As you may have heard from your child, we have already embarked on a few new journeys in 2008. For the month of January, we are taking a closer look at Black History, particularly the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. The image above represents part of what we will be studying – those landmark moments in civil rights history that marked the key points in the struggle for equal rights. But more often, your children will be looking at what it took to get to that "picture perfect" moment. The coming together of a community:

The personal cost to individuals:

And to groups…

I am using materials from a variety of sources including Teaching Tolerance and the Southern Poverty Law Center. I am currently looking for additional materials, as well as guest speakers, so please let me know if you have ideas to share.

As you might imagine, I struggled with some of the content as I planned this unit – what images do I show them? What language do I allow them to be exposed to? What about the N word? But at the end of the wrestling, I came to a place that allows them to see the truth without being developmentally inappropriate. Uncomfortable, yes – they will hear the N word, and that should make them uncomfortable. But they will hear it in context and we will talk about it. And yes, they will see some of the disturbing images of the times, but not all. I have tried to balance their developmental needs with keeping the information accurate. I am a mother of four, as well as a teacher, and I strive always to keep your children’s minds, not only challenged, but also protected from some of the harsher things of the world. Please keep the lines of communication open with me – these are difficult topics and may bring up some issues for your child about which I should be made aware. My goal is best summed up by this quote from Jewish Historian, Yehuda Bauer:

"Thou shalt not be a victim.

Thou shalt not be an oppressor.

But most of all, thou shalt not be a bystander."

This is a recurring theme for us this year. As we delved into The Revealers, and talked about bullying, the roles of victim/bully/bystander were discussed daily. The role of the passive bystander, as a root cause of oppression, can not be underestimated. OK, on to lighter topics

Another new journey for us is into the world of Chemistry. Already we have begun looking at the relationship between physical and chemical changes by experimenting with calcium chloride, baking soda and phenol red. The terms exothermic and endothermic were introduced and the kids have been performing various tests to determine which reactants produce which results. Next week, we will be using purple cabbage juice as an indicator for acid/base. Which brings me to my next request:

Our final journey is into the realm of Geometry. We are learning how to use three different types of protractors to measure angles, including the traditional type. Using a variety of tools will increase their conceptual understanding of acute, obtuse, straight, right and reflex angles. We will then apply this knowledge to our study of polygons, area and perimeter, and finally, we will take a look at three dimensional geometry and volume.

I will be sending, as homework, mental math practice, as well as individualized computation practice based on a computational fluency assessment that I gave in late December.

Til Next Time…

Peace,

Sara