COURSE SELECTIONS
Ninth graders' course selections are due on the Community Portal by 11:59 p.m. this Tuesday, March 8th. At midnight, the course selection page will close.
It is recommended that students print and save a copy of their course selections prior to closing out of the Community Portal. Counselors will be meeting individually with students in Social Studies classes on Wednesday, March 9, or Friday, March 11.
Students choices for Science are simple - all sophomores take Biology. My recommendation (for Biology versus Honors Biology) was based on my own observations of student work completion and their input. I asked students which level of course they wanted to be in next year and talked with them if their choice was different than my choice for them.
COMPOUNDS
This morning, I passed back the Naming and Formula Writing Quiz that students took yesterday. Overall, the students did a great job - over half of all students got A's on this quiz! That is amazing! I saw huge amounts of improvement on their naming and formula writing skills, even between Tuesday and Thursday of this week. They really took ownership of their learning and used the resources I had available to them - both on Schoology and on paper - to fix their mistakes with naming compounds and writing chemical formulas.
I am requiring any student who didn't earn at least an A (54 out of 60) on this quiz to retake it sometime before 4 p.m. next Friday, March 11. We really need to be perfect at writing formulas and naming compounds before we move on to chemical reactions.
Some class time may be available for this next Wednesday or Friday if students aren't able to stay for ACT. I'm in my room every day except Mondays from 2:35 to 4:00 p.m. for quiz corrections, retakes, tutoring sessions, and general questions.
Overall, I was thrilled with the quiz results! We're really on the right track with our chemistry, and that's a great thing. Most of all, I appreciate that the students are making sure they're learning!
WEEKEND HOMEWORK
This weekend, students are practicing with the biological macromolecules - carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. We'll check those answers on Monday, then move on to our study of water and the special properties that result from its polarity.
These topics - carbon compounds and water - are an important preview of things to come in Biology. The Keystone is heavy on biochemistry, so my goal is to send your students to their Biology teachers with a solid foundation in chem and biochem!
UNIT 5: CHEMICAL BONDS TEST
Our test on Chapter 6: Chemical Bonds will be Tuesday, March 15th. I plan on using next Friday, 3/11 and the following Monday, 3/14 as in-class review days. Unit 5 includes ions and ionic compounds, covalent bonds and molecular compounds, carbon compounds, water, polarity, and metallic bonds. This unit contains a lot of content and vocabulary, so students should be keeping up with their glossaries (#67-84)!
Have a great weekend!
Ninth graders' course selections are due on the Community Portal by 11:59 p.m. this Tuesday, March 8th. At midnight, the course selection page will close.
It is recommended that students print and save a copy of their course selections prior to closing out of the Community Portal. Counselors will be meeting individually with students in Social Studies classes on Wednesday, March 9, or Friday, March 11.
Students choices for Science are simple - all sophomores take Biology. My recommendation (for Biology versus Honors Biology) was based on my own observations of student work completion and their input. I asked students which level of course they wanted to be in next year and talked with them if their choice was different than my choice for them.
COMPOUNDS
This morning, I passed back the Naming and Formula Writing Quiz that students took yesterday. Overall, the students did a great job - over half of all students got A's on this quiz! That is amazing! I saw huge amounts of improvement on their naming and formula writing skills, even between Tuesday and Thursday of this week. They really took ownership of their learning and used the resources I had available to them - both on Schoology and on paper - to fix their mistakes with naming compounds and writing chemical formulas.
I am requiring any student who didn't earn at least an A (54 out of 60) on this quiz to retake it sometime before 4 p.m. next Friday, March 11. We really need to be perfect at writing formulas and naming compounds before we move on to chemical reactions.
Some class time may be available for this next Wednesday or Friday if students aren't able to stay for ACT. I'm in my room every day except Mondays from 2:35 to 4:00 p.m. for quiz corrections, retakes, tutoring sessions, and general questions.
Overall, I was thrilled with the quiz results! We're really on the right track with our chemistry, and that's a great thing. Most of all, I appreciate that the students are making sure they're learning!
WEEKEND HOMEWORK
This weekend, students are practicing with the biological macromolecules - carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. We'll check those answers on Monday, then move on to our study of water and the special properties that result from its polarity.
These topics - carbon compounds and water - are an important preview of things to come in Biology. The Keystone is heavy on biochemistry, so my goal is to send your students to their Biology teachers with a solid foundation in chem and biochem!
UNIT 5: CHEMICAL BONDS TEST
Our test on Chapter 6: Chemical Bonds will be Tuesday, March 15th. I plan on using next Friday, 3/11 and the following Monday, 3/14 as in-class review days. Unit 5 includes ions and ionic compounds, covalent bonds and molecular compounds, carbon compounds, water, polarity, and metallic bonds. This unit contains a lot of content and vocabulary, so students should be keeping up with their glossaries (#67-84)!
Have a great weekend!