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Third Grade 4/19

Judaics: Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut! (Israel’s Independence Day)

Students dressed in blue and white on Thursday along with the rest of the school, to celebrate Israel’s 73rd birthday. We learned this week about the concept of Aliyah, which literally means going up, and is used to describe immigration to Israel. Students considered various push and pull factors that might make someone leave the country of their birth to move to a new country. We discovered the many different countries that Jews left to move to Israel and the changing immigration patterns over the years as this related to historical events. Students LOVED this video depicting immigration trends over the years:

Some students also interviewed family members and shared their Aliyah stories with the class. We heard about Aviv’s grandmother who made aliyah from the U.S., Orly’s grandfather who made aliyah from Iraq, Galia’s mother who made aliyah from Russia, and Harry’s family that made aliyah from Bulgaria.

 

Finally, the updated safety policy in school allowed us to be able to sing Ha’tikvah, Israel’s national anthem, in school together on Yom Ha’atzmaut!

Writing+Reading 

This week we delved into our new writing unit on fairy tales. The third graders shared how excited they were to finally get to do fiction writing! In order to know how to write our own fairy tale adaptations, we started studying the original stories. We discussed the decisions the original authors made, and analyzed the morals of the stories. Them, we read adaptations of these original fairy tales. We compared the choices these authors made with the original. We also asked questions like “Why did they make those changes?” “How do these changes show this story was written in more modern times?” Through these discussions we are starting to uncover that some of the adaptations were created to reflect other cultures and races, and to expand the racial and cultural representation in fairy tales. We are eager to soon start writing our own adaptations, but are enjoying these fairy tales!

Head to the bookstore, library, or internet and do some exploring of other fairy tales and their adaptations.

Social Studies

As we continue our study of the history of New York, we have been learning about the Erie Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge. While many students shared that they have been to the Brooklyn bridge, many of them did not know the historical significance of it. We read the book Twenty-One Elephants to gain more information, and researched the events that left Brooklynites feeling doubtful about the bridge’s strength. We learned new vocabulary such as: aqueduct, canal, skeptical, and traverse. We also looked at pictures of famous bridges and discussed what makes a bridge functional.

If you take a trip to the Brooklyn Bridge, have your child tell you a bit about the history we have learned!

Music

Third Graders are enjoying singing the Erie Canal Song – and they’re learning how to play it on the ukulele, too! They’re also busily working on songs they’ve individually picked out to present at the end of the year. Heads up that they are expected to post what they’ve practiced once a week on Seesaw – which will help them get used to presenting their piece.

 

Math

Third graders have finished their unit on fractions and have moved onto studying area and perimeter. Students have started calculating areas by counting the total number of unit squares inside of different figures, including irregular shapes such as the outline of their own feet and hands! Our students are also continuing to sharpen their multiplication skills and related division facts by studying their flashcards daily. In our next unit, we will be studying time!