Post date: Nov 15, 2014 6:7:20 AM
Dear Room 25.
This time I think I'll start with a look forward and then recap the week at the end of the email.
Friday potluck: Michelle is organizing a potluck breakfast for Friday the 21st. We are hoping that the kids will do most of the preparing of food at home (with your help as needed) and then bring it in on Friday to make a big breakfast buffet. I'll discuss this with the kids on Monday afternoon, but please start thinking about possible breakfast-y things that your family might contribute to this group effort.
Age of Sail: On Saturday night I sent out an email about the overnight Age of Sail trip that our class will take on December 11th and 12th. The most important thing for you parents, is to mark it on your calendars, consider being a "Tall Sailor" chaperone, and to perhaps donate $80 via Debby Perry to cover the cost of the trip. A copy of my email and many other details & resources are located on this page of my website. I'll also be proposing a possible before-trip extra excursion to the kids next week and then asking you (parents) about it if the kids like the idea.
SF luggage van driver & chaperone: The San Francisco trip is shaping up and looking great. Although the kids and teachers use public transit to get there, return, and get around each day, we do need one chaperone and van per homeroom to get the luggage to the hostel and help with the activities. If you are willing to be that person for our room, please let me know. A fun and exhausting time will be had!
Mystery books: For the next genre of books for our Thursday reading-groups, the kids chose mystery. Below is a list of the books that the kids have chosen. Please, if possible, try to get a copy of your kid's book before Thursday.
Book Groups for November-December, 2014 (mystery)
1. The Host (Avi, Khael, Theodor, Yorsabell, and Fernando or Tarek)
2. In the Woods (Aiden, Eliki, Lukas, Sean, Vaibhav, and Maureen)
3. All the Wrong Questions (Addie, Hannah, Maya, Paola, Sebastian, Tom, and Fernando or Tarek)
4. Angels & Demons (Ali, Gabi, Olivia, Naya, and Julie)
5. 100 Cupboards (Brian, Joaquin, Luka, Tuisku, Juliana?, and Lavi)
Vocabulary Collection Set 1: I will be collecting the kids' vocab comp books this week, and I'm hoping that you (parents) will go through it with your kid before Wednesday. Here is a page that has a table showing the content for each page and links to (and photos of) some samples. Basically the book should have 20 pages worth of entries (five weekly sets of four words; one page per word). This vocab book will turn out to be a big portion of each kid's English grade for this semester.
English Unit on Discerning Bias: Between now and Winter break the class will be doing some activities and readings that will help them to become for critical consumers of the information and media that they "consume". In conjunction with those lessons, each kid will choose, plan, draft, write, refine, and publish a writing piece. Here is a page that has lists of possible topics, separated by grade level. The kids browsed those on friday, chose one, and began a pre-writing process (brainstorm, mind map, initial notes/ideas, etc).
Recap of the Week:
It was nice to have the room 25 kids back for the HAM (homeroom all morning) schedule again. We were able to take time to have discussions about defining and calculating work and power (for science) as well as the cause and nature of rebellion (history) and do a mystery "checks" (ask your kid) activity in English. One of the highlights for me was working with the Landscaping and Labor group to get the pond excavated, pump cleaned and re-piped, and waterfall flowing again.
Updated Calendar:
November 11: Veteran's Day (no school)
November 24-18: Thanksgiving Break
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