A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE!

Hari Om!

This year, 6^th grade Balavihar was truly an amazing and memorable experience. 

From the play, to all the classes, to the picnic, I cherished every moment.   In class, we learned many slokas, and many stories which were funny, interesting, and awe-inspiring.  My favorite Mahabharata story was when Bhima met Hanuman,  and he tried to move his tail but failed.  I was lucky to play Bhima’s role from the same scene.

In class we had many opportunities to discuss what we learned, and one unforgettable moment is when I was chosen as the leader to explain the meaning of Bhaja Govindam.   I was very happy to be able to do this, and to be applauded by our section 1 class, and also when we had a combined class with section 2.   

Finally, on the last day we had a great, fun picnic at Reichler Park. There was a lot of delicious food brought by our parents, and we all enjoyed ourselves.   I really feel proud of our teachers who made our 6^th grade at Balavihar a very successful year and cannot thank my teachers enough.

Rithvik

AN EXCITING YEAR AT BALAVIHAR!

-My Perspective on our 6^th Grade Year

Hari Om,

It’s hard to believe that our 6^th grade Balavihar year went by so fast!   We learned so much from our class. and made memories to treasure from our lessons, skits, writing blogs, annadanam, movie night and picnic.  

This year we have taken a journey into Mahabharatha and learned life lessons from characters such as Karna and Yudhishtira.  We enjoyed the heroic and humorous moments of the stories, and the journey was lots of fun!  I remember naming Sage Lamosa “The Samosa” as a way to remember him!   We also learned many slokas, bhajans,Geetha verses, discussions that promise to enhance our daily lives and prepare us for the years of balavihar to come.  Outside of our usual class lessons every Sunday,  we also took Karna’s lessons of helping others and participated in an Annadanam in Edison.   We participated in the balavihar CORD walkathon event to help the less  fortunate people in India.  Along with that we also enacted a skit where we played roles as Mahabharata’s characters, wearing beautiful costumes and allowing the characters to really take life.  It was an excellent learning experience and it also helped me understand Mahabharatha in a way that I will not forget it.   

The most memorable moment  in Balavihar this year was our awesome class picnic.  Everyone was just having plain “FUN!”  The only thing some students complained about was the ten minute walk from the school to the park but, it was worth it because we had the opportunity to have fun playing outside not only with our Balavihar friends but also with teachers.   The boys played basketball and other sports while the girls did a variety of activities such as climbing trees with Vyjayanthi Aunty and Asha Aunty, going down the slides, and Ram uncle swinging on the swings with us for a short time.  Following that a lot of our Balavihar classmates were ready to dig into the cupcakes, munchkins, and others snacks brought by our wonderful class parents.  

We couldn’t stop having fun together that because of how joyous our Balavihar teachers made it for us as 6th graders.  From Shlokas to Stories to Skits to activities every Sunday at Balavihar was a new and fun one this past year, 2012-2013.   So I thank my teachers for making this a great year at Balavihar and I can’t wait to see what the next year has to hold.

Have a great summer everybody!

Shivani Iyer 

HOPE TO GET MY TOKEN OF GRADUATION!

Hari Om!

I learned Slokas, Bhajans, Bhagavad Geeta, Mahabharata and more this year.  I really enjoyed my 6th grade balavihar experience, and this was due to the efforts of my teachers, who did the follow up activities after many lessons to make it interesting. They also encouraged us to take notes during our class lessons and helped us to write our own blogs during the year.   Thanks for making us to become better writers.  

Our class play, Annadanam, Movie night, Picnic had given us an opportunity to be together and learn from these different sources.  In addition, I loved doing the dance of Shivapanchakshara Sthothram in our class play.  

Therefore,  I would like to thank my teachers Vyjayanti aunty and Jayashree aunty and let them know I truly appreciate their efforts.  Also I thank Ram uncle and Asha aunty for the quiz and for taking us outside when we had a combined class. 

By the way I missed the fun at the Picnic.  I hope I still get to pick up my graduation token distributed to the class at the park. 

