Room 15 kids collected 26.5 pounds of trash on our second Hopkins Street Clean-up last week. This community service event is part of the City of Central Point’s Adopt-a-Street program. We hope to hold our next clean-up on a Sunday afternoon in April. Stay tuned. For more pictures from this clean-up and our previous effort in November, click here.

Also last week, the 5th graders beat the teachers in the annual student vs. staff basketball fundraising event. It’s the first time the 5th graders have been victorious. They won the game 38 on 37 on Mackenzie R’s controversial shot in the last moments of the game. Enough about that!

This week, students are celebrating Valentine’s Day. On Monday we’ll slow things down a bit. Kids are invited to wear pajamas, bring their pillows and blankets, eat chips, popcorn, and treats, watch the movie Despicable Me, and learn a few Spanish phrases appropriate for the day. We’ll also try to catch-up on our Constitution; we’re still awaiting word from the Senate about potential revisions.

This coming week we’ll also be continuing our Checkbook Project (we struggled a bit with our first Tax Report), learning about Lewis & Clark, practicing our plays, and much more. Speaking of Checkbooks, here’s another chance for some well-read student to earn some Checkbook Cash . . . The first student to answer this question from our history studies will get $15: Why did Napoleon sell Louisiana to the US? Note that there is no school on Friday, February 18th. This is a budget-reduction day. There is also no school on Monday, February 21st for President’s Day.