TEACHERS:  Patti, Saideepa, Thatha, Lakshmi, Sharanya  

Started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra. Today patti talked to us about unity. Unity is being together. Example: In a family we all work together, play together, follow the same rule that our family has. In our hand we have five fingers. We need all of them to take care of ourselves. Patti was very proud of our class unity, the way we all follow her instructions during our virtual class. Today we did our artwork, sang bhajan, played games and science experiment on the subject of unity. Sharanya aunty showed us how to draw family by tracing our hand. Lakshmi aunty taught us a new bhajan. Saideepa aunty played a game on the song ‘Head, Should, knees and toes’. Thatha did an experiment with oil, water, food color and alka seltzer tablets. As soon as he dropped the tablet in oil mixture we could see the formation of lava. At the end  patti read a book ‘The Selfish Crocodile’ where crocodile learns how important it is to be nice to your friends,  help each other and to stay united with everyone. 

Summary from parent discussion: Discussion questions: How can you make your child as part of family contribution? and what techniques you follow in your family?

1.  Replacing child’s “chores” as “family contributions”.
2.  Focus on the outcome and encourage hard work.  
3. Parent Homework: Find one family contribution to train your child on this week and go for it. 

Unity is Divinity; Purity is Enlightenment

Lesson Plan:

This year we are focusing on Swami’s teaching of Unity is Divinity; Purity is Enlightenment

Class notes for 10/18/2020

We started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra, Vakrathunda Mahakaya and Gurur Brahma.  This class we discussed how to be a good listener to have better unity.  We played a quiz where the kids listening skills were tested and then we shared a story about Arjuna and Dronacharya and how Arjuna was the sole student who listened carefully and followed the instruction of the guru to look at the birds eye when taking aim. We also watched a video on how to be a better listener by following the rules: stop what you are doing when someone is talking, pay attention and do not interrupt the talker and finally respond.

Class notes for 10/11/2020

We started the class by chanting few slokas. This class we talked about importance of keeping your word.

Class notes for 10/04/2020

We started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra, Vakrathunda Mahakaya and Gurur Brahma. After discussing about last weeks homework, the kids voted to find the best ice-cream flavor and best fruit. We saw how the class had different opinions about ice cream and fruit and how whenever people come together there can be different opinions and likings. We shared a story about 2 brothers who grew apart because of their differences and ultimately wouldn’t even talk to each other. When a carpenter came and built a bridge between their lands, they came together and forgave each other. The kids shared what they understood about the bridge and how it helped to bring the brothers back together. We discussed how each of us must be like a bridge that connects different sides and not a wall that separates people.

Class notes for 09/27/2020

We started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra, Vakrathunda Mahakaya and Gurur Brahma. Then we revised what we learnt last class -that Unity is working together so that we have more strength and confidence. Then we introduced that Unity has another meaning – that of Oneness. To understand that, we did an experiment with clay where the students could create whatever figures they wanted and then we discussed if we could find anything common between all the different figures the kids made. They figured out that though each kid made different figures, they were all made from clay and they all had fun creating it Thus we were able to find unity or Oneness even though the figures appeared different.

We ended the class by going over our previous week’s homework and learning a new Bhajan. 

Class notes for 09/20/2020

We started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra and Vakrathunda Mahakaya. The kids tried to guess the theme of the class from pictures and then we did 2 experiments.

In the first experiment they had to make $1 from assorted coins and observe how coins of different sizes and values came together to make $1.  They also found the similarities between the different coins and came to the conclusion that though the coins looked different, they also had some similarities like being made of metal and circular in shape.

In the second experiment the kids tried to lift a glass using just 1 finger. Then they tried using 2 fingers, then 3 fingers and finally all 5 fingers. They observed that it was the easiest to hold the glass using all 5 fingers and most difficult when using only 1 finger. We concluded that working together as a team makes any difficult task easier.

We then watched a video that showed animals coming together in groups to overcome their predators. The kids discussed what they understood of how unity in the animals helped them. We concluded that unity gives more  power, strength and courage to face the difficulties.

Homework : This week the kids should find examples of unity around them and describe it in either a video, picture or writing.

Class notes for 09/14/2020

We started our first class of the 20-21 year with OM and Gayatri mantra chanting. The kids and teachers introduced themselves and we played some ice breaker games to get to know each other. Finally we ended the class learning a new Ganesha bhajan.

