Course Syllabus

Welcome

Welcomes to Pre-Algebra!  My name is Lisa Borger and I will be your instructor.  Pre-Algebra is a very important year in your math education.  In this course you will learn the foundation you will need to be successful in all the rest of your math courses.  It is very important that you try your best to understand the material in this course so you can be successful in high school.  If you have any questions you can contact me at anytime.  borger.lisa@penargylsd.org

Course Outline

The course will have 12 modules, as follows:

• Module P:  Introduction and Syllabus
• Module 1: Expressions and Variables
• Module 2: Solving Equations
• Module 3: Rational and Irrational Numbers
• Module 4: Exponents
• Module 5: Scientific Notation
• Module 6: Functions
• Module 7: Linear Equations and Slope
• Module 8: Proportional Relationships and Unit Rate
• Module 9: Systems of Linear Equations
• Module 10: Scatter Plot and Line of Best Fit
• Module 11: Translations

Accommodations

Any student who requires special accommodations should contact the teacher immediately upon beginning the course.  If there is an accommodation which you feel would make you more successful in this online course please let me know immediately and we will see what we can do.

Course Policies

 1.  Students must complete each lesson, assignment and quiz in order as they appear in the module.  If you skip anything you will not understand how to do the assignments.

 2.  Calculators are not allowed, unless I specifically state you may use them on a particular assignment.

 3.  In order to receive credit for assignments and assessments all work must be shown.  If you only write an answer and do not show the steps and math you will not receive credit, even if the answer is correct.

 4.  Students may work at their own pace but they must log on and complete work at least once a week.  If there is a special circumstance which will not allow you to complete any work for more than a week you should contact me ahead of time.

 5.  Each module will have a completion due date but students can complete the work in those modules at their own pace.  The module due dates are necessary to make sure we are able to complete all the work by the end of the year.

 6.  All assignments and assessments will be open book and open note, but calculators will not be allowed.

 7.  Cheating policy – Cheating cheats you out of your own education. Cheating doesn’t help you learn, and we are here to learn. Cheating would include the use of a calculator (unless I specifically allow it), copying another student's work, or having someone else complete your work for you.  The minimum punishment for cheating will be a zero on that assignment or assessment.

Course Procedures

1.  Lessons - Each module will contain lessons which will consist of videos, written explanations and/or example problems.  The student is expected to go through each lesson and take notes as needed.  If the student has any questions on the lesson they should contact the teacher and further explanation can be added.

2.  Assignments - After the lesson the student will complete an assignment or assignments to practice the topic.  These assignments will sometimes be online, but will mostly be on paper.  The assignments are .pdf files and the student should be able to print these out to complete.  If printing is not possible contact me and I will print them out for you and they can be picked up at the Wind Gap Middle School office Monday-Friday from 8am-3pm.  Once completed they need to be turned into the teacher.  This can be done a variety of ways.  The student can scan them or take a picture of them and send them electronically to me.  If this is not possible any school work can be dropped off at the Wind Gap Middle School office.

3.  Assessments - Each module will contain several quizzes of varying lengths and point values and one test at the end.  Some of these will be online and some of these will be on paper.  For the paper quizzes and tests the same turn in procedure should be followed as the assignments.

Grading Policy

Each assignment and assessment will be given a point value.  The student's grade will be calculated by dividing the points they earned by the points that were possible.  Students can use their book, notes or go back to the lessons in order to help them on their assignments and assessments.  Calculators are not allowed.

Assignments -

Practice Assignments are graded on effort.  As long as the problems are mostly correct and all work is shown the student will receive full credit.

Assessments -

Online Checkpoint Quizzes will be only worth a few points but will serve to help the student determine if they are on track and understand all of the material they need to before they move on.  If the student does poorly on the checkpoint quiz they should go back and review the lesson before continuing.

Quizzes will be both online as well as on paper.  Students will need to get all of the correct answers and show all work to receive full credit.

Tests will be given at the end of each module too assess their understanding of the entire module.  Once again students will need to get all of the correct answers and show all work to receive full credit. The tests will be worth more points than the quizzes and students should make sure they study prior to taking a test.