Hari OM.
The enthusiastic and energetic fifth graders all assembled in A115, and once they were divided into two groups, Section I moved on to room A116. We set up our classroom and the Altar. The class chanted OM three times and meditated for a few minutes. Those few minutes of silence took all the kids and teachers to a state of ease and peace, and when the lights were switched back on, we were all-set for our exciting new class.
The kids were given a folder with prayers they would be learning this year, blog card, and a flyer with information to be shared with parents. We request the parents to review this information with the children before their next BV class. Kids were handed labels to personalize their folder. Each kid then made a Name Tag with a sheet of white paper.
We tossed a ball across the class and the kid holding the ball introduced themselves. Each one of them shared their interesting summer experiences: experiences with grand-parents, chilling days at the beach, fun at water theme-parks, elephant-rides, camel-rides, watching U.S Open live, watching Olympics events, cruise journey to Alaska, visiting monuments like Taj-Mahal, participating in maha-samadhi camp, and other exciting camps. Wow! What a great summer vacation each one of us have had!
We then discussed about what we are going to learn in fifth grade BV. The children took turns guessing, and mentioned various Gods: Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, and when the answer was yes to all of them, they rightly guessed that they were going to learn about all the Gods :) Yes! In fifth grade we are going to learn about the symbolism in Hinduism: what AUM symbolises, why Lord Ganesha has an Elephant Head, Why Lord Nataraja holds fire and damaru in his hands, and Why Vishnu is lying on a thousand-headed serpent-Adisesha, and so many more thought-provoking facts like these. We also want the kids to be inquisitive and start understanding Why we do certain things in a specific way in our Hindu culture.
We then discussed the significance of Symbols, and why Humans have always designed symbols. The class recalled symbols they have seen so far. First one was the Flag. When asked what they were paying respect to by saluting a country's Flag, the answer was "The country that values Liberty and Justice for all". The kids answers made us, teachers, understand the level of comprehension at this age they all had. We then discussed about OM-AUM and its significance.
Next we had a Quiz-Round in identifying symbols. The class correctly identified all the symbols including Bio-Hazard symbols, Deer Crossing Traffic Sign, Slytherin House Emblem/Logo, etc. When showed the Deathly Hallows symbol, a kid stood up and answered "Invisibility Cloak, Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone". Well we were not a bit surprised to see Hary Potter Fans :) We stopped our activity with the Yin-Yang symbol. Kids were asked to find out more about how this symbol was designed, before they come to their next class. In short, it was solid confirmation for us that a SYMBOL always reminds us the thing or fact or ideal it represents.
We then concluded our first wonderful class by chanting our closing prayers. Kids returned their Name Tag Sheet to be re-used for the next class and put their chairs back in their place. We lined up and dispersed to the auditorium for Arti and Pledge.
Eagerly looking forward to our next class on Sep 23rd.
Anjana Aunty & Prasad Uncle
The enthusiastic and energetic fifth graders all assembled in A115, and once they were divided into two groups, Section I moved on to room A116. We set up our classroom and the Altar. The class chanted OM three times and meditated for a few minutes. Those few minutes of silence took all the kids and teachers to a state of ease and peace, and when the lights were switched back on, we were all-set for our exciting new class.
The kids were given a folder with prayers they would be learning this year, blog card, and a flyer with information to be shared with parents. We request the parents to review this information with the children before their next BV class. Kids were handed labels to personalize their folder. Each kid then made a Name Tag with a sheet of white paper.
We tossed a ball across the class and the kid holding the ball introduced themselves. Each one of them shared their interesting summer experiences: experiences with grand-parents, chilling days at the beach, fun at water theme-parks, elephant-rides, camel-rides, watching U.S Open live, watching Olympics events, cruise journey to Alaska, visiting monuments like Taj-Mahal, participating in maha-samadhi camp, and other exciting camps. Wow! What a great summer vacation each one of us have had!
We then discussed about what we are going to learn in fifth grade BV. The children took turns guessing, and mentioned various Gods: Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, and when the answer was yes to all of them, they rightly guessed that they were going to learn about all the Gods :) Yes! In fifth grade we are going to learn about the symbolism in Hinduism: what AUM symbolises, why Lord Ganesha has an Elephant Head, Why Lord Nataraja holds fire and damaru in his hands, and Why Vishnu is lying on a thousand-headed serpent-Adisesha, and so many more thought-provoking facts like these. We also want the kids to be inquisitive and start understanding Why we do certain things in a specific way in our Hindu culture.
We then discussed the significance of Symbols, and why Humans have always designed symbols. The class recalled symbols they have seen so far. First one was the Flag. When asked what they were paying respect to by saluting a country's Flag, the answer was "The country that values Liberty and Justice for all". The kids answers made us, teachers, understand the level of comprehension at this age they all had. We then discussed about OM-AUM and its significance.
Next we had a Quiz-Round in identifying symbols. The class correctly identified all the symbols including Bio-Hazard symbols, Deer Crossing Traffic Sign, Slytherin House Emblem/Logo, etc. When showed the Deathly Hallows symbol, a kid stood up and answered "Invisibility Cloak, Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone". Well we were not a bit surprised to see Hary Potter Fans :) We stopped our activity with the Yin-Yang symbol. Kids were asked to find out more about how this symbol was designed, before they come to their next class. In short, it was solid confirmation for us that a SYMBOL always reminds us the thing or fact or ideal it represents.
We then concluded our first wonderful class by chanting our closing prayers. Kids returned their Name Tag Sheet to be re-used for the next class and put their chairs back in their place. We lined up and dispersed to the auditorium for Arti and Pledge.
Eagerly looking forward to our next class on Sep 23rd.
Anjana Aunty & Prasad Uncle
