Portfolio Conference Letter

October 29, 2013

Dear House A Families,

How times flies! It is already time for Portfolio Conferences. We hope you can attend a Portfolio Conference on the evenings of Wednesday, November 13^th and Thursday, November 14^th from 4-7pm in the House A classrooms/library. Educational research tells us that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives. To that end, your student will present to you artifacts of their learning from the first trimester—work from each class that s/he has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

In addition to presenting artifacts of academic growth, your child will also discuss their progress with the Habits of Mind we have been working on this year: Precision, Citizenship, Preparedness, Persistence, and Flexible Thinking.

For your convenience, we are scheduling conferences in 20-minute intervals starting at 4pm and ending at 7pm on both dates (November 13^th and 14^th). An audience of 2-4 caring adults is ideal—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, etc. If no adult is able to attend on these dates, we will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time as we do expect each student to conduct a Portfolio Conference with one or more adults who are invested in their learning. We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,

The Teachers of House A:

Robert DeCicco

Stacey Endres

Joe Smith

Tiffany Brigham

Sharon Ehret

Nicki Stevens

John Finnigan

Brenda Sweeney

Gail Nichols

P.S. Please be proactive if you have any concerns regarding your son or daughter’s progress. A portfolio conference is a celebration of student work and might not be the best format to discuss your concerns. You may want to consider scheduling a separate meeting with the team. Please contact us if this applies to you!

Please detach and return.

HOUSE A PORTFOLIO CONFERENCES

*Please indicate your first and second choice for a conference time by checking the time and highlighting or circling the preferred date; have your student turn it in to his/her advisory teacher. We will get back to you to confirm the scheduled time of your conference.*

___ 4:00pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 4:20pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 4:40pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 5:00pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 5:20pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 5:40pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 6:20pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 6:40pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ 7:00pm on Wednesday, November 13^th OR Thursday, November 14^th.

___ Please contact me to schedule an alternative time.

___ I would definitely like to meet with _______________________ about ___________________

(insert teacher name/class) (topic to discuss)

Student: _________________________ Attendees: ______________________________

first & last name ______________________________