By 3rd Grade Teachers Rachel Beaton, Josh Moshen, and Sophia Stamatakos
At the end of kindergarten, Rodeph Sholom School students do an in-depth study of Central Park. This signature unit leads directly into 1st Grade, where the students focus their learning on the Upper West Side. As students develop, their understanding of the world around them becomes more complex, and, in 2nd Grade, the students expand into a study of the 5 Boroughs that make up New York City.
By the time students enter 3rd Grade, their ability to understand history, culture, and geography becomes more sophisticated and the children spend the fall learning about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a group comprised of the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora nations, who are indigenous to New York State. This year, the unit began with a trip to Wave Hill in the Bronx to learn how the indigenous peoples of the area use their environment to survive and the importance of oral storytelling.
Students studied the origin story of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy before taking notes on the shelter, hunting, gathering, and farming traditions of the Haudenosaunee people. Students used these notes to teach their peers and then built a diorama representing traditional Haudenosaunee life, which they shared with their families alongside a presentation of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. This was followed by a lesson about the governance of each matrilineal nation, where connections were made to the matrilineal lines within Judaism.
This study establishes the foundation for the 4th Grade curriculum, which focuses on the geography and regions of the United States and its early history.
Click to learn more about the Rodeph Sholom School Elementary Division.
