and said, “Sir, you are greater than God.” Akbar was really happy that Birbal said that, because Birbal never lied. Birbal said, “You are greater than him because you can do something he can’t do. You can banish someone from your kingdom. But God cannot banish anyone from His kingdom.” Then Akbar understood that Bhagavan was the emperor of the universe, therefore, he cannot throw anyone out form his kingdom. Wherever that person goes, they will still be in His kingdom.
Story 4:
A traveler passing through a forest was really tired, so he sat below a banyan tree to rest. He began to wonder why God made such small fruit on such a large tree. Then, a fruit fell on his head, but since the fruit was so small it didn’t hurt him. That was when he figured out that God thought about how if travelers wanted to rest underneath the tree, and a big fruit fell, it would hurt them a lot.
Story 5:
Gopala was a boy who lived with his mother at the edge a forest. He wasn’t very rich, but he managed to get by. When Gopala had to get to school, he would have to cross the forest alone, and he was vey scared to do it by himself. His mother told him that his “brother” in the forest will help him get through. Then, when he walked through the forest, he called out for his brother, and Krishna showed up. Krishna helped him walk through the forest every day, and talked to him and made him comfortable. One day, the teacher told him that they were having a party, and everyone should bring a snack for all the kids to eat. When Gopala told his mom, she said she didn’t have much food to give, and gave him a small bowl. She told him to ask his brother in the forest to help him. When Krishna asked Gopala why he was holding an empty small bowl, he explained what happened. Krishna then filled the bowl with Kheer, and told him to go to school with that. When he got to school all the kids laughed at how little he brought, but when each took a little, they said it was the best kheer they had ever tasted. However, when the bowl was finished it kept on refilling by itself. The teacher asked Gopala where he got the kheer from, and he responded by saying his friend in the forest gave it to him. The teacher asked Gopala if he could show him who the friend was, and they realized it was none other then Krishna himself.
Story 6:
One day, Birbal told Akbar the story of Gajendra and Vishnu. Akbar liked the story, but didn’t think that Vishnu himself should have saved the elephant. He thought that he should have sent a servant to do it. Birbal decided to trick Akbar to teach him a lesson. He asked a servant to make a wax statue of the Prince, Akbar’s son. Then, the servant told Akbar that his “son” was drowning. Akbar immediately dove into the water and saved his “son”, which was actually a wax statute. Birbal then asked him why he jumped into the water when he could’ve just asked one of his servants to. Akbar told him it was because it was his son, and he loves his son a lot. That was when Birbal explained to him, that that’s how Vishnu thinks of the world, which is why he saved the elephant.
All these stories talk about the letter I, Ishvara, and that God is omnipresent.
Then we ended class with closing prayers.

November 19th-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we reviewed the letter G and moved on to the letter H.
The words that are in the letter G are guru, Gayatri, Gita, Ganesh, Ganga.
- Guru means teacher.
- We gave example to the class and asked them if these were gurus or not.
- We also covered the Gayatri Mantra which is the best prayer to worship god. We should say the prayers when we wake up early in the morning.
- We explained to the kids what the Gita was and told them the story about how Arjun received the Gita teachings from Krishna during the Mahabharata war. We told them a little about the Mahabharata-the epic war of right over wrong and the triumph of Dharma over Adharma.
- Next we covered all the parts of Ganesh and what they mean. Why he has small eyes, big ears, large belly.
- Finally we explained the story of the Ganga river to the kids and why Lord Shiva's had to come to Bhagiratha’s help when Ganga was brought to earth by him. The kids found it fascinating to know why the Ganga flows out of Shiva’s head.
With the letter H, we covered Hindu, Hanuman, Humility, and Holi.
- We discussed the value of Hinduism and how old it is.
- We also went over Holi which we get to throw colors and have a blast.
- We told the kids a little about Ramayana and how Hanuman and Lord Rama became friends. We learnt about the greatness, strength and humility of Hanuman.
- We also discussed Humility and how it is important in our daily lives. Through the story of Bheem and Hanuman we told them not to show-off a lot because that will change how you think of things.
We ended the class with a colored poster for each kid.

Homework:

Over the holidays encourage the kids to do some research on what their name means in Hinduism and come up with creative ways to describe it.
They can start with say Krishna - an Avatar of Vishnu. And then show pictures or drawings of various important and popular/familiar events about Krishna. They can add in as much creativity as they want.
On the annual day, they will be on stage telling their name and what it means. And we will all stand in a rainbow of the poster colors, as a representation of what we learnt in Level 2B - A B C of Dharma.

