Dear Community,

This week I want to take the opportunity to thank the creative effort and dedication to student growth that our teachers demonstrate every day. This Friday during PD day we learned how to increase the rigor, depth, and connection between languages in our curriculum. As many of you know, our school does not use DCPS created curriculum. This means that your teachers have the double challenge of creating content and individualizing it for the benefit of your children. It is an extremely demanding job that requires constant training, pedagogical precision, and an extraordinary level of intellectual curiosity. This is one of the many reasons our teachers are unparalleled.

In a few weeks, I will share the essential unit questions that we will be exploring starting in November through the school. This way, students will be able to share their learning with their families and generate powerful discussions at home. These exploration questions will have the following characteristics:

• They are exciting, timeless, and require a lifetime to tackle
• Require justification or support (and evidence from rigorous texts)
• Trigger the hydra effect (research one question and more will appear)
• Stimulate critical, continuous rethinking, and ethical decision making
• Establish a deeply personal connection to learning

Here I include an example of a unit in 2nd grade with a motivating essential question, and how we develop the answer through various books. We look forward to extending the learning into your homes, and piloting new revisions to curriculum together with you.

And finally, put on your national colors, soccer jerseys, or any other symbol of belonging to our Latino communities, since it will be the last week of celebration of Hispanic Heritage! On October 15 we will celebrate Panama and Puerto Rico!

With gratitude,

Carolina Brito