Bala Ramayana - Class A

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Bala Ramayana Class A Syllabus - Spring 2012 Semester
Bala Ramayana Class A Listing - Spring 2012 Semester


April 15, 2012 - Week 14 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Prayers: We began reciting the opening prayers,recited the guru stothram. This week, we introduced a new prayer which is used when lighting lamps. 

shubam karoti kalyanam

Arogyam dhana sampadah

Shatrugna buddhi vinashaya

deepa jyotir namostute.

Which means we pray with folded hands and thank you for giving us good health and wealth. Giving us good knowledge which can decipher between good deeds and bad and to throw away any bad thoughts. Light our lives and dispel the darkness.

Activity: We built dholis that shravan Kumar used to carry his blind parents. The kids enjoyed putting together the dholis with straw,yarn and disposable cups. They learned the value of respecting parents and how important it is to take good care of them.

We also introduced Japa Malays to each child and to think of their favorite deity and close their eyes and chant names as a way to calm their minds.

Closing Prayers: We finally concluded with the closing prayer. We will begin working on the skit from next week. Bringing in your children promptly to gurukulam will greatly help us.

 


April 8, 2012 - Week 13 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

In today's class, we covered the story about Guha's hospitality towards Rama. We also learned the story of Shravan and how he was accidentally shot by Dasaratha.

Shravan Kumars parents told Dasaratha that he would also have to go through the pain of longing to see his son later in life. Dasaratha, in his death bed narrates the story to Kausalya and asks for forgiveness.

We started with the opening prayers and also learned the guru stothram (see April 1 update).

The children did some coloring activities.

We had a fun filled day!

 

April 1, 2012 - Week 12 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Opening prayer: Children chanted the below Gurustotram.

Akhandamandalakaram vyaptam yena characharam

tatpadam darsitam yena tasmai srigurave namah.

Sloka competition: In order to encourage the kids to learn sloka we are doing an competition on this sloka this week.

Story: Revised the story done so far: Happy Ayodhya, The poisonous seed, Rama pledges his word.

This class we did

  • To the forest- Journey of Lord Rama to the forest
  • Lakshmana Indigence- How lakhmana has showered his love and affection and choose to go to the forest along with his brother Rama.
  • Sitas Decision- why sita took the decision to go along with Rama and did she convince Rama.

Activity: kids played the game I am Rama.

It was a great class with the lovable kids.


March 25, 2012 - Week 11 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

  • In today's class, we recapped Sita's swayamvara and the jubiliation in Mithila.
  • Welcoming of Rama and Sita at Ayodhya. 
  • We also learned about Parasuram challenging Rama. Parasuram lost and was sent back to meditate.
  • In Ayodhya, Mantara sows the poisonous seed in kaikeyi and how kaikeyi gets swayed and asks for BhArata to be crowned the king and to send Rama to the forest for 14 long years.
  • We will learn more in the next class. 
  • We started with the opening prayer and ended with fun coloring activities. 
  • We will learn more about Dasaratha in the next class.


March 18, 2012 - Week 10 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

We had an interesting class this week, combining both the Bala Ramayana Class A and Bala Ramayana Class B, into 1 class. We had very few students due to Spring Break and the Holi Mela.

So we started with the opening prayers.

Story and Quiz Time: We revised the story done so far and then had a quiz between the girls and the boys. The competition format was very exciting for the kids and they participated with enthusiasm. We were very happy to see that spirit among them.

Shloka Time: Kids recited all the learnt slokas so far.

Activity Time: Class ended with the suryanamaskara.


March 4, 2012 - Week 8 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

We thank all the parents who took time and attended parent teacher conference, it went very well with lots of positive feedback and responses - this provides encouragement to the teachers. 

An outlook of the syllabus so far covered and the activities ,we do in class was explained , we have presented a project done on Ayodhya and also explained briefly. 

This week class started with Gurustotram:

akhandamandalakaram vyaptam yena caracaram

tat padam darsitam yena tasmai srigurave namah!

 

Meaning: salutions to the guru who showed me the abode that is to be known, whose form is the entire universe, and by whom all the movable and immovable are pervaded.

 

Story Time: King Janaka and Mithila

King Janaka was the ruler of Mithila, he was an ideal king. Janaka once decided to perform a yajna and did the custom ,he ploughed the land with his own hands, and found a divinely beautiful baby.

He accepted it as a gift from Mother Earth and named her Sita.

Therefore Sita reached the age of marriage, her father was worried whether he could find the right prince for sita, who was good enough for her and announced a Swayamvara.

The bow presented to his ancestors by lord varuna, was displayed in swayamvara and who could lift,string and bend the bow would marry sita.

