Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
This is probably my last formal review for the class. I had fun teaching your kids. All of them are unique in their own way. Not sure if I would be teaching anyone of them again next year (since not sure what class I would get to teach), although I sure hope to get level 3. I do hope that you and your kids also enjoyed being in the class and hope I was able to make them learn some level of Hindi :).
IMPORTANT:
- Next week is Evaluation. Please do make sure that the kids come to Gurukul as there is no other day for taking the test for them to progress to next level.
- If there are any questions and concerns regarding the course, please do let me know. I do hope all my kids would do well. I have tried to cover as much material as I could but please do review the material with them at home.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- Review, review and review.
- I asked the kids to write hindi letters in series and also to come up with one word containing that letter. This is important since some of the sounds of hindi letters are difficult for the kids to pronounce. Most kids were in good spirit and were able to either complete or mostly complete all 36 letters we learnt (yes kids are superb in learning so many letters). Please do make them write letters atleast once if not more without prompting or making them look in their binders for them to be ready to read and write letters and words.
- I wrote some simple words in hindi and asked each kid to recognize the word. All of them did great.
- I then reviewed page 112 (emotions) and page 113 (numbers from 1-30 in hindi).
- I also told them how to count in 10s from 10-1000 and how to write numbers in hindi. Kids were very surprised to hear that there is a different way of writing numbers in hindi as well.
Culture:
We practiced for Annual day. It was really nice to see that all the kids had their Gandhi script prepared. Please do have them read it and make them really comfortable in speaking. Do explain to them what they are saying. We had sent poster boards with kids on which they can paste pictures and their script if they want to show the topic and life of Gandhiji. Please do make it as colorful as possible and also easy for the kids to tell what they have on their poster boards.
Bharati then practiced the song "Humko mann ki shakti dena" with kids. Kids are doing a wonderful job in singing. Please do make sure that they are able to remember the song without looking at their pages.
Volunteers:
Thanks to Rajesh, Varun and Vishnu's dad for helping us out today. Next week volunteer are parents of Vani. I would need one more parent volunteer for next week to practice Annual day while me and Bharati are taking spoken hindi test. I would send a separate email to ask you guys to volunteer.
Attendance: 2 absent (Final evaluation is next week, so please make sure that all the kids are present).
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- As the evaluation is coming we are trying to spend some time on reviewing the material. I am done with all the letters so the next two classes would be review. It is really important that all the kids know all the letters and vowels IN SERIES for the evaluation. I have given them homework to write the letters by themselves, please try to let them do it so that you know where they need most work at.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
We had class 2E also combined with us today as both their teachers were absent.
Morning Routine: Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We learnt last three letters today, "क्ष, त्र and ज्ञ" (pgs 64-67). These maybe hard to find words with which are simple but it would be nice if the kids can learn some words which have these letters.
- We then reviewed all the letters from क to ज्ञ. Kids were given sheet 69 and 70 in their binders and they were supposed to fill in the letters by their own memory. Some kids did really well and some kids still need some help. Hopefully we will get there. Please have your kids write the letters in sequence.
Spoken:
Spoken from now on would be review of all the lessons covered over the Gurukul year. Today I tried to review some words which are part of evaluation, like times of the day, household items, different feelings etc. Some I asked verbally and some I wrote on the board for them to recognize the words as well as the meaning of it. I will continue to do that for the next two classes.

Culture:
In culture we are now practicing the annual day performance. Please prepare a short speech about Gandhiji (as assigned earlier) with your kid(s). Ask them to speak in Hindi, they can write it down using English letters but they should speak in Hindi language.
We require the kids to come prepared with the speeches written so they get enough time to practice during culture time.
For the song, I had requested parents to send the printout of words. Only one out of 12 kids brought the printout.

Homework Assignment:
-Finish pages 64-67, 69, 70, 72, 73, 76 and 78 in your binder.
- Try to find some words which have the three new letters that we learnt today.
- Finally have them write all the vowels from अ - ah and consonants from क - ज्ञ in series. Please please let them do this by their own. It will be for their own good.

Volunteers:
Thanks to Shweta, Arohee's Mom and Sonia, Sunny's mom for helping us out today. I would be able to come next week as I have to take care of my one year old daughter while my husband is in India. I would really hope that the parent volunteer who are signed up for next week come and maybe one more volunteer. I would send a separate email about this as well.
Attendance: 0 absent (I do hope this continues from now on).
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Expect a separate email about important dates, some concerns and information about Annual day.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We learnt four new letters today, "श, ष, स and ह" (pgs 60-63). There can be lot of words with the first श, but maybe not so easy ones with the second ष. Please have kids review all the letters and come up with new words.
- We then tried to read some easy sentences with three-four words. Most students were able to read with some help. Then we reviewed some letters that we have learnt so far along with words that start with that letter.

Spoken:
Spoken from now on would be review of all the lessons covered over the Gurukul year. Today we did a phone conversation where I called every kid and asked them about themselves, their interests and family in hindi. Kids were also supposed to reply in Hindi. Then we had some flash cards which had text written in Hindi and Hinglish and they had matching picture flash cards. Kids were divided into three teams and they were supposed to match the two in two and a half minutes. It was a pretty competitive and enthusiastic activity for the kids.

