Dear Parents and Guardians ~ Welcome to Back to School Night! By now, you’ve probably been to a number of these events before, and you are expecting the same old routine.  Let’s get to the heart of this all. Here’s what matters:

We live in an increasingly complicated world. As your child’s teachers, we will do our absolute best to prepare these students to be successful, caring citizens. 

Whew! We have a difficult job ahead of us- preparing students for the 21st century. We are ready… and thrilled to take on this challenge with your children. You might be wondering about some of the other basics of this class. We can answer those questions too:

Who is my child’s teacher?  My name is Sara Krakauer. This is my 13th year teaching at Innovation Academy. Some interesting facts about me:

• In addition to being a teacher, I also work part time as a freelance balloon twister.
• I love to travel, and I have a blog all about global education
• This past summer, I hiked into the crater of a volcano in Indonesia.

What is this class and what is it like? I teach Social Studies Project to a combined class of 5th and 6th graders.  It’s a two hour class that meets every other quarter (alternating with Science).  It focuses on American history (5th grade standards in Massachusetts) and world geography / culture (6th grade standards in Massachusetts).

What will students be learning this year?  This year, we’ll be working on two units (you can download the overview and documents on our class website):

• Discovering Early America: Our country’s early history, learning about Native Americans, explorers, colonists, and more. We’ll also learn about economics concepts that affected people then and now.
• Holy C.O.W. (Cultures of the World): World geography, religion, and culture, focusing on how people live today in Europe, Asia, and Oceania

How are students assessed? As noted in our grading policy, we mostly assess students through rubrics (big projects), but we do have some more traditional homework and tests. For example, some big projects we are doing this quarter include:

• Designing our own board games to reveal the truth about explorers and Native Americans
• Writing poems with original music compositions to tell about life in colonial America
• Simulating a store to practice economics concepts in action

How can I support my child at home? There are lots of ways to support your child with love and attention, but here are a few ways to use technological resources to support what’s happening at school:

• Check your child’s planner daily.
• Check our daily log often (homework updated daily there).
• Check X2 at least once a week.

How can I learn more? Follow this blog by typing your email address in the sidebar to the right under the word “follow.” You can also look for me on Facebook. Or just check back soon!

Have questions, comments, or ideas about global education?  Email me any time: skrakauer@innovationcharter.org.