A note to parents

Parents,
Please be advised that today at 12 PM all grades were due in for Progress Reports. I have done my best trying to read all of the proposals, even those that are coming in for the third or fourth time. At this time I have read all proposals that were turned in as of Tuesday, 11/26. If your child has not turned in a proposal you should see that on the grade portal or on the Progress Report that will come out the week we return from our Thanksgiving holiday. I will read any proposals that come in for the first time or those that needed so much work that they could not be given permission to begin experimentation. I will not read any more submissions just to raise a grade. If your child has not had a proposal approved by this time, I suggest they do a GIZMO simulation and collect hundreds of data points. Be certain that your child is doing an experiment and  not just a demonstration. There are guidelines in their science books and at www.nefrsef.org.

Science Project Presentations begin on December 9 and December 10 for the classes I have that day. Presentations end on December 16 and 17. I will grant extensions for extenuating circumstances or if a request for more time for experimentation is made by the parent. Any science project that is not presented either on time or at the end of the extension will receive a grade of ZERO until the presentation is made. At that time a deduction of 10% per class period will be made from the grade. I will explain all this next week in class along with reviewing how to do a backboard and an Abstract.

Students will have until FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6 to turn in any late or missing work listed on the progress report and currently on the grade portal or gaggle. If you can't access the grade portal remember that your child has access to gaggle and their graded are available on gaggle. After Friday, I will take no more late or missing work from the beginning of the quarter up to TODAY, 11/26. Some assignments have special substitutions and this information can be found in earlier posts. You, the parent or caregiver must write a note letting me know that you know these assignments are late or were never turned in. It doesn't matter what day I have your child in class Friday is the deadline.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Missing Assignments and Recycling "The Relationship of the Sun and Earth During a Year"

Looking over the gradebook I see quite a few grades of ZERO for various assignments. FIRST, let me say TYVM to everyone who turns in their work on time and well done. You are doing your fair share of helping yourself be successful. I will continue to provide learning experiences to prepare you for a) problem solving in the future, b) helping you develop a solid science foundation to serve you well in high school, and c) getting ready for future CGAs and FCAT.

Those of you with grades of ZERO (or very low grades in some cases) in one or more locations. This is very important. Here's how to clear them up BEFORE Progress Reports. I've broken them down by assignment.

• Summer and Winter GIZMO: do it and turn the SEG and a printed copy of the score for your Assessment Questions ALONG with the note from your parents that explains that they know you are turning in the Gizmo late and including your reason for it being late. They must hand sign the note and I must be able to read their signature- No initials or "doctor" signatures please even if they are a doctor. Due no later than 11/14.
• Mini Poster : Relationship of the Sun and Earth over a year (seasons, solstices, and equinoxes): To recycle this grade you must complete the entire SEG for the GIZMO: Seasons in 3D. You do not have to do the AQ. Due no later than 11/14. Don't forget the note from your parent- see above.
• A zero for submitting a science project proposal. Submit it and the required note about why it's late and that your parents understand that it is late.

I am currently grading proposals. They do take a while for each one. I will enter and turn on that grade when I have graded all of them, but it will be before progress reports. Unfortunately for those of you that did not do the assignment correctly, completely, or at all, I will not have time to regrade the proposals before progress reports.

Any work assigned prior to 11/15 will be on the progress reports including the appetizers, main dish, and side dish of our menu. Dessert will be added later.

Mini-posters of Seasons, Science project proposals and LATE WORK

After I post this I will be grading and posting mini-poster grades along with GIZMO grades from Summer and Winter. 
I plan to grade proposals this weekend. Your grades should be posted by next week.
THANK YOU to all of you who turned in quality proposals. They take a while to grade (more work for me) but that is really a good thing. UNFORTUNATELY, some students did not do so well. You will receive commentary and a chance to Revise and Resubmit without a penalty as long as it was on time to begin with.