Culture:
We started our preparation for Annual day today which would be happen at the last class of Gurukul. Bharati taught the kids few lines of the song "Tumhi ho Mata" and then the kids who came prepared about Gandhiji were asked to tell us what they searched. I will have a separate email which have more details.
Homework Assignment:
-Finish pages 60-63 in your binder.
- Write 10 words in hindi using the letters that were learnt today in the class. Some kids are writing words that they cannot recognize or pronounce. Please have them write words that they know!!
- Write 5 sentences in hindi. Have them think any 5 sentences that they can read and write in hindi using the letters and words that they know.
- Finally have them write all the vowels from अ - ah and consonants from क - ह

Volunteers:
Thanks to Rajesh, Varun and Vishnu's dad for helping us out today. Next week volunteer are parents of Vani.
Attendance: 3 absent (Final evaluation is approaching, so please if possible try to make it to Gurukul as we are going to spend a lot of time in review)
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Spring break, so no Gurukul on April 15th
- Expect a separate email about Annual day. If I do not hear from parents then i am going to assign your kids the assignment myself and you guys will have to prepare for it.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- Kids came prepared from last week's homework and had a variety of words written in hindi which ranged from simple ones like लाल to hard ones like रामायण. They came one by one to the board and wrote their words and then asked their fellow students. It was really exciting to see them excited about this and also knowing that they are able to read and recognize words now.
- In future I we have just few more letters left to learn and I would start making hindi sentences for them so that they can start the process of reading hindi themself. From now on you would see homework which would include writing hindi sentences.
Spoken:
In spoken hindi today we played snakes and ladders game. We all sat in a circle and kids rolled a dice (in our case picked chits which had numbers from 1 to 6). Depending on what box they landed they were supposed to convert the sentences in hindi. If they do that write then they can move forward, climb up the ladder and would not be bitten by the snake. All of them did a great job.
Culture:
We started our preparation for Annual day today which would be happen at the last class of Gurukul. I will have a separate email which have more details.
Homework Assignment:
-Finish pages upto 59 in your binder if you have not already done so.
- Write 40 words in hindi using any letter and matras that they know. I know this number is a lot but if they start writing then it is not much (as I do this exercise with my daughter at home as well). Please let them come up with words as much as they can.
- Write 3 sentences in hindi. Have them think any 3 sentences that they can read and write in hindi using the letters and words that they know.
- Finally have them write all the vowels from अ - ah and consonants from क - व
Volunteers:
Thanks to Sonia Nar, Sunny's mom for helping me out today as I was the only one in the class. April 22nd volunteer is Rajesh, Varun and Vishnu's dad.
Attendance: 6 absent (hope we have better attendance next time)
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Kids are doign great when it is coming to recognizing words  (not just letters). I am so proud of all of them. Please do ask your kids about the little quiz we did in the class today by recognizing words 
 
- All the kids did great when it came to dress according to the spirit of the week. They all got candies each week which they readily ate :))
 
- A lot of kids are not doing their homework. Please please make sure your kids do their homework as that grade also counts towards final grade for passing for next level.
 
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:  
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We learnt three new letters today , "ra" (र), "la" "ल' and "va" व्, like ram, laal and varsha.
- After pracitsing these letters I wrote different words that had these three letters in them (not necessary starting with these letters). Each kid was given a turn to recognize the word and all of them were able to recognize the word that was given to them. In this way we were able to practice recognizing other letters that we have learnt previously, along with some matras as well, like of "aa"(आ) and "ii" (ई).
 
Spoken:
In spoken hindi today we again reviewed the concept of time in hindi, like subah, dopahar, shaam and raat. Kids were given a sentence in hindi with either of these times along with a specific time and they were asked to convert that sentence into hindi sentence. All of them did a great job. We then reviewed telling time in hindi. Please refer to the flash cards that were distributed last time and also the presentation that I attached in my email last week.
 
Culture:
In the culture session, kids went outside for a bit and played khokho, until the weather god decided to rain. We then came in our class and played hindi version of "simon says: and also freeze tag.
Homework Assignment:
-Finish pages 53-59 in the binders.
- Write 20 words in HINDI and not in hinglish which would contain the letters "ra" (र), "la" "ल' and "va" व्,, the words does not necessary have to start with these letters. Please make sure that the kids also know the meaning of the words. Next week in class I will ask each student to come up in the front and write some words from their homework on board and ask their fellow classmates. So it is really important that they do this homework.
 
-  If you have not already done so please do complete the spoken hindi homework for time sheet and the speech which we would have kids speak next week. Please refer to the link in my last email if the kids have lost the sheets or email me if you are not able to find the link or the sheet in your kids bags.
 
Volunteers:
Thanks to Sonia, Sunny's mom for volunteering in the class today. Next week's volunteer is Rajesh, Varun and Vishnu's dad.
 
