Writing about our progress

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As teachers we are always considering how your children are growing. We wonder constantly where to challenge them next. What should we reteach? How should we apply and practice new knowledge?

Over the last couple weeks, Thunder and Lightning students were formally thinking about their growth over the winter term. They considered their strengths. They considered their next challenges. 

They answered self-assessment questions from their memory; they searched their notebooks for evidence; they consolidated their findings in a virtual portfolio.

We are talking with students about how to share their portfolio with you. Some students can't wait to show off how they are doing. Other students would rather not show off how they are doing; we suspect wanting to hide their progress is motivated by many factors. With this hesitancy in mind, we have been coaching students about how to share with you. 

To your children we have said, "You’ve done beautiful work on your reflections, and now it’s time to celebrate your work by sharing it with your parents. You may want to go slide by slide, and that will be fine if you’ve written your presentation in a way that makes it easy to understand without much instruction. However, if you just leave your parents to peruse through it, they may not get the whole picture."

Your child has saved his/her portfolio (Google Presentation, Keynote Presentation, iMovie, etc.) on his/her Google Drive. This gives you the ability to access the work from home.

Here are some conversation points your child has practiced: 


  • I picked these items to focus on because…
    • Yo escogí estas cosas porque...
  • I really enjoyed doing this in _______________(writing, STEAM, math, etc) because….
    • Yo disfruté este proyecto en ______ (escritura, STEAM, matemáticas, etc.) porque...
  • I did NOT like doing this in _______________ (writing, STEAM, math etc.) because….
    • No me gusto este proyecto en ______ (escritura, STEAM, matemáticas, etc.) porque...
  • In January I chose this word as my word for the year….
    • En enero, yo escogí esta palabra por el año...
  • I have made a goal to show my word in this way….
    • Yo mostraré mi palabra en esta manera...
  • I made some goals for the spring term, but this one I think is most important…
    • Mi meta más importante por la primavera es...
  • I chose to use this picture because…
    • Yo escogí esta photo porque…

Here are some questions you might ask: 


  • Was that hard for you?
    • ¿Qué fue difícil para ti?
  • What was your favorite thing you did in winter term?
    • ¿Qué fue tu cosa favorita en el invierno?
  • Why did you/did you not like that?
    • ¿Porqué te gustó/no te gustó?
  • Have you been enjoying this subject?
    • ¿Has disfrutado esta materia?
  • Do you fully understand the topic?
    • ¿Entienden el tema?
  • Do you understand why you’ve been struggling on this?
    • ¿Entiendes porque has luchado con esto?
  • How did you make those cool effects?
    • ¿Cómo hiciste estes efectos cheveres?
  • What do you like about that topic?
    • ¿Qué te gusta de este tema?
  • How long did it take you to do this?
    • ¿Cuánto tiempo trabajabas en este proyecto?

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