WELCOME!

1. WELCOME! • Welcome to Back to School Night • September 10, 2013 • 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!

2. Cell Phones Silenced Please • PLEASE SILENCE CELL PHONES, or any other electronic devices. Kindly step out into the hallway if you have to take a call. • Thanks.

3. Mantra for the year: “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” Gretchen Rubin, _The Happiness Project_

4. All About Me • This is my 26th year to teach. You can 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 20th year at MMS. ) • Speaking of support, I am in need of some Bounty Paper Towels and some Kleenex tissues for my classroom.

5. 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 Game • 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 • Lab Safety Review • Lab Safety Agreements; Scientific Method steps; Inquiry Lab, TEKS review

6. Science Textbooks • Students will need to bring their Science textbook to school when instructed by the teacher. • We no longer have a class set of Science books. • Since this book is out of adoption, the online textbook is no longer available. • Several topics we are required to cover for 7th grade science are not in the 7th grade science book. So, we use supplemental materials from approved AISD StemScopes and other resources.

7. Projects • Science Fair Projects are only required in the Advanced Science classes. (If you are in 2nd or 8th period, this would be your student.) Will be assigned soon. • Due date is December 9th (same due date for all 7th grade Science teachers) • Work on this project will be primarily individualized, with very little class time spent on it. • All paperwork is online this year. .

8. 7th grade Science Curriculum, Grading Policy, Agenda & Website • Curriculum is on the reverse side of the green handout you received tonight. • 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 Gradespeed. • 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. • Parent Connection checked by students. • WEBSITE! WEBSITE! WEBSITE!

9. 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 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) • Info on Science Connections coming soon. • 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.)

10. 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 on gradespeed, asking about an assignment posted on my website, clarification on an assignment when they were absent.

11. Suggested Reading for Parents of Adolescents • 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!)

12. 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!

13. 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 8/29, 8/30.

14. 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.

15. ADVANCED SCIENCE CLASSES • 2nd & 8th 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

16. My mantra for 2013-2014: 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/

17. 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/

18. 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.”