What We Will Be Learning

Welcome to middle school! There are many exciting things in store for you this year and many new things to learn. This class is designed to give you valuable skills for dealing with the new expectations and academic rigor of sixth grade. We will learn about organization, listening skills, reading skills, note taking, study tips, and test taking tips.

Throughout the class you will participate in both group and individual activities in class. You will be responsible for finishing any assignment that is not completed during class at home for homework.

Everyday we will begin class with a six minute DOL activity. You must keep this work in one place and turn it in every Friday.

Your grade in exploratory will be based on the following category weights:

DOL: 10 %

Classwork: 90%

Progress Reports

Every week you will be given a progress report. This report is to help you and your parents keep track of your academic progress and your classroom citizenship. If you do not have me for math you will need to pick up your progress report in class on Wednesdays, otherwise you will receive your report attached to your math progress report. Each report will show your current grades to date and your citizenship grade. It is very important that you and you parents review these reports every week. Progress reports may also be checked on the Internet through my website.

Absences and Late Work

If you are absent you will have a number of school days equal to your absence available to make up any work you may have missed. It is your responsibility to find out what you missed and to turn in your work to the appropriate place. The work we complete each day is posted on the calendar in the classroom. Work may also be found on the homework hotline and on my web page. You must label all absent work as absent on the top of the page and turn it in to the absent bin.

If you will be absent for three or more days, please call the office to make arrangements to have your work picked up.

If absent work has not been completed by the next progress report, the assignment will be displayed as ab and have a score of 0 points. If it is completed within the time allowed, the score will be replaced with the earned grade. If it is not completed, it will remain a zero.

All homework must be completed in pencil, have the correct heading, and be turned into the correct place in order to receive full credit.

Any assignment not completed in the correct format or turned into the correct place at the start of class on the day it is due is late. Late work will be accepted for 50% credit if it is turned in by the Monday following the first progress report the assignment appears on. It will be announced on progress reports which of the assignments may still be turned in late.

Most procedures and rules for this class are similar to those in math class. Please be sure to review the math expectations carefully as well.

In closing, welcome to exploratory. We are going to have a wonderful quarter.