She Blinded Me With Science

Parents,

As this quarter draws to a close, I am pleased to see that students have (grudgingly) risen to the level that I use to challenge them. I am aware that there is frustration and that this material isn’t as easy as students would like for it to be, but I once again remind you that the students have signed up for an HONORS course and with an honors course comes honors-level material. That said, I’d like to take this opportunity to once again remind parents that I do have a formal peer tutoring program in place. Students who are making an A in my class are available to those students who are doing less well, as tutors. This is especially useful during Academic Lab. These students have a solid grasp of the material and have the ability to reteach it in a different setting and coming from a different mindset. Please encourage your students to take advantage of this opportunity available to them.

All of the students have taken last Thursday’s test. The test average was an 83% across both classes. This is the kind of C-average with bell curve distribution that shows that the test was neither too hard nor too easy. That said, there were some students who did not pass the test, and these students have had their “Pass the Test” assignment attached to their test when it is returned. Due to the accelerated time line to get those grades bumped up before the quarter draws to a close, I have also included their current event articles with their assignment sheet. They should not have to do any research … just provide me with the material that they should have grasped from the course.

As we go into the second quarter, I will continue to provide the students with a list of guiding questions for each of the sub-topics covered. These guiding questions are to help them guide their studies. Answers to these questions will be provided in class. These are the sorts of questions that will appear on their quizzes and tests, along with questions such as those that come from any in class activities and worksheets.

Rocks and their Roles focus heavily on mineral composition, which is a good introduction to chemistry. Today, we finished up our introduction to matter, with its connection to geology. Tomorrow and for the remainder of the week we will be looking at the larger and larger pieces that these atoms create. Tomorrow we will begin to look at minerals, and then through the rest of the week we will expand from minerals to the rocks they create. This is a short unit, so there will be a test coming up rather quickly. In the textbook, which we have only a class set of, this will cover Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

We will then be moving on to a unit entitled “Giving the Earth a Face lift”, where we will learn about the different forces that shape the face of our earth. We will also be covering a weather unit and an oceanography unit, and then will be concluding our semester with a unit on astronomy.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have.

-Ms. L-

Parents,

School seems to be flying by. I can’t believe that it is October already. This is my favorite month because it combines so many wonderful celebrations of fall: the State Fair (lots of physics on those rides, and biology in the agriculture sections), Halloween, TWO teacher workdays, and flu season (epidemiology!). On the latter note, I ask that students who are sick please walk out in to the hall to blow their nose, and that they cover their nose and mouth when they sneeze or cough. It would seem like common sense, but I don’t have to remind you how easy it is for a cold to become in epidemic in the classroom, and since the school is so small, I’d hate for something to wipe out the entire school. Then who would I teach?

Thursday, October 5, 2006, is our test that concludes the “Destructive Seismic Events” unit. Our next unit will cover the rock cycle, and geologic landforms, and will be entitled “Rocks and their Roles”. As usual with any unit, you can expect for there to be notes, one lab (at the very least), and a test. All sub-topics will have a quiz given when we finish that information.

Students are doing much better at staying on top of their work for this past unit. That said, when students turn in their test on Thursday, I will be handing them a sheet that lists what work they have that is outstanding. I have a copy of this sheet, and it will not (hopefully) leave my classroom. The reason behind this is that report cards are coming out on October 17, 2006. No official word, yet, on their distribution method.

Since report cards come out on the 17th, I cannot accept any outstanding work beyond October 10, at 2 pm. I have to turn in my grades in significant advance of the report card deadline so that the computers can have time to mull over the grades and generate the report cards. Please be aware that if your student tells you that they are turning in their work … “Today, mom, I swear,” and “today” falls after the 10th, the turned in work (should it appear in my hands) will not be reflected in their quarter grade. However, it will be counted toward their semester grade.

Also, we have had a minor emergence of some, for lack of a more delicate term, cheating issues. While I highly encourage students to help one another grasp the material as that helps both the tutor and the tutee (by the way, I have a formal peer-tutoring program), that does not translate to “hand them your worksheet and let them copy your answers”. Instances of identical answers will receive a 0 for those questions. If it occurs for more than half of the assignment, that assignment will receive a 0. Copying over all of the sentence except for a word such as “of”, “the”, or “and”, does not somehow magically make it okay. I keep copies of all identical work for your (parental) perusal. Please let me know if you are concerned and would like to schedule a conference so that you can look over the work.

We have also had the emergence of the “I did half of it”s. What this means is that students are handing in assignments that are started in class with ONLY the work done in class completed on them. Again, I keep copies of any work that receives a 50% or below grade on it so that you (parents) can see the responsibility level of your child. Again, please let me know if you would like to schedule a conference so that you can look over the work. As a hint to your students: I don’t put the questions on the sheet just for fun. They are to all be completed.

Well, I think I have spouted enough for one week. As always, feel free to email, call, or comment with questions.

-Ms. L-