Greetings Young Ladies of BLSYW, Guardians and Caregivers!
Greetings young ladies of BLSYW, Guardians and Caregivers!
My name is Awele Charlene Monu and I am very excited to be the Science teacher for every 8th grader this year. Science this year will be focused on Physical Science. Physical Science is a fundamental science that deals with concepts and theories. Each of these concepts and theories explain a particular or set of behaviors seen in nature. Students will cover a range of topics that begin with Force and Motion, Energy, Electricity and Magnetism, Thermodynamics, Wave interactions, and Heat. Next year we will transition to Chemistryand deal with Matter and the famous Periodic Table. Just think of Aristotle or even Einstein and know that you will be leaving the 8th grade knowing all the basics they knew to do all the great things they did!
In college, I majored in Biology at Morgan State University. Every year of my college experience, I had the opportunity of interning in fields as varied as the emergency room, marine biology, and several neuroscience labs at Johns Hopkins and Boston University. As you can hopefully tell, I truly love and respect the field of science. This year, I will be encouraging my girls to be researchers and curious inquirers of science. We will be doing a lot of WHAT, WHY, and HOW in 8th grade science in order to appreciate and apply what we learn in class to real world experiences. I will be pushing them to be critical thinkers and it is my fervent desire that the girls come out of this year with confidence as Great communicators of science.
As exciting as this year will be, it will also be rigorous. I have very high expectations for my 8th graders because I have heard nothing but amazing things from the administrators, other teachers and of course their excellent MSA results. As a result I know that I must set them up for SUCCESS for all that is ahead of them this year. This year therewill be science homework every night. Daily homework will be posted and can be downloaded off of my website: I encourage you to go on here and learn more about what it is we do in the classroom and more. Please save and bookmark this site on your home computer as it should be accessed every day. Students can also expect that weekly quizzes will be given every Wednesday and Friday. Therefore, at the very least, students should be studying science every Tuesday and Thursday night. There will also be monthly unit tests and projects. The projects will be discussed in class and you will be receiving more information about them as the year moves on. However, please know that I will always provide all the instructions, help, and time that are needed so that the projects are completed in a timely manner (Usually two weeks to a month before its due). It is for this reason that I will not be accepting late projects.
Also this year, the 8th graders can expect to have a separate day that will be devoted to working on labs and developing Science Fair projects. Labs will take place in class every Thursday and there will be lab reports and reflections due the next week on Tuesday. Every year, an in-house Science Fair takes place at BLSYW with the opportunity to move on to the state competition. This year the 8th graders are uniquely having their fair called the Science Expo. I am asking that the students not only design an experiment for the Science Expo, but write a paper and present it to their audience. We will also be dedicatedly preparing for the Science MSA which will take place in April of 2012. I know that this all seems like a LOT of work but here at BLSYW, I’ve come to really realize that it’s truly what’s on the inside that counts. I know what the girls are capable of, and I am more than willing to help push them to the next level of excellence. I want every student to come out of 8th grade with the pride and commitment to her future that is rightfully hers. I want her to enter high school knowing that she can do anything, college and beyond.
Again, I am so excited and I cannot wait to meet each and every one of your girls and the amazing people who support them every day. Cheers to an awesome year!
Ms. Awele Charlene Monu
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Scientific Scholar Caregiver Survey
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