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3rd Grade: 2/11

Reading

We continued reading Because of Winn Dixie, analyzing how Opal reacts to problems that she faces. We’ve noticed that Opal faces them head-on, making her very brave. She asks the preacher about her mother, even though she is afraid to, and always talks back to the Dewberry boys. We then looked at different supportive characters, Gloria Dump, Miss Franny, and Amanda Wilkinson. We established that their roles are as advisor, friend, and challenger. These supporting characters help our main character move along their story mountain. Sometimes they make their journey easier, and sometimes they make it more difficult. We then introduced the idea of Book Clubs and are getting practice on all the different jobs we’ll have in clubs: summarizer, illustrator, questioner, word finder, and connector. Next week we’ll get our groups, and after Mid-Winter Break, we’ll officially start book clubs.

 

Writing

We published or Opinion writing! Please see flipgrid for videos of the students reading their writing. You must sign in with your child’s google sign-in. Our next writing unit is biographies! Since we’re starting them in February which is officially Black History Month, each student will be assigned a person of color that has made major achievements or contributions in their field. We’ll be looking at people of color throughout history until today who were active in politics, law, science, music, writing, dance, and others. We’ll use the skills we learned during our Lenape research to research and write a biography on our person.

 

Social Studies

Now it’s time to delve into the daily life of a Dutch New Amsterdam-er! We found out that there were 23 Jews who emigrated to New Amsterdam. They were exiled from Spain during the Inquisition, moved to Portugal and then to Brazil and the Dutch colony there. When the colony was taken over by the Portuguese, they were exiled again and left Brazil, with the Dutch, for New Amsterdam. Though Stuyvesant did not want different religions, he was overruled by the directors in Amsterdam, and the Jews were allowed to practice Judaism privately, while prospering as Dutch citizens. We started our New Amsterdam project, which is a mural of daily life. We started by learning about Dutch homes. They were one floor, mostly one room, where everyone lived, spent their days, and slept. Dutch doors were split horizontally so people could open only the top half, keeping animals out and children inside. They had many possessions, like chests, linens, maps, and paintings. Next, we’ll move on to jobs, food, and what children’s lives were like.

 

Math

Students have started a unit on fractions! They are expanding their fraction sense by exploring fractions are parts of a whole and fractions of a set. They have also been studying fraction equivalency; why is two-fourths equal to one-half. We are also looking at different ways to compare fractions. The students have also started representing fractions themselves by drawing bar models and line graphs of fractions. In our next units, we will explore measurement, area, and perimeters. Can you find 5/8ths of 24 using this bar diagram?

Here we used a virtual manipulative to compare 4/9ths with 3/7ths.

 

Judaics: Two Special Visitors 

Last week we had two special visitors come to speak with us in person. First, in honor of Lunar New Year which was last week, third graders had the opportunity to learn about this holiday from members of our community who celebrate Lunar New Year. We also had a visit from Maryam, the school’s JOCI (Jews of Color Initiative) fellow, who shared with us about her experience growing up in New York City and India as an Asian Jew and Muslim. The students were great listeners and were interested to hear from Maryam again, who had last made winter holiday cards with us. Second, we were also visited by a staff member from Repair the World who talked with the students about Recycling, Reducing, and Reusing. This lesson will serve as a foundation for recycling work that third graders will spearhead in the lunch room.

Music with Heidi

In Music class, Third Graders have learned the C, C7 and Am chords. They use these chords to play the beginnings of Arirang and My Dog Has Fleas. Third Graders are also learning to read ukulele music.

Art with Iviva

We have been learning about printmaking by making scratch foam prints. We are also studying architecture a little, finding photographs of buildings, making detailed drawings, and tracing these onto foam before pulling prints. The process takes a long time, but it is worth it when we see our final prints!