MID-MARKING PERIOD GRADES
The halfway point of the 4th Marking Period was Thursday, April 28, and Mid-Marking Period Grades will be released on Parent Portal in the coming week.
UNIT 6: CHEMICAL REACTIONS RETAKES
I am so proud that so many students have stayed after school in the past two weeks to complete test corrections for our most difficult exam of the year. They have been so thorough and so willing to ask questions about what they missed and why, and that has paid big dividends. I have had students' test grades improve by as many as 40 points on the retake! That is amazing, a credit to their willingness to work hard and put in the time to reach full understanding of our course content.
This habit of looking back, self-assessing, and coming to an understanding on topics they were unsure on at test time is SO important. I truly hope that the test corrections process is something they continue to embrace - even if future teachers don't require it.
Students who do test corrections are permitted to take their correction sheets home with them to study for the retake. I also think all students will see the benefits of completing test corrections after every test when I pass back their correction papers to use as an additional study tool for our Final Exam.
As I mentioned in last week's email and have reminded your children all week, students who retake the Unit 6: Chemical Reactions Exam will get their NEW (higher) grade, instead of the average of their first and second score. This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate content mastery AND boost 4th Marking Period grades leading into our final unit (Ecology) and our Final Exam.
If your child's 4th Marking Period grade is not where you or he/she would like it to be, please encourage him or her to stay for ACT this week (Tuesday through Friday from 2:35 until 4 p.m.) to complete corrections, review with me, and retake the Unit 6 exam!
PHYSICS QUIZ TUESDAY
Our Physics unit on Forces and Motion has consisted of learning motion vocabulary (frame of reference, scalar, vector, distance, displacement, speed, velocity, acceleration, force, and equilibrium) and principles (Bernoulli's Principle and Archimedes' Principle) in the context of Fold N Fly paper airplanes, parachutes made of napkins, and boats made of foil. We have also tied in some data analysis and graphing using Microsoft Excel - a good skill to have heading into future science or statistics classes!
I love Physics because of its many practical applications - that students can see with the naked eye! Your child should be able to explain why airplanes fly, why race cars need spoilers, why boats float, why balloons filled with helium rise but balloons filled with air from our lungs sink, and why swimming pools are used to help people recovering from leg injuries learn to walk again. They should also be able to tell you how parachutes work, how atomizers in spray bottles work, and how submarines use Archimedes' Principle to dive and surface.
Students received their Unit 7 CUA Review packets yesterday in class, and an electronic copy of the packet is posted on Schoology in the Unit 7 Review folder.
We will use Monday's class time to review vocabulary and concepts prior to Tuesday's assessment.
UP NEXT: ECOLOGY
I am excited to start our final unit of the year, Ecology, because we already have learned about ecosystems during our time with Ms. Vinglish in the Teacher Under the Sea mini-unit.
I think the Earth Day ecological footprint activity that many students completed for extra credit has really gotten the students thinking about the impact we make on our planet's ecosystems.
It will be very important for students to learn and apply vocabulary in our study of Ecosystems and Biomes, Ecosystem Interactions, Cycles of Matter, and Ecosystem Response to Change, as Ecology is actually their first unit of Biology heading into next year.
I want to make sure students see how each of these topics directly relates to their lives and to the future of our planet by tying in real events, past and present.
I teach Ecology using a "flipped classroom." This means that what we normally do in class (take notes) becomes homework, and what is normally assigned for homework (practice questions) is done during class time. The purpose of flipping the classroom in this way is to allow students to receive help from me and from their classmates to answer challenging questions and explore real-world applications of what we're studying during our time together, by having them complete the "Copy this down" parts of the lesson on their own.
Two times this week and two times next week, students' homework will be to prepare for class by completing the notes for homework. This works out to between 20 and 30 minutes of homework on those nights.
Students will have the option to either watch my screencasts of the notes on Schoology (which will be just like taking notes in class and hearing my explanations) or read a packet for the lesson (which will define vocabulary and give examples just like in the lecture).
I make both options available in case students are unable to access the videos from home, or if they prefer one mode over the other.
Because I make both options available to the students and because coming to class with a foundational understanding of the vocabulary is required in order for them to be able to participate in the following day's activities, this homework is NOT OPTIONAL, and free homework passes will NOT be accepted.
Students who come to class with incomplete homework will have to spend half the period getting caught up on the notes, while the rest of the class and I move on to the examples and applications.
