One of my favorite weeks of the year is upon us. The fourth graders get a chance to try their hands at presenting -- learning very valuable lessons about how much preparation they need to do to feel truly comfortable. The fifth graders get to see the fruition of their months of work. I'm always amazed by the questions students ask and their ability to sit for hours and watch the projects. They are interested in everything. They celebrate each other in such a genuine way by admiring the work of their friends and being fascinated by what they're learning.
This year, I was excited to hear several students include sections about new questions they have after studying their topic. In a few cases, the new questions out numbered the original questions by a fair margin. It's an illustration of the winding path most true research takes.
Thank you for all the support you've given your children as they work through these projects. Fourth grade parents, your children have been working through the process largely independently. We'll reflect with them about what they've learned and what parts of their work were the most difficult. We allow fourth graders to make some mistakes such as not practicing as much as we'd like or trying to write a paper without organizing one's ideas first. Only through such stumbles do they truly come to understand the process and its rationale. The hope is that next year they'll be able to motivate themselves to ask for help or spend more time on the things they found difficult this year.
Each child will be writing a letter to a fifth grader about his or her work. These letters are carefully drafted and we stress the importance of honoring the work of one's friends by thinking deeply and sharing details one notices.
I hope you'll come and join us at Honoring Night to see the fruit of, really, six years of learning. mm
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