Dharma 2A - ABC of Dharma

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 1

Teachers -

Teachers:

• Mythili Jadhav

• Archana Ramsankar

EMAIL teachers: Click HERE

Teenage Volunteers:

• Kirthna Subash (teen)

Class & Homework-

May 13th-

Today was the Final presentation for Level 2A.

All the children did a great job reciting the shlokas that they have been learning all around the year.

Each of the kids also got to present a few sentences about a God or Godess of their choice.

We are very proud of each and every one of them.

Later we had treats for the kids to celebrate the year end.

Archana, Mythily, Ela and Shaliny

April 29th-

Material Covered in Class:

• We did not cover any new materials. The children practised the shlokas for their upcoming performance on May 13th. The list with shloka and page number was given last week.

• The children also practised their lines about their chosen God/Godess.

April 22nd-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started with 3 Oms

• We practised the following shlokas. The children will be presenting these shlokas on May 6th. Please help the kids practise

• Gayatri Mantra - page 89

• Om Sahana vavatu - page 89

• Ganesha shloka - page 90

• Devi Saraswati - shloka page 90

• Shiva shloka - page 91

• Lakshmi shloka - page 93

• Krishna shloka - page 95

• Sarva Bavantu - Sukinaha page 96

• Asatoma sadgamaya - page 96

• S for Sanskrit We discussed how Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages of the world and was spoken by the Devas and Gods. The kids realised that they already know few words in sanskrit as most of the shlokas are in Sanskrit language

• S for Satya. We discussed how speaking the truth is very important.

• S for Svarga We discussed how doing good karma will take us to heaven and doing bad karma will take us to Hell.

March 25th-

Material Covered in Class:

• We started class with 3om’s

• Recited slokas that we are presenting in the assembly.

• Helped kids with the Assembly presentation scripts.

• Played games.

March 18th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started the class with 3 OM’s .

• We reviewed

  • Ganesh

  • Om Saha naavavatu

  • Gayatri Mantram

  • Shri Lakshmi,

  • Devi Sarasvati

  • Shri Rama

  • Shri Krishna

  • sloka’s for class presentation.

• Started with Alphabet “R”

• Respect

• Rishi

• Rama.

• Respect:

  • Respect means that we should obey our parents, Grand Parents, teachers and Others.

  • We did a class exercise Good Habits Vs Bad Habits on how kids show respect.

• Rishi:

  • Rishi is a very good person who spends lot of time

  • Worshipping Bhagwan.

  • Reading veda’s

  • Reading Bhagwat Geetha.

  • Meditates a lot.

  • Rishis have written a lot of books that teach us Dharma.

  • Rishis often live in Ashram.

  • Ashrams is a simple home that is built in a forest away from cities.

• Bhagvan Rama:

  • Bhagavan Rama was an Avatara of Bhagwan Vishnu.

  • He came to earth to defeat the evil King Ravan.

  • Rama showed us how kids should respect their parants.

  • When Rama was a king of Ayodhya, People were very happy and had enough to eat in the kingdom and everyone followed the rules and laws.

Homework:

• Learn/practice shloka’s

February 11th-

Material Covered in Class:

• Meditation in class today

January 28th-

Material Covered in Class:

• Today we learned about words that start with the letter M

• VOCABULARY:

  • A Murti is a statue/ a manifestation of Bhagavan. We talked about how all of the murties upstairs are all a part of Bhagavan.

  • A mantra is a prayer usually in Sanskrit. We talked about how the most common mantra is the Gayatri mantra which is the sun's mantra.

  • Murga is another name for Karttikeya. We talked about how Karttikeya is Ganapathi's brother.

• OTHER:

  • On top of the vocabulary words, We also rehearsed the mantras for the assembly in April. We taught the kids the ones which they were a little unsure about.

  • We played 'heads up', but instead of the usual words, we played it with the names of Devotees, Demons, and Murties. The kids had so much fun and were extremely involved in the game.

