Coupla Things v14 (11/22/14)

Post date: Nov 21, 2014 8:52:1 PM

Dear Families of Room 25.

This coming week will be a time to celebrate family, history, tradition, and a bit of food. I've had great times at school these past months, but a week off is welcome. I'll have a few days here as my family finishes up their run of the show "Oklahoma", and then we're off to gather for a family union in the Siskiyou Mountains.

The past week was highlighted by big progress on three projects (machine project, personal interest project, and the expository writing piece) and ended with a science test and a great feast on Friday. I think that the class is learning a lot and getting many things done. We have a casual, relaxed, and humor-filled environment, but also a busy schedule, high expectations, and a relatively demanding workload.

When school resumes on December 1, we will have a busy few weeks ahead as we prepare for the "Age of Sail" overnight and the big all-eighth-grade San Francisco trip. I am extremely appreciative of the 5 parent team who have taken on the jobs required to organize these trips. You will hear from each soon (regarding forms, medication, finances, and driving) and I hope that you can respond quickly to make their hard jobs a bit less so. To get things rolling for the Age of Sail trip, I gave each kid the medical & release form for you to fill out this week and return on Monday. The San Francisco Maritime website has a great deal of information about the experience, and I've put some together in this online information packet (but not in printed form). Also, when I did this trip 2 years ago, my class added an extra walk from the Golden Gate Bridge to Hyde Street Pier for the 2 hours prior to the trip (details). This would mean leaving school on Thursday at 10 instead of 12, so if you have objections to that idea, please let me know.

I'm sure that there is something that I forgot to write about this time as this email is uncharacteristically short, but lets go with that for now. Enjoy your week and time together.

Chris.

Calendar:

December 8: Parent Meeting #3

December 11-12: Room 25 to Balclutha, Age of Sail

December 22 - January 9: Winter Holiday

January 13: High School Information Night (parents and kids)

January 20-23: SanFrancisco Trip

January 23: Middle School Dance

February 6: Selectives end

February 6: Family Dance

February 26: Exploratorium

April 28: Levi Stadium Tour

June 3 to 5: Rafting the South Fork American River