Dear Third Grade,
News alert! The third grade will be performing the music for fourth grade as they dance around the may pole at May Faire this year, May 12. We are learning a special song to sing as they dance. I hope you can all make it to May Faire. Third graders should arrive no later than 11:00 and meet at the school entrance. They should wear a UPWS tshirt (regular or tie dyed) or a white or ties dyed shirt. If your student cannot attend this all-school event, please let me know so I can plan the performance accordingly.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Grandparents and Special Friends Day – Friday, May 4. Click here for the invitation, and here to RSVP (password: UPWS).
- Screen Free Week! All next week. I encourage you to participate. Check out the latest Administrative Weekly to see how our community is celebrating.
- 3rd Grade Parent Evening – Tuesday, May 8, 7pm. Our last of third grade! If you have any burning questions or topics you’d like discussed, please let me know by next weekend.
- May Faire – Saturday, May 12, 11am-1pm. Our annual springtime gathering in Arrigo Park. Please come and enjoy the community potluck, dancing around the May pole, and other activities!
- Please bring table service for your own family, including water bottles. There will be no plasticware in an effort to be as zero waste as possible.
- Potluck contributions are by class this year. Third grade families should brring a salad or side dish that serves 8-12 people.
CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS
This week the students focused on individual composition of the story of Queen Esther, whose bravery rescued the Hebrew people from death. To culminate the block, I again raised the expectations, and the students spent several days diligently putting together their writing and drawing work. Though they are writing from the story, the assignment requires them to write from out of themselves, which is no small task. We worked on how to identify the important parts of the story and differentiate them from the details that don’t need to be in their summary. We also did some work on paragraphing and continued practicing parts of speech.
In this block, we came out of the desert and into the promised land, followed Joshua into battle, were guided by the prophet Deborah, witnessed sorrow and celebration with Hannah, watched Samuel grow from a baby to a high priest, anointed the first king, Saul, fought beside the shepherd and musician David as he defeated Goliath, gained wisdom from Solomon, and learned bravery from Esther. These stories led us from those who could see and speak to Yahweh, like Moses, to those who no longer have that connection and must stand on their own as human beings. In a way, this is the experience of the 9 year old. That inherent connection to the world is broken as they see themselves as individuals in a new way. This is a necessary step in the development toward human freedom. The close of this block brings us to the end of our Hebrew Scripture work. While I may sprinkle in a few stories here and there, the rest of the year will be Summer Family Farm stories and some Native American legends.
ON THE HORIZON
Our new block will be ‘Living On the Earth,’ about spring on the farm, modern shelter building, money, math, and more (don’t tell!). We’re also expecting the chicks to hatch next week, so keep your fingers crossed for us. Ms Kiefer and the students have returned to the garden, planting a Three Sisters crop to give to the rising third graders.