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This year we will be studying a whole range of subjects. Here is an overview of what you can look forward to:
September: Minerals and Rocks
October: Historical Geology and Groundwater
November: Weathering & Erosion, Rivers, Glaciers, Wind & Waves
December: Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes
January: The Earth in Space (its position), Maps
February: Energy Resources, Ecology
March: Oceanography
April: The Atmosphere, Air Masses, Weather Maps & Forecasting
May & June: The Moon, the Solar System, and The Universe
I don't assign books to each student. The main reason is that I just don't use the books that often. This is good, because it allows for a lot of creativity. However, it can work against you because it really requires you to
BE IN CLASS.
I'll never forget the girl who complained, "Gosh, you've gotta, like, BE HERE to learn anything in your class!"
Ummm... yeah, that's how it works.
Anyway, I have a brand-new class set of textbooks that we'll be using this year. They are available for you to check out at any time during the year if you need a little extra boost in your studying.
Class Rules:
1. NO HEADPHONES WHEN YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING.
Hell hath no fury like me when I catch you listening to music while I'm teaching. Free time? Working on your own? Even during a quiz? No problem. But you break those suckers out during a lecture? Oh. The wrath.
2. Be neat when you eat.
Food is fine in my room; you will see me eating all day long. Just clean up after yourself. RECYCLE all paper.
Also, open-mouthed gum snapping is a personal annoyance of mine, so I may ask you to get rid of it.
3. No swearing.
If you wouldn't say it in front of your grandmother, don't say it in front of me.
4. You don't have to like each other, but you DO have to be polite.
I will not tolerate petty fighting, and under no circumstances will I tolerate BULLYING!
If there is a sub in class, you will follow the SUB'S RULES. Pleas of "she always lets us" will go ignored.
And finally, use common sense; if you think it's going to get you in trouble… don't do it!!!
I have to address my make-up work policy.
Make-up work is the absolute bane of my existence; it is the worst part of my job. I am fair about make-up work, but I will not do you any favors. This means I will not remind you to pick it up and I won't remind you to turn it in. Make-up work is like a second job for me, and I find it is much easier to put a zero in the gradebook than to dig out worksheets and keys that are weeks old.
If you miss a day, then the day you come back is like the day you missed. Therefore, if you are out on a Friday, you have missed a quiz. The very first day you come back is like the Friday you missed, so you take the quiz that day. For other assignments, you get as many days as you were out to make it up. That old policy of two days for every one day is outdated, and I don't use it.
If you miss a quiz and forget to make it up, it is a zero. I'm sorry. I just have far too many absences to deal with to be lenient about that. Maybe if so many people weren't out so much, there would be more wiggle room on that. As it stands, I have to be very firm in order to remain sane.
On the wall in the classroom there are ten folders labeled Monday-Friday that cover two weeks of school. Each folder contains the work we did on that day (except Fridays--I don't keep quizzes on display). When you miss a day, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to check the folders for the days you missed. If you miss large chunks of school, or my all-time favorite, every other day for a few weeks, I have a separate calendar system for make-up work that I designed to cover both of our behinds (see me for that one).
Obviously if you fall horribly ill, I am not such a grouch about make-up work.
But usually, it's just because the kid couldn't get his butt out of bed.
