World Travel Geography- First Stop, India! 12/5-12/9

Things just keep getting busier and busier in first and second grade.  We traveled to India and on Monday we will be heading to China!  We learned about Diwali, we made rangoli flower patterns and painted elephants! Mr. Rector, the principal from Richmond and UCS parent, stopped in to share about his time in India! We looked at the geography of India and learned how diverse it is.  India has rainforests, snow capped mountains,  deserts and the Bay of Bengal.  We learned that India is on the continent of Asia. It was so much fun.  Here is what the rest of our week looked like.

Learning highlights from the week:

• Math- First grade students have been using their understanding of partners to 10 and doubles facts to add problems with 3 digits.  (4

• +2+6=? WE KNOW 6+4=10, therefore 10+2=12)  Second graders continue to work on word problems.  We have also been practicing our doubles facts.  ( 5+5, 6+6, 8+8 etc)  We are doing so well that on Friday the students earned a game day!

• Reading- Students are working on learning various phonics patterns.  Some groups are wrapping up digraph sounds.  These are ch, sh, th, wh, and ck.  Next week we will be moving on to glued sounds and blends.  We will start with the all /ol/ Other students are working on long vowel patterns.  We are just finishing the CVCe  pattern and moving on to vowel teams.  This week we introduced ay and ai.  Book box reading and book clubs continue.  Our reading challenge is still going.  Please help us earn our celebration by reading at home for 15 minutes at least 4 times a week.  Then fill out our pumpkin sheet.  

•  Writing-  Handwriting has become our writing time focus.  Magic C Bunny made an appearance to see how everyone was doing.  If your child struggles with letter formation, it will slow down their writing. In turn, this can make them lose interest in writing altogether. On the other hand, if they form their letters correctly, they'll be able to write more quickly and fluently.

• Social Studies - We took off on Air UCS on our flight to India this week.  Since we’ve been here we’ve learned about Diwali, the festival of light.  It’s India's biggest and most important festival of the year.  We have made Rangoli’s (sand art paintings) and created beautiful Painted Elephants.  Next stop China!

• Mindfulness- For the month of December we will be talking about empathy and peace.