Namaste.

Quiz:

Here is the quiz for this week. Which statements are true?

Himalaya Quiz
Circle the numbers that are true.

1. The word Himalaya means “Home of Snow.”
2. The Himalayan mountain range is contained entirely in the country of Nepal.
3. The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world, containing Mt. Rainier and Mt. Olympus.
4. The Himalayas are still growing higher.
5. The Himalayas are forbidden for Hindus because they are so cold, and all rivers go there to die.
6. Roman roads and now modern highways make it easy to travel the Himalayas and share culture and news across the mountains.
7. Renunciation means giving up all your material possessions, and your thoughts and desires in this world.
8. The goal of renunciation is enlightenment and liberation.
9. A sunnyasi spends half his time meditating, and half his time working the soil to grow food.
10. Char Dham is a group of holy sites where Indian people go to pray and receive salvation.

Story: For this week, we read the story "Mowgli's Brothers." In the enrichment class we spent some time talking about the plot points of the story so I could make sure the kids were understanding it and following along. They are doing great! Several mentioned they are supplementing with the pop-up book that I recommended. I was very impressed with how the little ones are picking up the details and subtler points of the story -- good job moms and dads reading at home!

Pen Pal:

As a class, we are going to be communicating with a pen pal in India. His name is Ved, he's seven years old, and his mother and I are friends via an internet list. I want the kids to get a sense of what things in India are similar to their own lives, but also appreciate the differences. Today we wrote letters and drew pictures for Ved. Some of the kids were at a loss for what to say -- I told them to ask questions, tell about themselves and about Virginia, etc. It was interesting what they came up with!

Song and Dance: This week we had more time to work on the songs and we were able to spend time on all of them. We will be learning one more India song next week, for a total of five. Some of the children have all of "Mandalay" and "If" memorized and that's awesome! I still like them to look at the words when we sing in class. I talked this week about how our brains work to memorize material -- hearing it, seeing it, and saying it at the same time is a powerful and effective combination. So, watching the words as we sing and hear each other sing, we're engaging our brains on many levels.

Assignment: The fast facts for next week involves identifying locations on a map of India. On your child's map you will find the following: New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges River, Pakistan, Nepal, China, and Bangladesh. The story for next week is "Kaa's Hunting."

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