Giving thanks

Over the past week, the third and fourth graders have explored the holiday of Thanksgiving through several activities.  We read two versions of the story of Thanksgiving and used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two perspectives.  Each student came up with excellent theories on why there are different interpretations and we had meaningful discussions on why it is important to learn more holidays and history  from other perspectives.

Our Venn diagram comparing and contrasting The Story of the First Thanksgiving and  1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving

The third and fourth graders also practiced writing thank you notes to each staff member at Hillel, as well as our family members.  The girls listed specific examples on why they are thankful and once again worked through the somewhat arduous writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and at last working on a final copy).  I think all of the recipients will be appreciative of the hard work the girls have put forth in this task.

The students and collected canned goods

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. As always, thanks for the opportunity to work with each student; we are growing so much each day!

Cereal box reports!

Our class worked hard on their cereal box reports. Each student designed their own cereal box that described the book they read for their reports.  The students were expected to come up with a creative title or name for their cereal following the theme of their book. For example, Lily's cereal (for James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl) was "Crazy Peaches" and Nina named her cereal (ingredients were whole grain hay) based on Charlotte's Web, "Charlotte Mix".

Adding a creative component to the standard book report assignment seemed to spark their imaginations. Our younger friends in Miss Tita's and Mrs. Wilson's class enjoyed exploring the older girls' projects as they shared their interest in reading.  The students also worked on developing a longer essay detailing what they read.

Our next theme for our book reports is exploring different cultures through fiction.  Check back with us soon to see our hard work as we set up a world's fair!

Lunch at the Mangel's

Two weeks ago our class rode the bus over to the Mangel's to eat lunch in their Sukkah. What a beautiful afternoon to eat a delicious meal prepared by the Mangel family.

Reading circles

Each day we spend part  of our language arts time in small groups with our reading circles.  Each reading group reads a book together and then answers questions that focus on comprehension skills. The students work very well together and enjoy discussing the book, and they report that they find the work challenging!  We spend a lot of time talking about comprehension strategies and ways to improve our understanding of the books we are reading.

Here are some photos of our literature groups.

Weekly reports

Each week, two of our classmates serve as news reporters and write about the highlights of the past week. Here are a few examples from the past month.


The week of September 19th-23rd
by Devorah and Jordan
    Last week we finished our song thanks to Mr. Rowlands.  We will be performing in November at Aullwood. Please come!!!
  Next week is Rosh Hashanah. We eat apples dipped in honey.  For Sukkot, we are having a tour de tzdacka bike-athon!  Happy New Year!








The week of September 12th-September 16th
by Riley and Samantha
   Last week, we had Israeli dancing on Monday.  We had music class and finished our song about Hillel.  We started to learn about the three branches of government.  




The week of August 22nd-26th (the first week of school!)
by Edin and Lily
    On the first day of school, Miss Troha was taking pictures of the class.  The shelf fell and all of the things came out and some fell into the vent!! 
    When we were on the playground, two deer walked right past us! 

Welcome to our blog!

Hello!


Welcome to Hillel's Third and Fourth Grades' Blog.  This page will hopefully reflect all our hard work and daily routines. Please check in often; we hope to update at least once a week.


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Thank you!