Hi all,

Everything is going along nice and smoothly. Students and teachers are into their routines, occasionally offset with fieldwork. Some of the great work going on:

  • Williams Crew spent 2 nights on the summit last week working on mapping and compasses as part of their case study on exploration.

  • Bell-Bannon Crew recently summitted Andesite and Donner Peaks as part of their expedition on adventure; big hikes for 6 year olds – and no complaints!

  • Seaborg and Welch Crews are currently camping at Boca Springs and getting lots of local history from experts.

  • McMains Crew is spending 3 days on the North Coast next week for a unit on ecosystems.

Great support from parents to assure these wonderful experiences happen – keep it up.

These experiences happen because all of you donate time, energy, and funds. The suggested family donation is set up to support our fieldwork; without these donations, our spring fieldwork will be compromised. At this point, approximately 45% of SELS families have contributed. We would love to see this number more closely approach 100%. All students benefit from our fieldwork and be nice if all families also contributed, even if a smaller amount than suggested.

Additional information to share:

  • Goal setting conferences are set up for Minimum Week. If you have not already done so, please sign up immediately with your teacher(s). These conferences are important to your child’s education, and the time set aside is the only time they will happen. The sooner you sign up, the more choices of times you will have.

  • October lunch menus are coming home this week. These need to be filled out and returned by Thursday so we have time to compile and order. Please make sure you send the calendar; emails, phone calls, and scraps of paper do not work well.

  • Any families who feel they might be eligible for the Free/Reduced Lunch Program must apply this week. All materials can be found on TTUSD’s website under Food Services. The deadline is Oct 10. If you drop the form off here, I can get it to Food Services.

  • Next week we start a new round of Electives. Many thanks to all involved parents, including the ones volunteering for the next session. Students will sign up on Friday afternoon. Later this week we will email out the choices. Please go over with your children so they are prepared to choose on Friday. The Electives have been a wonderful community builder and fun times for all.

  • CREATIVE SPARKS art class starting Oct 22. This 7 week program is offered by Ms Lobo for 1st-5th grade on Mondays (3:30-4:20) and 6th-7th grade on Thursdays (2:30-3:20). Sign up closes Oct 10 and classes are limited to 15 students. Please see attached flyer for more information.

  • Truckee Rotary has supported several our events and/or students. They are holding their annual fundraiser, the Cadillac Ball, on Nov 10, 2012. Please see attached flyer for more information.

I want to finish by welcoming two new SELS Board Members: Marcy Thompson and Eric Strecker. We are very excited as this increases our Board to 9 members and adds some great skills and ideas.

David