Thanks teachers for another year of learning and fun.   Looking forward for next year!

Your student,
Anjali Akula

WE GOT CLOSER AND BONDED!

Hari Om,

All throughout the 6th grade we all became closer.  We accomplished, learned a lot, and enjoyed many events like class play, movie night and more.   I enjoyed how at the picnic, we all got to bond as a 6th grade class for one last time.

Nandita

INTERESTING AND ENJOYABLE YEAR!

Hari Om!

I enjoyed learning about the Mahabaratha and had fun at the Movie Night.  This Year we learned many things such as Geeta Chanting, and other things, and the class play was an interesting experience.   Thank you for teaching me so much and making it an interesting year. 

Goutam Ummettala

OUR PICNIC WAS "SWEET"

Here's my thought of  trip at the park..

Life is is sweet and sour at times. But, we only can enjoy the "sweet" parts of our life. My time at balavihar was like a rollercoaster, it was dull, at times. Yet, very enjoyable and hilarious. And, the end-of-the-year trip was an amazing finale on my time at the 6th grade balavihar. We started having our exciting race to park. Then, our "hot-shot" basketball game. Later, we had a  gourmet meal of a typical indian; curry,cucumbers,on a whole-wheat bread! To top it off, we had our fun summarization of the whole year! This year was infact, a very "sweet" year!

-Thriaksh

HOPE TO COME BACK NEXT YEAR TOO!!

I learned so much at Balavihar than I thought I would.  I learned a lot about the Mahabharatha and the gods and goddesses.  I enjoyed performing as a dancer very much.

I loved learning Bharatnatyam and was excited about the costumes.   I still remember the dance and enjoyed practicing and hanging out with my classmates during our class play.   I also enjoyed the trip to Reichler Park.

I had an unforgettable time at Balavihar and I can't 'believe its over.   I hope to come back next year too.

-Shreya Ganesh

As a parent, I feel Balavihar has taught my children Indian cultural values and appreciation towards Hindu scripts and morals.  My children are more grounded and can understand their roots better when they see other children adapting and learning much in the same way.   None of this would be possible without the endurance and guidance of Ms.Vyjayanthi and Ms.Jayashree.

The teachers have been instrumental in teaching my daughter.   I look forward to many more Balavihar sessions and thank everyone who has made it a successful year.

-Sangeetha Ganesh (Shreya's Mom)

LOADS OF FUN AT PICNIC

Hari Om, 

6th grade balavihar was really fun! Slokas, stories and much more!   We learned a lot in each class.  All the children had fun in the play.Every one had a role, no one was left out.   All the teachers were very nice and encouraging.  The picnic was also a load of fun!  We were free to do what ever we want and had a time to play with our balavihar friends.

Heera Durga.

MY BALAVIHAR YEAR!

Hari Om,

My Balavihar year was excellent.   I think you should preserve this curriculum for next year because you have to learn about the great story of the Mahabharata sometime.  The Mahabharata even has moral pieces such as the story of the Saranga birds.  I think the morals we learn in Balavihar itself are very important life lessons.  The picnic to end it all was a very fantastic and thoughtful idea.  This Balavihar year was just fabulous and I hope the next one will be too. 

Sreyus Balasubramanian

MY 6th GRADE BALAVIHAR EXPERIENCE!

Hari Om!

 This Balavihar year has been the best year yet. This is because we learned about a topic that we haven't talked about much in our previous years, The Mahabharatha. We learned exciting stories that hold life lessons for us to remember for a very long time such as trust, friendship, and hope. 

The best memory I will remember is the Mahabharatha play the sixth grade class did. I played Draupadi. Playing this role helped better understand the reasons she took certain actions. Everyone had a great time and all this ended up to the Picnic we had on the last day of class. This was a year I will never forget and 20 years from now when Ram uncle see's me and asks me a question about what we learned in class I will surely remember because learning was so much fun!

  Vaishali   

AN UNGORFETTABLE DAY FOR GRADE 6!

