September 4, 2012

WELCOME BACK!!!


Today was the first day of classes for all students at OHS.  It is nice to see everyone and see how much they have grown over the summer months!  For those new to this blog, it is set up for students and parents to find out what went on during class time in each of the courses that I teach.  Hopefully it helps keep everyone up to date.

Period 1--Pre-AP 20
This period was used by the homerooms to have the kids get the forms they need, locker assignments, and general information and protocols of OHS.  As such, nothing was taught as the grade 11s were mixed up into their homerooms, not their first period classes.  However, I would like to remind the grade 11s to please finish reading To Kill A Mockingbird and post their opinion on mrstulpapblog.blogspot.ca as soon as possible.  Many have already done so, and the rest need to get moving on this.

Period 2--AP 30
I gave the students a brief run-down of the success OHS had last year with the AP College Board exam.  Our OHS students performed very well on the essay portions of the exam but need work on the multiple choice section, so we are going to widen our focus to include that a bit more.  After this, we went through the course outline for the year.  Fairly soon, the students should choose their novel that they'd like to annotate--hopefully this will be done by the end of the week.  Finally, to get the ball rolling on an more relaxed note for these grade 12s, they were given the "Blues News" assignment that requires each grade 12 to take a turn to write for our community newspaper about the happenings at OHS.  They will practice this by writing about their "Summer News."  A schedule was given for the kids to know when it's their turn!  They will plot this out tomorrow and then have computer time to work on it Thursday and Friday.

REMINDER to the grade 12s that they need to re-read their summer assignment sheet and offer up some kind of response. 

Period 3--Pre-AP 10
Since it is their first time in the AP world, we spent a lot of time going over the course outline and my classroom procedures.  We will continue with this tomorrow and it also gives the kids time to come up with any questions about the AP program they may have. 

Period 4--History 10
To start this class, we discussed what the kids know, or think they know, about various events in history including:  the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the English Civil War, The Glorious Revolution, The French Revolution, and the American Revolution.  All of these topics will be examined (and then some) in the History 10 course.  After they told me what they think they know, I gave them a brief look at what each of these topics are about.  After this, we looked at the course outline and discussed assessment.  One of the skills they need is to create a timeline, so they chose ten personal events from their lives and had to plot them out on a timeline.  During this time, we discovered that they seem to have forgotten how to add and subtract!  I was just about to hand out their Timeline assignment when the bell went.

I hope everyone had a great first day back at school and I look forward to an exciting new school year. 

REMINDER:  I need the current email addresses of the students' parents.  They should have a form about Parent Communication coming home today or tomorrow.