November 12th-

Material Covered in Class:

We took the opportunity to go over all the letters we had learned so far (A-E).
After that, we started learning the words from letter F, which were faith, friendship, and fault-finding. They listened to a story about friendship. One day Siddhartha (Buddha’s first name) was in his palace and he saw a swan fall from the sky because it was shot by an arrow. His brother, Devadatta had left earlier that day to go hunting. Siddhartha ran to the bird, and nursed it back to health. When his brother came home, he told Siddhartha that the bird was mine, because I killed it. They took the dilemma to the King, and he said the swan belonged to Siddhartha because it is more important to save a life than to take one. Siddhartha showed the swan that he was a good friend by taking care of it. Kids learnt that saving a life is a better form of friendship.
We also heard a story about fault finding. One day, Kripicharya asked Duryodhana and Yudishtira to find someone with all good qualities, and someone with all evil qualities. Duryodhana looked all around the world and couldn’t find one person with no evil qualities. He came to the conclusion that he himself, was the only good person, with no bad qualities. Meanwhile, Yudishtira couldn’t find anyone with no good qualities, and came to the conclusion that he was a bad person, because he had evil qualities. This shows how Duryodhana looked for faults in other people, while Yudishtira looked for faults in himself.
After that we talked about letter G. The words we went over were Gayatri, Ganesha, and Ganga. We went over the Gayatri mantra, and its meaning on page 89 of the book. Then we talked about Ganesha, and what he does. We learned about the Ganges River, and how pure its water is.

Homework:

A small reminder about the class project we have. The kids should put together a poster about what they’re name means. We will give the kids poster boards next week.

November 5th-

Material Covered in Class:

Today we took the test and everyone did very well.
I brought treats in so the kids could have the candy while they do the test. After everyone finished the test we gave them more candy and explained the letter E to them.
The words in letter E are as following: 1. ek 2. ekta and 3. earth.
Ek means one.
- Rani told them a story about an elephant.
Talked about what the word ekta means.
- The word ekta means unity.
We told the kids about the importance of Mother Earth and how to clean up after yourself.
- We gave them a few examples like you should shut of lights or pick up trash when you see it on the ground.
At the end of the class we made a quick trip upstairs to see the procession of Lord Vishnu being carried on Sesha Vahanam. The last three days were the celebration of Kartigai Deepam.

October 29th-

Material Covered in Class:

Today in class we had Meditation.
We started off with a story about being focused, and not getting distracted. There once was a mouse who was getting old. One day he started thinking about how his grandchildren would think of him, and he realized that he hadn't done anything extremely memorable. He didn't have any good stories to tell his grandchildren. With that thought troubling him, he wondered what he should do. He decided that he would race the King of the Jungle, also known as the Lion. He didn't care if he would lose or win, he just wanted to race with the Lion.
The mouse went to the Lion's house, and asked him if he would race with the mouse. The Lion just laughed at the mouse, and said, "Why would I race with a small mouse like you? You have no chance of winning." The mouse just replied with, "I don't care if I win or not. I just want to race against you." The Lion agreed to race against the mouse, but only with one condition. No one else should hear about the race. He said that all the other animals would laugh at him if they realized that he was racing against a mouse. The mouse asked the lion if his friend the monkey could race with them for fun, and if his friend, the ant could be at the finish line and hold up the winners flag. The Lion agreed to let his friends to be there. They agreed for the race to start at 6 am the following morning. The mouse went home and prayed to God to let him at least finish the race.
The next day the mouse arrived at the race at 5 in the morning. Later, at 5:50, the monkey, ant, and the lion arrived. The race started at 6'o clock in the morning sharp. The lion started off taking big leaps from his strong leg muscles. The monkey swung from tree to tree, using its strong arm muscles. The mouse started off with small, but sure and consistent steps, and was soon left behind in the dust. Later in the race, when the lion was in the lead, his friend the tiger saw him running. The tiger asked the lion why he was running so early in the morning. The lion said, "I'm in a race right know, could you please talk to me later?" The tiger asked the lion who he was racing against, and the lion didn't want to tell him. Finally, the Lion told the tiger that he was racing against the mouse. The tiger roared with laughter. "You, racing with a mouse! You're the King of the Jungle, what are you doing racing against a small mouse?" The lion quietly explained that the mouse asked him, and he agreed. The tiger told the Lion, that since he was already so far ahead, he should do a mini race with him, and then join back into the race later. The lion, already flustered, agreed, so he started running with the tiger in the opposite direction of the race.
Meanwhile, the monkey saw some bananas on a tree. Since the monkey was feeling hungry, he decided to stop, and eat some bananas. Soon, the monkey became slow because he ate so much. He started to feel tired, and took a small nap. While all this was going on, the mouse was still running, consistently, and focused. When it began to get dark, the mouse saw the finish line, and the ant, and tiredly reached it. He was very surprised when the ant lifted up to winners flag. The mouse asked the ant where the lion and the monkey were. The ant said she didn't know, all she knew was the mouse was the first one to cross the finish line. The lion started running back to the finish line, and the monkey woke up from his long sleep, and when they crossed the finish line, they were shocked to see the mouse had already won. The lion and the monkey realized that the mouse had been so focused and determined to finish the race, he had won, even when he was at a severe disadvantage.
- The moral of the story was to not get distracted, and to pursue your goals, because the only thing holding you back is yourself.
After the story, we practiced mediating. We learned that first you have to calm your mind by not touching anyone, not moving, sitting in a comfortable pose, not eating, and gently closing our eyes during meditation. Then you have to try to clear your mind by focusing on something like the name of God.

Homework:

The test was postponed to next week, remember to study! The test is on letters A-D. Happy Halloween, and don't eat too much candy!!!!

