November 17, 2008

Dear Parents,

For the month of December the second grade students will be doing “Christmas Around the World” projects. These projects will be about Christmas traditions in other countries. Each child will be presenting two projects. Your child will be assigned one country and they may choose their second country. This would be a great opportunity for your child to research his/her own heritage. However, it is not required. Also, we are asking that your child not choose the United States because this is already familiar to them. The projects will consist of researching the Christmas traditions of their particular countries and answering a few questions. We are encouraging the children to bring in any artifacts, pictures, flags, etc., relating to their chosen country. They may also bring in food from that country if they wish. This is not required, but would be a festive way to introduce and celebrate, in the classroom, different traditions from around the world. Your child may also construct a poster if they wish.

The first report will be due December 12^th and the second one will be due on December 19^th. This is a great learning experience for the children and it is the kick-off to the projects that we will be doing for the rest of the year.

The children will be presenting their projects to the class so please make sure that they are able to read and understand their writing. In the past there have been children presenting material above their grade level and had a very difficult time reading their project to the class.

Attached you will find the two “Christmas Around the World” project forms. All questions should be answered in complete sentences. Your child by no means should be doing this project alone. Your assistance is necessary. We have also included some websites below to help you find Christmas information from different countries.

If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher.

Thank you,

Miss Dice and Miss Ritz

Websites

www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

http://northpole.net/world.htm

www.cybrary.org/xmas.htm

The Rubric that will be used to ass your child’s presentation is as follows:

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Content	Did not use complete sentences/ answered fewer than three questions.	Answered all questions but did not use complete sentences.	Answered 3-4 questions using complete sentences.	Answered all questions in complete sentences.	/4
Timeliness	Report/poster handed in more than one week late.	Report/poster three days to one week late.	Report/poster up to two days late.	Report/poster handed in on time.	/4
Spelling	Very frequent spelling mistakes.	More than two spelling errors.	Only one or two spelling errors.	All spelling is correct.	/4
Grammar/ Sentence structure. (Capitalization and ending punctuation).	Very frequent grammatical errors.	More than two grammatical errors.	Only one or two grammatical errors.	All grammar is correct.	/4
Neatness	Illegible writing.	Legible writing, eraser marks, wrinkled, messy paper.	Legible writing with some ill-formed letters. Print too small or too large.	Legible writing, well-formed letters, clean neat paper.	/4
Oral Presentation	Difficulty communicating ideas, needs assistance reading report, poor voice projection.	Needs assistance reading the report, difficulty with voice projection.	Communicates ideas with proper voice projection. Needs minimal to no assistance reading the report.	Communicates ideas with enthusiasm, proper voice projection, and clear delivery.	/4
				Total score	/24