New Reading Strategy: Making Predictions

Good Readers make Predictions when they read. We use evidence from the text and illustrations for our predictions. And when we have finished the whole book we see what adjustments need to be made...

We practiced this skill together as our class and now over the next few weeks we have chosen a fictional book read and record predictions...

Happy Birthday Miriam Golda!

On Tuesday we had a birthday in our classroom!

We each gave a wish to Miriam Golda and Miriam Golda shared with us her 'Hachlata' - decision for the upcoming year.

Miriam Golda will be buying a book from the wishlist in honor of her birthday! We will let you know which one when we have chosen! Thank you!

Math - Unit 4 - Multiplication and Division

Your child has received a 'Family Letter' for this unit in their homework folder. It has all the information about this unit and can be kept as a guide for the homework.

Overview of Unit:

Unit 4 focuses on the most common uses of multiplication and division - those involving multiples of equal groups, equal sharing, and equal grouping. In 3rd grade the expectation is that children will use arrays, mental arithmetic, algorithms, and calculators to solve problems invloving the multiplication of 2- and 3- digit whole numbers by 1- digit whole numbers and describe the strategies used by the end of the school year. They are also expected to demonstrate automaticity with x0, x1, x2, x5, and x10 multiplication facts and use strategies to compute remaining facts up to 10x10. Unit 4 has has three main areas of focus:

• To model and solve multiplication number stories and practice multiplication facts,



• To model and solve division number stories and practice division facts, and



• To explore the links between multiplication and division.

Science Experiment

"What Can you learn from an imprint?"

Thanksgiving Food Drive

We have sent home a letter and this is what we discussed in school today...

Thanksgiving Food Drive:


Thanksgiving is a time to feel grateful to Hashem for everything we have and also to help out others who don't have everything that they need...

So next week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, our class will be collecting, together with the whole school, Cans of food for needy people.

The cans will be donated to the Shorefront community Food Pantry.
Please read the letter for more details...

Mazel kids care about the community and we do 'Chessed'!

Writers Workshop - Editing

Have you noticed how busy we have been with our writing?

Our class loves writing and we are so enthusiastic about every step of the writing process! Students even take home their writing voluntarily to work on it at home! I'm so proud of their hard work and diligence and we're really excited for publishing our personal narrative next week before thanksgiving.

This week we have practiced Editing.


We used a special strategy called CUPS.


C for Capitalization.


U for word Usage.


P for Punctuation and


S for Spelling.


We learned how to edit for each of these and then checked off each letter as we did it.

Even famous authors need to edit their writing!
We feel so good that we have been able to independently proofread our own work!

Science -New Chapter 3

We have started building background for our new chapter: "Where plants and animals live" and "How Ecosystems are different from each other".

These are the Big Words for this chapter:

• Environment


• Ecosystem


• Population


• Community


• Grassland


• Desert


• Tundra


• Wetland

We used a Word Web - Graphic Organiser to sort these words:

Social Studies - New York State

Now that we have finished learning about New York City, we have begun to learn about our State - New York State:

-The geography and landforms in New York State

-Iroquis Indians, original people who lived here

-State Symbols etc

We are 'zooming out', as we began the year with our city, now our state and then we learn about countries and continents.

On Wednesday we had turns to find our state and city on the globe. We made maps of New York State too...

Class Vote

Our class voted almost unanimously for this months class charity box money to be donated to Ten Yad - an organization that helps needy brides!

We will donate the money at the end of November and then vote again for the month of December.

Middah of the Week - 'Ponim yofos'

Ponim Yofos means to greet people pleasantly with a friendly face and a smile. We discussed today all the different things we can say when we meet and greet people...

Science - Investigation and Test

On Tuesday we carried out a science investigation - "What can you learn from an imprint?

On Thursday we had review and test-prep questions to help us revise for our Science Chapter 2 test.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be having a test on science chapter 2. Each student is responsible to read over and make sure they understand the lessons in this chapter. If the student had not kept the lesson copies inside their homework folder then they brought the science textbook home with them. Next chapter we will make sure to keep the lesson copies safe at home so we can use them to review and we wont need to carry the heavy textbook home with us.

Talking about Veteran's Day...

On Thursday we discussed what National Holidays are. We learned about Veterans day, America's 'thank-you card' to the armed forces...

We tied this in to the middah of 'Hakoros Hatov'. Being grateful and showing appreciation to those who have done good for us!

Publishing Party Tomorrow...

If you have any photos that support your child's writing it would be great if you could send them to school tomorrow...
For example, if your child's writing is about a family vacation, then a few pictures from the vacation would be really nice to show to the class. The photos can be taken home at the end of the day.

Thank you.

Today's Trip Cancelled - Will be Rescheduled

Unfortunately our trip today to the Sofer was cancelled- due to a problem with the School Buses.
We will hopefully be rescheduling for next week.

