Valley Oaks Charter High School

August 23, 2011

Dear Parents and Students:

Welcome to the new school year for 2011-2012 and welcome to Algebra 2. 

Algebra 2 is a college-prep course and, as such, may require more effort and practice than your student has faced before.  I want each student to understand that the workload is assigned to provide the necessary practice he/she needs to excel in this math class.  Since we meet with the students less often than a traditional school setting, the students need to take on the responsibility and keep current.
And complete the assigned work.

Students are required to bring their textbooks and supplies (pencils and graphing paper) every class period.  No sharing of books.  We will be working from the text most of the time.  Failure to bring the textbook will result in penalty points.  Students are expected to take notes during lecture time.  It is these notes along with the homework that will ensure the student succeeds in the class.

The students will be covering an average of 3 sections from the text each week.  Homework will be assigned each week and collected the following week.  These samples will be given to the student’s resource teacher to be kept as a portfolio of student work.

Since we are on the college prep track, I expect the students to be comfortable with fractions, decimals, percents, etc.  If a student is not capable of working with these concepts from the beginning, a meeting with the parents and student will be set up to develop a plan to ensure the student can succeed.

Each student’s homework is required to be corrected by the parents prior to being turned in.  It is vital for the parents to participate by grading the student’s homework.  This provides the immediate feedback the kids need to succeed.  Any assignment not graded will be penalized points.  In addition, late work will be penalized from 25% to 50% of the assignment value depending on how late it is.

Tutoring is available for all students.  Appointments are required. 

Parents are more than welcome to attend class at any time.  Please feel free to sit in and participate.

This brings me to the last issue.  It is my personal opinion that the reliance on calculators has done considerable damage to students’ ability to do math.  With this in mind, calculators will not be allowed in class until the second semester work.
 
Again, welcome to Algebra 2.  I look forward to a great year.