Ms. Kowalisyn
2008-2009 Course Information
American History
Important Info…
* School Address: Windy Ridge School
3900 Beech Tree Drive
Orlando, FL 32835
Phone: 407-296-5100 Fax: 407-296-5107
*Ms. Kowalisyn: Room 555
Phone: 407-296-5100, Ex. ___
Email: kowaliv@ocps.net
Website:
Welcome to your class! You are about to start an exciting year filled with plenty of learning adventures! I have oodles of activities, investigations, brain stretchers, and projects just waiting for you to get started on! We will be studying American History this year. Here are the units (in depth descriptions and correlating units on ):
Unit 1: Florida
Unit 2: Ancient World -1625
Unit 3: Colonial Settlements
Unit 4: Creating a Nation
Unit 5: New Republic
Unit 6: Jacksonian Democracy
Unit 7: Civil War and Reconstruction
Unit 8: Reform, Expansion, and War, 1865-1920
Unit 9: Turbulent Decades, 1919-1945
Unit 10 : Turning Points
Classroom rules
I have only a few rules for you as a member of my classroom:
1. Be aware of and monitor your own thinking.
2. Follow directions and stay on task.
3. Contribute your ideas and reasons.
4. Respect your team, your peers, your teacher, and their ideas.
5. Follow basic student responsibilities.
Basic Student Responsibilities are:
1. Keep Organized.
2. Come to class prepared and on time.
3. Follow Directions.
4. Clean up after yourself!
Supplies
I will be collecting the items for Homeroom during the first week of school from my homeroom students.
Homework
Expect homework to be assigned! Homework is a great way to reinforce activities and reading assignments, so the more effort you put into your homework the easier the tests will be! All homework will be given a firm due date. The middle school staff has come together to establish a consistent homework policy in order to instill discipline and ensure success for the students at Windy Ridge. Please remember to review that policy with your parents! It was sent home in the Windy Ridge folder and requires your signature.
Absences/Make-up Work
The middle school policy for make-up work will follow the district’s policy (as stated below).
It is a student’s responsibility to retrieve any work missed during an absence, excused or not, from school.
**Orange County Policy for Make-Up Work:
For every day that the student is absent from school, with an excused absence, she/he has two days to make up any missed work.
This policy was also sent home in the Windy Ridge folder, but I want to make sure I reinforce it in my course outline. You are responsible for all missed work due to tardiness or absence. This is for all excused absences, unexcused absences, and tardies. You have 2 days from the day you were absent to make up the work. For instance, if you are gone on Monday, you need to pick up the work on Tuesday (even if you don’t have American History on Tuesday). Then, you have Tuesday night and Wednesday night to make up the work. It is due on Thursday. Work brought in after two days will be treated as missing homework—which as you know from the homework policy is a ZERO! If homework is due on that Monday that you miss school, if it is not brought to me on Tuesday (even though you usually don’t see me), it is also a ZERO!
There is a bin in the back of the room for make up work. Make up work is written on a “Blue Sheet”(explained later). You may pick up your make up work at any time during the school day from the bin. It will be labeled with your name and will contain the assignment and any notes taken that day. Please read through the information before you leave so that if you have questions you can ask me. Once you do your make up work, place the assignment with the appropriate sheets attached into your period’s turn in bin. DO NOT HAND IT TO ME!
Daily American History Skill Builder
Everyday there will be a short skill builder on the overhead projector. These daily activities will be used as a review tool, extension activity, or as a pop quiz! As soon as you enter the room, you will get your notebook and work on this independently. It will be written in the composition notebook (supply list), so please have one of these as close to the first day of school as possible. The notebook will stay in my classroom, but will be taken home to study for tests and quizzes.
Reading in the Content Area
The 8th grade team is working very hard to prepare you for the FCAT. All content teachers are working on helping you build upon Reading concepts and strategies that you learn in Language Arts. Through History Lessons, we will be using those strategies and concepts as often as possible. I will also be differentiating my instruction to help you learn. What this means is that lessons will be geared to both interests and abilities. This has been going on for a while in your classes and mine, so you might not notice much of a difference! In my opinion, this is what makes History learning FUN!
Teams
There are 6 teams in each class. You will be a part of one of these teams! In those teams you are expected to work together, cooperate, and respect each other and myself. The teams are all named after Famous Historical Events or People (Thomas Jefferson, Dorothea Dix, Reconstructionists). At your team stations, you will find all the supplies and resources you will need! Please take care of it all!
My room is your room too!
Please feel free to use any of the resources in the room whenever you need to. Also, I am here to answer questions, talk, or listen! Please come and visit anytime, just make sure that I am in the room or you will need to come back when I am there! …However, My office is not your office; my desk is not your desk! You have a student area that contains 2 staplers, a tape dispenser, a 3-hole punch, a pencil sharpener, paper clips, hole punch repairs, and a cup with pens and pencils. This is all you should ever need and more, so the only person to touch ANYTHING in my office or on my desk is me. I wouldn’t go through your backpack and take things!
Your Grade
Classwork / Notebook = 25%
Homework = 10%
Test / Projects = 45%
Quizzes =20%
Total= 100%
90%-100%=A
80% - 89%=B
70% - 79%=C
60% - 69%=D
Below 59%=F
Descriptions of the above:
History Journal
Your journal is the single most important object in History as far as your grade goes. This section in your notebook will contain all assignments, quizzes and tests, bel lwork, and accomplishments. This is your study guide for tests! Making sure that this journal is up to date and organized will ensure that you will stay on track in class. I will post a master table of contents to be sure that you have everything you need in your journal. There will be journal quizzes periodically to ensure that you are keeping your journal up to date. I will not always give you notice before a journal quiz! If you are ever missing pages from your journal, you can always download them.
Classwork/Homework/Teamwork/Participation
We will be doing plenty of hands-on activities throughout the year. You are responsible for handing in these activities on time and then once they are returned, add them to your journal. All work should be done in PENCIL and in FINAL FORMAT. That means that they are neat and thorough. One word scribble answers don’t cut it! Sometimes these will be collected as homework and graded for accuracy, sometimes as classwork for completion. All group activities will include a group evaluation and a self evaluation for your Teamwork/Participation grade.
Tests and Quizzes
Tests and quizzes will be given! Each test is obviously worth more than a quiz, and watch out I might not always give you notice for quizzes! Add these to your journal after they are handed back. I will warn you. The first quiz is quite a shocker! True understanding is what I am aiming for, not memorization. If you don’t understand, then you will not pass my quizzes and tests. You cannot memorize your way to an A!
Projects
To be announced…
Syllabus
