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!