3rd Grade: 12/3

We have had a busy past few weeks!

Judaics- Celebrating Chanukah!

We had a full week of celebrating Chanukkah in third grade! From classroom lighting, to leading the school in lighting on Thursday, third graders were active celebrants. In Judaics class we learned not only about Chanukkah, but also about additional winter light festivals from other cultures. On Thursday we had a virtual field trip with the Jewish Museum where we saw examples of varied types of chanukiyot as well as artifacts from other cultures, such as a diya used during the Hindu holiday of Diwali and a kinara used during the African American holiday of Kwanzaa. View images and videos from our celebrations in the slideshow below!

Reading, Writing, and Social Studies:

We are continuing to work on our Lenape research books. Now that we collected information through non-fiction reading, we organized our notes into different categories. Then we wrote about everything we learned about our topic in our own words. We looked again at the features of non-fiction text, ie. index, photographs, caption, maps, etc. We decided which of these features our book would have. For example, if we’re writing about clothing, we may not add a map, but might add a picture of a moccasin. Finally, we began revising our writing, adding in interesting and catchy leads and endings and making sure we are using descriptive language. We also began working on the layout of our books in a program called Book Creator. We can’t wait to show it to you at our publishing party on December 15th!

Though we can’t visit a museum as part of our unit, we can have the museum come to us! We visited with the Education Director at the Museum of Staten Island via Zoom. She showed us different artifacts from Lenape life, such as arrow heads and deer bones. One artifact she showed us was a way to make fire! It was interesting to see how the Lenape would use the natural resources available to them.

We also had a visit from author Dori Weinstein of the Yaya and Yoyo series. She spoke to us about why she started writing this series (there was a need for Jewish themed chapter books) and what her writing process was. She wrote many drafts and had friends and family all give her feedback.

In Music class, Third Graders have learned the song Al Hanism – we hope you enjoyed their performance of that piece at the Hanukkah Candle Lighting on Thursday! In ukulele news, Third Graders have honed their tuning skills, and they’ve been honing their pitch matching skills by singing the pitches of the open strings. They have also begun reading those pitches with rhythms. Please help them remember to record a one-minute video each week in Seesaw. If you’re still having trouble accessing Seesaw, be sure to let Heidi know.

In math, we have begun our multiplication unit! The students have been so excited to learn and share what they know about multiplying numbers up through twelve. We have not only been practicing these multiplication facts, but we’re also learning about ways to make connections between different facts and numbers. For example, the third graders aren’t just memorizing that 6X7=42 but also making the connection that 6X7 is equal to 6X5 plus 6X2 or 30+12. These connections help make our number sense stronger! We’re using array and subitizing flashcards to help forge these connections! The subitizing card below now only shows that 6X4=24, but it also helps students see that 12X2 and 3X8 also equal 24. Students have also been working hard on making their own colorful multiplication charts.