Update about Progress Reports and Science Projects

Parents,

You are probably aware that the second set of progress reports will be coming home tomorrow. Some of the grades have gone through the roof. There are directions for recycling the major assignments on the printout. I will also be adding some more alternative data for students to use if their data is incomplete.

As I planned this weeks lessons I tried to arrange assignments into tiers. The C tier is usually the easiest to finish while the B and A tiers are often more difficult. In this way the students will be able to plan how to Put First Things First as they decide on their course of action in class. Of course I reserve the right to change my plans to meet the needs of the students.

There will be a quiz on WEDNESDAY from the video students will watch on Tuesday. On THURSDAY, students will take the formative provided by the district. I will use this data to inform my planning. It will be on scientific thinking and physical properties which we have been working on in class for several weeks.

Speaking of scientific thinking. ... Each student should have read through the NEFRSEF website and should be formulating a TOPIC, a PROBLEM to go with that topic, a QUESTION to go with the topic and problem. They should be reading about their TOPIC also. No, they can't usually find anything about what is the effect of this on that, but they should be experts on their topic (like if they want to experiment with plants they should know about plants).

Friday of this week I shall introduce them to the necessary forms, but they are more than welcome to explore the Rules Wizard on their own.

Please ask your child important questions like "what's your topic?" or "do you need to go to the library?" I will link up an information/schedule/rubric for the project in the next week. Right now I have so many conferences scheduled that time is a very rare commodity during the workday. Thanks for your patience.

Here's the link to the schedule for the week.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6287357/Layering-for-Matter
Happy Thoughts to All