When We're Away from School Because were Sick...

I would like to let you know what we discussed today about times that we need to take off school...

Sometimes we need to take off school because we are sick. It is not our fault and we dont want to come back to school too quickly and let other kids catch our germs...

BUT we still have the responsibility to catch-up the work that we have missed!

Morah does not expect us to catch-up all at once the work we have missed but within a week we are responsible to have all the work done.

Now that we are in 3rd grade - every day of the school year is accounted for and there are learning goals for every day! Missing out even one or two days without catching up will affect our grades!

If parents are able, it is ideal for the work to be picked up from school on the second day that a student is absent, if they will continue to be absent for more days...

Middah of the Week - 'Kovod Habriyos' - Respect for Hashem's creations

Everything that Hashem made

deserves respect its true

Even if it seems worthless

Or if someone is different than you.

Today we discussed:

• Although we are different we are all special to Hashem
• Accepting everyone
• Respecting every person, regardless of where they come from, and not making fun of anyone
• Taking care of the world that Hashem entrusted in our care, making sure not to destroy anything needlessly.

This Middah has so many applications!

It is very meaningful to us when you send a Middos Message Note related to the Middah of the Week!

Thanks for all those times you noticed and sent a note!

Trip - Wed Nov 10th - Tifferes Stam Judaica Store - Coney Island

We will be having a behind the scenes tour at a local Judaica Store. We will be seeing how Mezuzos, tefillin and Sifrei Torah are made. From the parchment; ink; Scribe who writes the words and special cases of each item - everything is part of an exact process. A Scribe who works in this workshop will show us how all the parts are made and we will get to see real Scribes/Sofers at work writing and correcting scrolls.


Were excited that our kids have the opportunity to experience an authentic 'Safrus Workshop' from up-close!


We will be having a tour at 11:30 - 12:15. We will be travelling 1st - 4th grade together by school bus.

Writing - Revision

We are finishing up our drafts now. We have learnt that authors reveal something important in their writing. We tried to implement this strategy by thinking about an important idea we can reveal or something that we discovered about ourselves in the story. We have organized our draft, with a good beginning, middle and end. And now it is time to REVISE!

Authors revise their writing to add more meaning and make it more interesting to the reader. Today we practiced adding dialogue into our drafts. Dialogue makes our story more meaningful and exciting. It fills in information that we have not included and will help our reader understand emotions in the story.

At home, we will be continuing to look at our draft and add dialogue.

Next week we will be working on other revision strategies: adding voice and feelings to help us understand author; adding description and interesting words.

Math Unit 3

On Tuesday we had a test on Unit 2.

Today we began Unit 3.

Please check the Unit 3 Family Letter that was placed in your child's homework folder to learn about this unit and for help in guiding your child with their math unit 3 homework.

Overview of Unit 3: Linear Measures and Area:

The standardization of units of measure in a society usually evolves in three stages. First, individuals define their own units of measure, which have little in common with units used by others. Second, the local community agrees upon a common set of units. finally, standardization develops to facilitate communication among communities.
The first three lessons of unit 3 follow this progression. Children pace off a distance with their shoes; they create a common unit for the class; and they measure lengths using U.S. customary and metric units.

The remaining lessons of Unit 3 extend work on perimeter and area begun in previous grades. They also begin investigating the value of pie by exploring the relationship between diameter and circumference. Unit 3 has four main areas of focus:

• To explore the need for standard units of measure



• To measure lengths using customary and metric units



• To develop the concept of area, and



• To investigate the relationship between diameter and circumference.

Election day

Today we discussed Election Day:

• What an election is - getting to choose or vote.
  
• When Election Day is - first Tuesday after first Monday in November.


• Democracy - people are able to choose their leaders.


• Now everyone has a chance to vote.
  

Words We Know:

1. ballot
   
2. ballot box


3. choose


4. election
   
5. register


6. vote


7. voting machine
   

In our class we will practice voting! We will choose the charity that we want to donate the money in our Tzedakah box to.

Today we heard about 3 amazing Jewish Charity organisations. Before we vote we will need to learn more about these organisations. Then we will choose which one we would like to donate our Tzedakah box money to.

- Ten yad: Takes care of brides and gives them everything they need for their wedding and their new home
-Hasc: services for children with special needs. Runs a camp for special needs and disabled children to make them happy

Ohel: An organisation that fills the needs of lonely people in the community; Foster care service and other social needs.

We are also open to voting for any other Jewish Charities that the children suggest...

You may look at the websites of each of these organisations to learn more about them with your child...

Middah of the Week: Welcoming Guests

Middah of the Week: Welcoming Guests

Today we discussed inviting guests to our home and how we treat visitors.


Our class came up with lots of ideas of how to make guests feel comfortable and happy.



If your child has a chance to practice this Middah during the week - please fill out a Middos Message note.