Visvamitra along with Lord Ram and lakhmana attended the swayamvara. King Janaka welcomed Sage Visvamitra, and he was fortunate that the guru visited his kingdom.

Story will be continued.

Activity: Children colored the activity sheet and did suryanamaskara and we ended the session with closing prayer.

 

 

February 26, 2012 - Week 7 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Opening Prayers: We started with the opening prayers. The class recited the following shloka:

Ramaya Ramabhadraya Ramachandraya Vedhase

 

Raghunadhaya Nathaya sitayah pataye namah.

Recited the Vishnu Sahasranamam slokas done so far. 

Story Recap and Quiz Time: 

The story was revised in brief done so far and we had a quiz on what the children have learnt so far. All the kids took active part in the quiz.
It was very energetic for the teachers when we saw that the children have so much details and knowledge on the story done so far.

Activity Time: 

The children worked together on a coloring activity, Suryanamaskar and Dorbhikaranam.

Closing Prayers: 

We ended the class with our closing prayers.


February 19, 2012 - Week 6 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Opening Prayers: We started with the opening prayer. We did not have Vishnu Saharsanaman chanting this week.

Story Time: 

  • We continued the story of Rama and Lakshmana on their journey to Sage Vishwamitras ashram - Siddhashrama. 
  • Sage Vishwamitra tells them that the ashram was the hermitage of  Lord Vishnu when he took on the Vamana avatar. Vamana was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and came down on earth to end the powerful reign of King Mahabali ( grandson of Prahalad) and restore power back to Indra over the heavens. When Mahabali was conducting a yagna, Vishnu went in the guise of a short Brahmin and requested three steps of land. After Mahabali agrees, Vamana enlarges himself and strides over from Heaven to earth and Earth to Patala in two steps. When he asks where he can place the third step, Mahabali offers his own head. Thus Vamana places his foot on King Mahabali’ s head and gives him immortality for his benevolence. Being worshipped however by Mahabali and his ancestor Prahláda, he conceded to them the sovereignty of Pátála (netherworld).
  • They  reach sage Vishwamitra’s ashram where Lord Rama kills Subahu and sends Marichi flying into the ocean with just a single arrow. Marichi later appears in a different role in the Ramayan. 
  • The children did not want to stop there, so we continued with Lesson 6. 
  • Pleased with their performance, Vishwamitra gives Rama several divine weapons. He then proceeds to take them to Mithila to the palace of King Janaka to show them the great bow of Lord Shiva. 
  • On their way, they come across an abandoned ashram. Sage Vishwamitra explains that it was Sage Gautama’s ashram where he lived with his wife Ahalya. Ahalya was cursed and turned into a rock  by Sage Gautama after Indra plays a trick on her and pretends to be Sage Gautama. She is released by her curse when Lord Rama places his foot on the rock.

Activity: As a class activity, they  were asked to colour the cover pages of their folders and an activity showing Lord Rama and Lakshmana at Sage Vishwamitra’s ashram.

Closing: We did soorya namaskaram and dorbikaranams, said our closing prayer and the class was dismissed.

Looking forward to share more adventures in class. 


February 12, 2012 - Week 5 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Opening Prayers: We started with the opening prayer. We learnt and repeated lines from Vishnu sahasranamam.

Story Time: 

  • I continued the story of Rama and Lakshmana's path to Dandaka forest to kill Marica and Subahu. They passed through various ashramas. 
  • Vishwamitra gave Rama and lakshmana two prayers to protect themselves from any harm or fatigue. 
  • They come to Dandaka forest which was dark and covered with poisonous critters,snakes and scorpions.
  • Dandaka forest was the home of Tataka who is none other than the mother of Marica. Tataka was once a beautiful lady but was cursed by sage Agastya. She could be free from her sins only by a noble person. That person was Rama. Sage Vishwamitra advices Rama to free her from her sins.

Activity: As a class activity, they were asked to draw the Dandaka forsest. The kids did a great job drawing scorpions, ghosts and snakes.

Closing: We did 11 dorbikaranams, said our closing prayer and the class was dismissed.

Looking forward to share more adventures in class. 


February 5, 2012 - Week 4 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Hari Om! We started the class with our opening prayer.

Opening Prayers: We started with our opening prayers,chanted 3paragraphs of Vishnu sahasranamam and learnt a new prayer.

