Behavior and Expectations for 8Th Grade Science
Mr. Rosen’s Math Class
Policies, Procedures, and Expectations
I am very honored and excited to be your child’s math teacher this year. Your child’s success in my classroom is my ultimate goal, and it is my hope that he / she will have a rewarding year. I am committed to creating an engaging, supportive classroom environment in which students will be successful if they put forth the necessary effort. I believe that one of the most important aspects of student success is parental involvement. When it comes to teaching children, I strongly believe that parents are V.I.P.s (Very Important Partners) in the learning process. In my growing experience as an educator, I have observed a definite correlation between the degree of parental involvement and student achievement. I cannot stress enough how important you are to the educational process. Even simple things, like demanding effort and quality in schoolwork and reinforcing good academic habits at home, can have a profound impact on your child’s motivation and desire to be successful. A little time taken discussing your child’s day at school and supporting him / her with homework on a daily basis sends a powerful message to your child about the importance of school and the priority you place on his or her education. This will translate into the value your child places on his / her education and his / her determination to be successful. Those who set high personal goals for themselves and strive to achieve those goals are usually those who have been raised with the habit of high expectations from the start. Since parents play a vital role in the education of their children, I feel that a strong home-school partnership is in the best interest of my students. Therefore, I hope we can work as a team to help support your child and make this year a very positive learning year for him or her. If you need to contact me for any reason, please email me at .
Please read through the following class policies, procedures, rules, and expectations carefully and sign the last page. I will have your child keep this in his / her notebook, but you may wish to make a copy for yourself for future reference in case it is lost or misplaced.
RECOMMENDED SUPPLIES
(1) “daily planner” / “binder reminder” / “Agenda” (This is where students will be expected to keep a record of daily classwork and homework for every class.)
(2) spiral-bound notebooks (1.5 in. or 2 in.) to be used as the Interactive Notebook (more notebooks may be required later in the year once these fill up) - college rule or one-centimeter grid paper [preferable]
(1) loose-leaf notebook section (with tab to identify “Math” ) containing at least 200 sheets of college-ruled or 1 cm. graph paper [graph paper preferable] to be used for homework and classwork (NOTE: Extra lined and graph paper should be kept at home, so the “math” section of this notebook can be refilled as necessary.)
(1) 50 count package of 4 x 6 index cards (for tests)
(1) box of pencils with erasers (a large eraser and self-contained pencil sharpener is also encouraged)
or a mechanical pencil with extra graphite
(3) erasable black, blue, or red pens (No other colors are acceptable. These will only be used for correcting.)
(1) highlighter (yellow is preferred)
(1) ruler (measures in both inches and centimeters)
(1) protractor (to measure angles)
(1) compass (to draw circles of a given radius)
(1) simple calculator - This is just to be used to do large calculations. It should have: 1. The basic numbers
and four main arithmetic functions, 2. Square root sign (be able to calculate square root), and 3. The
+ / - sign (to calculate integers). No graphing calculators will be allowed.
(1) pair of scissors
(1) set of coloring pencils
(3) sticky notepad (standard size) – multiple colors prefered
(2) boxes of tissue (class donation)
SCHEDULE
“Daily Planner” / Attendance (1 min.): Students copy the class agenda and homework for the day into their planners as I take attendance (students entering after I take attendance will be marked tardy). Students are encouraged to use the planner to keep track of missing assignments, As in previous grades, I suggest that students circle missing or late items in red pen and “check” them off once they have turned in these items.
“Warm-Up” Activity (5 – 10 min.): This includes skills practice, review problems, and critical thinking exercises that pertain to the lesson of the day (skills and concepts that will be needed for that particular lesson). “Warm Up” exercises will be entered into the Interactive Notebook / math journal. While students are completing this assignment, I will be checking their homework (see scoring below). After 5-10 minutes, we will review the warm-up exercises.
Review Homework (10 – 15 min.): During this time, students will have a chance to have problems they had trouble with reviewed. Answers to the assignment will be posted on the board, but students will also know which problems they missed if they did the homework online. Students are responsible for checking their own work and asking questions if they do not understand how to do a problem (i.e. couldn’t figure out the answer to the problem after several attempts). I will work out any problems that are requested or that I feel need further explanation. Students are responsible for self-correct their homework and making sure they understand the concepts that are reviewed prior to that week’s assessment.