Homework : This week the kids should find examples of unity around them and describe it in either a video, picture or writing.

CLASS DATE: 10/18/2020

Summary: Awareness on Food and it’s effects on body and mind

ATTENDANCE: 25

OCTOBER 18^TH:

“Awareness on Food and it’s effects on body and mind”

Attendance: 25

OM, Gayathri Manthra, Light Meditation

Life Application follow up from Class #5 ( “SEE GOD IN EVERYBODY; BE AWARE OF FOOD, WATER, ENERGY; WRITE FOOD JOURNAL FOR THE WEEK)

Brahmaarpanam – Food Prayer in Sanskrit, Translated meaning in English, What Swami said about the reason to Chant this mantra before partaking food – effects on body and mind

Guest speaker – Ms. APARNA Veeramachaneni, Dietician and Nutritionist from Duke.  Thanks to Ms. Aparna for raising the consciousness  of the class via an activity based learning on food ingredients and limits.  Motivated kids to pay greater attention to number of ingredients, preservatives, sugars, calories, salt levels, what is already in food without having to add additional sugar or salt.  She has graciously volunteered to answer follow up questions as well

Swami’s quote “As is the food, so is the mind;
As is the mind, so are the thoughts;
As are the thoughts, so is the conduct;
As is the conduct, so is the health.“

Life application: “

1. See GOD in everybody
2. SEND 1 WORD ANSWER VIA VIDEO RECORDING FOR: A) WHAT IS ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES LIGHT MEDITATION IN YOUR MIND ? B) HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER LIGHT MEDITATION ?
3. AWARENESS OF JUNK FOOD CONTENT, EXPIRATION – RESEARCH ITS EFFECTS! “

Affirmation

Closing prayers

SUMMARY:  Oneness & happiness with service

10/18/20

After invocation prayers we started with experience sharing and reviewing life-applications discussed in previous classes.

Today we discussed about 1) what gives us happiness 2) Small acts of love can also make big impact. 3) How can we practice happiness is union with God thru act of service

We as a group are going to practice oneness and derive happiness by service. Wed had participated in food drive April to Sept, we are going to expand this further with new group 3 students and also among community members. We will need help from parents for drop off and pick up of food items. 

We watched 1) an inspirational video 2) Current food crisis in America 3) What does food insecurity mean for a child 4) What will this service in turn help us learn

Please find link to the class presentation.

Class notes for previous classes can be found here.

10/3/20

As class we dwelled deeper into what does oneness mean? what is the definition of Unity per Swami. Black Lives Matter was a topic to discussed & examples to help identify oneness in diversity.

What does unity mean? It is not the combination of many; it is the realization of oneness. Satya Sai Baba

 Please find link to the class presentation.

Note to Parents:

Please encourage students to follow (virtual) class best practices.

Students were asked to participate in their academic/extra curricular activities with enthusiasm to see the difference in learning process. If possible discuss this topic as a family.

Do not give yourself too much importance. Be less self centered

• Take time to socialize (in person)to identify oneness. Set goal for without digital device time.
• Listen when people are talking, make an eye contact during a conversation and be respectful.
• Get to know someone you don’t like. Try to guess why someone is the way they are. Be kind to someone who gets on your nerves.
• Accept your mistakes 
• Look out for service at home & community. Service starts at home.
• Notice every time you are judging someone, this is a first step towards realizing oneness
• Consciously remind yourself , the same Divinity is present in the person, bug, tree you come across.
• Be confident, you are divine, same divinity is in you as well. Give this affirmation to yourself everyday morning, Turn on video in zoom, you are beautiful/handsome 🙂
• Develop qualities of pure heart Karuna (compassion), Muditha (appreciation), Mytri(friendship), Upeksha (disinterestedness).

Group 4 Introductions and New Initiatives

ATTENDANCE:

13

Main topic:

The class on October 13th,  we had a virtual class where we started with announcements and reviewed new initiatives that we want to take on this upcoming year. We then had an inspirational guest speaker, Sohum Bhatt, from San Francisco, California who lead a very interactive discussion on time management and practical applications for the students to apply in their day to day life.

Note to Parents:

Sairam Parents –

Group 4 will continue to do virtual classes, our next class is this upcoming Sunday, October 18th. We will be discussing ideas for Swami’s birthday offering during the next class.

-Group 4 Gurus

Jai Sai Ram!