Attendance: 4  absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati  

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday
IMPORTANT:
- Spirit of the month is on, kids wore sports costumes and they all got kisses for their participation. Next week is "Tiranga" color week, so kids can wear any outfit that has one or more colors of Indian flag.
- Food drive is on at Gurukul. So please send items to donate for it, If we collect enough donation then our class can win a pizza party!!
- Some more kids got their charts for the time they either spoke hindi or read in Hindi. Continue to speak and read to kids in hindi and have them bring the chart to my attention so I can give them their stars.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We reviewed all the letters that we have learnt so far, "क to य". I asked the kids to write all the letters in their notebook and we reviewed the letters one by one. A lot of kids do remember the letters now which is really nice to see. All of their and your hardwork is paying off!!
- We also tried to come up with words by combining the letters that we have learnt. Kids came up to the board and wrote the letters that they came up with.
- By kids demand I tried to tell them some more matras. They already know "आ" matra and also " इ
and ई" matra. We talked about a little bit of matras that are added and are easy to remember because their is an addition to "अ" like "ओ, औ, etc. Kids are not expected to remember these though for this level. Ask them if they remember though and then we can maybe construct some words towards the end of this session.
Spoken:
Today we covered telling time. The lesson plan was somewhat elaborate but we tried to cover and understand as much as we could. Some snapshots:
Identifying time of the day such as subah, dopahar, shaam and raat.
Then telling time such as Subah ke nau baje, raat ke dus baje. I incorporated morning rountines which the kids have learnt in the past. For eg. Subah ke 8 baje naashta karna etc. Focusing on simple sentence construction and practicing them is recommended.
I also introduced the concept of
1) 10 minutes past 7, 20 minutes past 1, ( the emphasis is on "baj kar" saat baj kar dus minute)
2) 5 minutes to 1PM, 10 minutes to 2PM (the emphasis is on "bajne mein", eg. ek bajne mein 5 minutes hai, do bajne mein dus minute hai).
3) Sade and dedh and dhai (half past the hour)
4) Sava (15 min past the hour)
5) Pone (45 min past the hour).
Here is the link to the presentation that I showed if you would like to review with them at home
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894C85E7326&id=55607894C85E7326!1101&sc=documents#!/view.aspx?cid=55607894C85E7326&resid=55607894C85E7326!1133
Culture:
Culture was taken by a Gurukul Volunteer Namita and she reviewed our national symbols, animals etc with the kids. In activity the kids made a book of all the national symbols of India.
Homework Assignment:
- Review all the letters and come up with more words on their own to help them practice identify the letters.
- Do the spoken hindi pages (two of them) of the homework, loose sheets were distributed. The link could also be found here
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894C85E7326&id=55607894C85E7326!1101&sc=documents#!/view.aspx?cid=55607894C85E7326&resid=55607894C85E7326!1126
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894C85E7326&id=55607894C85E7326!1101&sc=documents#!/view.aspx?cid=55607894C85E7326&resid=55607894C85E7326!1115
Volunteers:
Thanks to Renuka, Arjun's mom for helping out today. Next week's parent volunteer is Sonia Nar.
Attendance: 1 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from this Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- We had a small quiz game today and all the kids did great. As promised I will be getting them ice-creams next week for their good work. PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW IF YOUR KID IS ALLERGIC TO SOMETHING OR IF YOU DO NOT WISH THAT YOUR KID SHOULD GET/EAT ICE-CREAM.
- Spirit of the month is on, kids wore regional costumes and they all got kisses for their participation. Next week is sports week, so kids can wear any kind of sports outfit.
- Food drive is on at Gurukul. So please send items to donate for it, If we collect enough donation then our class can win a pizza party!!
- Some more kids got their charts for the time they either spoke hindi or read in Hindi. Continue to speak and read to kids in hindi and have them bring the chart to my attention so I can give them their stars..
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We reviewed all the letters that we have learnt so far, "ka to pha". I asked the kids to write four letters in one row and not more, it might help them remember the letters better.
I introduced four new letters today, "ba", ba se batakh, "bha", bha se bhaaluu, "ma", ma se machhalii and "ya", ya se yagya.
- We then had the word game, in which we divided the class into three teams. First I introduced a word (combining letters that we have learnt so far) and the kids were supposed to guess it correctly. The the kids were given turns to come up with their own word to ask the other teams. Kids did a very good job and all three teams had equal points, which means I have to get ice-creams for all the kids in my class, :))
Spoken:
In spoken hindi today we divided the class into three goups again, and reviewed some verb forms (by acting out), like bhagna, khana, padna etc and the kids made sentences. then we introduced " kya chahiye" and "kay karna hai". Then we asked the question in a round and answered accordingly. Kids were given a homework sheet on this lesson.
Culture:
In the culture session, kids learnt about the animals that are found in India. Kids then did an activity on that topic.
Homework Assignment:
-Finish pages 45-52 in the binders.
- Write five words in Hinglish starting with "ba", "bha", "ma" and "ya". If the kids want to (please do encourage them) please have them write words in hindi as they do know a lot of letters and also the matra "aa". Some of them know the matra "ii" as well that I briefly touched upon last week. Like they can easily write words like "batakh", "baat", "mama", etc.
