WELCOME!• Welcome to Back to School Night• September 9, 2014• 7th grade Science, Karen Green, Room 204• Please only take ONE handout per household. I am only handing

out one sheet and there are some on every table.(green sheet)• No Sign In sheets. Please email me that you attended tonight.• If you contact me about your student, I will first ask you if you have

seen your student’s Agenda and their Binder. Thanks for checking on those two items prior to contacting me.

• The 7th grade student is the first order of communication between school and home. Their MMS Agenda should be something you can ask to see if they say they have no homework.

• Items of concern: Organization, due dates, Agendas, Organization, grades, scissors/staplers at home, Organization, ask to see Agendas and binders, Organization

WHEW!

Cell Phones Silenced Please

• PLEASE SILENCE CELL PHONES, or any other electronic devices. Kindly step out into the hallway if you need to take a call.

• Thanks.

Mantra for the year:

“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.”

Gretchen Rubin, _The Happiness Project_

All About Me• This is my 27th year to teach. You hardly notice the

twitch at all any more.(prefontal lobotomy as well) • Graduated from SWTSU with Bachelor of Science in

Education and Physical Education. I am certified to teach Health & High School Biology as well.

• There’s a short bio on my website if you’d like to read it.• I love all the support and generosity from parents---and

students----at MMS!(That’s why I keep coming back and this is my 21st year at MMS. )

• Speaking of support, I am in need of some Bounty Paper Towels and some Kleenex tissues for my classroom.

What we have done so far…

• Observe and Infer(Ms. Green eating the candle)• Problem Solving: Popsicle sticks, index card,brain

teasers… Not sure what these are? Please ask your 7th grader.

• Green’s Procedures/Rules/Routines • Current Event Directions, C.E. Sample, Due Dates

for the entire year. Students have these CE due dates and have been instructed to post them in their Agendas, also on my website; Science Connections

• Lab Safety Review• Lab Safety Agreements; Scientific Method steps;

Inquiry Lab, TEKS review

Science Textbooks

• Good news: NEW TEXTBOOKS! (Finally)• Bad news: Not yet enough books to issue to each student• No class set of books with this adoption.• Students have an option of taking their book back and forth from

school OR they may leave their book in the shelves at the lab tables. If they choose to leave their books at school, there is no way they can be monitored by me as far as who uses them.

• The new book is a soft cover and students may highlight, write in the book, and pages are provided for Cornell Notes as well.

• TUTORIALS: Usually Tues/Thur, 3:30 to 4. Students need to ask me ahead of time to be sure I don’t have an after school meeting if they plan to stay for tutorials.

Projects• Science Fair Projects are only required in

the Advanced Science classes. (If you are in 3rd or 5th period, this would be your student.) Will be assigned soon.

• Due date is December 8th.(A day) Work on this project will be primarily individualized, with very little class time spent on it. (google doc sent 9/6/14)

• All paperwork is online this year.• Google doc invitation sent to each student

on 9/6/14 for MMS SFP packet..

7th grade Science Curriculum, Grading Policy, Agenda & Website

• Curriculum is on the reverse side of the green handout you received tonight.

• We have new grade book software this year. Grades will be entered at least once a week and if your 7th grader turns in work past a due date, it may be several days or a week before I can get it entered in the online grade book.

• Grading Policy for 7th grade Science:15% homework, 85%daily/labs/projects/quiz/tests.

• Your 7th grader and the MMS Agenda are the main modes of communication between school and home.

• Online grade book can be checked by students.• Please let your 7th grader get their graded work back

before you ask them about the grade. Thanks.

Homework and Communication with me

• YES! There is homework almost every night. Your 7th grader may say “Nah, we don’t have any homework in Science.” In their brain, that means, “We don’t have any homework in Science due tomorrow.” There should be a homework folder or divider in students’ Binders. This one Binder is for ALL their classes this year.

• Reading & doing the Cornell Notes, studying for a test, working on a long-term/ongoing project, and Current Events all count as homework.(just a few examples)

• Email communication is best. I will make every effort to get an email or phone call returned to you within 24-48 hours of when you contact me.

