General Studies with Hilary

Dear Third Grade Families,

While last week was short, the learning has not stopped!

We have been researching even more about the Lenape culture, as well as life for the Algonquin Tribe (who also lived in this area). Students can’t wait to share their research with all of you at our Publishing Party on Friday, December 1 (aka this Friday!), which will begin at 9:00 am. They have been gaining knowledge about what the Lenape ate, their religion, wampum, clothing and more!

For the majority of this week, students were devoted to putting the finishing touches on our nonfiction pieces for the publishing party. As we worked with our Social Studies partners, we took all of our Lenape knowledge into creating detailed posters that include headings, informative paragraphs, glossaries, and detailed pictures that either have captions or labels. In addition, the third grade worked with teachers and each other to revise and edit the poster writing. Next week we will be starting a short study of explorers and encounters, which will turn into a focus on Henry Hudson. For this next part, the third grade will be asked to use all the gained knowledge about the Lenape to investigate and infer how life changed with the arrival of Europeans — specifically the Dutch.

A few weeks ago, in Math, we started our exploration of subtraction. We began by discussing the definition of subtraction and how it compares to addition. Children mentioned that subtraction is the process of taking away, and that it is the opposite of addition. We discussed how a subtraction equation can be written in different ways. For example, 324 – 123 = __ can be written 324 – __ = 123 and 123 + __ = 324. All three equations lead to the same answer, but are solved in different ways. This is also called a “fact family,” which is a term commonly used for our math fact equations from 0-20. Students also reviewed how to use stacking when solving  four-digit subtraction problems, expanding their knowledge from Second Grade. We have practiced regrouping in the thousands, hundreds, tens and ones places. This week, we also discussed how to proceed when you subtract with a zero in the bigger number.

Conversation starters:

• What are the five most important facts you learned about your Social Studies topic?
• What are the 3 Sisters?
• What is 3,000-596?

Dates to know:

• Coffee with Karen: November 30, 8:15am – 9:00am
• Publishing Party: November 30, 9:00am – 9:45am
• Hanukkah Play: December 10, at 5:15pm in the Gym
• FIELD TRIP: December 11, from 9:00am -2:00pm
  • National Museum of the American Indian

Happy peak of the week, everyone!

Best,

Hilary

Judaic Studies with Margaret

Third grade had our second official shoresh game right before Thanksgiving! With the help of the videos we created (click on the video link), we were able to remember the shoresh and how to say it. Keep practicing! Our next December game will be announced soon…

Additionally, we worked on our diaries for the third grade publishing party. We’ve been writing all year about the journeys of Avram and Sarai from the moment God told them to leave their homeland. The diaries are a mix of our imagination and the text from the Chumash that we studied. Excited to show them off at the publishing party on Friday!

Hebrew with Ilana Swisa

This week the Third grade were busy with the rehearsals for Hanukkah Play. They practiced their lines and the movement for each part, and learned the song and the dance. The students also worked on vocabulary from the song about the winter, wrote sentences and had a pop quiz on the vocabulary.