- Do the spoken hindi page of the homework, loose sheets were distributed. The link could also be found here
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894c85e7326&id=55607894C85E7326!927#!/view.aspx?cid=55607894C85E7326&resid=55607894C85E7326!1114
Volunteers:
Thanks to Renuka, Arjun's mom for helping out today. Also next week's volunteer is Renuka Iyer. If one more parent volunteer can come next week that would be great as Bharati will not be coming next week. Please send me an email if you can.
Attendance: 0 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Spirit of the month is on, kids wore red today and so did I and they all got kisses for their participation. Next week is wearing your regional dress, so make sure you make your kids wear something from the region you are in India.
- Food drive is on at Gurukul. So please send items to donate for it, If we collect enough donation then our class can win a pizza party!!
- Some more kids got their charts for the time they either spoke hindi or read in Hindi to get stars. Continue to speak and read to kids in hindi and have them bring the chart to my attention so I can give them their stars..
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We reviewed all the letters that we have learnt so far, "ka to pha" and then we had our word test. Most kids did really well. This test was for making it difficult but more to build vocabulary and letter recognition for the kids. I hope it worked. I am trying to do some sort of review of letters every other week. So any ideas are welcome from the parents.
Spoken:
-We played Bingo in which there was a picture pile and a word pile. Kids were asked to pick one from each and asked to make a sentence in hindi which involves both the picture and word. Kids did a good job and also enjoyed the game.
Culture:
In the culture session, kids learnt about holi. The story of Prahlad and Holika was told to the kids. A lot of kids already knew about the story and had fun listening to the story. Later they were given blank sheets that they could hang at their back and front and then they put "colors" using markers on the sheets saying "bura na mano holi hai".
Homework Assignment:
-Write all the letter from "Ka" to "pha" and also all the vowels "a to ah" (kind of a review.
-I had introduced the concept of matra "aa", like "jana", dada etc. It might be a little confusing for the kids and most of the matras would be learnt in the next level. But matra aa is the simplest that they can learn (just by adding a line in front of the letter) and which opens a lot of words that they can read. Please review the matra and let them come up with words which has the matra "aa" associated with the letters that they already learnt. try not to use the words that we had in the test today.
- Do the spoken hindi page of the homework, loose sheets were distributed.
Volunteers:
Thanks to Shweta Srivastava, Arohee's mom for helping out today. Since I was the only teacher today she was a great help. Also special thanks to Sonia, Sunny's mom for helping as well with the spoken hindi.
Attendance: 3 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents,
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- I had kids write some words by associating the letters that we have learnt so far. I will be taking a test of those words in the next class. Please review the words (attached to this email), the correct pronunciation and their meaning before next Sunday. I would just say the words (and not write the hinglish of them, since that can be confusing) for the kids so it is important that they know the correct pronunciation of the letters
- A lot of kids are not doing their homework, specially the spoken hindi homework. Please have them to do it. I write the homework in all my emails, with links to the spoken hindi portion and also post it online so even if the kid is absent for the class then also they can do it. Gurukul staff spends a lot of time in preparing everything for your kids. We all are also like you guys, with families and work and do the Gurukul work as volunteers to teach your kids. It would be really nice to see that the kids can also learn in exchange.
- Continue to speak and read to kids in hindi and have them bring the chart to my attention so I can give them their stars..
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We learnt three new letters this time, "na", na se nal, "pa", pa se pani and "pha or fa" pha se phal (fruit). Then we spent most of the time learning, writing and speaking the words in hindi that is attached to this email.
Spoken:
-Bhavna, spoken hindi teacher, introduced the concept of "bagh" (park) and everything associated with it, like jhulna, khelna, dost, saheli etc. Kids were shown a small presentation with pictures and sentences in hindi that they converted in english. Details can be learnt from the following link. This link also has the spoken hindi homework, the kids were also given the loose sheet of this homework to take home to work on.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894C85E7326&id=55607894C85E7326%211063&sc=documents
Culture:
In the culture session, kids learnt about different dances of India. They were introduced both classical and folk dances of India. For the culture activity, the kids made a mask symbolizing classical dance form of India.
Homework Assignment:
-Write all the letter from "na" to "pha" (pages 40 to 44 in binder) and write five words starting with these letters. Please make sure that kids know the meaning of the words that they are writing, first that way they can pronounce the words and also this increases their hindi vocalbury. Also make sure that yours kids have all the pages (except for few) in the binder complete upto page 44.
- Work on the words that were discussed and written in their notebook. There is going to be a test next week. This test will kind of indicate if the kids can recognize the letters when they form words.
- Do the spoken hindi page of the homework on bagh.
Volunteers:
No parent volunteer in class today. Next week's parent volunteer is Shweta Srivastava.
Attendance: 3 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