• Click HERE to view board material from class

Homework:

• We also practiced the Shlokas. Please also practice the below shlokas with your kids. They will be chanting these shlokas on the 29th of April on the stage

• Ganesha Shloka - page 90

• Gayatri mantra - page 89

• Sarasvati shloka - page 91

• Lakshmi Shloka - page 93

• Rama Shloka - page 94

January 21st-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started the class with 3 OM’s .

• We reviewed Ganesha, Gayatri, Lakshmi and Sarasvati sloka’s for class presentation.

• Started with Alphabet “M”

  • Ma

  • Mandir

  • Murthi

  • Mantra

  • Muruga

• Ma – My Mother:

  • How important mother in everyone life.

  • We should always love our Mother.

  • We should respect her.

  • We should listen to what she asks us to do.

  • Worked on a class exercise what a good boy/Girl treat their mother.

• Mandir:

  • Bhagavan is present everywhere, he is in our home, heart, air and everywhere.

  • It is more fun to worship Bhagvan in Mandir.

  • Mandirs are beautiful places where we see and do puja for bhagavan.

  • Festivals are celebrated in Mandirs.

  • Mandirs also have school, where we can learn Hindu Dharma.

  • Mandirs also have library where we can get books to learn about Dharma.

  • When we are in Mandir, we need to follow some rules.

  • We talked about how a good/bad kid behaves when they are in Mandir.

Homework:

• Learn Ganesh, Gayathri, Lakshmi and Sarasvati sloka’s.

January 7th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started with 3 OMs

• L-

  • Lotus - The lotus flower teaches how to maintain our chitta clean

  • Linga- This is the most popular form of Lord Shiva

  • Lakshmi- We discussed the various forms of Lakshmi bestowing different kinds of prosperity on devotees

  • Lobha -Lobha means Greediness. We discussed the story of the tiger and the greedy traveller.

Homework:

• Our class will be making a presentation in the assembly in April. We will be presenting 2 things

• The kids will recite 10 shlokas. We have started practising these shlokas in the class from this week. We have practised Ganesha shlokam page 90, Gayatri

• mantram page 89, Lakshmi shlokam page 93

• Each of the kids will select a God/Goddess and present facts about the chosen deity. They may also choose to dress up as the chosen deity. Please discuss with your child as to who they would like to choose and if they want to dress up.

December 17th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started with 3 Oms

• J-

  • Japa is repeating the name of God or a mantra. This can be done by chanting, thinking or writing

  • Japa mala is a necklace with ususally 108 beads which helps with keeping count of the japa

• K-

  • Karma We talked about mental, physical and verbal karma and the difference between good karma and bad karma

  • Krodha - getting angry. We talked about the story of king Pareekshit’s story which shows that Krodha can make even a good person do bad things

  • Krishna and Karttikeya - These are 2 forms of bhagavan

Homework:

• The kids were given a japamala each and the homework was to do japa of their Ishta Devata

November 12th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started with 3 Oms

• Guru- means Teacher We discussed how a student should behave with a teacher

• Gayatri Mantra- Best prayer to worship Bhagavan

• Gita- Holy Book given by Krishna to Arjuna. The book teaches about various things like Bhagavan, Dharma, Atma etc

• Ganesha- is a form of Bhagavan with elephant head and body of a boy. We learn many things from the shape of Ganesha

• Ganga- Holy river in India which was brought to earth from Heaven by Bhagiratha

• Hindus- We are all Hindus. Hinduism is the oldest religion

• Holi- Fun filled festival to celebrate death of Holika.

Homework:

• This week’s homework was for the children to find out the names of 1 river from India and one river from USA

November 5th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started the class with 3 OM’s .

• Reviewed last week’s class topics.

• Talked about homework from last week.

  • How each kid tried to take care of Mother earth’s gifts.

  • Plants

  • Water

  • Electricity

  • It was really good how each kid tried to take care of the gifts

    • Kids while brushing teeth they did not leave the faucet running :)

    • Helped parents taking care of watering the plants.

    • Made sure the TV’s are off while not watching and tried to switch off the lights when not being used. :)

• Faith:

  • Meaning of Faith.

  • Believe in Bhagvan.

• Friendship:

  • Meaning of Friendship.

  • How friends treat each others.

