Midterm progress report grades

...have been entered.  Please note there are two grades at this time.  The first grade is for turning in the parent signature page of the "first day letter."  This is the letter I passed out at open house.  The next day, I invited students to take a copy home if they knew their parents didn't come to open house.  Many students have not turned in the last page, the parent signature page.  I will pass out more copies of the letter on Thursday, so students have another opportunity to alert their parents to my policies.

The second grade is weighted twice as heavy as the first as it is for academic work.  This grade is for an assessment; the Analysis section of Activity 72, The Miracle Fish.  If you are interested in more information about this activity, ask your child to explain it and to show you her/ his work in the Lab Notebook.  Students also have an opportunity to redo this work and turn it in again for regrading.  I will do some "regrading" next week.  The reading for this activity is available online through the student text at: sepuplhs.org/middle.html.  When you logon to the website the username is: science.  The password is: inspires.  This information should be written on the inside front cover of your child's lab notebook.  The questions that I checked from this analysis involve critical thinking skills and integrating background knowledge with information from the text.

We are finishing up a short online research project on invasive species found in Western Oregon.  Next, we will work with how organisms are classified (grouped).

Almost all of us had a great time at Outdoor School and students learned a lot about themselves, about living with others, and about ecology in Western Oregon.  Today, I sent home Outdoor School field notebooks, soil profile samples and "critter catch watercolors" from the water field studies.  I believe one class will receive theirs tomorrow to take home.  I will soon show a brief slideshow to periods 1 & 2, using photos taken with my phone during our times at Howard Outdoor School.

I continue to enjoy working with your children, giving them some background in Ecology.  The next unit we will work with will be "Body Works", about the human body.  Ciao for now!