जग
चख
ख़त
थक
छत
कट
आग
आज
आजा
खाना
जाना
चाचा
दादा
कागज़
ढक
गई
ईख
ऐनक
धन
ऊन
ठग
एक
घट

In the Hindi portion we reviewed letters "Ka" to "Dha". Please practice the subtle differences in pronouncing letters especially "Ta for Tamatar", "Ta for talvaar", "Tha for Thaali" and "Tha for Thaharo", "Da for Dadaji", "Da for Dabba", "Dha for Dhanush" and "Dha for Dholak".
These letters get confusing to the kids when we write in English. We encourage parents to show them several examples at home and practice the difference.
In the Spoken Hindi section, Arvindji taught the students about present continuous tense. Please refer to the link below for Spoken Hindi material.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=55607894C85E7326&id=55607894C85E7326%211061

In the culture part, kids learnt about Jhansi ki Rani Lakshmibai through a kit presented by Gurukul youth board.
Read to your kids and they will get stars in the reading reward program. Please inform the teachers on how many minutes you have read to your child.
Coming Sunday 02/26 is a Holiday. See you all on March 4th.

Namaste Parents,
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- I sent out the reading chart for your kids so that every time they are reading (being read to) or speaking in hindi you can note down the times and then let me know either by sending the chart to class and asking kids for making sure that I give them a star for every 30min or you can email me as well so I can make a note. Every 30 min earns them a star on the big chart that we would hang in the class and at the end depending on the number of stars they would get a prize from Gurukul.
- Since it is mid winter break for my daughter's school next week I would not be coming to Gurukul on Feb 19th as I would be off to Mexico.
- There is no class on Feb 26th due to mid winter break unless otherwise told by Bharati on Feb 19th.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We reviewed all the letters (vowels and consonants) that we have learnt so far. Each kid was asked to say and write all the letters. It was nice to see that most everyone remembered the letters we have learnt so far.
I introduced four new letters this time. We still have lot to cover so I will be introducing new letters in one class and reviewing all the letters in the next. Letters from "ta", ta se talwar, "th", th se thali, "da", da se dada and "dh", dh se dhanush. Kids had a little difficulty in pronouncing the different letters. Please do make sure when they do their homework that they are pronouncing each of these correctly while they do homework.
Spoken:
-Me, Bharati and Anu (parent volunteer) spoke in either Hindi or English to each other and kids were asked to translate in English or hindi respectively. Then we did some actions and kids were asked to make a full sentence in hindi to describe the action in present tense. Most everyone got right and with that I owe them two prizes :) for doing such a good job in speaking hindi (the effort mainly).
Culture:
In the culture session, kids learnt about different musical instruments used in Indian classical music. They heard the sound of Tanpura and talked about flute and Lord Krishna playing the flute. We also compared various string, wind and percussion instruments used in India and western music. For the culture activity, the kids created a collage of instruments with pictures and labels.
Homework Assignment:
-Write all the letter from "ta" to "Dh" (pages 36, 37, 38 and 39 in binder) and write five words starting with the letters. Please make sure that kids know the meaning of the words that they are writing, first that way they can pronounce the words and also this increases their hindi vocalbury.
- Have them prepare a spoken hindi speech (atleast five lines each) on any topic that interests them. Please do not have them speak about their school. I would give etc. credit to kids who would do this :))
Volunteers:
Thanks to Anu (Sonya's mom) for volunteering in Class. Next week volunteer is parent of Aryan
Attendance: 0 absent (love when I write 0 here)
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

IMPORTANT:
- Mid year evaluations went well and most all kids did a good job. We talked with most of you today and please free to give us any feedback (good or bad) where we can improve or should keep doing.
- Since we missed a lot of classes and have to cover a lot of course for this level I might be teaching more than 2 letters per class. I would need your co-operation by revising those letters with your kids at home so they come prepared and we can review fast and move on to the next set of letters.
- Gurukul is starting a hindi reading incentive program. I would send the details for the program in a separate email for all of you to read.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- While me and Bharati were doing the PTC today parent volunteers Vineesh (Shreyash's dad) and Sonya (Sunny's mom) taught the kids today. They introduced two new letters "da", da se dabba and "Dh", dh se dhakkan. Then they revised the letters with the kids.
Spoken:
-Today we had given breakfast scenario to the kids and they were given flash cards and at the same time asked what do they eat at breakfast. Please do review the flash cards with the kids and they might be asked to say few lines in hindi on breakfast next time.
Culture:
Kids were given an activity in culture which they enjoyed (as usual).
Homework Assignment:
-Write 5 words each starting from letters "da" and "dh"
- Finish pages 31, 32, 34 and 35 in the level 2 binder
- If possible please just look and see the next set of letters in the binder (pgs 36-39)
- Make a breakfast scenario and be ready to say 3-4 lines in hindi on that (you can use the flash cards given in the class today).
Volunteers:
Thank a lot to both Vineesh and Sonya for taking and managing the class today while we were busy with PTC.·
Reminder: Feb 12th parent volunteer is parent of Sonya Karnataki.
Attendance: 1 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Me and Bharati are going to be in India in December. Tanu and Raghavan are substituting for us during this time. Please the parent volunteers do help them out as much as you can.
- Also If you are going to India please send me an email so I can mark that on our attendance sheets if you have already not done so.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We again reviewed all the letters that we have learnt so far. Letters from "ka" to "ta". I asked kids to write as many letters that they remember. I introduced the "matra" for "aa" to help them write words like "chacha". I did not introduce a new letter today since we had only 5 kids in the class. Kids that were present did much better than last time. Keep up the good work.
Spoken:
-Kids were shown animals and they were asked to form a full sentence in hindi describing something about that animal. All of them were able to form atleast 4 word sentences. Then we played a mystery game in which kids came forward and picked up a flash card from a bag which had a picture of either an animal, fruit, vegetable etc. Rest of the kids were supposed to guess what was on the flash card by asking clues in hindi. Kids had fun and did really well.