Formal Lesson / Activity / Collaborative Problem Solving / Assessment (15 – 30 min.): Formal concepts and vocabulary will be discussed. Students will be responsible for taking notes and for participating in class activities. Concepts and problems that are covered on classwork and homework assignments will be direcly assessed through weekly quizzes and chapter review tests. Our text is activity based so students will be actively involved in the learning process and participation is an expectation. Students are expected to make an honest effort to attempt every problems they are given. An “honest attempt” means that the student at least starts the problem and makes an effort to solve it until he / she gets stuck and can’t go any further. An “honest attempt” does not require the student to finish the problem or arrive at an answer / solution for it. NOTE: Due to the length of this component, a lesson may not be finished in one day and may need to cover multiple days.
Check for Understanding / Guided Practice / Reteaching (5 – 10 min.): Students will demonstrate their understanding of the new concept to me. Students will be encouraged to help each other solve problems through collaborative strategies such as “Think-Pair’ Share”. Once students demonstrate an understanding of the concept, they will practice it under my and each other’s supervision.
Independent Practice (Homework): Every effort is will be made to give students some time to begin homework in class. This is done to assure the students have an opportunity to ask questions about the assignment before they leave for the day. Due to the length of some explorations this is not always possible.
PLANNERS
Students are expected to use an organizer / daily planner to record classwork, homework, and important reminders. Parents are encouraged to review their child's planner and homework each night. Planners may be checked and a part of the student’s “participation” grade. Please review the handbook section of the planner to become familiar with school policies.
GRADING
Grades are computer generated and based on the following standard grading scale:
A 90 – 100%
B 80 - 89%
C 70 – 79%
D 60 – 69%
F 0 – 59%
The final grade will be based on the following weighting:
Tests / Quizzes (50%): Tests will be announced (students will have at least one week advanced warning of an upcoming test) taken after each chapter. Quizzes may not be announced and may be given at any time.
Homework (25%): HOMEWORK IS NOT OPTIONAL!!! Online HW is due by 11:59 PM on the day it is assigned. Handwritten homework is due at the beginning of class on the due date specified. Late homework will not be accepted and will receive a permenant zero. Complete homework is homework in which EVERY problem shows all of the steps necessary to solve the problem. Students are expected to show an honest attempt to solve all problems, even if the work is wrong. Even if you can do the computations in your head, I want to “see” your thinking on paper. Write down every step of your thinking, so we can identify any errors or misconceptions in your thought processes. Problems and answers do not qualify as work, which is the “in-betweem steps”. Homework will be graded on accuracy and effort using a point system. Each correct answer will be worth one point. When assignments are checked for effort (work), the assignment will be scored on a scale of 0 to 10, where “10” means “all problems were attempted”, “5” means “an honest attempt was not evident for one or two problems”, and a “0” means “an honest attempt was not evident for several problems.
After an absence, it is the responsibility of the student to obtain and make up the missed assignment. Work that was due during an absence must be turned in the following day after returning or it will not be accepted. Work that is assigned during an absence must be turned in by the following Monday, or it will not be accepted.
The steps to doing a homework problem are as followed:
- Write down the original problem on your paper. It might help if you write the problem in pen, so you can see it quickly. For word problems, you can just write down an equation needed to help you solve the problem.
- Attempt the problem in pencil only. Even if you cannot successfully solve the problem, you should be able to get the problem started and make an honest attempt at finding a solution. If you need help, you should first look at the examples in the textbook as well as class notes that are identical to the problem you’re doing for ideas on how to do it. If this doesn’t help, you could go online and watch the video tutorial that goes with the problem or get live tutoring help for those problems that have an asterick next to them.
- If you were unable to finish the problem or couldn’t answer it correctly after the maximum number of tries, identify it as a problem you’d like to review in class. You should do this by circling the problem number in pen. You could also highlight the problem number, so attention is drawn to it.
- During the homework review session, correct the problems you got wrong with the help of the teacher or a peer. If you are unable to correct all of the problems you missed during this session, see me during the Break or first part of Lunch to finish this.
NOTE: I cannot stress the importance of having a quiet, distraction-free work area (a desk and a comfortable chair) and a place to display work (I suggest a bulletin board in a hallway, the kitchen, or your child’s bedroom). This investment demonstrates to your child the high value you place on his / her education and academic achievement.
Classwork / Notebook / Behavior / Participation (25%):
Classwork is due at the end of the period on the day it is assigned. Classwork may be collected at the end of the period in the form of an “Exit Ticket”. When classwork is collected, the grade will be will be based on accuracy, effort, and completion of the assignment. Assignments turned in after they are collected will not be accepted and will result in zero for the day.
