Newsletter: December 4th

Dear Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your kids and extended families. I'm sure everyone appreciated having a few days to recharge a bit leading into December. Speaking of December, we have only three weeks of school before Winter Break and lots to do in that small amount of time. This includes our visit to City Hall (last night), saying goodbye to Ms. Delcocco (tomorrow), Passing of the Cans (Friday), and our second Gathering of the year (December 20th). There's also lots of great learning happening in the classroom. Here's a look at just a few of your most recent inquiries...

In math we've been extending our knowledge of linear measurement
to include area and perimeter. 

One of the ways we've done this is to measure out inch marks around rectangles and then
draw out grids to see each square inch found inside. The kids are beginning to see
there is a direct relationship between our work with multiplication and arrays earlier this
year and how we go about finding the area of a shape.

The general concept of area and perimeter is quite simple. The harder part is to take our time
and work carefully to ensure our measurements and calculations are accurate.

In writing workshop we recently worked on writing goodbye letters to
Ms. Delcocco. These will not only serve as a touching send off on Thursday but
also allowed us to talk more about letter writing, paragraphs, and fully developing
and idea with plenty of specific details. Learning is best when it's rooted in
authentic experiences that serve a real purpose.

We've also recently launched our 3rd grade inquiry into South Carolina history. Up to this
point we've focused largely on geography as well as various science-related studies. This
is the last year that our SC State Standards call on us to teach state history in 3rd grade. We began
by discussing what we thought we might be learning about. You can see the kids' ideas above.

I also asked the kids to think more about how historians select what to include and what to
not to include. There are so many important things that have happened throughout our nation's
history. This makes the job of deciding what gets included and what gets excluded a big one. It's
also important because, as with our inquiry into representation on street signs, what gets taught
in our classrooms sends a powerful message about what contributions are worthy of being
memorialized and which are not.

To prepare us for this, the kids when through all the illustrations and photos in the district-supplied
history textbook to tally who they saw and who they didn't. This led us to a discussion about how these
decisions are likely made and what we can do together to fill in the many holes we see present. The second
half of our year will find us working hard as historians to not only learn what we're expected to know (as
detailed in our State Standards) but to uncover the stories of so many others who have made an incredible mark
on our lives and communities.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to City Hall last night. 

The kids loved all the attention they received. 

It was such a great opportunity to see first-hand how politicians come together and provide
 opportunities for people in the community to speak out about issues that are important to them.

Of course, it makes it so much easier to garner needed attention when you're 8 or 9 years old
and speaking to these issues. Mayor Benjamin and his staff were incredibly welcoming and wonderful
with the kids.

This morning we discussed the fact that if we're truly committed to this we have to keep going.
It can't be enough to get hugs or photos from the mayor or garner a bit of media attention from
local news outlets. Rather, we need to find out what needs to happen next to make sure it's not all
forgotten. Fortunately, we were contacted by a few different people/organizations last night who
shared their interest in working with us to help us continue this fight. How cool is that?

Oh yeah, and there was ice cream to top it all off!