Welcome Back to School! Mr. Waters Room 105

You are in 8th grade earth science If you’re supposed to be in Spanish…you are in the wrong class

Who is this Waters guy anyway? I’ve been teaching math and science for 9 years Before teaching, I was an Airborne Ranger, a commercial fisherman, and a student My family is the most important part of my life I love to backpack, flyfish, and write I think hockey is the greatest game ever invented My children are Cameron and Jakob and my wife Gail teaches math at the high school

Daily Things to Remember Greet the teacher. After the bell rings, line up to shake hands -- my hope is to build a community within the classroom by giving us all the opportunity to get to know one another better Come prepared to work -- that means having the following items with you: Pencil with eraser/student planner/composition book/completed work/warmups; these are things you will use every day! Poor behavior choices will result in you being removed from class -- your parents will be called if this happens Only positive attitudes and comments will be allowed -- no “put downs” will be tolerated

Other Daily Things The bathroom pass: If you need to go, you ask permission. Sign out and then go. The license plate is the pass. Abuse of the bathroom privilege will result in the pass being taken away. Go before you come to class, and don’t even try that whole “I don’t have enough time” thing with me…I can go between classes and get back in time…so can you. Sharpen your pencil before class begins or borrow a pencil until there is an appropriate time to re-sharpen your pencil. Don’t interrupt for these kinds of things when I’m trying to teach a class.

Turning in assignments All work gets turned in to the “inbox” at the front of the room. If you leave papers on the floor or on the desks, they will be placed in the recycling bin.

Save all old assignments You will have a folder to put your work in…sort of like a portfolio. If a piece of work is “missing” and you want credit for it, the burden of proof is on you.

In this class, we recycle our used papers and plastic bottles

What are warmups? Warmups are daily questions you will find on the whiteboard when you walk in. Some days they are puzzles, some days they are questions about something you have already learned, and some days they are questions that simply ask you to make a prediction about something. The idea behind the warmup is that you work on it while I take attendance. It gets your brain working and gives me a chance to do what I need to do. We will discuss the warmup before moving on to the lesson.

My Grading Scale A 100%-94% C 76.9%-74% A- 93.9%-90% C- 73.9%-70% B+ 89.9%-87% D+ 69.9%-67% B 86.9%-84% D 66.9%-60% B- 83.9%-80% F 59.9% and below C+ 79.9%-77% If you’re looking here, shame on you

What is my grade worth? Earth Science 40% Assessments/Projects 25% Labs 25% Home/Classwork 10% Participation

So wait! How do you calculate my grade? Divide the number of points in any category you earned by the total number of points available. Multiply that number by the percent that category represents. For example, if you got 18 out of 20 possible points on a test, you would divide 18 by 20 to get your percentage which is 90% or.90 Since tests are 40% of your grade, you would multiply.90 by 40 to get 36 Do the same thing with homework and participation grades as well as lab grades…or you can do what I do and let the computer figure it out! Either way, you’ll end up with the same grade.

How much homework are we talking about? Science homework will often mean reading and interpreting what you’ve read. Sometimes this will involve you providing an opinion or trying to explain the significance of what you read. Reading is one skill that none of us can afford to do without; your ability to read and pull information from text will be critical to your success this year.

What if I decide I don’t want to do my homework? Well, if you decide not to do homework, you will most likely fail those grading periods. That doesn’t mean you will fail if you miss one assignment, but in order to understand what we are doing, you’ll need to finish your work. This is true for all my classes. The amount of homework I am going to give you should be able to be completed in around 15 minutes. It will be worth it.

How about late work? How ‘bout No!

Well, then what about extra credit? Students who regularly do their work will not usually need to worry about extra credit. Extra credit may be offered from time to time, but unless you have all your other assignments done, you aren’t eligible for extra credit.

What if I’m absent? Great question. When you have an excused absence, you get one day for every day you are gone to make up the work you missed. That means you need to make sure you ask for the work you missed. With 150 students, I can’t be responsible for you…only you can.

What if I need help? My first response is “who doesn’t?”. Ask for help. Raise your hand. Have a question in mind. “I don’t get it” is not a question. My job is to help you…I don’t always know when you need help so you have to be your own best advocate. If you need or want to come after school, just tell me and I’ll make sure I’m here to help you.

Let’s Talk About Discipline If you behave in a manner that disrupts the class, you will be removed. That means you will be spending time in the hall. Guess what? You’re still going to be held responsible for everything that happens in the classroom and your parents will get a phone call.

Taking notes Taking notes is a skill that must be learned. I have some suggestions that I think will assist you in keeping your notes easy to find and easy to understand. Set up your first 10 pages like this. Date Activity Page# Date Activity Page #

Notes continued The example you see here is called Cornell notes. Notice how it is set up. It allows you to easily find your notes and study them too.

Still more about notes When you write your notes in your comp book in paragraph form, the important information takes longer to find! Use bullets, numbering, highlighting…as long as it works for you.