October 22nd-

Material Covered in Class:

This week in class we covered the letter D.
The words that we covered are Dharma, Durga and Dussehra, Diwali, Daanam, and Dayaa.
Dharma means that we should always do good.
- We also told the kids to help there parents out around the house.
We told them the story about Durga and Dussehra and how he got killed.
Next we talked about why we celebrate Diwali and the story of Rama killing Raavan.
Then we explained to them what Daanam is.
- Danaam means sharing with others.
Finally we touched on what dayaa means. This word means kindness.
The class went on a field trip to go see the Annakoota. We saw the 100 different kinds of foods. We also prayed to each God before we went downstairs.
We explained to them why we always start with Ganesh when we pray to the Gods.

Homework:

Next week we have a test on A, B, C, and D.
- Parents please go over the material with your kids.
The prizes will be candy. Please inform the class teacher if your child has a food allergy.

October 15th-

Material Covered in Class:

We started off the class doing Hatha Yoga. First, we did breathing exercises for 4 minutes. Then we went through different poses. We did the cat, cow, cobra, tree, and chair poses. Some reasons why we do yoga is for flexibility, balance, and strength.
Cat Pose - Click HERE to view
Cow Pose - Click HERE to view
Cobra Pose - Click HERE to view
Tree Pose - Click HERE to view
Chair Pose - Click HERE to view
After Hatha Yoga, we did a short practice quiz to summarize what we did in the past classes. We'll probably have a quiz within the next 2 classes.
We talked about the letter C this week. The first word was cow. We heard the story about Kamadhenu. Kamadhenu was a divine cow who was capable of yielding all manner of riches. Indra, a God, gifted Sage Vasishta Nandini, Kamadhenu's calf who could do the same thing. One day, King Vishwamitra went hunting, and stumbled upon the Sage's home. They were very hungry, and Vasishta, using Nandini, made them a great feast. The King asked how he got so much food, and when Sage Vasishta told him about Nandini, greed overtook him. He immediately demanded the sacred cow be given to him, and when Vasishta refused, he took him by force. When Nandini heard, he grew angry, and created many soldiers to destroy the Kings soldiers. As a result, King Vishwamitra found that with all his might, he could not equal the ascetic power of Brahmana. He abandoned his kingdom, and became a hermit.
After that, we talked about Vishnu's Chakra. We listened to another story, about how Vishnu saved one of his Bhaktas. There was a King named Ambarisha who was a great Bhakta of Vishnu. He gave food to the poor, and fasted for him. Vishnu really liked the King. Unfortunately, other people became jealous of the King. One Rishi named Durvasa went to King Ambarisha's house for dinner. He told him that Ambarisha cannot eat until Durvasa was done bathing. Many hours past, and the Rishi was still bathing. He had also come in a time that King Ambarisha was fasting. The priests told the King he should drink some water because then Vishnu would mad. As soon as he took a sip, Durvasan came and started yelling at the King. Rishi Durvasan conjured a fiery demon to harm King Ambarisha. Vishnu came and threw his chakra at the demon and killed it. Then, the chakra started chasing Rishi Durvasa. Rishi Durvasa begged it to stop, and Vishnu told him the only way it would stop, was if he apologized to King Ambarisha. Once he apologized, everybody lived happily ever after.
We briefly touched on the topic of Chitta after that. We discussed about how it means heart and mind. There is atma in chitta, and you should always respect people's chitta.

October 1st-

Material Covered in Class:

Last class we talked about the letter B and what it stands for.
The letter B stands for Bhakti, Brahma, Bhaghavan, and Bhajan.
Bhakti means belief in God. Bhaghavan means the holy God.
We also talked about Brahma. Brahma is the creator who created the world.
Finally we talked about Bhajan. Bhajan means that we sing a pleasing song to god with Bhakti.
At the end of class we played hangman with the words that we learned in the letters A and B.

Homework:

Next class we will be talking about the letter C.
We also have a small project that we told all the kids to find out.
We told them to find out what there names mean as a project.
During annual day we will make it into a poster and present it in front of everyone.
Please make sure that you bring a pencil, notebook, book, and an eraser.

September 24th-

Material Covered in Class:

We started off class by introducing everyone and getting to know each other better. Kids shared a little bit about themselves. Even though we had a large number of kids loving to play videogames, it was good to see some loving to play soccer, football, read, and play with their friends.
Then we started to talk about the A-B-C's of Dharma. We explored dharma words that started with the letter A.
The first letter being A-Aum-Aatma-Aahimsa. The first word we discussed was Aum. Aum originates from the 3 muurtis, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Maheshwara the destroyer. The students learned that the "A" is from the last letter in Brahma's name, the "U" is from the last letter of Vishnu's name, and the "M" is from the first letter of Maheswara's name. The other word we talked about was Athma. We talked about where you can find Athma,(in living organisms), and how it means "soul".
The last thing we did was learn the Ganesh Aarti, (They should have gotten a hand out). For all classes they should come prepared with a notebook, pencil, eraser, and their textbook.

Homework:

For the class project, they should also be thinking about what their name means, and how it can connect to dharma.

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