Feb. 9: Persuading Our Audience

Dear Third Grade Families,

What an amazing first week of February we had. The weather has become nippy again, but that can’t stop us from all of our learning!

Writing
We are working on how to write multiple paragraphs in a persuasive speech. We recognized that the work we’d been doing for the first two weeks of writing was actually just for our introduction! In persuasive writing, the paragraphs are broken down in the following way:

• Introduction
  • A hook sentence to snap the audience into your speech
  • A thesis statement about what your speech is about
  • An important person or place that others should know about
  • A change that needs to be made in or school or the world
  • 3 reasons why
• Body Paragraphs
  • Each paragraph is one reason
  • restate the topic
  • Provide support for WHY your reason is important, true or meaningful
  • At least one, real-life example OR what you would do if the situation would occur
• Conclusion
  • Restating the thesis
  • List the reasons
  • End hook to entice the audience to agree with your thesis

We talked about “big and bold” statements, which means we use words like “know” instead of “think,” or “everyone” instead of “some people.” The students feel empowered to write about an array topics, from fixing the recess yard, to thanking Jonathan or Eddie for their hard work, to having nap time or choice time in school, to students needing a kids lounge at school. We can’t wait to see where these pieces of writing take us!

Math
We are continuing to work on our high multiplication facts, focusing on 6s and 7s this week. We also reviewed five strategies we can use to help us solve multiplication equations:

• Repeated addition
• Skip counting
• Number lines
• Drawing pictures (of equal groups)
• Creating an array

One topic a few third graders brought up was, if an equation is 6×4, does it matter which way it’s shown (for any of the strategies). While the product will always be the same, we are trying to use the pattern that the first factor is the number of groups and the second factor is the amount IN each group. For instance, skip counting by 4s looks different and takes more ‘skips’ than skip counting by 6s. An aspect of multiplication that we are working on, to help us with factors that are harder to multiply (like 7×7), is to break apart one of the factors into easier-to-multiply factors. For this example, instead of trying to figure out 7×7, we would try 5×7 + 2×7, because these are two easier multiplication facts! It is sort of like starting at an easier multiplication fact and adding on.

On top of all of this, we also worked on two new multiplication games: circles and stars; multiplication top it. Both of these games are ones you can play at home with your student!

In circles and stars, we are working on pictorial representations of a multiplication fact, as well as writing out repeated addition. To play this game, you need two six-sided dice and a piece of paper. After rolling the dice, one of them will represent the number of stars you will draw (# of groups), and the second die represents the number of stars in each circle (amount per group). This activity goes to the next level of complexity when using a 10-sided die, which means there will be higher numbers multiplied.

To play “Multiplication Top It,” all you need is a deck of cards! Right now, we are only using 1-10 (an ace card equalling one). We play this game with three levels right now:

• Level 1
  • Use cards 1-10, and split them evenly between two people — 20 cards per person
  • Each player flips over two cards
  • Multiply the two cards in front of you
  • The player with the higher hand wins the cards if that round
  • To win: end the game with all 40 cards!
• Level 2
  • Use cards 1-10
  • Each person flips over 1 card
  • Multiply those two cards together
  • The person who says the correct product first wins the hand
  • To win: end the game with all 40 cards!
• Level 3
  • Use cards 1-King
    • Jack = 11
    • Queen = 12
    • King = 13
  • Then follow the rules of Level 1 OR 2
    

The first level of this game is all about practice and is less time sensitive. The second level is all about automaticity of our math facts. It is sort of like practicing with flash cards — but FUN!

Shabbat Shalom everyone!
Hilary and Alisa

A note from Phyllis about Pajama Day:

During the month of Adar, the month of Purim, it is a tradition to do things that make us happy. To get ourselves into the Purim spirit, all teachers, staff, and students should come to school in pajamas on Thursday, February 15th (Rosh Chodesh Adar – or the first day of the month of Adar)!  Please note, that the date on the physical school calendar says Friday, February 16th, but there has been a change of date.  Students must wear shoes or slippers. If your child has PE on Thursdays, please remember to send him/her with a pair of sneakers.

Here’s what is happening in Judaic Studies:

This week in Judaic Studies, we began our brand new Parshah for the rest of the year, Parshat VaYera! In addition to receiving some new Shoreshim, we also began studying for our first ever Shoresh game next Wednesday! Third graders are very excited. We also held our second Bracha Bee, and students used their knowledge to figure out the Brachot (blessings) of some very tricky foods, including peanut butter and rice pudding! Shabbat Shalom!