Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Reading Assignment Chapter 1, Lessons 3 and 4

DUE 9/30/09 (a-day) and 10/01/09 (b-day)
(4th period students had time in class to do this when the sub was here on Monday 9/28, but it must be turned in on 9/30)

Reading assignment in Biology is from our AGS "Biology: Cycles of Life" book.

Read Chapter 1, Lesson 3 on pp. 10-13
Answer questions 1-7 and question 9 and 10 on p. 14.

Read Chapter 1, Lesson 4 on pp. 17-21
Answer questions 1-10 p. 22.

Write out the questions and fill in the complete answer for the fill-in-the-blanks and multiple choice questions, and write the question and answer in complete sentences for the critical thinking questions.

You can click on the link to the audio version to this textbook on the upper right corner of this page. You will be able to listen to the book as you read along.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Reading Assignment Chapter 1, Lessons 1 and 2


DUE 9/28/09 (a-day) and 9/29/09 (b-day)

Your first reading assignment in Biology is from our AGS "Biology: Cycles of Life" book.

Read Chapter 1, Lesson 1 on pp. 1-3
Answer questions 1-7 and question 9 on p. 4.

Read Chapter 1, Lesson 2 on pp. 4-8
Answer questions 1-7 and question 10 on p. 9.

Write out the questions and fill in the complete answer for the fill-in-the-blanks and multiple choice questions, and write the question and answer in complete sentences for the critical thinking questions.

You can click on the link to the audio version to this textbook on the upper right corner of this page. You will be able to listen to the book as you read along.

Monday, September 21, 2009

How to send an e-mail to a teacher - REALLY!

In your high school career you are beginning to communicate via the internet with your teachers. It is crucial to follow some basic guidelines when you do this for a couple of reasons.

First, your teachers are busy people (as are most students) and e-mail should be a tool which makes everyone's lives easier rather than more difficult.

Second, and more important, your e-mails are a projection of your professionalism. Get used to writing professional e-mails so you are taken seriously by teachers, college professors, peers, employers, and others you think should take you seriously.

1. Write a subject line that tells the reader what the e-mail is about. For email about classes, include the class name and period in your subject line.

Don’t: SUBJECT: (don't leave it blank or put something like "hi")

Do: SUBJECT: Question about observation assignment Hon. Bio. Per. 5

2. Sign the e-mail with your full name and your class and period number. Many students have e-mail addresses which don’t include their name, and remember that teachers have about 150 students so be sure they know who you are!

Don’t: seeya J ;-)

Do: Sincerely, Juan Gonzalez, Hon. Bio. Per. 5

3. Write in a professional manner. Use standard academic capitalization and punctuation. Use your computer’s spell checker and proof-read your email before you send it. Remember, using ALL CAPITALS is like YELLING in an email.

Don’t: yo mr c wazup wat u giv 4 homwurk 2day

Do: Hi Mr. Cantor. I am absent today because I’m pretty sick. Can you please e-mail me any notes from class and our assignment? I’ll be sure to bring a note from my grandma so my absence is excused.

4. Only send appropriate emails. Please don’t forward chain letters or other Spam. Please don’t send joke or “inspirational” e-mails unless they relate to our class. Many chain letters are urban myths. Before you feel the need to forward the message about a new computer virus or free laptop giveaway, check http://snopes.com/ to see if it is true or not. Also, I don’t “friend” current students on Facebook, so please don’t send a friend request until you graduate from NGHS.

i.e. I’d love to see a clean and school appropriate joke or cartoon about evolution that involves Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud bungee jumping, but I don’t want to see any joke that might be mean, racist, sexist, obscene, rude, offensive, or otherwise irrelevant to our class.

5. If you send a paper or other assignment to a teacher learn how to send it as an Attachment. Name your file something that makes sense and is unique to your paper.

Don’t: biologypaper.doc (every student might name it this)

Do: JuanGonzalezWhatIsSciEssayPer05.doc

If you can’t attach your file as a .doc or .docx, you can copy and paste your document into the body of your e-mail, assuming it isn’t too long and full of graphs etc.

6. If you don’t have internet access at home there are other options:
- Use the library at school during lunch or after school.
- Use the Chicago Public Library – There are several branches near school.
- Use a computer at a friend or relative’s house.
- Arrange to stay after school in my room, or another teacher's room to use the computer.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Observation Homework - Due first class after assigned

On notebook paper to turn in
Title centered at top of paper: Observations
Full heading in upper right corner
Full name
Biology class period
Date


Make and record 25 observations outside or at home.
5 with each sense
At least 10 must be quantitative – please label all the quantitative observations.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Welcome to Biology: bio = life, ology = the study of

Our first class of the year is a time to get to know each other and to learn what to expect during our year together. Students will fill out a "Biography Sheet" and hear a little about their teachers. Students will get a "Student Contract" which their parent or guardian will need to sign to show that they know what is expected in our class. We will also go over our syllabus and get started learning about life on earth. Our first science skill will be forming and testing hypotheses.