Dear Parents of 9th Grade Students,

Your students will soon be embarking on a serious curiosity-driven and creative cross-curricular journey. This long-term
group project will be focused on the theme of Hunger. This project, unlike smaller in-class projects, will involve a
limited number of out of class engagements and an adjustment of the grading policies previously outlined in the syllabi
of individual academic classes. This letter seeks to inform you of both of these items.
First, your student will be required to go before a Review Board twice over the course of this project with his or her
group. Your student and your students group will sign up for a time and date to go before each review board. There will
be before school, during lunch, and after school time slots. Also, this project will culminate in an afterschool exhibition.
Although these dates and times are subject to change, the current dates of these Review Boards and the exhibition are
as follows:
Event
Dates
Review Board 1
Nov. 30 - Dec. 2
Review Board 2
Jan. 18 - 20
Culminating Exhibition
Feb. 28
The majority of this project will be completed in your students English, social studies, and science classes. For certain
formative assessments or check points leading up to the final project, your student will receive smaller grades in
individual classes. For example, if there is a Socratic seminar focused on various interpretations of hunger in literature in
your students English class, your student will receive a grade from his or her English teacher and this grade will only
affect his or her overall English grade. However, the final project will involve synthesizing elements from various
academic subjects. Because significant in class time in multiple classes will be devoted to the final project, the final
project grade will constitute 10% of your students overall six week grade for the 3rd (Review Board I grade) and 4th
(Review Board II grade) six weeks for English, social studies, and biology.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. DiLuglio (ndilugli@houstonisd.org), Mr. Zhao
(zhao@houstonisd.org) Ms. Chase (jchase3@houstonisd.org), Mrs. McClintock (jbrooke1@houstonisd.org), Mrs. Vestal
(rebecca.vestal2@houstonisd.org), or Mrs. Tuttle (vtuttle@houstonisd.org).
Thank you for your cooperation. We are excited for your student to embark on this journey! Please sign, date, and
detach the bottom portion of this page. Your student will return the bottom portion to his or her English teacher.
Sincerely,
Mrs. DiLuglio

Mrs. McClintock

Mrs. Tuttle

Ms. Chase

Mrs. Vestal

Mr. Zhao

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As a parent or guardian of ________________________________, I hereby acknowledge that I have read and

understand the requirements of and grading for the 9th grade cross-curricular project.
Name (Printed): ___________________________________________
Signature: ________________________________________________ Date: _________