Dear Student and Parent/Guardian,

Welcome to 8th grade math class! My name is Mrs. Harrington and I am excited and looking forward to meeting you! I anticipate having a very happy and productive school year. This will be my twelfth year teaching at Rye Junior High School! Prior to teaching at RJH, I taught 6th and 8th grade math as well as Algebra 1 at Rochester Middle School. I have a B.S. in Mathematics Education and a M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of New Hampshire. I am thrilled to be a member of the faculty here at Rye Junior High School

Curriculum areas we will focus on this year include the real number system, expressions and equations, functions, geometry, and statistics. These topics will be presented to you and we will apply them to real-life situations. This curriculum is aligned to the Mathematical Common Core State Standards. These standards are rigorous and will prepare you for college and careers. We are faced with problems every day and my challenge is to help you become a good problem solver. I hope to show you that math is everywhere in the world today and (whether we realize it or not) we use it all the time. It is my intention to use “hands on” activities so that you will understand why and how these concepts were developed. Together, we will create a fun, positive, interesting learning environment!

This year we are excited to be implementing the fourth year of enVision Mathematics 2021 Common Core in grades 5-8. This program is highly rated and exceeds our expectations! You will have a consumable workbook and an online student account. Be prepared to come to class with a charged chromebook, enVision math workbook, TI-30X IIS scientific calculator, and a pencil.

My grading policy contains the following three categories:

1) Habits of Work and Learning "HOWLS" - separate from academic grade

This portion of your report card will be based on respect, responsibility, and perseverance:

• Demonstrate what you know and what you are having trouble with and persevere through difficult problems

• Become involved in all classroom activities and complete each in class assignment at the appropriate level

• Seeks personal challenge (Challenge Problem of the Week, Aspire to Dos, Topic Projects, STEM projects)
• Complete every assignment on time and to the best of your ability
• Be a productive, responsible, and respectful group member

Note: You will be assessed regularly on your effort and conduct in math class. Please refer to the “HOWLS” rubric that defines the scoring guidelines that will be used for student self-assessment and teacher assessment.

2) Practice (All assignments will be posted on Google Classroom)

Your practice will be based on the following:

• Attendance (completed on time, making up assignments that you missed)
• Effort and Quality of assignments - Must Do, Should Do, Aspire to Do
• Practice will show up in PowerSchool as "incomplete" for Must Do, “turned in” for Should Do, or "turned in with comment saying ‘aspire’" for Aspire to Do
• Practice will not count toward your academic grade

Note: Practice will be an extension of the daily lesson or review and should take no longer than45 minutes per night. If, for some reason, you are not able to complete an assignment or it has taken you longer than 45 minutes of uninterrupted time, a note from a parent/guardian indicating the reason why will be accepted with no late penalty.

3) Summative Assessments

• There will be mastery checks, a mid-topic quiz, and a pick a project during each topic
• There will be a summative assessment at the end of each topic
• This is the only category to count toward your academic grad

Note: If a student earns a score that does not meet his/her expectation on a summative assessment and would like to improve his/her grade, the student may see me to create a relearning plan. The student has one week to complete the relearning plan and test corrections. If the student successfully completes the test corrections, then he/she is ready to reassess. If the student's relearning plan and test corrections are incomplete or inaccurate, the original score will stand. For each incorrect problem, the student will need to write one sentence explaining what he/she did wrong, another sentence explaining what he/she needs to do to fix the mistake, and then show the correct math work for that problem. The reassessment replaces the original grade.

Grades will be posted as quickly as possible and I encourage you to check Powerschool weekly.

If, at any time, you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at sharrington@sau50.org. For more information and resources please visit my 8th grade math website at https://sites.google.com/sau50.org/rjh8/math. I am available after school on Tuesdays to help with homework, studying, organization, challenges, or make-up work. I am also the MathCounts Coach for RJH; we will meet after school on Mondays, all are welcome!

Once again, welcome to 8th grade math class! Let’s work together to make this a great year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Sarah Harrington