Session 2 (Sun 9.15 AM) updates

Nov 2017 - Dec 31 2017

We completed following chapters in Mahabharata.

• Draupadi's Swayamvaram 
• Indraprastha
• Jarasandha 
• The Slaying Of Jarasandha 
• The First Honor
• Sakuni Comes In 

If your child missed Balavihar and wants to catch up, they can read the chapters in Mahabharata by RajaGopalachari.

Digital Copy Of Mahabharata Book We Use


We are going to start new year with 5th grade Mahabharata annual play performance practices. Final performance is on Feb 11, Sunday during regular Balvihar timings. We will have one or two practice sessions on Saturdays ( 3PM -5PM) - 27th Jan/Feb 3/ Feb 10 depending on the need.

Please make sure to bring your child to Balvihar on time next few weeks as we only have 5 weeks for practice. We also need some volunteers to help us with props. Let us know if you are interested.

Sept 2017 - Nov 2017

HariOm 5th Grade Parents!

We start off our session with breathing exercises, Chanting Om 3 times and meditation. Its really important to send your kids on time - 9.15AM to the class. We are trying to enforce following rules and your support is greatly appreciated.

• Come to class on time 9.15AM.
• In case a student is delayed, wait outside the classroom until meditation session is complete as other students will be distracted if kids enter late.
• File all the Sloka pages we distribute in the white binder.
• Bring a notebook, handbook and couple of pencils/pens to take notes.

After Meditation, we continue with daily prayers - Guru Storam. Students already mastered Ganesha Pancharatna Stotram - written by Adi Sankaracharya. Ganesa Pancha Rathnam Stotra is a highly revered devotional prayer song of Lord Ganapathi, the destroyer of obstacles.

After chanting slokas we move to the most interesting part of the session- story time - The Mahabharata. We first ask your students to recap what we completed in the last class and then move on the new story.

So far, we completed chapters 1-15 of Mahabharata written by Raja Gopalachari. This book is a great read and teaches the great epic in a new style - reader gets to know details of each character and then gets exposure to how the character plays a key role in the great epic and his/her context to the great war of Kurukshetra. Most of the kids know the story line but are so excited when they hear all the details about the characters and how each character adds to the plot. We completed following topics so far.

1. How Ganapati, became the Scribe of the great epic.
2. Devavrata - Story of Bhishma and his Birth
3. Bhishma's Vow 
4. Story of Amba And Bhishma
5. Devayani And Kacha Story 
6. The Marriage Of Devayani 
7. Story of Yayati  and his curse
8. Story of Vidura 
9. Story of Kunti - Mother of Pandavas
10. Death of Pandu
11. Bhima - How Kauravas plotted wicked plans to kill mighty Bhima and Bhima's Victory.
12. Story of Karna 
13. Story of Guru Drona.
14. The Wax Palace - Another wicked plan by Dhuryodhana to harm Pandavas.
15. The Escape Of The Pandavas from Varanavrata.
16. The Slaying Of Bakasura 

After story time and discussions covering all the curious questions we move on to Geeta chanting and leave to Temple for Arti and prayers.

We will add on to this blog as we cover more topics. We are eagerly waiting to see you all on Balavihar back to School on Dec 3rd. We will send more details as the date gets closer. Please mark your calendars and come to the event as this will be an opportunity for us to know you and you to experience what your child is learning in Balavihar. Your student will also be performing in this event and we will share with you the details of the annual performance ( Drama)  Grade 5 is going to present in Feb 2018.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Dec 3rd. Please feel free to reach us at grade5cmtc@gmail.com if you have any questions. Also do subscribe to our google group - grade5balavihar@googlegroups.com so that you can receive any announcements and updates. 

Thank you for sharing your little ones with us.

Suma & Sangeeta.