General Studies with Hilary

Dear 3rd grade families,

How amazing were our students in the Chanukah Play? A round of applause to the students for their spectacular performance, as well as to Ilana for directing and managing the whole play!

This week marked our FIRST field trip of the year! With the support of four parents, Tomer and I accompanied the class north to the Battery Park area to explore native history and some background information for our future New Amsterdam study.

When first arriving at Whitehall (the term the British gave to New Amsterdam’s Director General Peter Stuyvesant’s house), we discussed the reason behind some of the street names — such as Pearl Street and Stone Street — and how they reflected the geography and nature of the time. We then moseyed to Bowling Green, discussing the historical importance of the area during New Amsterdam and, later, with the American Revolution. Turning around, we saw the building for the National Museum of the American Indian, which is formally known as the Alexander Hamilton Customs House and less well known as Fort Amsterdam. We looked at the architecture and decor of the outside of the building, focusing on four specific statues standing across the facade of the entrance. Each statue represents a different continent (or a mixture of two continents, for one of the statues) who traded with America in the 1800s.

After entering the building, we made our way to the Taíno Exhibit (closing before summer 2019), looking at artifacts of the people (both before the time of Columbus, in 1492, as well as more currently created artifacts), and the history of the tribe. This brought about the very important question of: Why do we celebrate Columbus, and give him a special day, when he was horrible and killed so many people? Our wonderful chaperones willingly discussed their education about Columbus, and how we used to idealize that “first” explorer who “discovered” America — or the India of the West, the West Indies. This is a very different discussion than the one our class had about those early encounters.

The next stop is the museum’s permanent exhibit, which showcases various artifacts from the many people of America. We saw artifacts from those in the Arctic, Southeast Plains, Northwest Coast, mountains, Central America, Eastern Woodlands, and more! The fan favorite piece is a mask, called the Booger Mask, which was created by the Cheyenne tribe. The class eagerly explored the different areas of this exhibit, noticing what pieces were made of, and comparing clothing of the various regions.

We were then provided a VERY special experience of being invited to explore the museum’s Discovery Zone! This hands-on experience provided students with the opportunity to see innovations made by native people CENTURIES before the Industrial Revolution. In one room, students could be found working together to try to build an igloo or a stone-arched bridge. That was definitely the theme we saw while observing them in this room — collaborating ideas and methods while working together for a purpose.

Conversation starters with your student:

– where was the water line, in relation to Fort Amsterdam, in the early 1600s?

– what are YOUR thoughts on Columbus Day, and why?

– what type of artifacts did people of Native Tribes use or wear that we ALSO use/wear?

Dates to know:

– Friday, January 18 — MLK Jr Tekes @ 9:00am

– Monday, January 21 — NO SCHOOL

– Friday, February 8 — Shabbat Across Senesh

– Tuesday, February 12 — 3rd grade trip to the Wyckoff House

Shabbat Shalom to you all!

Hilary

 

Hebrew with Ilana Swisa

This week the third grade performs in Chanuka Play. They were excited and did a great job! You can watch the play on Hannah Senesh Facebook. After the play we return to work on our workbook, reading short stories and working on comprehension.

Shabbat Shalom

 

Judaic Studies with Margaret

We have been very busy learning about Chanukah! In third grade we discussed how symbols can stand for ideas that are too big to express in words. We studied the menorah, how it came to be on the seal of Israel, and how it means that the Jewish people are a light to the world. We also explored the debate between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai–Should we start with one candle and increase every night or should we start with eight candles and decrease every night? We watched a video that explained how even when they disagreed, both Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai still worked respectfully. We conducted a class debate and argued for each side. Our class modeled the values of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai: even when we disagreed, we did so with respect and kindness for each other. Last week we said goodbye to Margaret as she begins her transition into Kindergarten where she will be covering Alex’s maternity leave. We worked hard to design cards that showed her how much we appreciated her.

 

Judaics with Phyllis

It has been a pleasure getting to know the third graders this week in Judaics.  To conclude our Chanukah unit, the students learned about different holidays of light around the world (see pictures below).  As your child what holiday he/she studied, what country it is celebrated in and what the light celebrates/represents.  In Chumash we continued to learn about how God promised Abram as many children as stars in the sky.  I have been extremely impressed by the students’ ability to identify and highlight names, places, verbs (shorashim), and important vocabulary (buzzwords).