Section 1 & Section 2

Hari Om,

The day that was last,  will last .......................................!

Can you believe June 2nd was the last week of Balavihar!   Time flies when you are having fun!  As an end of the year departing celebration,  we had a picnic in Reichler Park. 

 We walked to the park chatting with our friends and teachers, and waving at the people in the cars, who passed by us.  At the park we did all sorts of things like climbing trees, playing on plastic structures, climbing on the play equipment along with our teachers, sliding on slides, chatting, swinging, and of course, the boys played sports...:)  Even Ram Uncle joined us on the swing set for a little while.  The Aunties on the other hand, climbed trees with us!  We were accompanied by a delicious arrangement of cupcakes, ice cream, popsicles, sandwiches, juice, and Munchkins®. But best of all, the teachers gave heart warming speeches about our experiences. 

To sum it up, we all had a superlative time! :)

Have a good summer everyone!

Brinda Suresh

Last Day of 6th Grade Balavihar

Hari Om!

June 2nd was the last day of balavihar, so our 6th grade class decided to have a picnic at Reichler Park, behind the South Brunswick Municipal Building. Everyone was supposed to arrive at the middle school at 9:00 a.m. From the middle school, everyone set foot to reach the great park. I was the first one on the swings. It felt like a year for my other classmates to arrive. When they arrived though, everybody either was on the swings, at the basketball court, on a tree, or at the slides.  After a while, our teachers called us to the main tables to eat some delicious food. My personal favorite was the ice cream sandwiches. They were really good. After that, we resumed our normal activities as we had done when we arrived. I started playing basketball with my friends and that was fun. I took a water break in the middle of the game but couldn't find my water bottle. I then searched the area until I realized it was in my pocket the entire time. After telling my friends about the incident, my friends started, at first a chortle, then a chuckle, then finally into a huge laugh. The year really has come to a great end. I must thank our teachers Ram uncle, Asha aunty, Jayshree aunty, and Vyjanti aunty for their great teaching in the Mahabharata and Bhagwad Geeta and their guidance in life lessons. We should remember these life lessons my 6th grade classmates, because 20 years from now, Ram uncle will ask us a question from the Mahabharata, Geeta, or life lessons. Have a great summer and return next year for balavihar. 

Aatrey Sahay Section2 6th grade

Journey of Grade 6........Mahabharata....... reaches it's destination

Last days of War, Krishna Avataram Ends, Pandavas go to Heaven

Section 1 and 2:

After a gap we're back with our final blog of the year! On May 19th we concluded the Epic Mahabharata.  Our teachers hope that the we would continue to read the stories now and then....

Last days of War

The Mahabharata war lasted for 18 days. On the 16th day, after the death of Drona, Karna became the commander of the Kaurava army. The battle between the 2 greatest archers Karna and Arjuna took place. Prodded by Krishna who kept reminding Arjuna about the injustices by Karna and the Kauravas, Arjuna shot an arrow that killed Karna. Karna was a great hero of Mahabharata but he was a victim of circumstances.
After 18 days of war the Kaurava Army is defeated with the death of Duryodhana. Yudhistra becomes king of Hastinapur. He visits Bhishma who is lying on the bed of arrows waiting for the right time to give up his body. He gives Yudhishtra a lot of advice on values and duties of a King.
Dhritrashta, Gandhari and Kunti retire to the forest.

End of Krishnaavatharam

When Lord Krishna returns to Dwaraka after the war, he was sad to know that the Yadava Clan had taken to bad ways and was declining in morals, values etc. This was due to a curse. One day  he sat under a tree and went into meditation. A Hunter mistook his foot for an animal and shoots an arrow. Severly injured Bhagwan gives up his body. Thus ended the Krishna Avatar.

Pandavas go to Heaven

Pandavas ruled Hastinapura for 36 years. They then crowned Parikshit as the king and left on a pilgrimage with Draupadi. A Dog followed them. When they reached the Himalayas, one by one fell dead due to exhaustion. The dog who was none other than Dharmaraja himself lead Yudhishtra to heaven.