January 25, 2013 Dear Parents, We would like to take this opportunity to inform you about our current

reading unit. Starting Monday, your child will begin learning about the Civil Rights Movement. We will begin our unit of Study by using historical fiction to learn about lives of African Americans during the Great Depression. Your child may be reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor. We have carefully selected well-crafted novels that develop strong central characters and plot, but also an insight to the social and economic turmoil during this time period. Both authors include profanity while Mildred Taylor is purposeful in her use of the n word. These are effective devices for portraying emotions and adding realism to the characters dialogue. We would like to assure you that we will explicitly talk about the use of any disparaging words. As always, if you prefer that your child is not exposed to this language, please let us know and we will be happy to find alternative literature for him or her to read about this time period. Sincenerly, Liz Merrill Carol April Heather Carter-Jackson