Queens College Traditions Performance 11/18/25

During our IB unit "How We Express Ourselves," the third grade explored how people and cultures share their identities and traditions. We took our learning outside the classroom with a trip to Queens College to attend a cultural performance celebrating African American music, dance, and storytelling. Students observed how movement, rhythm, and sound communicate history, emotion, and community. 

In doing so, students made connections to our Social Studies work, in which they researched a landform of interest. They were aware of their current knowledge, built on it as they conducted research, and formulated questions to extend their research as they wrote about a landform and developed a model of it. 

In ELA, third graders examined topics such as immigration (e.g., Sailing to America) and voting rights, focusing on their importance and effects. These stories helped students grasp what it means to leave their homeland, carry traditions to a new place, adapt to a different life, and share their ideas through democratic processes. 

In writing, students wrote informational pieces and practiced highlighting what new information they learned and backed it up with details. Through online presentations, students shared information about holidays worldwide, from their own culture or from a culture they found interesting, and discussed their knowledge with classmates. 

Additionally, this month, the third grade collaborated, earned soar cards, and proudly showcased our Falcon Cup!

Third graders put in a lot of effort and displayed their maps at the quarter one assembly. 

We also celebrated kindness and perfect attendance with a wonderful celebratory certificate and cheers from peers.

Learner Profiles We Focused On: Inquirer, Open-Minded, and Knowledgeable

Students strengthened their abilities to ask thoughtful questions, explored new perspectives, and built understanding from their investigations. Throughout our activities this month, they practiced expressing their ideas clearly, learning from one another, and showing respect from different viewpoints as they collaborated and made connections across subjects.

Third graders used their observation and reasoning skills to explore water systems, make predictions, and record what they noticed as scientists. Their discussions focused on conservation, access to clean water, and how systems support everyday life.

In Science, we have been studying the need for and use of water across its cycles in the natural world. Students explored how water supports daily life, cooking, cleaning, growing food, and maintaining health, while also learning that in many parts of the world, access to clean water is limited. This has led to meaningful discussions about conservation and how we can use water responsibly.