Distributing Challah at the Adult Senior Center

As part of our reaching-out - "Community Carers" project, our class together with 4th grade were chosen to deliver the challahs to seniors in our community.

On wednesday evening, parents and children got together to bake Challahs- "Loaves of Love", to make other people in our community happy!

This morning, Friday, we went to give them out at the adult senior center.

Our class was so proud when we saw the happy faces of the people who received Challahs! We did a big mitzvah and practiced chessed (kindness) with elderly people in our community.

Pictures of our trip to the Zoo

Our Trip to the Zoo

We had a really productive and educational trip to the zoo. On the way we read about grouping animals by vertebrate or invertebrate, traits and groups.

We each took a clipboard and an investigation sheet. For each animal we filled out:

Name of animal	Vertebrate/ Invertebrate	Group	Trait

Dear Parents,

Hi! Here is Mora Ariella, the Judaic Studies teacher.
I am happy to be a part of the Third Grade Blog and share some of the exciting things that happens in our classroom.

This year we started a special program to learn Judaic Studies called Tal Am.
In the program, we learn subjects such as Chumash, Jewish Festivals, the Parsha of the week, and Jewish Heritage. The program includes workbooks, music CD’s, story books, wall posters and educational games all in Hebrew. For more information about the program please check the website talam.org.

During the morning, the girls are learning to speak and integrate Hebrew words into their learning. As the weeks go by, we gradually add more Hebrew words and their vocabulary will I”YH grow throughout the year.

I am looking forward to a great year with your daughters and working with you to make it a positive learning environment Please feel free to email if there are questions or concerns at morahariella@mazeldayschool.com .Or call me at school and I will return your call as soon as possible!

Morah Ariella.

Science: Model of a Backbone

Directed Inquiry: Explore How can you make a model of a backbone?

Vertebrates are animals with backbones. On tuesday we made models of backbones.

We discussed how the model is different from a real backbone and how the model is like a real backbone; How a backbone is able to bend and what would happen if any of the bones in the back broke.

Middah of the Week - Derech Eretz (respect for those who are older or wiser than us)

At this weeks Morning Meeting we discussed a new middah of Derech Eretz - Showing respect for those who are older than us.





We talked about respecting our parents, grandparents, teachers and any older person.





We can respect them by standing up for them, or giving up our seat; Offering a drink before we take ourselves and talking with respectful words and tone of voice.





Please use the Middos Message notes to comment if your child practiced this Middah at any time during the week.





It is so meaningful to your child and to the rest of the class when you send in a Middos note! It reinforces the Middah of the week and celebrates your child's success! Thank you!

Words Heard In Our Classroom:

These are the words that our 3rd graders hear frequently in the classroom....

These are the kind of behaviors we expect.

Our class is so familiar with these words, some of our students have even begun to use them too! :)

Reading Skill - Main Idea

We have begun to practice a new reading skill: Main Idea.

Every text has a main idea supported by lots of details. Every paragraph has a main idea and details.

Our goal is to be able to identify what the main idea is and what the details are. We need to determine the importance of each idea we read.

This week during reading time - we wrote on a sticky note the main idea of the chapter we were reading and two supporting details.

Science - Chapter 1 Test and Beginning of Chapter 2

Here are some pictures of a recent investigation we did - "How fast do different kinds of seeds germinate?":

On Tuesday we had a test on 'Plants and how they grow'.

Today we are beginning a new chapter - 'How do animals live, grow and change'.
The new vocabulary words from this chapter are up on our wall:

• Trait



• Inherited



• Vertebrate



• Adaptation



• Hibernate



• Migrate



• Larva



• Pupa

If you have a chance to discuss these words with your child, it would be great to help reinforce their meaning!

Trip to Central Park Zoo - 28th October

Our class will be taking a trip to the Central Park Zoo on thursday the 28th of october.

We will leave school at 9:30 and arrive back to school at 1:30. We will be travelling together with the rest of Elementary school by school bus.
This is an outdoor trip, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately.

When we are there we will be studying different groups of animals: vertebrates and invertebrates. We will be discussing animal traits and which group of animals they belong to.

This trip is tied into our science curriculum, and social studies too, as we have been learning about NYC landmarks.
Im sure this will be a hands-on learning experience for our students and fun too!

Writing Workshop - Personal Narratives

We have spent so long immersing ourselves in personal narratives, generating ideas, collecting and selecting topics that when we started DRAFTING this past tuesday our class was very excited!!

Our Writers Notebooks are full of all our ideas and inner stories. we wrote notes about what we felt with our senses when these stories happened and our thoughts at the time. Now we are ready to take a 'yellow rough paper' and begin writing our first draft. We will only write on every other line to leave space for revision and editing.

We will spend the next 2-3 weeks discussing how writers draft out their stories, the time frames they use and the format or genre they write them in...

Friday Routine - 'Getting Ready for Shabbos'

These are some of the special things we do on friday:

• Bake challah


• Shabbos party


• Experience shabbos: Light candles, a taste of kiddush grape juice, shabbos treat.


