Weekly Update 12/10-14

IMPORTANT REMIDNERS/EVENTS:

-Progress reports go home Friday, Dec. 7.

-If your child is applying to magnet high schools and the application requires teacher recommendation letters or forms to be completed, please allow ample time for the teacher. Please speak with your child about how to ask someone for a recommendation--not to just hand it in and assume we will handle it. This is an important life lesson. Be sure to include all necessary documents, including an addressed, stamped envelope where appropriate. Thank you!


English:

Our schedule didn’t work out quite as planned, so this week we will finish up with our in-class novel, Daniel’s Story. A short quiz over Part 3-4 will be Friday, Dec. 14. Monday/Tuesday, Literature Circle Discussions will be happening in class and questions are due. One grade will be based on participation, the other is a grade for the questions. Wednesday/Thursday is IRP Presentations in class. Per my email sent out on Tuesday, I have decided to split up the grade for this assignment between this six weeks and next. This is only because the students have already had several heavily weighted grades on this grading period. Because this grade is at the end of this grading period, students who perform poorly could find themselves with poor or failing grades with little time to do anything about it. Therefore, of the 3 grades this project is worth, 1 grade will be applied to the current grading period, and 2 will be applied to the next.

Parent approval forms are due on or before the day the projects are due, which is Dec. 12-13. Parent approval forms that were turned in on the day of book checks (Nov. 12-13) were awarded extra credit points. Please monitor your child regarding their reading and completing these assignments—time management is key to completing this work, and some students still need guidance with self-pacing.

I have several extra credit opportunities available to students, but time is of the essence. Please remember that extra credit should be completed only after all missing assignments have been turned in.

History:
A major assignment is due on Monday/Tuesday. This is the storyboard relating to three periods in early American History. The students have received the assignment and they have seen examples from a previous year. This must be in on the day due; late work is unacceptable for this assignment.
I assigned the major project on the Constitution and Bill of Rights this week. This assignment is due January 18. It is work the students must know for work in school until they graduate from college and the knowledge of this material will help them to become good citizens. Each student has a copy of the assignment.
Too many students did not complete the assignments on story maps and analyzing a founding father as a hero or villain. These were due over two weeks ago and I have given all the opportunity to turn this work late. Your child’s grade will reflect this on the progress report. Please encourage your student complete the storyboard by Monday/Tuesday and the Constitution project.
Knowing how to use the social studies skills of the story map, analyzing people in history, and the story board will help the students in future social studies classes. These were all new skills for most of the students and, overall, they did an excellent job.

Science:
All Classes
TLW:
1) Complete study guides for Mid-Term exams.
2) Use study guides to create practice tests and complete practice study activities through out the week

The Final exams will count for 25% of the third six weeks average in Science 8/ Pre AP.
The Final exam for IPC will not affect the six weeks average because it counts as 25% of the semester average.

EXAM DATES:

Science 8/PreAP
December 18, 2007

IPC
December 19, 2007
These exams are very important and I am asking you to please help prepare your child to do well:
1) ask to see the study guide
2) quiz them from the study guide
3) make them tell you what’s on the study guide until it becomes second nature.

I will be here on Tuesday and Thursday to help IPC and Monday and Wednesday for science 8/PreAP from 3:50-4:30 for tutorials.

Math:

Algebra 1-all classes:
Students are preparing for the midterm exam. It will be held, Tuesday, December 18th. Students will receive review materials that review the topics that will be on the exam. It is important that students be present during this time, as students will do much of the preparation during class. We are currently working in Chapter 4 of the textbook. Students need not bring their texts to class, as we have a class set at our disposal. Students are also working on the Big Picture, a diagram that brings the first semester concepts together to add clarity. Please ask to see them.

Pre-Algebra:
Students are diligently working through the chapter on proportional and non-proportional relationships. We are discussing scale factor, dilations, and proportionality. Students have learned about using scale factor in the real world. Enlargements on a copier, and the dilation of the pupil of the eye are a few real-world examples. Please discuss with your kids and ask them to define scale factor and it’s uses.

All Math Classes:
We have begun our review as we get ready for TAKS. Each week or two, we will have an objective lesson pack that will help students review concepts in the form they are likely to see them on the TAKS test. This should help students feel more at ease during the test, as the questions are TAKS style questions. Students take quizzes that pull 10 identical questions from the packets. Dates for each class are given in the classroom. They are written on the agenda at the front of the classroom, discussed in class, and are written in the, “week at a glance” chart located on the far board. Agendas are used to record information about class and homework. I ask students each class period to take out and fill out their agendas. Please help me help your student by checking the agenda daily.



Foreign Language Department BLOG: See link below

http://pomsfl.wordpress.com