Eighth grade Mathematics is designed to prepare students for Algebra I in high school and in real life applications. Our curriculum is designed to integrate Algebra skills with real world situations to make it easier to understand and more interesting to learn. Our curriculum is from the Holt publishing company. Our books are Middle School Mathematics Course 3 along with Math In Context (the application and problem solving book). To see the online versions you can log on to www.go.hrw.com .

Our goals are now called Grade Level Expectations and can be found online at : GLE's. Copies are available upon request.

There are two categories in my gradebook that are based entirely on student effort. One category is called Practice Work and the other is called Book Work. Practice work is practice work that does not come from the textbook. Practice work and Book Work become homework if they are not completed during class. Two other categories appear in my grade book and they are based on student achievement. They are Tests and Portfolio. Tests are required to be worked on until the student has mastered all the goals on the test. Portfolios are a new way for students to prove what they learned. More about portfolios nearer to mid-quarter.

It is well within all student�s ability to comply with the following:

To maintain a �C� or better.
Turn in Quality work (neat and well thought out).
To participate and pay attention to instruction.
To be organized and well supplied.

Assignments will be made daily, but will be started during class. Therefore it is possible for a student to finish all work during class and have no homework. Homework will be graded based on completeness with students correcting their own work. Homework passes will be available for high achievement.

I am looking forward to working with your student this year. If you have any questions please feel free to call or email me anytime.