As you can see on the schedule (below) that students will receive this week, students should be completing their Ecology notes at home (using screencasts or readings) on Tuesday, May 3; Thursday, May 5; Monday, May 9; and Wednesday, May 11.
The halfway point of the 4th Marking Period was Thursday, April 28, and Mid-Marking Period Grades will be released on Parent Portal in the coming week.
UNIT 6: CHEMICAL REACTIONS RETAKES
I am so proud that so many students have stayed after school in the past two weeks to complete test corrections for our most difficult exam of the year. They have been so thorough and so willing to ask questions about what they missed and why, and that has paid big dividends. I have had students' test grades improve by as many as 40 points on the retake! That is amazing, a credit to their willingness to work hard and put in the time to reach full understanding of our course content.
This habit of looking back, self-assessing, and coming to an understanding on topics they were unsure on at test time is SO important. I truly hope that the test corrections process is something they continue to embrace - even if future teachers don't require it.
Students who do test corrections are permitted to take their correction sheets home with them to study for the retake. I also think all students will see the benefits of completing test corrections after every test when I pass back their correction papers to use as an additional study tool for our Final Exam.
As I mentioned in last week's email and have reminded your children all week, students who retake the Unit 6: Chemical Reactions Exam will get their NEW (higher) grade, instead of the average of their first and second score. This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate content mastery AND boost 4th Marking Period grades leading into our final unit (Ecology) and our Final Exam.
If your child's 4th Marking Period grade is not where you or he/she would like it to be, please encourage him or her to stay for ACT this week (Tuesday through Friday from 2:35 until 4 p.m.) to complete corrections, review with me, and retake the Unit 6 exam!
PHYSICS QUIZ TUESDAY
Our Physics unit on Forces and Motion has consisted of learning motion vocabulary (frame of reference, scalar, vector, distance, displacement, speed, velocity, acceleration, force, and equilibrium) and principles (Bernoulli's Principle and Archimedes' Principle) in the context of Fold N Fly paper airplanes, parachutes made of napkins, and boats made of foil. We have also tied in some data analysis and graphing using Microsoft Excel - a good skill to have heading into future science or statistics classes!
I love Physics because of its many practical applications - that students can see with the naked eye! Your child should be able to explain why airplanes fly, why race cars need spoilers, why boats float, why balloons filled with helium rise but balloons filled with air from our lungs sink, and why swimming pools are used to help people recovering from leg injuries learn to walk again. They should also be able to tell you how parachutes work, how atomizers in spray bottles work, and how submarines use Archimedes' Principle to dive and surface.
Students received their Unit 7 CUA Review packets yesterday in class, and an electronic copy of the packet is posted on Schoology in the Unit 7 Review folder.
We will use Monday's class time to review vocabulary and concepts prior to Tuesday's assessment.
UP NEXT: ECOLOGY
I am excited to start our final unit of the year, Ecology, because we already have learned about ecosystems during our time with Ms. Vinglish in the Teacher Under the Sea mini-unit.
I think the Earth Day ecological footprint activity that many students completed for extra credit has really gotten the students thinking about the impact we make on our planet's ecosystems.
It will be very important for students to learn and apply vocabulary in our study of Ecosystems and Biomes, Ecosystem Interactions, Cycles of Matter, and Ecosystem Response to Change, as Ecology is actually their first unit of Biology heading into next year.
I want to make sure students see how each of these topics directly relates to their lives and to the future of our planet by tying in real events, past and present.
I teach Ecology using a "flipped classroom." This means that what we normally do in class (take notes) becomes homework, and what is normally assigned for homework (practice questions) is done during class time. The purpose of flipping the classroom in this way is to allow students to receive help from me and from their classmates to answer challenging questions and explore real-world applications of what we're studying during our time together, by having them complete the "Copy this down" parts of the lesson on their own.
Two times this week and two times next week, students' homework will be to prepare for class by completing the notes for homework. This works out to between 20 and 30 minutes of homework on those nights.
Students will have the option to either watch my screencasts of the notes on Schoology (which will be just like taking notes in class and hearing my explanations) or read a packet for the lesson (which will define vocabulary and give examples just like in the lecture).
I make both options available in case students are unable to access the videos from home, or if they prefer one mode over the other.
Because I make both options available to the students and because coming to class with a foundational understanding of the vocabulary is required in order for them to be able to participate in the following day's activities, this homework is NOT OPTIONAL, and free homework passes will NOT be accepted.
