Welcome Williams Crew Families,
First of all, I want to welcome everyone to 7th grade in the Williams Crew!  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  Personally, I have been very busy camping, rafting, hiking, traveling, hosting family, and spending quality time with my seven month old baby girl Sage.
I wanted to take this opportunity to go over a few points regarding our upcoming expeditions this year.  I have been improving our fall expedition “Cartographers and Commanders” about Navigation, European history, and the Age of Exploration.  I am looking for guest speakers that have experience in navigation, cartography (map making), the Age of Exploration (1400-1600 Europe), Sailing, or related subjects.  If you or someone you know would be interested in coming in and doing a presentation on one or more of these subject please call or email me.
Fall Fieldwork: Our first fieldwork will be a 3 day, 2 night field work on September 24-26 (Wednesday – Friday) on the Sierra Crest at a place called Grouse Ridge.  I will send out more details soon, but we will need at least 6 parents (both men and women) to volunteer to take part in the field work.  For parents that enjoy hiking and the outdoors, this field work should be a lot of fun for you as well.  We are also planning on doing a short 2 day overnight field work to the San Francisco Bay during the week of November 3rd.  I will provide more details about these trips once we get closer to the beginning of the school year.

Here is a list of suggested supplies for your students to bring for the first day of school.

1 sturdy backpack
1 water bottle
48 (2 packs of 24) pencils
1 handheld pencil sharpener
2 glue sticks
2 big pink erasers
1 pack washable felt tipped markers
1 pack colored pencils
1 2″ binder
1 spiral notebook (Lined)
2 Math notebooks (graph paper)
8 subject dividers (with pockets)
1 ruler (Metric and English measurements)
1 pencil box (that can fit markers, colored pencils, highlighter, eraser, scissors)
1-2 boxes of tissues
3 containers anti-bacterial wipes (Clorox or other brand are fine)
3 packs of lined paper
1 pack of sticky notes

1 pack of pens
If you are unable to get these supplies the school can provide them for you.  Many of the supplies will be collected by me and used by the whole class (pencils, glue sticks, Clorox wipes, tissues, etc).  The rest (backpack, water bottle, binder, notebooks), your child will be responsible for.
One skill that middle school students often need help with developing is organization.  To help students stay organized the school will provide a calendar/planner that the students will be required to use.  You do not need to get one.
The summer reading book for 7th grade is The Giver by Lois Lowry.  It is a great book you can buy, check out from the public library, or come to the school office and we have a few copies that we can loan out to you for the summer.  I will expect that all students have read it before coming to school.
If you have questions or need to get in touch with me, email is the best way.  I check my email very often and should get back to you within a day, although on weekends (and during the summer) I am often out of cell phone range (hopefully doing something fun), so I may not get back to you until Monday.    My personal cell phone number is 541-968-9537.  I ask that you use this only when it is absolutely necessary.  When school is in session I will have my phone on silent, and will not answer it until a break in the day (which often comes at 2:30 after the students have left the classroom).  You can also call the school’s number and leave a message.
This email was intended to be a preliminary look at what to expect for next year.  As the school year approaches, I will be sure to email more details.  Should you prefer a different email address (or alternative method of communication), please just let me know.
Important dates for the first semester:
Tuesday August 26: Back to School Night: 5:30-6:30 Meet in the gym for a whole school message from David Manahan, 6:30-7:30 Meet in the 7th grade classroom for crew specific details.  (Just parents attending, no students please)
Thursday August 28: First day of school, school starts at 7:30
September 24-26: Grouse Ridge fieldwork
Enjoy the last month of summer and start getting excited about 7th grade!