  • We talked about how a good friend and bad friend treat with other friends.

  • We also read the story of Krishan and his friend Sudama.

• Guru:

  • Meaning of Guru.

  • How friends treat each others.

  • We talked about how a good kid and bad kid behave with their guru’s.

• Gayatri:

  • The best prayer with which we can pray Bhagavan.

  • It is good to chant Gayatri mantram early in the Morning at the time of sunrise and also at the time of sunset in the evening.

• Gayatri Matram:

  • Recited couple of time Gayatri Mantram.

• Thank you,

  • Mythily, Archana, Ela and Shaliny

October 29th-

Material Covered in Class:

• As usual we started the class with 3 OM’s .

• Daanam:

  • Meaning of Daanam.

  • Importance of Sharing, food, toys and clothes.

  • Talked about when we do Daanam or share food, toys, clothes and book

  • Bhagavan will make sure you will have enough food to eat and toys to play and clothes to wear.

  • We read a story of King Shveta.

  • He was a very good king, he used to share everything except the food.

  • He donated Clothes, Toys, but never shared / donated food.

  • He loved food and that is why he never gave food to anyone.

  • When King Shveta died Bhagwan gave his every except for food he has to eat garbage.

  • So, every time he is hungry he will come down to earth and eat garbage.

  • MORAL: This story teaches us that whatever we don’t share with others, that very thing will be taken from us later.

• Dayaa:

  • Meaning of Daana.

  • When you see, someone injured, help them put a bandage.

  • When you see, someone sad, try to make them happy.

  • When you see someone hungry, try to give them Daanam of food.

  • When you do all the above you have a good quality called Dayaa.

  • We read a story of Bhagavan Buddha, who had lot of dayaa.

  • Siddhartha was watching a flock of swans flying and suddenly one fell down.

  • Shot by an arrow, Siddhartha rushed and took care of the swan.

  • Devadatta started to quarrel to get his swan back.

  • They both approached King and they both shared their story and king said whoever showed Dayaa will get to keep the bird.

  • MORAL: This story teaches us that great people always show dayaa towards hurt, Sick, Poor and sad people.

• Ek:

  • Meaning of Ek is ‘One’.

  • Ekta:

  • Meaning of Ekta is “Unity’.

  • Never fight with friends, siblings.

  • When you are United you can fight your enemies easily.

  • We read a short story of "success when you are united".

  • Bhagavan Brahma once gave a test to Asura’s and Deva’s to eat food without bending elbow.

  • Asura’s failed the test as did not know how to work united.

  • Whereas Deva’s fed each other’s instead of bending their elbow’s.

  • MORAL: You can achieve anything when you are united and think of other’s first instead of being selfish.

• Earth:

  • We live on earth, we grow food on earth and earth gives us water and many other things.

  • So, we call earth as our Mother Earth.

  • We should respect our Mothe earth.

  • Never fight with friends, siblings.

  • We talked about how a good and bad boy takes care of plants.

  • We talked about how a good and bad boy takes care of water.

  • We talked about how a good and bad boy takes care of Electricity.

Homework:

• Kids come up with 3 ways they helped Mother Earth this week.

October 22nd-

Material Covered in Class Today:

• As usual we started with 3 Oms

• D for Dharma- Dharma means doing our duty. When we do not do our duty we become a bad person

  • it is the kid’s duty to respect their parents

  • it is the kid’s duty to do their homework regularly

  • it is the kid’s duty to eat health foods.

  • The kids were able to identify the actions in the given pictures between good dharma and bad dharma.

• D for Durga-All the forms of Bhagavan combined their strength to create a powerful Devi Durga to kill the evil Mahishasura.

  • Mahishasura had obtained a boon from Brahma that only a woman could kill him. He mistakenly believed that women are week. Devi Durga killed the evil asura after 10 days of battle. These days are celebrated as the Navratri with the tenth day celebrated as Dussehra. From this story we discussed that the Girls should not be considered as weak as Devi Durga is present inside all women.

• D for Diwali- this festival is celebrated 20 days after Dussehra.

