General Studies with Hilary

Dear Third Grade Families,

Can you believe it’s already the end of May? Time is flying and, boy, are we having fun! Here are some  updates of our adventures these past two weeks:

Writing

Over the past two weeks, we focused on the process of writing a draft. We took the notes already written and, similar to our Lenape project, turned those words into our own to create a flowing narrative. Through discussion, we decided that each chapter can look different. One way some students are doing this is by including diagrams, such as of inventions or sports arenas, and labeling the different parts of them, as well as including a small caption. Another way is to have a t-chart list including the political opinions of the person (pro on one side, con on the other). Some students are making timelines of their important person’s life. Others are writing a narrative. Each student is individualizing their writing to fit their needs best. By today, each student finished his or her first draft, with some starting the next step of revising the writing. A special treat for the group is the ability to type their biography, if he or she chooses. 

**You each were emailed with your students’ login information for their HSCDS account. This account will follow them throughout their Senesh career, and is a wonderful place to organize their future work.**  

Math

We have been refreshing our memories about how to read an analog clock. Back in 2nd Grade, students learned to skip count by 5s to tell time from a clock to the nearest five-minutes. They also learned how to use hours, minutes, A.M. and P.M. to read, write time, and find elapsed time. Throughout the fall, we reviewed how to tell the hour and half hour. Last week and this week, our focus was telling time to the quarter hour, and nearest five minutes. We worked on using language like “ten after…” or “twenty to…” to figure out the exact time (to the closest 5 minute). Next week, we will be focusing on elapsed time, and how to compute that math.

Kesher Day

Students had so much fun including their special person into our general studies classroom! In connection to our social studies and writing units, we focused on the diversity of our history. As a class, we came up with a list of over twenty questions we could ask our special person, to learn more about him or her. Some of these questions were as simple as the year they were born, and were more complex by asking what life was like the year they were born (such as if there was a war being fought at that time). This connects to our writing unit, because we are currently gathering research of a chosen famous person, and are working on looking for information that answers specific questions. It connects to our social studies unit because we are learning about the importance of oral history — it is how we learn from the past and connect it to our future. The only way to learn anything is to ask questions, and make those connections. So much was learned, this day!

Lag B’Omer

Yesterday, students divided into four teams to compete in our school’s version of field day! While we might have been divided into red, yellow, green and blue teams for the activities, the minute we came back together we returned to being our classroom community. Students competed in four different activities: Spontunes, Shinshinim relay race, Pictionary, and PE relay races. We learned, and performed, cheers to impress the judges! After lunch, we walked a few blocks south to explore the newer playground! Students were able to go on a slide, monkey bars, a spider web and fire poles. It was “epic” being able to have adventures there, especially after being inside for most of the morning.

Dates to Remember:

• Monday, May 28 → Memorial Day (no school)
• Wednesday, May 29 → Ellis Island Trip ~ leaving school by 8:45am
• Monday, June 10 → Shavout (no school)
• Wednesday, June 12 → 3rd Grade New York City Play @ 9am

Shabbat Shalom!
Hilary

Hebrew with Ilana Swisa

This week the third grade learn a short story and practiced vocabulary related to a basket ball game. they also started to learn the song Shabbat Baboker – Saturday Morning. The song is about what an Israeli family do at Saturday morning. Attached is the link for the song.

Judaic Studies with Aliza

In Judaics, students have begun their end of the year projects, focused on the diverse Edot (communities) of Israel. Each student chose a country from which Jews have made Aliyah, and are telling the story of an immigrant to Israel through their posters. We are also almost finished with our Chumash curriculum! Shabbat shalom and have a great Memorial Day weekend!