• I am very happy to welcome your child to Life Science for the 2019/20 school year. This will be my eighth year at Carnegie and seventeenth year teaching middle school science. Time flies when you’re having fun! I genuinely love teaching and am looking forward to an exciting and successful school year with your child.  In my free time, I enjoy hiking, traveling, learning, and exploring with my hubby and three boys (3, 6 & 8 years old). Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or feedback throughout the school year at amanda.higgins@sanjuan.edu.

     
    Amplify/Google Classroom                                                                       
    I will be using a combination of Amplify (our new online curriculum) and Google Classroom as tools to instruct, communicate, assess, and share documents, links, and videos with my students. If your child has access to the internet at home, we will put it to good use. For those who do not, we are lucky enough to have a class set of chromebooks for routine classroom use. Both Amplify and Google Classroom can be accessed through the student portal. Don’t worry, students do not need prior technological knowledge, we will all learn together!
     
    Always remember...

    Classwork and Homework

    All work must be completed and handed in on time to receive full credit.  Late work will be accepted until the end of each grading period and will receive a maximum of 75% credit.  Please get into the habit of turning work in on time. 

    Weekly Email Updates - Remind

    Please visit my website (at the top) to sign up for a text or email reminder every Monday regarding upcoming homework, projects, and tests for the week.  I promise it will only take about 2 minutes of your time and will keep you organized for the rest of the year in science. Parents AND students are strongly encouraged to sign up. This communication tool will help during absences and eliminate most questions about due dates in my class.  Be sure to sign up for the correct period. Detailed instructions are attached. 

     
    Grab your phone, click on your period below, and follow the simple instructions.
     
     
     
    Period 2 Remind Sign-up Instructions (My prep period - No students)
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Life Science Topics to Explore
    • Lab Safety/EquipmentScience Rocks
    • Cell Structure and Function
    • The Human Body
    • Reproduction of Organisms
    • Plant Structure and Growth
    • Genetics and Heredity
    • The Process of Evolution
    • Ecology
    • Hands-on Activities/Labs 

    Suggested Supplies

    The following is a list of items that should be brought to class 

    everyday.  If you are unable to obtain any of these items, please come talk to me. 

    • 2 college ruled composition notebooks dedicated to science
      • 100 or more pages each - we will be using one each semester
    • Pencils and/or pens 
    • A set of colored pencils or pens (6 color minimum)
    • Tape or glue stick to add worksheets and labs to your compbook
    • $15 lab donation (optional, but more $$ = more cool labs)
      • See attached handout for exciting details

    Wish List

    I am always in need of the following.  Feel free to donate at anytime throughout the year! 

    • New or Used Tennis Balls (to help silence the student chair feet)
    • Candy (individually wrapped & nut free - jolly ranchers, tub of licorice, chocolates, dum-dums…)
    • Kleenex
    • Disinfectant Wipes
    • Post-it Notes 
    • Colored Copy Paper
     
    GradebookAlways remember...
    Parents - Check your student's grades here! If you do not have the password, please visit or contact our front office 971-7853.
     
    Students - Check your grades here! We will routinely practice doing this during class. 
     

    Gradebook – Student/Parent Portal

    Grades will be determined using a simple point system.  All work is given a point value and your grade is based on the percentage of your total points earned.  The more points you get, the better your grade!


    Summative Assessments (Tests, Quizzes, Labs, Projects) = 70%

    Formative Assessments (Engineering, Debates, Research, Homework) = 30%


    A=100%-90%    B=89%-80% C=79%-70%    D=69%-60% F = 59%-0%

    Please visit & bookmark the parent portal (https://sis.sanjuan.edu/parentportal) to view live grades for all classes.  If you are unable to access this information, visit the Carnegie office for your username and password. 


    Helpful Hints From the District
    The Q Student Portal now asks students to login using the same network credentials they use to log in to Google Apps for Education, Schoology, their Network Account, and Naviance. This change decreases the need for students to have separate logins to access different District integrated web resources and will make it easier for instructional staff to assist students gaining access to these applications when they have forgotten or changed their system password (this change will also help improve security and unauthorized access to user accounts). *The old PIN and Password combination for Q Student Portal is no longer required and will no longer work.

    All students in San Juan have a personal network account created using a standard username convention based on student name and student ID as outlined below:

    Last name first name initial last four of student ID (there may be exceptions based on student's official registered information, e.g., nicknames, family names, length, etc.)

    The student username is the same as the first part of the student email address. The default password is their birthdate in MMDDYYYY format. Example: If a student's email is rouseyr0911@student.sanjuan.edu then the student's user name will be rouseyr0911. If their birthday is 01/01/1999 then their password will be 01011999 (students are strongly encouraged to change their passwords until mandatory password changes are implemented).

    Staff and students/parents may email the Technology Services SIS Help Desk for support at helpdesksis@sanjuan.edu. Technology Services staff will email the username and password to the student's parent's email address or to the student's own personal email address if it is on file in Q. 
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    We recognize that many families wish to provide supplies for their own student or donate materials for the entire school community and are welcome to do so at any time. The supplies listed are suggested materials and are not required of any student or family to fully participate in the school's academic program. All required materials and supplies will be provided by schools to students at no cost.

     

     

     

     
Last Modified on August 13, 2019