  • On this day Bhagavan Rama had returned to his kingdom after defeating Ravana. We discussed the different ways of celebrating Diwali

• We took the kids today to the Mandir upstairs to have darshan of all the deities and the Annakoot

  • This is to celebrate the event where Lord Krishna lifted the Govardhan Mountain to create a huge umbrella to protect all his devotees from the rain and storms. Various food delicacies were placed at the feet of Lord Krishna.

Homework:

• This is a fun activity. While we discussed the story of Mashasura we talked about how he prayed to Brahma to obtain boons by praying while standing on one leg for many years. So kids were going to see how long they can stand on just one leg.

October 15th-

Material Covered in Class:

• Materials covered in class

• As usual we started the class with 3 OM’s .

• Cow:

  • Cow is a special animal.

  • Cow gives us lot of things like Milk, Yougurt, cheese etc.

  • It teaches us Ahimsa.

  • Bhagavan Krishna loved cows.

  • Shiva rides on a bull, named Nandi, It is also from a family of cows.

  • Cow is so special and gives us so many things to eat and teach’ s us Ahimsa, so try to avoid eating cow meat.

  • We also talked about things that have beef.

• Chakra and Conch: shell:

  • Bhagavan Vishnu carries 4 different things in his 4 hands.

  • Gada in one hand,

  • Sudershana chakra in one hand gifted by bhagavan Shiva,

  • Shankha in one hand and a

  • Lotus flower in one hand.

  • We read a story of King Ambarisha, how Sudershana chakra saved King Ambarisha.

• Chitta:

  • Chitta means heart, and it also means mind.

  • Our Atma is present inside our Chitta.

  • Bhagvan lives in our atma.

  • We talked about to avoid hurting others chitta.

  • Avoid saying nasty words to others.

  • Being mean to friends and siblings.

  • Not listening to parents, teachers and elders.

  • Doing wrong things.

• Clean:

  • How important to keep clean our home, temple and community.

  • We also did a class exercise of good and bad habits of cleanness.

  • Talked about when you keep home clean, Bhagwan Lakshmi Ji likes clean home and visit’s only clean homes.

• Finally we ended the class with a 4 corners game.

Homework:

• No homework for this week

October 1st-

Material Covered in Class:

• We started the class with 3 Oms

• We discussed the Homework from last week: Most of the children were ready with the meaning of their names and took turns to explain their names

• We completed alphabet B with Bhakti. Bhakti means love for Bhagavan

• We discussed the story of Prahalada the best Bhakta of Bhagavan Vishnu. Please discuss with your children the story of how Bhagavan Vishnu saved his devotee from Hollika. How Lord Narasimha appeared from the pillar and killed the evil Asura Hiranyakashipu in a clever way satisfying all the conditions in Brahma's boon

• We also discussed the 9 ways of expressing bhakti : Sravana - Listening , Kirthana-Singing, Smarana-remembering, Padasevana-Serving, Arcana- worshiping, Vandana- praising, Dasya-Servitude , Sakhya - Companionship, Atmanivedana- Self Surrender,

Homework:

• To finish coloring the pictures on pages 14 and 15.

• Each of these pictures depict each of the 9 ways of expressing Bhakti discussed above.

September 24th-

Material Covered in Class:

• We started the class with 3 OMs and a round of introductions. We also reviewed the rules of chanting OM i.e 1. Closing eyes 2. Staying still 3. Doing Namate and chanting OM

• We started with alphabet A and discussed the words AUM, Ahimsa and Avatara.

• AUM. This is the most beautiful name of God A is taken from BrahmA the Creator. U is taken from VishnU the preserver and M is taken from Mahesh Shiva the destroyer. The children were able to identify each of the pictures of these Gods

• Ahimsa. We discussed what Ahimsa means and how practicing Ahimsa makes Bhagavan happy. Please discuss with your child what they learnt from the story of Ganesh and Parvati.

• Avatara. We discussed how Bhagavan takes different forms to defeat evil people because he loves all of us. The children did an exercise of matching the pictures of the Gods with their Avatars.

Homework:

• Please help your children bring the Dharma book, a pencil and a notebook to the class each week.

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