Social Studies - National parks and National Holidays

We have learnt all about Yellowstone National Park and how it became the first National Park...

We discussed all the special landforms, animals and plants that are there and the geysers that make it famous around the world! We have created together a 'cause and effect' book about the dangers that face bison!

We have learnt about Veterans day - and how it evolved into a day of rememberance for soldiers who fought in WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. We have worked on the skill of creating and using timelines to show the main sequence of events on a subject. We learned about the Vietnam War memorial and how even though it was a controversial war, Americans needed a place to show respect, honor and appreciate the veterans. We have created our own memorial in our classroom! We are also practicing our 'letter writing' skills by writing a thank-you letter to a veteran!

Science - Completed Unit A Life Science...

We have now completed the four chapters in Unit A - Life Science!!!

We had a test on chapter 4 and on the whole of Unit A. In pairs we reviewed a chapter and created a poster for the class on the main ideas of the chapter:

• How plants live and grow
• How do animals live grow and change
• How are ecosystems different from each other
• How do animals and their environments interact

The Book Sale

We will be visiting the book sale together with our class on thursday at 11:45 am. Each child will have $10 to spend. Please send in the money by wednesday.

In addition the sale is open every day of the week for parents!

Completing our non-fiction writing...

Wednesday is our deadline for completing our writing piece in best! On wednesday I will be collecting each students writing and on Thursday we will be having a publishing party!

We have learnt so many strategies for non-fiction writing...

• Writers include diagrams, labels and charts to help the reader understand.


• Writers include 'extras' in their books, like fun fact pages, 'how to' pages etc


• Writers plan the layout of their book and how much text and illustration they will have on each page.


• Writers make their book 'reader friendly' and easy to understand for their reader.


• Writers write with 'voice' to make their books more interesting.


• Writers use punctuation purposefully to make their writing more exciting to read.


• Writers include dedications and acknowledgements to thank and recognize people that made the subject they wrote about meaningful to them.

It's very exciting to see how every student has applied these strategies to their own writing piece!!!

Trips - Month of Feb

15th Feb - Trip to Historic Richmond Town.
There we will be learning about 'colonial America', which ties into our 'My country - USA' social studies unit.
We will be having a special workshop there together with 4th grade called 'Fiber to Thread':
This workshop focuses on pre-industrial textile production as students experience for themselves the stages of making flax into linen thread and sheep's wool into woolen thread. Students always enjoy breaking flax, carding wool, and trying out the drop-spindle. A visit to some of the historic buildings allows them to consider the uses and value of cloth in early American communities."

28th Feb - Trip to Central Library

We will be having our own trip together with 4th grade in honor of 'Literacy Month'. A children's librarian will be teaching us and showing us around the library. Then we will have time to browse and choose books.

Some children already gave me their library cards. Please make sure that your child brings in her library card by the day before the trip. We will be allowing each student to borrow 1- 2 books and we will be keeping the receipts to give you as a record. The parents will be responsible to return the books with their child. Please let me know if you do not want your child to borrow books.

Next week, Morah Ariella will be going to the 'Tal Am' (hebrew program) conference. We will be having the Rebbe from fourth grade- Rabbi Naftoli, teaching us Jewish Studies instead!

Being a Good Friend...

This week we had 2 Morning Meetings!

We had the first one on Monday: We each found a quiet spot to sit in the classroom with a clipboard and paper...We had soft music playing in the background and we wrote a list of things that "I want my friends to...". We found ourselves writing lots of ideas of how we like our friends to behave and treat us.

On Thursday, we again sat with a clipboard, paper, in a quiet spot and with soft music. We discussed how 'Ahavas Yisroel' means treating our friends exactly the same way that we like our friends to behave with us. This time we wrote a list of what it means "to be a good friend..."