Culture:
Today in culture class the kids saw a presentation on various foods of India. Later they were given ginger bread cookies that they decorated with frosting and sprinkles. Some of them ate the cookies while some took them home.
Homework Assignment:
- Write some words using the letters that they have learnt so far like "thag" which is combined using "th" and "ga".
- There is a spoken hindi homework sheet which has unscrambled sentence. Please have the kids put the words in correct order.
Volunteers:
Thank you to Sonia, Sunny's mom to volunteer in the class today..
Attendance: 7 absent
You all have a wonderful christmas and a very happy new year. I will see you all next year in Jan.
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- There will be no class next Sunday due to Thanksgiving week.
- Mid year evluations are coming up in Jan. I will send a separate email to you regarding the course for the evaluation
- If you are going to India please send us an email so I can mark that on our attendance sheets
- Me and Bharati are also going to India. Due to some dates overlapping both of us are not going to be there for Dec 11th and Dec 18th class. We would have substitute teachers but I would encourage our parents to help the substitute teachers as much as possible especially during those dates.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Star Student:
Arjun was the star student this week. He talked a little about himself, how he likes Gurukul and Guru Nanak Jayanti. Great job Arjun.
Hindi:
- We reviewed all the letters that we have learnt so far. Letters from "ka" to "ta". I asked kids to write as many letters that they remember and then a corresponding word for the letter (to help them identify the different sound of the letter). Only one student got all of them write. Kids are still struggling with their letters, please make sure they spent sometime reviewing those letters. I would review the letters again next week before introducing a new letter.
Spoken:
-We kind of reviewed some basic verbs in spoken, like the morning routine, how do we welcome a guest, performed some actions and the kids were asked to make sentences using those actions (baithna, rona etc). Please try to talk a little bit of hindi at home so they can atleast talk some.
Culture:
Today in culture class the kids reviewed all the festivals covered so far. They talked about Ganesh Chaturthi, Rakshabandhan, Dasera and Diwali. As a part of the activity they made a "Ravan" puppet.
Homework Assignment:
-Write all the letter from "ka" to "ta" and write one words starting with the letter. Please if possible have the kids do this by themself.
- Wtrite all the vowels from "a to aah".
- Kids should complete all pages in their binders till 29 except 18 and 25.
- Have them speak some hindi daily
Volunteers:
· Reminder: Dec 4th parent volunteer is parent of Sunnay Pag.
Attendance: 3 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Hindi:
The kids reviewed letters "Ka" to "Ta", then did a writing review of "A" to "A:" They learnt a new letter "Tha" today.
Culture:
In the culture section, we talked about Guru Nanak Jayanti and how people celebrate it for three days. As a part of their activity, kids colored a Bhangra man puppet.
Spoken Hindi :
Classed 2C and 2D were combined for Spoken.
In the Spoken section, kids talked about their morning routine and learnt how to describe, brushing teeth, taking bath, eating breakfast and getting ready for school. They also heard a story in Hindi about the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Homerwork:
Page 30 of binder and five words beginning with "Tha".

Namaste Parents;
Hope you all had a great Diwali and enjoyed a week off!!!
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- There are still some kids who still do not have pencils etc. in their backpack. Please make sure they have these basic things to study as any school including Gurukul.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Star Student:
Vani was the star student this week. She talked a little about herself and Durga Puja. Great job Vani.
Hindi:
- There was a test given in the last class to kids in which 12 words were written on the board and they had to identify the letter that the word starts from. Some kids did really well and some kids really need a lot of practice. I gave them their test papers back, please ask your kids to show their test papers so that you will also know where they stand so far. If you have any questions/concerns/comments please shoot me an email or talk to me on Sunday after the class.
- We learnt two new letters "Jha", jha se jharna and "Ta" ta se tamatar. Kids were asked to write down the letters to practice.
Spoken:
-Kids were asked to prepare one paragraph of hindi speech from the page that was given to them in the last class. All of them came in front and spoke. Then one-two kids from the audience asked the kids presenting a question about the their speech in hindi. Overall the kids did really well.
Culture:
Today in culture the kids were told and asked about Indian dresses for both men and women. Then they were given a blank sheet of paper and they made "Nehru Topi" with it. They all had fun doing the activity. Do ask them to show you the "topi".
Homework Assignment:
-Write the letter "jha" and "ta" and write 5 words starting with the letter.
- Do page 24, 28 and 29 in their binders.
- Kids were given one loose page for spoken hindi. It is word puzzle. Please have them do that as well.
Volunteers:
· Thanks to Krish's dad Kush for volunteering in the class today.
· Reminder: Nov 13th parent volunteer is parent of Sonya Karnataki.
Attendance: 0 absent
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;
Wishing you all a very happy diwali and a properous new year!!!
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- No class on Oct 30th (due to Diwali Celebration on Oct 29th)
-There are some kids who are consistently tardy for the class. Please make sure that you are on time so that they can be on time.
- There are still some kids who do not have pencils etc. in their backpack. Please make sure they have these basic things to study at Gurukul.
- Some kids are still not completing their spoken hindi homework. They have do that also. Each weak we hand them one or two loose sheets for that. Please make sure that the kids complete the spoken hindi part of homework as well and you can put the loose sheets in their binders.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Star Student:
Arohee was the star student this week. She talked a little about herself and about Diwali. She told various ways we celebrate Diwali, by eating Mithai, wearing new clothes, firecrackers etc. Great job Arohee..
Hindi:
- There was a test given to kids in which 12 words were written on the board and they had to identify the letter that the work starts from. Most of the kids did well. Parents if you would like to know how your kids did please stop by while dropping off or picking up and I can tell you more. Please do say great job to your kiddos.
- We learnt a new letter "Ja", ja se jahaj. Kids were asked to write down the letter to practice.
Spoken:
- Each kid was asked to be the teacher to ask one question like "Pen dabbe ke upar hai ya neeche" (to review common words like "yaha" "vaha", "upar" neeche", "age" peeche" etc) and he/she could pick one kid to answer the question (to make them comfortable in making a full sentence in hindi). The kid who answered then got to be the teacher. It was a fun exercise and kids were able to make sentences with little or no help.
Culture:
There was a yoga demo for culture this time. Kids were taught some basic yoga asanas.
Homework Assignment:
-Write the letter "ja" and write 5 words starting with the letter.
- Do page 23 in their binders.
- Kids were given one loose page for spoken hindi. If you cannot find the sheet then you can print it out from the following link :
https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=55607894C85E7326&resid=55607894C85E7326!1021
They are supposed to memorize any one paragragh on it and then say it in the class next time.
Volunteers:
· Thanks to Krish's dad Kush for volunteering in the class today.
· Reminder: Nov 6th parent volunteer is parent of Krish Jain
Attendance: 0 absentee and 4 tardy.
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;

Updates from last Sunday;

IMPORTANT:

- Please sit with your kids so that they can complete their homework. Few kids are still not doing their homework. I am going to start a star and point system in the class where they would get stars and points for completing their homework. You don't want your kids to miss out on those. It is really important for their learning as well.

