Cox Mill High School
Honors Pre-Calculus
Ms. Marrara
Fall 2015
Dear Students Parents, and Guardians,
Welcome to Honors Pre-Calculus! I hope this will be a successful semester. I
would like you and your student to read the following information. This will outline
some of the rules and expectations for the semester.
Classroom Expectations:
1. Obey all school policies and procedures.
2. Be prepared. (Be in seat with homework out, bring pencil, paper and graph paper)
3. Teacher dismisses class, not the bell.
4. Be polite, respectful, and honest.
Discipline:
1. Verbal warning
2. Detention
3. Control room
Quarter Grade:
Tests
Quizzes
Homework
Aleks
50%
30% (Announced and Unannounced)
10%
10%
Mandatory Materials:
3- Ring binder
Pencils
Recommended Materials
TI-84 graphing calculator
Appreciated contributions:
Tissues
Hand sanitizer
Notebook paper
Graph paper
colored pencils/highlighters
AAA batteries
Homework
Homework will be posted on my website under files or included in that day’s notes.
Most worksheets will be posted online and printed at home or problems copied to paper.
Homework will not be taken for daily, individual assignment grades. Homework will be
gone over at the beginning of class if students have questions. Otherwise, we will move
on to the lesson. Each week there will be a short quiz using problems from that week’s
homework assignments. These will usually be on Fridays unless there is a conflict with a
test or a day off. These quizzes are to ensure students still do their homework and make
sure they understand the problems they are assigned. The quizzes will be the homework
grades for the semester
ALEKS
ALEKS is an online program where students get individualized problems and lessons
based on how well they do on the ALEKS pre assessment. ALEKS will be 15% of the
student’s overall grade in the class. . This is a great tool for students to use as ways to
remediate skills that were not understood in class or to advance further than the class has
gotten to if they are understanding everything
Aleks will be graded based on progress throughout the semester. The students will be
expected to reach a certain number of topics and hours by the end of the semester. There
will be 2 grades in the gradebook for Aleks that will be updated every 1-3 weeks. This
grade will start off low and as they make it through the quarter it will increase. The
number will be discussed in class that they are required to reach.
Powerschool
The program that is used to import grades is called PowerSchool. Parents/guardians and
students have their own login information for this site. It is very important for me to
know students are able to see their grades at any given time, as well as their
parents/guardians. For those that were here last year, you both should have received your
login information. For those that were not, you should be receiving one if you have not
already. If you have not received any information on this, the staff members in the
Student Support Services office will be able to give that to you. My expectation is that
parents/guardians and students are actively looking at this site, as I do not have time to
tell each student their grades once per week during class. Also, parents/guardians this is a
great tool for you to check on how your child is doing so that we can both take an active
role in monitoring their progress in the class.
Decoding My PowerSchool Grades
An assignment with a score of “1” is an assignment that the student is still able to make
up grade. If there is a grade of zero, then the student cannot make that assignment up. A
red dot means the assignment is late and will be taken up for a maximum grade of a 50. A
yellow dot means the student was absent that day and the assignment can be made up for
full credit up to 5 days upon their return to class.
TEAL Time
TEAL Time is an extended lunch offering students many benefits. This is the time where
students can come to tutoring or make up missed quizzes or tests or simply work on
ALEKS. Please see the power point on my website for more info regarding TEAL Time.
Email:
allison.marrara@cabarrus.k12.nc.us
Email will be checked daily.I will do my best to respond within 24 hours. I can also be
reached by calling 704-788-6700 x 2111. My planning period is from 10:12-11:32.
Please leave a message if I am not available.
Website
http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/Domain/2759
The website will contain the class calendar, homework assignments, test dates and any
notes or online assignments.
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. When a student is absent, it is their responsibility to get the
notes, in class assignment and homework. Tardiness is not allowed. Students should be
in their seat when the bell rings. Every 4 tardies count as 1 absence.
Policies:
Students may turn in missing assignments for a maximum grade of a 50. It is the
students’ responsibility to turn work in on time. If a student is absent, homework and
daily work must be made up within five days before it is considered late. Tests and
quizzes need to be scheduled to be made up within 5 days of the absence.
I am looking forward to a great semester and want to thank you for your help. Please feel
free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
As a way to receive email and contact information, I am asking that parents/guardians
participate in the following. I would like for your student and yourself to take a “selfie”
holding the syllabus and send me that photo from the parents’/guardians’ email address
(this should be the parent that is easiest to reach) . I would love for the students to also
email me if needed, but I need this first email to be sent from your email address to have
an easy way to contact you. I would like to send email updates to the parents/guardians as
a whole and cannot do it without you sending these over!
Email should follow the following format
Subject line: class subject/ period/ syllabus
Content: your name
Your student’s name
Sincerely,
Allison Marrara