NEW START for 2010!

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a relaxing break and is refreshed and ready to learn for 2010! I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all of my students of several things:

1. Everyone is starting semester 2 with an A! Isn't that great? You can keep it or you can lose it - that part is entirely up to you!

2. Late work - Ms. Weisz was fairly nice about late work last semester, but ultimately it was pushed too far. Too many students waited too long to turn in assignments. This semester I'm sticking with my original policy so here it is; Assignments are due at the beginning of class. If your assignment is turned in later than that - be it one minute or one week - I will deduct 20% off your grade. Assignments may be turned in up to 7 days past the original due date for 20% off. I will NOT NOT NOT accept any assignments that are later than 7 days past the due date. Period. End of Story.

3. Incomplete work - Do not turn in assignments that have questions unanswered, and do not write "I don't know" or "IDK" as a response to questions. I will not score these assignments. I will hand them back to you and ask you to complete them, and then you will receive a late grade when it is turned in again. I usually give A LOT of time in class for you to complete assignments and get help from me if you need it. If you do take an assignment home and happen to be struggling with a particular question, you can email me, call me, contact me on Google chat, or come see me FIRST THING in the morning so that I can help you or at least know that you were having some trouble and I won't dock you on late points.

4. I am more than confident that each and every one of my students knows how to get through our class sites to find assignments, the calendar, their email, PowerSchool, and anything else they may need to take responsibility for their learning at school. I expect you all to make good use of these great tools you have to do exactly that.

Here's to a great new year and a great second semester!

Junior High 1st Quarter Party

Junior high school students with no F's, decent attendance, and no disciplinary actions for 1st quarter were treated to a sledding party on Friday afternoon, November 6th. There was enough snow to make sleds slide, nice weather, and a warm fire. Everyone had a good time sledding, roasting marshmallows, drinking hot chocolate, and cozying up to the campfire!

Tok Junior High Student Council

On Wednesday, October 28, all of the junior high students of Tok School gathered in the library during assembly period to discuss some ideas for a junior high student council. Up until now, junior high classes have elected class representatives to sit on the student council, but were not allowed to run for offices as those were reserved for high school students. Junior high students have felt that they have not had much of a voice in the affairs of student council.

So after some good class discussions and discussions with the whole group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, it was decided that each class would nominate some of their existing officers to serve on a new Tok Junior High Student Council.

The new members gathered together and agreed to elect their own officers for our start up "board". The new officers are as follows:
President - Molly Bears, 7th grade
Vice President - Chloe Helmer, 7th grade
Secretary - Noelle Helmer, 8th grade
Treasurer - Cole Johnson, 8th grade
Representative to high school student council - Thomas Ervin, 8th grade
Board of Directors (voting members of the council):
Taylor Harbison, 7th grade
Rachel McQuillin, 7th grade
David Simmons, 6th grade
Collin Carlson, 6th grade

The junior high student council will have monthly meetings, and will discuss new ideas for junior high students like activity nights, formal dances, and other fun things.

These students are actually learning about the geography of Canada!

It may be a little noisy, but these 8th graders are playing Jeopardy while they are learning about the geography of Canada.

Interesting Stuff on Student Blogs

In case you have not checked out the blogs of the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders on the right of this page, as well as the blogs of the French students - you should! There are continually new and updated projects like slideshows, movies, Vokis, maps and all kinds of interesting stuff on there!

The 8th graders are finishing up some pretty interesting projects in World Geography about regions of the United States. They have interactive maps, Vokis, movies, and narrated slideshows. The 8th graders are in the process of putting them on their blogs, so be sure to look them over. Leave comments or questions!

Busy Students!

The junior high students at Tok School are using their 1:1 laptops in all kinds of ways every single day!  Students have been busy doing assignments online and creating all kinds of new things.  Some of the activities the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have been working on are:

1. Online assignments.
2. Looking at interactive sites and watching videos online to gather new information.
3. Making maps to show and interpret data.
4. Making maps for study guides.
5. Creating podcasts and online slideshows.
6. Publishing their work to their own student blogs.
7. Writing and sharing documents on GoogleDocs.

This has made class periods very busy times for the students and they are accomplishing a lot already!  Be sure to check out student blogs from time to time to see what the students are up to.  Sometimes the content on their blogs will be similar, but much of the time it will be very different and unique.

Student Blogs

7th grade, 8th grade and French students are beginning their student blogs - you can see the links to their blogs on the right hand side of this page. These blogs are very versatile and students will be able to post projects, papers, and many other things onto their blogs.

Soon the 6th grade will have blogs too!

Parents and students are encouraged to look through these often as time goes by to see what our students are up to!