River of Doubt
Sample Parent Letter
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Your child is about to embark
upon a very special and exciting journey!
In the weeks ahead, the focus of study for our class will be South America,
the land and its people. The students will watch Bill Kurtis and his New
Explorers team travel through the Amazon jungle along the "River of
Doubt." They will then explore the area around the Amazon River themselves
using a variety of activities in and out of the classroom.
We will be keeping journals throughout the program, just like Theodore Roosevelt
did on his South American expedition in 1914. Our classroom activities include
mapping the Amazon region,
making a model tree, and exploring the rainforest ecosystem. We will also
be doing lab investigations with insect growth and erosion. During the course
of the program, the students will have the chance to act as pharmacists,
water filtration engineers and even as watersheds!
We ask that you help our class by being a part of your student's educational
experience. Help us gather pictures for our journals, donate materials for
our investigations, read some of the many books about the Amazon with us
and, if you have traveled to South America or have studied some of our related
topics, volunteer to come in and share your experiences with us.
Please take some time to discuss our lessons with your child. You can enhance
your child's learning by visiting the library to find out more about South
America. For even more fun, plan a South American meal at home! And, with
your child, watch for information about the Amazon in the news. You may
be surprised by how much is out there!
We hope you will remain informed of what is going on in the classroom, and
as excited about this exploration as we are!
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