August 28, 2017
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Let me welcome you and your child to my Weiss High School Pre-AP biology class. My name is Alfred Kapa and I will be your child’s Pre-AP biology teacher this year. During the year, we will be covering a lot of information. This means your child will be exposed to many new concepts and vocabulary. Due to the new vocabulary and vast amount of information learned it is important for students to develop some learning strategies to help them retain all of this information. Some recommendations that I can make to help facilitate your child’s success are as follows:
- Maintaining class notebook and reviewing Alpha notes daily (5-10 minutes)
- Making flashcards or manipulativesof new vocabulary and concepts to study
- Completing all worksheets and homework on time to help review the material before tests
All Weiss science classes will be using concept bases grading for the tracking of mastery of science content. The Focus gradebook will track the learning objectives not individual assignments and assessments. Each assignment/assessment will consist of many objectives. Students will be allowed multiple opportunities to improve the mastery score for each objective in a nine week grading period. Every opportunity is a reassessment of the objectives which allows for potential grade improvement.
We follow a nine week grading period. After every 3 weeks of every nine week grading period, your student will receive a progress report over their grades. The studentwill be responsible for bringing this home to you. If you would like information on your child’s progress anytime during the year, you cancontact me via email at , call my voice mail at 594-1623and leave a message, or check your child’s grade online in the Focus grade book.
It is my belief that as a young adult your child should take on more of the responsibility of keeping up with their school work and start to become more academically independent. I expect your student to be self reliant in most academic aspects, but please feel free to contact me at any time and I will gladly update you on their progress.
I have a class web pagethat will help facilitate the learning process. It will include calendars of upcoming tests and projects, as well as class documents, and some form of the lesson content. You can access it at .
In college I was told that there is only one place that success comes before work, and that is in the dictionary. I know that together we can make this a successfulyear for your child.
Sincerely,
Alfred Kapa
Science Department Chair
Weiss High School
Pre-AP biology and AP biology teacher