A Letter from an Integrated Exploratory Parent

Imagine my excitement when I found this e-letter (below) in my inbox today.  It does indeed take a village, and my Portola Valley parent community has certainly become that supportive village.  Thank you, Carrie Griffin, for your unsolicited feedback.  Read on...


Dear Barton Class Parents:
Please click on the link below to see 3 fantastic short videos of our
impressive student explorers on their fantastic voyages in Ms. Barton's
class!

http://www.pvsd.net/Technology/MacBook_Pilot/

I for one feel incredibly grateful to all the key people I have copied in
the "cc" box above, who have made this pilot class possible!  And additional
huge thanks goes to Steve Marra who beautifully documented these unique
learning experiences in the videos, so we could all get an upfront feel for
how our children are learning 5th grade subjects in a more multidimensional
and engaging way.

I encourage ALL parents who feel similar appreciation to send an email to
those key people in the "cc" box above.  We want them to have feedback to
guide further efforts for the entire district.

And if you haven't visited Marcy's website:
http://www.cms.pvsd.net/~mbarton/  or her blog:
http://integratedexploratoryclass.blogspot.com/ lately, they are RICH with
more samples of student work (click on Student Created Exploratory Research
Projects to see websites, books and powerpoints presented recently).

The BIGGEST THANKS of course goes to Marcy Barton, who worked all last
summer to launch this pilot, did numerous special trainings, and continues
to work overtime to make it incredibly successful!!!  Fortunately for all of
us, this work feeds her soul, and you can tell in the interviews how
fulfilling this is for her.  But also, big kudos go to the administration,
Ms. Piraino, Ms. Campbell and Mr. Keating, as well as our forward-thinking
School Board for providing the context to make this "pilot program" possible
and provide the resources to ensure its success.

There are also a large number of our parents who have devoted countless
hours to arranging unique field trips (and driving them), integrating
amazing art and music to supplement the curriculum, enlisting Lisa Detloff
to add dimension to our science curriculum, and coming in to help in the
classroom.

It takes a village!  Many thanks to ALL!