On Friday I sent home a packet explaining your child's new social studies project. The focus of the project is for your child to compare and contrast certain elements of the past and present. Your child will gather information from interviewing an older person and one or more other resources, such as the internet, a book, encyclopedia, or the social studies pages from class that were also sent home in the Friday Folders. This project is not due for over a month, but I sent it home early so that your child has time to arrange an interview with an older family member (or other adult) which I understand may take time. Last year some of my students used face time, Skype, the phone, or even email to contact family members who still live in Vietnam or other far away places. This is absolutely a great idea. It's not necessary for your child to conduct the interview face to face. The important thing is for them to make the connection that the past was "real" and understand how life has changed from the perspective of someone who actually experienced it.
The other reasons I sent this project home so early are so that your child has plenty of time to work on it without feeling rushed, and so that I can share some feedback and examples with you during conferences. During conference week we will be dismissed from school early, at 1:40, so that I have time to meet with all 26 scholars' families. This extra time outside of the classroom can be used by your child to work on this Change Over Time project. All I need your child to return to me this week is the signed slip on the bottom of page 2 indicating that you are aware of the project. I just want to make sure that all the scholars have informed their parents and there are no "surprises" at the last minute.
As I said, we will have some time to discuss any questions that you might have about the project during conferences, and I will be spending a lot of time going over all of the details with the scholars in class.
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