EMAIL DETAILS

September 2010


Dear 6th grade families,

We are excited to begin another year rich with growth and learning in
your child's math class. There are two class levels in sixth grade:
Math and Advanced Math. Students in all groups will be faced with
substantive mathematical challenges and high levels of rigor, and will
cover all the topics of our standard 6th grade curriculum. We have
placed your child in a class that we feel will provide appropriate
challenges, manageable pacing, and accessible levels of abstraction
given his or her developmental needs. While we have done our best to
ascertain which grouping is best for each student, we acknowledge that
it may be necessary in some cases to change our initial placement later
in the year in order to better serve the child. In order to minimize
disruptions for both teachers and students, however, we will only be
making placement changes at three fixed "change dates" in the school
calendar. The change dates will be:

October 18th
November 29th
January 31st *

*Note: After January 31st, students will remain in their respective
placement groups for the rest of the year.

While placement can sometimes be a source of anxiety for students and
parents alike, please know that we take considerable care in making
these placement decisions so that your child's developmental needs are
best served. The math teacher and I will have plenty of time during the
first six weeks to carefully evaluate your child and decide whether he
or she would be best served by moving to another group at the first
change date.

If you do not feel that your child's developmental needs are being
adequately served by his or her placement, feel free to let me know.
However, remember that no changes will be made for any students until
October 19th.


If you have any questions about this placement process or schedule, feel
free to call or email me. (callarda@sidwell.edu 202-537-8411)

Thanks in advance for your support!


Andrew Callard

Middle School Math Department Chair