• Traffic Light Tri-Folder Idea for work to be turned in. (Explained to students and is on my website.)

Students communicating with me

• I have already asked students to email me whenever possible, when they have concerns about their academics, so that they will get used to being their own best self-advocate! NOW is the time, not later.

• Examples: asking about a grade in online grade book, asking about an assignment posted on my website, clarification on an assignment when they were absent.

• Suggested Reading List for parents of teens is posted on my website. I highly suggest that you invest some time to read one of these or ANY book on adolescents.

• A piece published in Austin Family Magazine, How to Survive Middle School,by Melissa Cooper, one of our very own MMS Language Arts teachers, is posted on my website. GREAT READING!

• _How children succeed: Grit, Curiosity & the hidden power of Character_ by

Paul Tough(Great Book!)

Suggested Reading for Parents of Adolescents

Literacy across all subject areas

This is our second year to haveScience Connections in 7th grade,

which is an effort to connect books to Science and increase the number of

our readers on campus. (Your student has info on Science Connections in their binder and it is

on my website as well. )

Some things to remember as a parent of an adolescent…

• You’ll need a sense of humor and a coat of armor, most likely, in that order.

• Don’t take it personally. (whatever it is)• WE ARE THE ADULTS! (remember that)• The definition of an adolescent is someone who

cries like a baby if you don’t treat them like an adult.

• Reasoning with an adolescent is kind of like mud-wrestling with a pig….you both get dirty and the PIG LIKES IT!

Sent Home Already for parents to have for information purposes…

• Green sheet with my welcome note and website address went home on the first day of school. Please check my website regularly if at all possible. The science syllabus is there as well. Please read and email me that you’ve read it.

• Lab Safety Agreement(to be read, signed and returned) went home on 8/26, 8/27.

Do you know where your next class is?• Good Night and Thanks for coming! I look

forward to a great year with your 7th grader.

• Agendas on sale at lunchTomorrow, 9/10/14.

Message often received via email from the district:

• We are currently experiencing major issues with the AISD Cloud.

• We are working with the vendor to resolve those issues and will have the Cloud up as soon as possible.

ADVANCED SCIENCE CLASSES

• 3rd and 5th periods: ADVANCED Science class characteristics:

• Condensed curriculum for basic Science information• Outside reading required• Depth and complexity of topics• Rapid pace with notes and expectation of detailed notes• Self-starters and avid, above-level readers• Love to problem solve and discuss/debate current

Science topics• Always inquisitive and ready to learn science• Loves Science so much that they’d spend a summer in

Science camp, voluntarily

My mantra for 2014-15: Resilience and Perseverance

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough (which is an absolutely perfect name, considering the topic!) “outlines the qualities that researchers

suggest divide children who succeed from children who don’t: curiosity, zest, optimism, gratitude, social intelligence, self-control,

and grit, or a passionate desire to stick with a task until it is accomplished.”

http://siobhancurious.com/2012/09/03/whats-a-teacher-to-do-paul-toughs-how-children-succeed/http://siobhancurious.com/2011/09/26/fail-better/

Tough discovered that “a child, from [a stressful] environment, who is given the tools and confidence to face challenges may develop a stronger character than a child who faces little adversity. A child who grows up in poverty but has a nurturing, supportive parent – one who encourages the child to tackle difficulties, praises success, and promotes the learning potential inherent in failure – may have more character tools than a middle-class or wealthy child whose parents protect him or her from every bump in the road.”

http://siobhancurious.com/2012/09/03/whats-a-teacher-to-do-paul-toughs-how-children-succeed/http://siobhancurious.com/2011/09/26/fail-better/

In the Sept. 5, 2012 issue of Time, Paul Tough writes: “In the classroom and outside of it, American parents need to encourage children to take chances, to challenge themselves, to risk failure. Paradoxically enough, giving our kids room to fail may be one of the best ways we can help them succeed.”