They also come to understand what evaporation is all about. The children take their shriveled apples home for Halloween. Teacher time spent on communication allows students to take the excitement of the classroom home with them. Keeping in Touch Every month, Riddle sends home a parent letter with a description of the next Investigations unit. Parents have said that they appreciate the letters and that they can understand when their children come home talking about math.
Riddle believes what a teacher sends home is very important.
The kind of math tasks in Investigations are very different from parents' experiences. I don't think it's fair to send home projects or activities that parents would have a really hard time understanding. When she sends home math activities, Riddle makes sure that the children are comfortable with the model and feel confident showing their parents how to play the game or perform the task. And she always includes the directions. She makes every effort to understand and respect parents' perspectives, even when it's quite different from her own.