Notebook: During periodic spot checks, the notebook will be graded the completion of notes that were expected to be taken during class and / or journaling activities that were expected to be done during collaborative work sessions. The notebook will be graded on completion and organization.
Behavior / Participation: Students will be expected to take an active role in their own learning. This includes staying on task (off task behaviors, such as inappropriate talking or disruptions, will negatively affect participation), active involvement in cooperative (group) activities (failure to cooperate, contribute, or use collaboration time productively will negatively affect participation), and class assignments (participation will be based on the effort students put into their work and responses). Students will be given four points per day for meeting these expectations. Points will be deducted from the 4 points for an issues related to behavior and participation, which includes tardies and preparation for each class (coming to class prepared with ALL of the supplies necessary to fully participate in class activities – borrowing items will result in the loss of class points)
ELECTRONIC GRADING – ONLINE ACCESS
This year, Luiseno's middle school teachers will continue to use the online grading program called Jupiter Grades. This program will allow you to conveniently access your child's current overall grade in the class, grades earned on each assignment and test, view incomplete assignments (written in red), check the calendar for upcoming due dates, receive weekly update of missing assignments and progress reports, add additional users (i.e. your child) and much, much more over the internet. I will update the site as often as possible (at least once every ten days) to keep you informed of your child's progress in this math class.
The system has been programmed to automatically send you reports every Friday and whenever a grade of "D" or "F" is received. Once you are logged on, you can adjust these settings to suit your preferences (i.e. change when you receive emails). Please keep in mind that the make-up / late work grace period for absent work is until the following Monday. Any assignments turned in after that time will not be accepted and will receive a permanent zero.
ABSENCES / TARDIES
After an absence, it is the student's responsibility to complete and turn in missing assignments. If a student is absent when an assignment is assigned, he / she will have until the following Monday to turn in the assignment. Any student who is absent on the day an assignment is due must turn in the assignment the day he or she returns to school. Any student who is absent on the day of a previously announced quiz / test must take the quiz the day he or she returns to school. Extended absences due to illness will be handled on an individual basis. Lessons will be posted on Jupiter Grades daily, so students can access homework and class notes missed during absences. Students are also encouraged to exchange phone numbers with one or two others from their math class in order to keep up on missed days.
RULES OF CONDUCT
In order to maintain an environment that promotes learning, certain norms, or rules, must exist. In this class, these rules are:
Be Prepared: Students will bring all required materials, including homework, to class daily. Students will be in their assigned seat and ready to work when the bell rings.
Be On-Task: Students are expected to follow directions and focus 100% of their attention to the task at hand. Students will not leave their seats or converse with one another without permission to do so.
Be Respectful: Students will respect all people and their property. This includes respecting other’s time and right to learn free from disruptions. Students will not “talk out” or make unsolicited comments. Students will raise their hands or use the appropriate hand signal in order to ask questions, give answers, make comments, discuss solutions, or get the attention of the teacher.
Be Polite: Students will be kind to others in their words and actions.
Be Cooperative: Students will work together and help each other.
NO EXCUSES: Luiseno is a “No Excuses University” school. Students must take responsibility for poor choices, accept the consequences for making these choices, and learn from their mistakes.
CONSEQUENCES
1st and 2nd Warnings – Documented in Jupiter Grades; Lose one or two points toward class “Participation” grade
3rd Warning - Seat Moved; Documented in Jupiter Grades; an “N” (“Needs to Improve”) for “Citizenship” on Report Card; Lose three points toward class “Participation” grade
4th Warning - Principal’s Referral (a referral may result in the loss of extracurricular privileges, such as exclusion from after-school dances; a referral may also result in an action plan and / or a parent conference), an “N” (“Needs to Improve” or a “U” (“Unsatifactory”) for “Citizenship” on Report Card; Receive a zero for that day’s “classwork / participation” grade.
FYI: Students who are removed from the class will still be responsible for completing all class and homework assignments missed that day. Please note that habitual offenders or those engaging in extreme behavior (fighting, arguing, defiance, sexual harassment, profanity, unsafe behavior or other situations judged unacceptable by the teacher or school-wide discipline guidelines) may result in an office referral or removal from the classroom without prior cause. In severe cases, the teacher may evoke right to suspend student from the classroom for up to three days.