Welcome to Algebra

Below is the content of the email I sent out on August 4th in case you need to reference it.

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Parents,

Summer is about over so it’s time to begin gearing up for school. I shared some information with you back in June, but now I’d like to share some more information with both you and your student. First, a few things just for you.

1. You may want to consider bookmarking or subscribing to our class blog. This will be a great way to know everything that’s going on in class, including homework. You can either bookmark it in your browser, or subscribe to it via RSS or email.
   
   
2. It would be great if you could take about five minutes and provide some up-to-date contact information for yourself. When you get a chance, please complete this online form with your contact info. If more than one parent/guardian would like to be contacted, then each one should fill out the form separately.
   
   
3. You may want to make a note of my contact information.

Please share the following with your student, and you will probably be interested in reading through it as well. (Once school begins your student will have their own email account, but for now if you could have them read through the following, that would be great). Please note that at the end of the information is a request to reply to this email with some information so that I know that you/they got this.

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Students,

Welcome to our Algebra class. I’d like to share some information with you now that will help you get off to a good start. Some of the following is just informational and some of it suggest things you can do to get ready.

1. Math Skills Assessment
   You hopefully have already been working on the Math Skills Assessment that all incoming AHS freshmen need to complete in order to prepare them to be successful in mathematics at AHS. Even if you’re not a freshmen, you should complete this skills assessment and work on any skills you are having difficulty with. So, if you haven’t done this yet, or if you did it awhile back and need to review, please take some time to work through it. Our first formal assessment (grade) will be over these skills on Wednesday, August 18th, so you want to be ready.
   
   
2. Class Expectations
   Please read through our class expectations (parents, too). It’s important that you read through and understand these expectations, and then fill out the online form to indicate you’ve completed this. Please also note the supplies list on that page and have those with you on the first day of school.
   
   
3. About Me Writing Assignment
   Your first assignment is going to be to tell me a little bit about yourself. While you don’t have to do this until school begins, I highly encourage you to do it now because that first week of school is kind of crazy. If you do it now you’ll have more time to complete it (and less homework that first week), and I’ll get a chance to know a little bit about you before school starts. Please visit my About Me page to see your writing prompt and my response to the prompt. If you choose to write this now (and I encourage you to do so), please email it to me. You can include your response as text in the body of the email, as an attached document, or as a URL if you do it online somewhere.
   
   
4. Bookmark Our Class Blog
   It’s probably going to come in handy to have our class blog bookmarked on whatever computer you use while at home. Go to our class blog and bookmark it. While you’re there, you might look around a little.
   
   
5. What Do You Like to be Called?
   Do you go by your given name or by a nickname? Please let me know.

Please email me back to confirm you received this email, and let me know what you like to be called. If you choose to do the About Me Writing Assignment now, please send that along as well. Thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.

Karl Fisch
Arapahoe High School

Information about Mr. Fisch's Algebra Class

Below is the content of the email I sent out to parents in June in case you need to reference it.

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Thanks so much for your time on the phone today. If you could please reply to this email so that I know I’ve got your address correct, that would be great. Also, if you have any kind of “whitelist” in your email program that only allows approved email addresses to get to your inbox, please add my email address.

I want to share a few things with you about my Algebra class now, and then you can expect another email around the first week of August that will give you some more information as well as some information I’ll ask you to share with your student. As I mentioned on the phone, there are many reasons why broadband access to the Internet is going to be very helpful for your student, but two of the most important are access to some video instruction and access to pre-assessments that your student will take before formal assessments. If you’re interested, here are examples of the videos and of the pre-assessments.

The AHS Math Department has created a Math Skills Assessment that all incoming freshmen need to complete in order to prepare them to be successful in mathematics at AHS. Even if your student is not a freshmen, they should complete this skills assessment and work on any skills they are having difficulty with. Our first formal assessment will be within the first few days of school over these skills. Students who are still struggling with these skills will then need to devote extra time - and their unscheduled hours - to master these skills in the first few weeks of school. Since those first few weeks are both exciting and extremely busy, it would be much better to use some of their time during the summer when things are more relaxed to make sure they have mastered these pre-algebra skills.

While you obviously don’t need to go shopping just yet, I wanted to share the materials your student will need for my class now. That way if you come across any great sales you can purchase early, and perhaps you might just want to purchase early since back-to-school time can be pretty busy and stressful for a lot of folks. Here’s what your student will need for my class:

1. 3-Ring Binder - Probably a 1-inch binder will do. If your student sometimes has difficulty keeping things neat and organized, you might consider the Trapper Keeper-style binders that are “wraparound” so that papers don’t get torn, but they aren’t necessary.
   
   
2. Notebook Paper - Your student will be taking notes, working problems, and sketching diagrams on a daily basis.
   
   
3. Graph Paper - This is Algebra, so graph paper is a must. Probably about 100 sheets would be a good amount to start with.
   
   
4. Writing Utensils - The old standby #2 pencil is going to come in handy. Some students will also find either colored pencils or pens (like those 4-color pens) handy in order to better take notes and illustrate their thinking.
   
   
5. Calculator - The only requirement is that your student have a calculator of some sort. Our recommendation is that they consider getting a graphing calculator (TI-84 or TI-Nspire). We will be using graphing calculators in Algebra I to explore multiple representations of data and equations, and if your student eventually takes Algebra II (which most students at AHS do), they will definitely need a graphing calculator. We’ve also found that graphing calculators help in another important way - students can see what they’ve typed in for calculations - which helps tremendously in identifying errors in their thinking or simply in how they enter the calculations into the calculator. But, to be clear, you are not required to get a graphing calculator.
   
   If your student will be bringing a laptop or netbook computer to school (also not required, read more about laptops at AHS, but many students are finding them helpful), you might consider purchasing the software equivalent of a TI Nspire graphing calculator. For about the same price as an Nspire calculator, your student would be able to just carry one device (the laptop/netbook), have all the capability of the calculator, and have the added advantage of a full keyboard and processing power of the laptop/netbook. Please note that Nspire runs on Windows and Mac OS X, but does not currently run on Linux operating systems.
   
   
6. Optional USB Flash Drive - For all of their classes, a USB flash drive will come in handy at times for students to transport files among various computers.

I’m hopeful that you find this information helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know. Even if you don’t have any questions, please reply to this email so that I know I have your correct email address, and then expect another email from me around the first week of August. Thanks for your time and I’m looking forward to having your student in my class this fall.

Sincerely,

Karl Fisch
Arapahoe High School