- Also some kids do not complete their spoken hindi homework. They have do that also. Each weak we hand them one or two loose sheets for that. Please make sure that the kids complete the spoken hindi part of homework as well and you can put the loose sheets in their binders.

Class Site: Class 2D

Session Review:

Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .

Star Student:

Sunny (Suraj) was the star student this week. He talked a little about himself and about Dusherra. From now on we would have a star student every week so that all of them get a chance to speak hindi in front of all the kids and teachers. It also make them feel special.

Hindi:

- We also reviewed all the letters that we did so far from "k to ch". We discussed words on "Ch" and "Gh". A new letter "Chh" was introduced, chh se chatri (umbrella). Most of the kids are able to indentify all the letters and vowels that we have learnt so far. Keep up the good work kids.

Spoken:

- Reviewed some common hindi verbs like "tairna", "khelna", "baat karna" etc. They were given a exercise sheets for review and homework

Culture:

Today on October 16th, the kids practiced Dandiya during their culture session. They will be doing Dandiya on the upcoming Diwali day. The kids also decorated a candle "Diya" for Diwali.

Homework Assignment:

-Write the letter "Chh" and write 5 words starting with this letter like chatri.

- Do pages 20 and 22 in their binders.

- Write your name in hindi and please identify the letters that constitute your name.

- I am going to take a small quiz this coming Sunday on vowels (A se Ah) and all the letters that we have covered so far (k se Chh). It is just to make them practice the letters and also help them identify them.

Volunteers:

· Thanks to Shreyash's dad Vineesh for volunteering in the class today.

· Reminder: Oct 23 parent volunteer is parent of Krish Jain

Attendance: 2 absentee and 2 tardy.

Dhanyawad!!

Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;
Updates from October 9th;
IMPORTANT:
- Please have your kids bring a notebook and pencils to class. It is important that they write their work in one place and not loose sheets (which some of the students did not have) for them to review at home and in the next class.
- All kids did their homework this time, keep up the good work, it was really interesting to see all the different works they wrote starting with a letter "ga". Parents please make sure that they actually know the meaning of the word they write so that they can also remember and learn. This not just to have them know the letter but the words as well which would increase their vocabulary.
- Thank you for sending water bottles and dry snacks with your kids. We really appreciate it.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We also reviewed the last three letters "k". "kh" and "ga" and I asked all the kids to share the words that they wrote starting with "Ga". We learnt a lot of new words because of that. Kids were asked to make sentences in hindi using the words they wrote. A lot of them were able to make one or more without any help. It is important that we reference a word starting with these hindi letters as they can be confusing.
- Introduced the letters "Gh", Gh se ghar and "Ch", Ch is chacha and asked them to write it in their notebooks and then on the board.
Spoken:
- Reviewed some common hindi action words like "chadna", "utarna", "likhna", "rona" etc. The room was divided into two teams and given words to make sentences in HIndi. Please do review them with your kids and ask them to come up with some more hindi sentences. I hope kids had fun with the hindi sentence game.
Culture:
Today we talked about the significance of Dushera, why it is celebrated and how the evil kind "Raavan" was killed by "Raam Bhagwan". Later kids decorated their own dandiya sticks with two sets of color tape.
Homework Assignment:
-Write the letters "Gh" and "Ch" and write 5 words starting with this letter like "ghar","chidiya" etc.
- Complete pages17, 19 and 21 in their binders.
- Kids were also given one loose sheets for spoken hindi please go through them and let them speak in hindi.
Volunteers:
· Thanks to Shreyash's dad Vineesh for volunteering in the class today.
· Reminder: Oct 16 parent volunteer is Vineesh Sinha
Attendance: No absent, 3 tardy
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

Namaste Parents;
Updates from last Sunday;
IMPORTANT:
- Please have your kids bring a notebook and pencils to class. It is important that they write their work in one place and not loose sheets (which some of the students did not have) for them to review at home and in the next class.
- Almost all kids did their homework this time, keep up the good work, it was really interesting to see all the different works they wrote starting with a letter "kh"
- Please do not send any juice or milk with the kids. Please do send water bottle since the water fountain is too far from the class. Also only dry and non messy snacks are allowed.
Class Site: Class 2D
Session Review:
Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .
Hindi:
- We also reviewed the second letter "kh" and I asked all the kids to share the words that they wrote starting with "K". We learnt a lot of new words because of that. Kids were asked to make sentences in hindi using the words they wrote. A lot of them were able to make one or more without any help
- Introduced the letter "Ga", Ga se gana and asked them to write it in their notebooks and then on the board.
- Kids were also asked to write the first two letters "k" and "kh" without peeking in their notebooks to see if they remember it.
Spoken:
- Reviewed some common hindi words for things one finds in a room like "mej", "khidki" etc, more review of "yaha" 'vaha" and also how one addresses common words with respect like"khayiye", "likhiye" etc.
Culture:
Today on 2nd October, kids learnt about Mahatma Gandhiji. They listened to facts and stories about Bapu's childhood, his great contribution in the Indian Independence struggle. They made a monkey puppet signifying Gandhiji's three monkeys (say no evil, hear no evil, see no evil).
Homework Assignment:
-Write the letter "Ga" and write 10 words starting with this letter like "gana" etc.
- Kids got their binders today so please complete pages 11- 16 in the binders. It should be fairly easy for all of them to do this part of the homework. For the kids who were absent today you can finish the homework next week once you have the binder
- Kids were also given two loose sheets for spoken hindi please go through them and let them speak in hindi.
Volunteers:
· Thanks to Aryan's mom Smitha for volunteering in the class today.
· Reminder: Oct 9 parent volunteer is Vineesh Sinha
Attendance: 6 absentee
Dhanyawad!!
Priyanka and Bharati

