Happy Hanukkah!!

Dear Third Grade Families,

Can you believe it’s already Hanukkah? The year has really flown by!

We are coming to the end of our subtraction study. Students practiced solving a variety of problems, including story problems and missing number problems. We used base-ten blocks to represent four digit numbers and for solving subtraction number sentences.

In Reading, we are working on making meaningful predictions. When making predictions about what will happen next for Opal and Winn-Dixie, the main characters in in our read aloud, Because of Winn-Dixie, students predicted that:

• Winn-Dixie is really Opal’s mom’s dog, and that he will will help reunite Opal and her mother
• Opal will start to make friends in the new town
• Winn-Dixie has magical powers (like a fairy godmother or Mary Poppins)
• Winn-Dixie will help get rid of all of the mice in the church (which used to be a “Pick-It Quick” store)

For many of these predictions, students used what they already knew from the story to support their idea. When predicting that “Opal will make friends,” a student added that Kate DiCamillo (the author) wrote the names of some kids in the town where Opal lives, so maybe that’s with whom Opal will become friends. Winn-Dixie was able to catch a mouse the first time he went to church, so that’s why a student believed he will get rid of ALL mice. Students are making sure they back-up their predictions with evidence. This is something we will be asking of them throughout the year, as we continue practicing different types of comprehension, such as character traits/development, cause and effect, and vocabulary definitions.

In Social Studies this week, third graders investigated who the river running along the west side of Manhattan is named after– Captain Henry Hudson. We realized that the world knows little about his life prior to when he left England in May 1607 because the use of technology and recording was VERY different back then. As a group, we observed that he travelled to many areas in the northern hemisphere: from the eastern areas of Canada to the Hudson Bay and the western islands of Russia (Hudson and his crew called them Nova Zembla, which one student translated to “New Land”); from the southern area of Virginia, to the northern regions of Spitsbergen Islands (which are East of Greenland). After learning that Hudson “discovered” whales in the Arctic Sea — a high commodity for Europeans — we compared how the Europeans used whales with how the Lenape used deer. We recognized how much waste the Europeans created, and how it wasn’t fair to the whales. While the world may see Henry Hudson’s inability to find a northern passage to China and India as a failure, Hudson saw each trip as a learning experience to get him closer to finding the passage. His is a story of perseverance!

Topics to talk about with your student:

• What are some ways the Lenape used deer? What are some ways the Europeans used whale? What are the similarities and differences?
• In our read aloud, we learned that Miss Franny Block, the librarian at the Herman W. Block Memorial Library got scared by a bear when she was younger, but we don’t yet know how. What is your prediction for how it happened?

Dates To Know:

• Hanukkah Play: Monday, December 18 at 5:15 (see email from Ilana for details)
• School break: Thursday, December 22; Tuesday, January 2

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach to everyone!

Hilary and Alisa

Judaic Studies with Aliza:

This week in Judaics, students got a chance to try out a real olive oil press to see how Hanukiah oil is made. They also learned the key differences between a Hanukiah and a Menorah. We lit candles with our seventh grade buddies using a Hanukiah made entirely out of potatoes as part of a lesson on how a Hanukiah can be made of any material as long as it fulfills certain requirements. Happy Hanukkah and Shabbat Shalom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science with Sammi:

So, what have your third graders been up to in science? Third Graders have begun Typing Club! Learning to type is challenging, but they are up for the task, working hard, and having fun. I loved hearing about the practice some of them did on their own! If your student is practicing at home please remind them to sit at a table, sit up straight, use two hands, and avoid looking at the keyboard as much as possible. Besides typing, students are deep into their rocks and minerals unit. We have been taking a close look at 12 different minerals and are creating a “Mineral Field Guide” to record all our observations and test results. So far, students have recorded shape, color, and smell. The third graders were surprised to find out that a few drops of water brought out strange smells like rotten eggs and salt from their minerals!