Students who come to class with incomplete homework will have to spend half the period getting caught up on the notes, while the rest of the class and I move on to the examples and applications.
As you can see on the schedule (below) that students will receive this week, students should be completing their Ecology notes at home (using screencasts or readings) on Tuesday, May 3; Thursday, May 5; Monday, May 9; and Wednesday, May 11.
Thank you for your support as we head into our final unit of the year!
SCIENCE FINAL EXAM
Science final exams will be given during the second exam session on Wednesday, May 25th. Since we will be wrapping up our study of Ecology on Friday, May 13, that leaves us seven class days to go back through the vocabulary, concepts, and skills we have learned throughout the entire year.
Because the final exam is cumulative, it represents a broad sample of the year, focusing on major concepts from the course instead of requiring in-depth knowledge of individual topics. I think this is a good thing!
As we move into our Final Exam Review period in two weeks, I know students will benefit greatly by employing all of the study strategies we've introduced this year and by having access to 100% of our course material online on Schoology! As they're studying, they can go back to ANY topic we've covered and use the links and videos for a refresher - even if they're studying from home, on their own. They could start doing that now if they wanted to stay fresh with formula writing, compound naming, balancing equations, mole problems, or the Periodic Table.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I wanted to share two things that happened this week, and I hope you'll pass them along to your kids as we head into the last month (how is that possible?!) of the school year.
Just yesterday, one of my senior students shared that, "Foundations of Science was one of the hardest classes I've ever taken. Maybe the hardest class in all of high school." This statement was unprompted and very genuine. I completely understand why he feels this way! Foundations of Science is a very broad course, and the curriculum is very rigorous. Soon, your child will have one of their most demanding high school courses behind them.
But wait . . . there's more! One of the students I had last year in Foundations of Science stopped to see me earlier in the week. She shared that, in addition to all of the content she learned in (and still remembers from) 9th grade, what has helped her most this year in Biology has been all of the study strategies she learned last year.
They have worked SO HARD for me this year and have done everything I've asked them to do with energy, enthusiasm, and positive attitudes. Every single one of your kids has such a bright academic future ahead of them!
When I look back on everything we've done this year - from the Academic Journal Article Project to the Adopt an Element and Periodic Table presentations to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Symposium to Teacher Under the Sea and more - I am amazed at all these freshmen have accomplished.
Thank you for sharing your children with me!
SCIENCE FINAL EXAM
Science final exams will be given during the second exam session on Wednesday, May 25th. Since we will be wrapping up our study of Ecology on Friday, May 13, that leaves us seven class days to go back through the vocabulary, concepts, and skills we have learned throughout the entire year.
Because the final exam is cumulative, it represents a broad sample of the year, focusing on major concepts from the course instead of requiring in-depth knowledge of individual topics. I think this is a good thing!
As we move into our Final Exam Review period in two weeks, I know students will benefit greatly by employing all of the study strategies we've introduced this year and by having access to 100% of our course material online on Schoology! As they're studying, they can go back to ANY topic we've covered and use the links and videos for a refresher - even if they're studying from home, on their own. They could start doing that now if they wanted to stay fresh with formula writing, compound naming, balancing equations, mole problems, or the Periodic Table.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I wanted to share two things that happened this week, and I hope you'll pass them along to your kids as we head into the last month (how is that possible?!) of the school year.
Just yesterday, one of my senior students shared that, "Foundations of Science was one of the hardest classes I've ever taken. Maybe the hardest class in all of high school." This statement was unprompted and very genuine. I completely understand why he feels this way! Foundations of Science is a very broad course, and the curriculum is very rigorous. Soon, your child will have one of their most demanding high school courses behind them.
But wait . . . there's more! One of the students I had last year in Foundations of Science stopped to see me earlier in the week. She shared that, in addition to all of the content she learned in (and still remembers from) 9th grade, what has helped her most this year in Biology has been all of the study strategies she learned last year.
They have worked SO HARD for me this year and have done everything I've asked them to do with energy, enthusiasm, and positive attitudes. Every single one of your kids has such a bright academic future ahead of them!
When I look back on everything we've done this year - from the Academic Journal Article Project to the Adopt an Element and Periodic Table presentations to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Symposium to Teacher Under the Sea and more - I am amazed at all these freshmen have accomplished.
Thank you for sharing your children with me!