IMPORTANT:

- Please have your kids bring a notebook and pencils to class. It is important that they write their work in one place and not loose sheets (which some of the students did not have) for them to review at home and in the next class.

- One or two kids still have not submitted their summer homework. Please have them bring that this coming week as this would be the last week we would accept them.

- Please have your kids complete their homework. I will be evaluating them on this as well and you do not want them to not pass because of homework. Your kids are coming here to learn and if they do not do their homework it is difficult to teach them in just one day out of the whole week.
- Please do not send any juice or milk with the kids. Please do send water bottle since the water fountain is too far from the class. Also only dry and non messy snacks are allowed.


Class Site: Class 2D

Session Review:

Morning Routine: “Om”, “Tumhi Ho Maata” prayer led by kids .

Hindi:

-Review of the material covered in last year. Kids are now able to remember a lot from last year. We used props of vegetables, fruits and animals to do our hindi vocabulary like colors, numbers, body parts, name of the object along with trying to make sentences in hindi.

- We also reviewed the first letter "k" and I asked all the kids to share the words that they wrote starting with "K". We learnt a lot of new words because of that.

- Introduced the letter "Kh", Kh se Khargosh and asked them to write it in their notebooks and then on the board. Here is a cool website to help them learn how to properly form the letter (strokes).

http://www.hindibhasha.com

Also review of vowels अ आ ...

·Cultural:
On 09/25 we learnt about India (Bharat), talked about family members staying in India and learnt the names of different states and different Indian languages. We also talked about the festival of Rakshabandhan and its importance. As a part of their activity, kids made Rakhis and tied them to their hands.


Spoken

Review of correct use of "hann" (yes) and "Nahi" (no) and also of "yaha" (here) and "vaha" (there). Each of them got a paper for their homework. Please do go through them and ask them to form sentences as much in Hindi as possible

Homework Assignment

-Write the letter "Kh" and write 10 words starting with this letter

- Also complete the spoen hindi page that was given to them reviewing haan and nahi.

Volunteers:

· Thanks to Shreyash's dad Vineesh for volunteering in the class today.

· Reminder: Oct 2 parent volunteer is Vikram Puthran

Attendance: 6 absentee

Namaste Parents,
Me, Bharati and Swati are really excited to be the hindi, culture and spoken hindi teacher for your wonderful kids this year. So far we have 18 young and bright kids in our class. One of us is going to put the review of the class (hopefully by Monday) for all of you to see. The review would contain everything we covered in the class and also what homework the kid need to do. We are going to send a separate email as well for sometime but eventually you will have to go on the 2D class webpage to review the information.
All of you have been here last year so I am sure you are familiar with the policies, drill and expectation of the class your kid is in. If you have any questions or concerns please see one of us and we would be more than willing to help you in anyway possible.
HINDI REVIEW:
I did the revision of level 1 today, starting from numbers, body parts, colors, vegetables, fruits and most important the vowels (A, Aa...). Some kids remembered a lot while some didn't. Please do try to do a refresher course with your kids as we move onto our current curriculum. This would help them in the class.
CULTURE REVIEW:
On September 18th the kids learnt about Ganesh Chaturthi festival. They participated in Ganesh Pooja and listened to stories about Ganesha's birth. The kids also recited a prayer of Lord Ganesha. They took home bookmarks decorated with Ganesha stickers as a part of the class room activity.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
All kids should write the hindi vowels (A, Aa .. Ahh) and should be able to read, write and remember them when asked. Kids need to practice and write the first consonant "k" and write 10 words (hindi words in hinglish like Kabootar) starting with "k".
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
- Please have your kids have a bound work notebook where they can practice and also do their writing homework. It makes it much easier for them and us to learn and correct
- All kids should have pencils, erasers and coloring pencils/markers/crayons for their art activity.
-Please don't send any juices or messy snacks with the kids. Water is allowed but for snacks it should be something dry which they can easily eat and not create a huge mess.
-A lot of people signed up the volunteer sheet (thank you so much for that). Those of you who didn't please do so on the next class. Also the lead parent for the class is Sonia Nar (Sunny's mother) so please contact her if you have any questions regarding this.
- MOST IMPORTANT: PLEASE BRING YOUR KIDS COMPLETED SUMMER NOTEBOOK NEXT WEEK (SEPT 25). FAILING TO DO WOULD MAKE US SEND YOUR KID TO LEVEL 1 AGAIN. THIS IS MANDATORY FOR ALL KIDS IN GURUKUL.
ABSENT/TARDY:
We had 12 kids in class today. We are going to start tardy policy starting next class so please have your kid in class by 11:00 a.m.
Looking forward to an exciting year,
Dhanyavad,
Priyanka Gupta (Hindi teacher)