• Sing traditional shabbos songs

Middah of the week

At this weeks 'Morning Meeting' we discussed the Middah - (good trait) of 'visiting the sick'. We discussed ideas and ways we could cheer up a sick person when we are not able to visit: We can prepare a card or make a phone call.

We will be learning how to make a 'sick call' and practicing in school (although we hope we wont have to!!!)

We will also be encouraging the children to call from home when a friend is absent or a relative does not feel well.

This is Chessed - so we will continue to fill out 'Chessed Middos Message' notes for this week, unless you have an opportunity to practice 'visiting the sick' with your child. (I hope you dont!)

Tests and Assessments

Hi,

I will be sending home all the tests and assessments that we do in class! (spelling tests, mental maths tests, maths units tests etc). You will find them in your child's homework folder. This is in order for you to keep track of your child's progress and to see their successes and the things that they still need to work on...

Please sign them (so I can see that you have seen it) and send it back to school in the folder.

Thanks so much!

I hope you will be really proud of your child's progress!

Morah Rivki

Math - Unit 2 - Family Letter

Last week we had a test on Unit 1.

You have received a 'Family Letter' for Unit 2. This will give an overview of what we will be learning in this unit of maths so you are able to discuss it with your child. There is also a homework guide for the unit attached with all the answers of the maths sheets your child will bring home for homework.

I hope this will be a help as you guide your children with their homework!

'Making Connections' - Reading Comprehension skill: Sequencing

Sequencing - putting events in the order that they happened, is the first comprehension skill we learned this year.


We read many texts and practiced this skill. This week we had an assessment - to see if we had mastered this skill. It was a short 'non fiction' text followed by 5 questions to test how well we can sequence...


The test will be sent home today in your child's homework folder - and you will be able to see your child's progress.


The rest of this week we have spent reading a chapter book - with the focus skill being Sequencing. Next week we will begin the next comprehension skill - 'Main Idea'.

Science - end of Chapter

We have almost completed our first chapter of science - "Plants and How They Grow".

Now its time to review and Test Prep...

A review packet was sent home today - with the topics to be reviewed - together with the page numbers in their science textbook and activity sheets.

The test will be next Tuesday - October 19th. Please support your child as she reviews and studies for the test.

Middos Message Notes

"We come to school to learn how to be good students and good friends"

Every Monday we have a 'Morning Meeting'. We greet each other in a special way, we tell our news and practice good communication and listening skills. We also discuss the Middah of the week - the good character trait we will be working on that week...

The Middah we are working on this week is 'Chessed' - being kind to others...

When we see a friend doing a kind act for another, we write a note and put it in our 'Chessed Basket'. Next 'Morning Meeting' we will read all the notes that have been written!

Please help us out with this project and write a 'Middos Message Note' for your child if you see them doing an act of Chessed. This will really help us reinforce what we are learning!

Fruit for Afternoon Snack

This is just a friendly reminder to send fruit for afternoon snack. The fruit should be whole, washed and uncut! Thanks!

A Birthday!

Happy Hebrew Birthday Aviva!

This year we will be celebrating in school around our hebrew birthday!

We learnt about making a 'Hachlata' - good decision for the coming year...

Thanks Mrs Goloborodsky for the games you donated to our class in honor of Aviva's birthday!

We have a 'Coin Value' game and a 'States of America' game - they will definitely help us in our curriculum and be fun to play with too!

Social Studies

Our first unit of social studies is 'Our City' -there is so much to learn about New York City!

We have learnt about NYC landmarks - the Flatiron building and Central Park. Central Park took many years of planning and building and they overcame the challenges because they knew how important the park is to city life. We looked at the original plans that were made for Central Park in the 1800's...

How would we plan a 21st century park? What modern parts would we add? Our students each created their own plan map for a park...

We have also learnt about Jobs and Industry in NYC. We discussed Wall street - now and then and about the Empire State Building that boosted the tourism industry of NYC.

All our social studies lessons include learning about the past, discussing the difference between 'now and then' and applying the concepts to life now.

We will also be developing map skills and Social Studies homework on Friday will be practicing these skills.

Our Writing: Generating ideas...

We are moving through the writing process in our Personal narrative unit...

We have spent time immersing ourselves in great books - all different types of narratives written by inspiring authors.

Now it's time to work on ideas for our own personal narrative: What celebrations or traditions do we remember that we might be inspired to write about? What stories have we heard from our parents or relatives? (we made a story quilt of all interesting family stories we remember). What talents or abilities do we have that make others happy? Is there a favorite photo we have that reminds us of stories and inspires us to write? Writers often share with their readers stories about all these things. We have spent several lessons brainstorming and generating ideas - now our own writers notebooks are full of ideas!

This week we will begin to select ideas that 'talk to us' and inspire us to write more and we will begin working on our 1st draft!

Math Games

In our Everyday Mathematics Program games are an integral part. They are not extracurricular - they serve as a fun way of practicing the maths skills that we learn...

Friday is 'maths games day'. This week we had our first friday - we played "Number Grid Difference" and "Name that Number".

Sukkos activities

Everyday we got to shake the lulav!

We had a special Sukkos program and made 'edible Sukkahs'