A Busy Ninth Week!

Dear Third Grade Families,

We learned so much this past week!

In Social Studies, we started learning about the Lenni Lenape, which is the Native American tribe that lived in New York City back in 1600. We started by looking at a map of Manhattan from the 2000s, and comparing it to a map of what Eric Sanderson (a landscape ecologist) — through research — believed Mannahatta (land of many hills)  looked like in 1600. Students noticed that the Hudson River looked wider back then. Some wondered if the water level had dropped and maybe that’s why the land is now bigger/wider. Another observation is that we have a LOT more buildings now, compared to back then when space was green, covered by forests and filled with over 500 hills. We then discussed the names of the three sub-tribes to the Lenape: Munsee (who are represented by the wolf); Unlachto (who are represented by the turkey); and Unami (who are represented by the turtle).

On Thursday, we discussed shelters. First we talked about shelters we know of, such as teepees, huts, caves and clay houses (such as the type the Pueblo tribe used pre-Westward Expansion). Next, Third Graders looked at pictures of the three best known types of shelters used by Natives : wigwams, longhouses and teepees. In our table groups, we discussed what we noticed about each shelter, including the possible building materials that were used. A commonality we noticed among all three is the use of trees to build them, specifically branches and bark. We also agreed that modern day products, such as metal, were not around back then to create teepees, longhouses and wigwams.

In Writing, as you may know, we finished our first writing unit! Third Graders have been working very hard to create descriptive personal narrative stories. This week, we worked tirelessly on writing out our final copy for Friday’s class celebration. Students deserve a round of applause for trying new techniques, such as an attention-grabbing introduction/conclusion, dialogue, and descriptive language. One student shared, “It was amazing that we got to write true stories!” Another expanded by saying, “You could say what you felt or liked in the moment. It was enjoyable to write your feelings.” Just the ability and chance to write was a BIG crowd-pleaser among the Third Graders. 

In Reading this week, students were introduced to reading groups, which we call Book Clubs. In these groups, students are reading different books about children who go on a journey, be it a literal journey to a different place or a personal growth journey. These books are fan-favorites of Hilary and Alisa, and we are very excited to share them with the class!

Activities you can do with your student:

 

• Look at the map of Mannahatta (from 1600) compared to Manhattan today → what differences do you see?

• Look at the cover of a book and predict what it might be about based on the title and the cover illustration.

• Try to add items from a receipt, such as a restaurant receipt or grocery list, to practice addition stacking

Dates to know:

• Conferences: Thursday, November 9; Monday, November 13
• Early Dismissal Begins: Starting Friday, November 10, school ends at 1:30
• Field Trip: The American Museum of Natural History → Wednesday, November 15

 

• We will email on Tuesday, November 6, about who will be joining us as chaperones. We promise there will be many more opportunities to come on trips!

 

• No School: Thursday, November 23; Friday, November 24 (Thanksgiving)

We look forward to seeing everyone for conferences!

Shabbat Shalom!

Best,

Hilary and Alisa

Judaic Studies with Aliza

This week in Chumash, third graders started working with their Chavruta partners on identifying names, places, vocabulary words, and Hebrew word roots (Shoreshim) in their Chumash text. They also started creating Shoresh flash cards to study for their upcoming Shoreshim quiz and class game! In Yahadut, we learned a little about the childhood of our school’s namesake, Hannah Senesh, in preparation for next week’s memorial Tekes. We watched a short video about her childhood and compared Hannah’s life to ours, realizing that though the time and place in which she lived may seem distance, Hannah had a lot in common with our students. Shabbat Shalom!

Hebrew with Ilana

This week third graders worked in their workbooks and learned new words related to a field trip. They had a quiz on this new vocabulary. Also, they learned about Hannah Senesh and what things Hannah Senesh did as a young girl that are similar to what they do as children today.They will present it in Hebrew in the Tekes on Tuesday.