Hello, Teachers, Parents, and especially, students of 6B:

Well, one nine weeks down and three to go. I first want to congratulate everyone for your hard work. It was a breeze for some, a challenge, for others, and just right for a lot of you. As we embark on our journey into the 2nd Nine Weeks, it's safe to say you have officially been ushered in as 6th graders! Congratulations on the successful completion of your first quarter as Julia Landon College Preparatory Leadership Development School students. With that accomplishment under your belts comes responsibility. You have been acclimated to middle school and it is time to take off the training wheels. At Julia Landon we are all leaders and leaders must be held accountable. I hope you all will take the new quarter as an opportunity to become a leader.Now that we've had a chance to become acquainted and you know what to expect, I'm sure you are ready to really dig in.

I'd now like to take the time to announce some changes and augmentations that I''ll/we'll be making in our
classes.
First, homework/turn-in policy:

The expectation from Team B for classwork/homework is on the fourth late assignment you will be issued NO credit. Excused absences are the exception. For projects (research papers, science fair, presentations, etc.) , there will be a letter grade penalty per day the project is late. It is important to come to class prepared each and everyday. This means coming to class with assignments completed and ready to be turned in. Remember we will accept three late assignments with penalty; however, on the fourth late assignment you will NOT be given ANY credit.

Homework will still retain the Monday-Wednesday schedule. However, the collection will be different. Instead of turning it into the cage as soon as you walk in, you will go straight to your desk and copy down any new information AND place your homework out onto your desk. During Bell-Ringer Session, I will call you by groups to go up to the cage and turn in your homework. You are only to go to the cage if you have HW to turn into it. I will be taking note of who goes up and writing down what was turned in by whom. If you go up to the cage pretending to turn in something and I find nothing from you (I'll be checking this before the HW even leaves the cage) you (and possibly your parents) will be hearing from me. I do this to cut down on the probability of HW being misplaced. It is your responsibility to get this in and place it into the correct bin. If you do not get up when your group is called, then you miss your chance to turn in the HW for full credit.

Change #2--Bell-Ringers and Notebook Checks
- Bell Ringers are now being graded by me. For every ten Bell-Ringers in a row, you will receive ten points. If you skip one BR, then it is nine points out of ten, skip three and its 7/10 and so on. Once we reach ten in a row, I start it over for the next set of ten and so forth until then nine weeks ends.

- I will also be conducting notebook checks for a class work grade. I will be looking to see if you have all of your tabs/sections in the correct order, if you have been taking good notes (more on this in a minute), if you have been keeping all of your homework/returned work (except those I place into your portfolio) and if your bellringers and glossary are up to date. Even if you miss a bell ringer for whatever reason, it is still your responsibility to get that into your notebook. A rubric on this will be circulated/posted on Engrade later this week.

Change #3

Expect to have more hands-on activities and labs as well as other activities that I would like to collaborate with you on. I don't want to spoil anything but I will be letting you know what we'll be doing ahead of time so you can be able read/research ahead and be ready to give full participation. I'll be placing the week's plans onto my board agenda as before, but there will be a new catch to that....

Change #4- Extra opportunities
I will be providing extra opportunities for you to receive bonus points tacked onto your scores. There will be a variety of ways to get bonuses and each way will have a different point value. There will be a maximum amount of points/bonus assignments you can attempt to receive/complete. Here's a starting line-up:

5 pts (choose any 1-4)
- Donate pink Yoplait Yogurt foil covers. I'm saving these to send in out of cancer awareness. The number of covers dose NOT increase the number of points. The numberof times you donate does NOT increase the number of points. But it does make you feel good to know you're standing up for a positive cause and that counts towards leadership.

- Donate any middle school level and up books for my library.

- Bring in any article related to what we are currently discussing in class.


10 pts (Choose any 1-2)
- Donate a Choose-Your-Own Adventure or similar (Which Way, Find Your Fate, etc). book to my library.

- Bring in any article related to what we are discussing in class and write a one page summary about it explaining why this information is important.

- View a documentary on something that we are covering in class and type a one page summary about it explaining how the information you viewed could be used to help others, either in the class or in the real world.

- Bring in any materials related to what we are discussing in class (like models, dioramas, etc.) These must reflect effort and a rubric will be created for this option, should oyu choose to accept it.

20 pts (the maximum amount for any opportunity so you may only choose one)
Note: All assignments in this category will be rubric based to a maximum of twenty points. the number of points you receive will reflect the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into this task should you accept it.
- Perform a demonstration of something we are discussing this nine weeks. Try to keep it current. A redoing of any demo or lab already performed in class will not be accepted. you must think outside the box for this one. (Rubric based)

- You may take a previous demonstration or lab from this or last nine weeks and modify or change it in some noticeable way. (Rubric based)

- Focus on a topic covered in class and write an in depth report on it. (Rubric based)
The maximum number of points I will allow is 20. You may use any combination you wish but you wil not be allowed more than 20 points of EC.
There's the starting line up for extra ops. More will come available as the nine weeks moves on so continue to chekc back with me.

Well how's that for a kick-start to the nine weeks? Keep checking back on the blog for more hot tips and info. Out.





Thank you for an amazing first nine weeks, let's roll up our sleeves as we enter the second quarter.