The big events this week include the Jog-a-Thon on Thursday and our Crater Lake field trip on Friday. At Crater Lake, rangers will be leading us on a challenging hike up Garfield Peak as we study some of the geology of the lake. Meanwhile, in class we’ll be learning a bit about the history surrounding the lake. Students must turn in their permission slips and $3 bus fee by Thursday. Adults who plan on attending need to make sure they’ve completed the volunteer application (e-mail me if you have questions).

Also in class this week the students will be continuing their Roald Dahl book clubs, uncovering how bats locate their young in camps of a million (or in our case, 25), and taking their first vocabulary exam (on Thursday). For the vocab exam, students need to be familiar with the definitions and know how to spell all 11 words. We’ll be completing several in-class activities to help, but they should be studying at home each night. Students should also be prepared this week to do a brief presentation on the independent reading they’ve been doing at home. In math, we’re starting a unit on Place Value. This tends to be a challenge for many students, so support with homework is crucial. Here’s the homework sheets for this week: Monday, Sept. 29; Tuesday. Sept. 30; Wednesday, Oct. 1; Thursday, Oct. 2nd.