Williams Crew

Williams Crew Families, I want to thank all of the people that helped put together the last minute planning of our trip to the airport.  A big thanks to Ashley for organizing, Crescent, Steph, Chris, Jim, and Chad for Driving, and especially Hardy for hosting us.  The crew learned a great deal about flight, navigation, and all of the ways our Truckee airport helps the community. I have posted the pictures on the crew website if you are interested in checking them out.   Goal-setting conferences: I wanted to let you know that we are having goal setting conferences on Tuesday October 14 from 12:00-5:30 and Wednesday October 15 from 12:00-3:00.  I will share with you a Google document to sign-up for a half hour time slot.  There will be two families scheduled for each half hour time slot.  During that 30 minutes, you and your child will come with the goals you created for this school year.  I will go through your goals with you to make sure they are SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely).  I have attached a document explaining what that means (or you can ask your child).  The students came up with a first draft to their goals today.  Sometime between now and the conference, each parent will need to sit down with their student and talk about their goals.     If your child has set goals that you agree with help them word their goals in a appropriate way that makes them SMART goals.  If you do not agree that the goal that your child has set, help give them suggestions about areas that you think they should focus on improving. For families that have come to the conference prepared with their goals, the conference could be very quick.  I will read over the goals, make sure they are appropriate, answer any questions, and send you on your way. For families that do not bring there completed goal sheets I will leave you alone with your child to create SMART goals.  Once you have created your goals I will review them with you and answer any questions. […]

Williams Crew, We have had a fantastic start to the school year.  I wanted to update you on the activities in our crew and some notes about upcoming fieldwork. Math: The students seem to be enjoying the new math curriculum and it is forcing them to think a little differently about math.  I hope the homework is going well at home.   […]

Williams Crew, Thank you for coming last night.  I attached a pdf of the slides from last night’s slideshow.  I wanted to mention that all 7th grade students need to have their Tdap booster with documentation turned into the office by tomorrow.  The students can bring it to school with them. Also I want to thank Ashley Holm who has volunteered to be the head volunteer coordinator for our crew this year.  She will be contacting parents soon to organize the Grouse Ridge fieldwork (September 24-26). […]

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! […]

Crew Update 6-10                 Thank you to all of the families that came to the celebration of learning last Thursday.  I was very impressed with the final cell projects and research reports.  It was great to talk to each of you and celebrate what a great year we have had.                  Our friends at the [...]

Williams Crew, We are only a week away from going on field work and I think everyone is getting excited.  Last week I sent home information on the trip, a packing list, and two permission slips that need to be turned in by Thursday May 16 (I have also attached the documents to this email).  [...]

Crew Update 4-29 With the 70 degree temperatures and the start of baseball, lacrosse, and soccer practices, it definitely feels like summer.  I’m sure everyone can’t wait to close out the year on a great note!  Here is the latest news: First, we are still in need of parents to drive/chaperone for the South Bay [...]

Crew update 4-9-13                 I hope everyone had a fun, relaxing spring break.  I missed our Williams’ crew and am looking forward to our last few months together.  Summer is right around the corner!  Spring goal setting conferences:  SELS will be holding goal setting conferences on Wednesday May 17.  This year the middle school is [...]

Williams Crew,  I wanted to inform you of what we have been doing over the past three days.  As part of the "Who am I?" expedition we are studying several Nobel Laureates and what their impact is on our world.   On Tuesday, we read about the struggles Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maquire encountered in Northern Ireland, [...]

Crew Update 1-23-13,               Believe it or not we are half way through the school year!  The first semester came to a close last Friday and we are on our way to the end of the year.  We have had a productive two weeks since the holidays came to a close.  Progress reports will [...]