LATE WORK has become a terrible problem that eats away at valuable teacher/student time and teacher/prep for students time. As a result, I no longer will be as lenient as I have been in the past. Following a meeting of the 8th grade teachers where we discussed this concern, I am instituting the policy that " If you choose to turn in an assignment late your parent must write a note to me explaining why you are turning the assignment late and that they are aware of your late submission. Granted, it happens to the best students once in a very blue moon so a one time penalty will have minimal impact on a child's grade. However, habitual  late work will have an impact on a student's grade. By submitting a note which I will keep on file, parents are helping hold their child accountable for his or her work. Reminders and deadlines are posted on the blog and on the classroom board, so no one should ever have to say " I didn't know".

Late proposals are expected to be submitted on Tuesday, November 12 and Wednesday, November 13. These will have a penalty assessed for lateness, but they must be accompanied by a note from the parent. Please do not e-mail these notes. I want a handwritten record from parents about their own student's late assignments.

MENU Selections

Remeber that you will have one more day to work on your menu in class. You can work on it at home also. Appetizers, Main Dish, and Side Dish are due: A Day 11/14 and Bday - 11/15. Dessert will be announced for the next week.

A 5-E Menu Plan!!!    Moon Phases and Eclipses                 

                        Make the Best Choices to Suit your ‘Tastes’

Appetizers (Explore) Labs and Such— Hands on and Virtual Inquiry	Main Dish (Explain) Reading Strategies— Use Unit 4 Lesson 2 Holt Fusion	Side Dish (Evaluate) Demonstrate your Mastery of the Learning Target	Dessert (Extend) Stretch your Thinking---Get that ‘A’
- Choose 1 from Eclipses Gizmo “eclipses” OR -Modeling Eclipses Lab with data in a foldable Choose 1 from moon phases -Modeling Moon Phases Lab with data in a foldable Or -GIZMO; Moon Phases You May work with a partner—Appetizers are meant to be shared J Choose 2  Possible points (15 each or 30 together)	-Cornell Two-Column Note Strategy -Concept Map or another graphic organizer from R 10-12 -Guided Reading—Active reading questions in Holt Fusion followed by Lesson Review Questions All Main Dishes include the Following vocabulary Words: satellite, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, umbra and penumbra This is all for you. Choose 1 Possible Points (15)	Write a Quiz with Answer Key Using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge -Write a poem or song demonstrating your full understanding of moon phases and eclipses using all vocab from lesson and a performance -Create a 3-D manipulative of the EARTH-MOON-SUN SYSTEM that could be used to re-teach this lesson to others and make a video or power point or Keynote presentation -Create a Jeopardy Game using either an online template  or a physical template (may be with a partner but must include a report about what each person did) Choose 1 Possible Points  (40)	-Research the 1991 Solar eclipse in Hawaii  or another eclipse and write a newspaper article recapping the event as if you were there. -Create a Solar Eclipse Flip Book Using the directions provided. -Research How to Safely View a Solar Eclipse and create a “how To” Poster  or Keynote or PowerPoint -Create a Moon observation Journal for the Next two weeks. May be physical or electronic. No Meal is complete without a fun dessert… YUM!!! Enjoy this at home when you don’t finish in class. Choose 1 (15)

Period 8B -- OOPS!!!

My apologies.

I received your mail and forgot to pass it out to you. I have it, so is there somewhere I can send it 1A to find you. Otherwise, pick it up on Wednesday.
The mail was:

• COLLEGE TRIP INFO - Jan 28-3, limited to 50 students, approximate cost $450.00. Mr. C. Johnson is the contact person for more questions. johnsonc7@duvalschools.org. Payment dates were not announced.

• JLCP PTSA and ALL PRO DADS: KICKIN' IT WITH DAD!!! Kickball with Dad on Saturday, November 16 from 10AM - 12PM (noon). RSVP by Wednesday. 

• Barnes & Noble Bookfair: Friday, 11/15/2013. St. Johns Town Center.