Welch Crew News: January 31, 2012

Expedition Express

So Long Railroad!! Wow! Our fall expedition was a great learning experience for all students in our crew. The students are truly experts on the history of the Transcontinental Railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Thanks to all the parents for making this expedition a total success.

Now on to our Spring Expediton: ENERGY MATTERS! This physical science expedition will take a close look at what is MATTER, how we use different types of ENERGY in our daily lives, and finishing the year with a focus on SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. Fieldwork options include a trip to the Truckee Donner PUD, KidsZone, and the new Discovery Museum in Reno. I am hopeful the new California Safety Seat Law, effective 01/01/2012 will not interfere with our planned excursions. For those of you unaware of the new law, here it is:

California Child Safety Seats Law
effective 01/01/2012

Children under the age of 8 must be secured in a car seat or booster seat in the back seat.
Children under the age of 8 who are 4’9″ or taller may be secured by a safety belt in the back seat.

There are no weight requirements, only age requirements. If your child is under the age of 8 during our fieldwork, please provide a proper booster seat for the driver in charge. With that said, you are welcome to use a booster seat for your child on any scheduled fieldwork.

SCIENCE SCAVENGER HUNT: Thanks to all of you that have donated household items to our crew for our Science experiments this spring. The kids are very excited to get started as scientists. I would love to have the kids make tie-dye “LAB COATS” to wear in class. If you have any of DAD’s old white T-shirts or long sleeve button down shirts, please send them in to school sometime this week. If you have extras, please send those in as well, as I am sure some students will be able to use them. THANKS in advance.

CREW NEWS

Technology in the Classroom: Your children have been very excited to learn their way around the computers in the classroom. It’s exciting to see all the learning happening with the crew during this portion of our day. Mr. Williams and I have assigned each student a gmail account for their use in class. We will be using the program for peer editing and critique on Google Docs as well as math practice on Khan Academy. As we introduce these programs to the kids, I will keep you posted on how to check their work and practice at home.
Kindles: I have purchased 6 Amazon Kindles for our Reading Groups in the classroom as well. The crew is very excited to have this electronic reader for their reading practice. Since I was only able to purchase 6 Kindles, the groups have to take turns using them. Currently two reading groups are using these devices in the classroom.

Swimming Lessons: Our crew will be heading over to the pool at Truckee High School beginning on Monday, April 30th for swimming lessons. Students will be grouped by previous swimming abilities and given 30 minute lessons for 6 weeks. We will need one male adult chaperone and one female adult chaperone. Please sign up as soon as possible for these dates. The Welch Crew is scheduled from 12:00 – 12:30, which means we will leave SELS at 11:45 and return at 12:45 (approximately).

Nevada County Library: We will be walking to the Nevada County Library on Wednesday, February 1, 15, and 29 this month. Please send your child to school ready to walk in the weather forcasted for that day. We walk rain or shine.

SELS NEWS

Design Principle: Empathy and Caring – this month we continue to show each other how important our friendships are here at school. We focus on this in class during our Morning Meeting and work to incorporate these ideals in our daily interactions at school. REMINDER: We will not have a formal Valentine’s Day celebration in February since we strive to meet these character traits every single day.

Dates to Remember: