3rd Grade: 5/6

As we approach the end of the year, we take stock of what skills our students have gained and how they’ve progressed throughout the year. For the next few weeks, students will have the chance to demonstrate these skills independently.

In writing, we are doing a brief unit on poetry. We examine a specific style and then create our own poems based on that style. So far we’ve written one in the style of William Carlos Williams, a poem showing personification, an acrostic, a poem using our five senses, a poem about ourselves using similes, and a poem about things we believe in. My favorite line from these poems so far is “I love basketball like Shannon loves weekends”! Though we’ve been practicing these writing mechanics through the poetry lens, we will use them during our final writing unit, when we return to personal narratives.

In reading, we are into our second round of book clubs. You may have heard the groans from home when I introduced it. And yet, after the first chapter, students have started comparing themselves to the main character, had a heated discussion about who the main character is, and admitted to enjoying the book they’re reading! Book club work will look a little different this time around. Most of the work will be done at home. I will be modeling what their homework in using our read aloud. Our final read aloud is The One and Only Ivan. Together we will be jotting our thoughts as we read. At home, students will read their book club books, record their thoughts on the topic/question we discussed in class, and return the following day to share their thoughts with their club.

We started a new unit in Social Studies looking at immigration/migration. To start, we looked at some reasons why people may move and if it can be considered a push or pull factor. The students loved being able to share the information they found on people that immigrated/migrated. We then started looking at primary sources to see how we can find information from a long time ago. As an example, I gave students my license, a page from my calendar, a photograph, and a letter to a friend. They were so excited for these glimpses into my life, but mistakenly thought they’d be able to get into my bank account with my license! We then looked at a real ship’s manifest from 1913 and learned all we could about one of the passengers, Victoria Confino. We learned she was 10 years old, traveled with (we think) her mother and three brothers, could not read or write, was Jewish, and was from Greece. As we learned more about the Confino family, we followed their journey from Greece to New York. We disembarked at Ellis Island and have been taking a virtual field trip of the immigration process. We have been listening to first hand accounts and looking at photographs of what it was like on the journey across the ocean as well as arriving at Ellis Island.

Finally, we have been preparing for our New York play on June 1st! For now, we are reading the script every day, getting used to all of our lines and cues. Each student got a script to take home that can remain at home. Please start practicing with them so they can memorize their lines!

In math 3rd graders finished units on area and perimeter, and telling time (analog clock and calculating elapsed time), and have continued their study of geometry. Students have learned about important geometric concepts including points, lines, planes, line segments, angles, perpendicular lines, parallel lines,closed and open plane figures, and polygons.  Wow, that’s a lot! We will be playing different games to help internalize these ideas.

On Thursday this week, the third grade learned about how Israel uses solar energy to efficiently heat water for their homes. Third graders tried to harness the energy of the sun themselves by making solar ovens, using reflective aluminum foil and a curved surface to concentrate the energy on the food. We attempted to melt marshmallows to make s’mores, although the sun wasn’t quite strong enough today to get there; students still enjoyed their luke warm s’mores!

Juadics- Yom Ha’ Shoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha’atzmaut

These past two weeks have been all about special days in the Jewish calendar: Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day), Yom Ha’zikaron (Israeli Memorial Day), and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day. Last week students read the book “Passage to Freedom” about Sugihara’s actions saving Jewish refugees in the Holocaust. They worked together in partners to answer questions. They thought about important quotes in the book, such as, “I have to do something. I may have to disobey my government, but if I don’t I will be disobeying God”.  They also learned Jewish and Japanese proverbs which speak to the value of life.

This week was all about Israel. Our running theme was the topic of Aliyah, or immigration to Israel. We looked at a museum of photographs in our classroom, explored the Israel library and maps, and created our own interpretations of the Israeli flag. Assaf’s flag had a special aliyah theme, with symbold representing aliyah from Poland, Russia, and Germany to Israel.

In Music class, Third Graders have been preparing for their end of year play, singing songs of New York and playing the Erie Canal song on their ukuleles.

Art with Iviva

Students have been creating the props and backdrops for their upcoming New York City play. It is fun to revisit history lessons through drawing and viewing historic photographs and drawings.