 

Tvam-Eva Maataa Ca Pitaa Tvam-Eva |

Tvam-Eva Bandhush-Ca Sakhaa Tvam-Eva |

Tvam-Eva Viidyaa Dravinnam Tvam-Eva |

Tvam-Eva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva ||

 
Meaning:
1: You Truly are my Mother And You Truly are my Father .
2: You Truly are my Relative And You Truly are my Friend.
3: You Truly are my Knowledge and You Truly are my Wealth.
4: You Truly are my All, My God of Gods.
 

Story Time: 

  • I shared the story about Dasaratha. His feelings towards his new born sons Rama,BhArata,Lakhsmana and Shatrugna. Each one had unique qualities. 
  • Rama was a born leader and very knowledgable. Lakshmana was impulsive and short tempered. Bharatha was noble and dutiful. Shatrugna was kind and gentle. 
  • Dasaratha's relationship with his guru, Sage Vashishta was shown when Maharishi Vishwamitra comes to Ayodhya to ask for Rama's help. 
  • The two rakshashas, Maricha and Subahu were constantly troubling and disturbing the Rishis while performing the Yagnas. 
  • Dasaratha was a little hesitant to send Rama who was barely 16 to go fight the rakhshasas. That made Vishwamitra angry. Vashista adviced Dasaratha to send Rama and lakshmana to protect the sages. Dasaratha listened to his guru and agreed to send Rama and Lakshmana.
  • We will learn more interesting facts in the next class. 

Activity: The kids had fun coloring scenes from Ramayana. The kids were very excited to listen to the story and partcipate in question and answer session. The gist of the story was to trust your teacher/parents and follow the advice which is always in the best interest of the children.

Special thanks to all parents for prioritizing gurukulam and sending the kids every Sunday. They are fun to work with.


January 29, 2012 - Week 3 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Hari Om! We started the class with our opening prayer.

Vishnu Sahasranamam: This week, we learnt the next 2 shlokas of the Poorva Peethika:


Topic of the day: 

  • Continued the story of Ayodhya, Mother Earth was in grip of terrible fear.
  • A wicked king called Ravana was terrorizing the earth. Lord Brahma had granted Ravana a boon that Devas,Asuras and Gandharvas cannot kill him, this made him arrogant in his own mighty powers and starting terrorizing the people. 
  • The Devas approached Lord Brahma. Brahma reminded them that Ravana could still meet his death in the hands of mankind. Devas hopefully huried to Lord Vishnu for help and sought his protection. 
  • When Dasaradha performed the yagna, Lord Vishnu was born in the form of the 4 sons of Dasaradha; Kausalya gave birth to Rama, Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata and Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Satrughna.

Activity: According to the description told of the beautiful city Ayodhya , children imagined and drew, colored - please see some posted below.  The activity sheets are hanged in the class room , parents can have a look. 

Closing Prayers: The class did Suryanamaskara and Dorbhikarnam and ended the class with closing prayer.

 

 

January 22, 2012 - Week 2 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Hari Om! We started the class with our opening prayer.

Vishnu Sahasranamam: This week, as announced at Assembly-time, we started Vishnu Sahasranamam - Poorva Peethika with the first 2 shlokas. Please practice these at home with your children:

Om Shuklam-baradharam Vishnum shashivarnam chaturbhujam | Prasanna vadanam dhyayet sarva vighnopa-shantaye ||

Vyasam vasistha-naptaram shakteh poutrama-kalmasham |Parasha-raatmajam vande shukatatam taponidhim ||

Topic of the day: We started the Bala Ramayanam 1st lesson Ayodhya. Ayodhaya means where there is no fight.Explained the beautiful city in simple terms so that they could imagine in their mind, the city was on the banks of the river Saryu. King Dasaradha had 3 wives Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. When the king had a problem went to his guru Sage Vasistha. Sage Vasistha took the king to Sage Rishyasringa, who advised the King to perform the Putrakamesti Yaga.
We will continue the story in the next class.

Activity: Children did an activity and filed it in their folders.

Closing Prayer: We ended the class with Closing Prayer.


January 15, 2012 - Week 1 Update for Bala Ramayanam Class A

Hari Om! This is the first class of Bala Ramayana - our class size consists of 25 students, we have new 8 kids in our class this semester - we welcome our wonderful new and continuing kids to our Bala Ramayana class - we teachers enjoy teaching them and look forward to it every week.

We will take the first few classes slowly to let our new students adapt to the class routine. Parents, we will be updating all the information on the website on weekly basis including the shlokas, please go through and encourage the kids to recite the shlokas at home also - have them repeat or talk about the story or activity done in the class.

We started by memorizing all the shlokas taught during last year - after that, we discussed Sankranthi and Pongal with the children - what they do, the cultures and customs they follow for this festival.

A quiz and game was done on Ramayana , by introducing about the names of the characters in the story.