ANDOVER

Welcome to 4^th Quarter Online Learning

I know this is a strange situation, and definitely not something that any of us planned on; however, we are still going to do this. Also, it is still Mr. Garrison and myself’s mission every day (or every week as it may turn out in the digital format) to make science a subject that is still engaging and enjoyable for you. Please know that I am always here for you, and I hope the information below will help ease your anxiety about how this will look for these last few weeks!

How to reach out to me?: Please know that I am still your Science teacher and I still want to help you be successful. Do not feel that I have left you to figure all of this out on your own. I have suggested some ways to reach out to me during this time if you ever need anything:

• E-mail: The fastest way to get ahold of me is email. If you ever emailed me during the year, you probably know that I do respond very quickly (unless it’s after your Siege game at 10:00 at night ;)).
• Zoom: This is a new way that we can connect face-to-face in real time. HOWEVER, there are some restrictions that I have to follow from the district. If you would like to set-up a study session (which would be an awesome idea as we get going in a couple of weeks), please email me so that we can schedule a time. 
• Office Hours: This is a for sure time that I will be near my device to respond to any need that you  may have. This will also most likely be the times that we set up the Zoom meetings if we need study sessions. My office hours are as follows (and these are the same for Mr. Garrison as we will hold all Zoom sessions together):
  • ​Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday         1:00 – 3:00 PM
  • ​Tuesday and Wednesday                                          7:30 – 8:30 PM

Again, I am here for you, please do not hesitate to let me know what you may need.

Google Classroom: This will be ESSENTIAL for us as we move forward. Mr. Garrison and I have made a new Google class that is meant to help navigate this quarter. We will archive the old class once we get going, but for now, we will utilize it as a tool to get everyone set up in the new class. 

Here is the code for the NEW class (SCIENCE):         seincay

Here is the code for the NEW class (FINANCE):         srdhudh

Learning activities will appear here weekly. They were designed with the intent to keep you engaged in the topic that we were exploring. All activities will be due at the end of the week by the end of what is a normal school day (3:00 PM), and all activities will be posted at the beginning of the week (Monday) at the start of the normal school week (7:50 AM). ALL ACTIVITIES ARE DISPLAYED UNDER THE LESSON PLANS TAB ALSO FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEMESTER.

Grades: How we grade will not change in this class as we have chosen to keep the grade weighting the same to help with the overall semester grade. However, we have designed our activities to NOT stress you out, and please do NOT stress about the grade. There will not be any tests, quizzes, or semester final in the fourth quarter (hopefully that removes some stress right there). Mr. Garrison and I are looking at whether or not you are still participating, giving forth effort, communicating with others, and simply trying your best. This is new for all of us, we DO NOT expect perfection. So give the science material your best shot.

Note for Personal Finance: All of the above information is the same for you class as well. Grade weights will stay true to the original syllabus as well as grading expectations. We will utilize the Ramsey online platform for the course now, and more information will be available in your Google classroom page. Also – Mr. Garrison is not helping to teach this class ;)

Update for Grades (4/22/2020): The following is to help demostrate how the assignments listed in PowerSchool are being assessed and what impact they will have on the students’ overall grade. Please note, that the above criteria is still the way that they are being graded (in terms of putting in a score) versus receiving a traditional right/wrong score. Please reach out to Mr. Hallmark if you have any questions over grading.

SCIENCE:

Activities Accounting for “Participation” (20% of Q4):

- Each week students will rececive 5 points for participating in learning activities. By the end of the quarter, they will have had the opportunity to accumulate up to 35 participation points. This will be updated weekly with the final activity score put in on the last day of the quarter.

Activities Accounting for “Labs” (30% of Q4):

- There will be 2 Lab grades put in for the quarter. The first score will be based on the activities from weeks 1-3. The score is based on student participation in the labs and for completing activity requirements. The same will be true for the lab score put in for weeks 4-6. The goal of the lab activities are to help students further their understanding of hailstorms in order to assist with the final model that they will create in the last week of the quarter. 

- With labs, there are also opportunties for extra credit. If students engage in the labs and include photos of them being the scientist and/or experiment results, this will result in bonus points for this category.

Activity for “Tests/Project” (50% of Q4):

- In the last week of online learning, students will create a final model. When we began the unit in quarter 3, we completed an in class activity to create an individual model as well as a whole class model. The procedure will be the same for the final model, however, this time around, students should be able to explain how the process works versus just creating a hypothesis about the parts. Students will be given a checklist of items that are important to the model to assist them with creating their final model, and they will explain what they created on a FlipGrid. 

- There is also an extra credit Earth Day Scavenger Hunt that students can do to help boost their “Test” weight if they would like to raise their grade. This will include also helping to raise the grade on any tests from the third quarter.

FINANCE:

Activities Accounting for “Participation” (20% of Q4):

- Each week students will rececive 5 points for participating in learning activities. By the end of the quarter, they will have had the opportunity to accumulate up to 35 participation points. This will be updated weekly with the final activity score put in on the last day of the quarter.

Activites Accounting for “Homework” (20% of Q4):

- Each week, there will be an application activity of the content. Finance is an elective, and the goal is to make this course as real-world as possible, so the application should give students a chance to see how the content connects in real life. The score for the activities will be a summary score for weeks 1-5. This will include students watching the Ramsey videos (which are from the curriculum that students are used to during class), and the four application activities. 

Activity Accounting for “Project” (30% of Q4):

- In week 6, students will learn about the economic chain of command (how goods and services are created and ultimately why nothing is free). They will track the production of a candy bar of their choosing and determine what parts of the world had to produce components of the candy bar. The activity will walk the students through the steps in relation to the Chain of Production content.

Activity Accounting for “Test” (30% of Q4):

- To finish the semester, students will reflect on the entirety of the course. The goal of this course was to teach them life skills and something new. They will create a visual representing a chapter or content that stick out to them the most. In a way this is a final review of the class and will demosntrate what they valued the most from this semester.