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Course Description

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This is a course in Regents Chemistry.  The coursework includes the standards from the NYS Board of Regents, Physical setting, Chemistry and some concepts beyond the scope of the NYS standards that encompass AP Chemistry topics. The purpose of this course is to provide the regents student a challenging high school chemistry course that will provide for them the basic skills of chemistry that will be beneficial for high school and beyond.  The course will prepare every student for success on the NYS Regents Chemistry examination.
 
Units Include:
 
        Unit 1 – Matter and Energy (Big Unit)
                        1a – Measurement and Calculations
                        1b – Classification of Matter
                        1c – Energy intro/ calorimetry
                        1d – Phases changes/ heating curves/ vapor pressure
                        1e – Gas Laws
 
        Unit 2 – Atomic Structure
        Unit 3 – Periodic Table
        Unit 4 – Bonding
        Unit 5 – Math – Stiochiometry, analytic chemistry
        Unit 5A – Solutions
        Unit 6 – Kinetics and Equilibrium
        Unit 7 – Acids and Bases
        Unit 8 – Redox
        Unit 9 – Organic Chemistry
        Unit 10 – Nuclear Chemistry
        Unit 11Regents Review – Last three or 4 weeks of the year.
 
Book: We will use a free online book used by Rice University from a non-profit educational resource called Chemistry 2e from Openstax. If a students wants a print copy they can download it and print the pages they are using for free or OR order it from Amazon. Click here for book options.
 
Grading Policy – The overall class average is based on a Weighted Average from 3 Categories.
 
 HW/quiz : (about 10 – 20+ a quarter)
Laboratories: (about 6 – 12 a quarter) 
Tests: (about 3 – 5 a quarter)
 
10% of the AVERAGE of all Quiz/Hw in the quarter:
In class quizzes and homework assignments that are graded through Google Forms will account for 10% of your quarter grade. That is the average of all your Quizzes and Homework assignments will make up 10% of your grade. This is a place to make mistakes and learn from them without costing a great deal in your grade.                                                                                                                                     
30% of the AVERAGE of all the graded Labs in the quarter:
Laboratory assignments will completed in their teams but each student will write their own conclusion and each lab will be graded individually.  Students are accountable for the each lab completed in the quarter as the tests will include quart
 
60% of the AVERAGE of all the graded Tests for the quarter:
Tests will given individually and students will be accountable for all information and core concepts learned from HW assignments, Team activities, and Laboratory assignments. 
 
EXAMPLE:
 
If a student has a Quiz/Hw average of 90 :                  90  x .30 (30 percent weight) =         27                   
 
 
and a Lab average of 80                                                  80  x .20 (20 percent weight) =       16
 
 
and Test average of 70                                                    70  x .50 (50 percent weight)    = +  35
                                                             
                                                                                  Quarter Grade  (add all 3 results)  =     78
 
Notice it is not 80, which is the middle number of the three grades, due to the fact that each grade has different weights. ( A regular average , which would get you an 80, applies the same weight for each number, which would be 33.3% ) Notice the quarter average is below 80 because the test grades have the largest weights and the test average was the lowest score.  Tests are worth more and are a culmination of every quiz,  lab, and activity that the student participated in.   Also notice that Team scores have the lower weight than tests therefore giving students opportunity to measure their immediate knowledge without fear that their grades will be negatively impacted.  I always say it is better to get things wrong on a Quiz/Hw and learn from your mistakes than to get it wrong on a test.  It is incomprehensible to get the same things wrong on a quiz and on a test.
 
Zeros are placed in Powerschool if a student is absent or does not hand in or complete assignments. 
 
Students who do not hand in assignment and do not notify me ahead of time with a email will have zeros stand.  When students make up a grade due to an acceptable excuse they grade of zero will be changed. Please be patient, a makeup grade is not automatically graded when you hand in into my purple crate.  Absent students are responsible for all work missed and it is their responsibility to make this work up within 2 weeks.  All activities for the class will be listed daily at this website so that the student can clearly see what was missed. Do not ask me what we did yesterday as I am beginning class. Please look at the website to see!! Any questions once the student looks I will certainly answer.  It’s a good idea to get contact info from your team members so that you stay up to date.
 
Do not hand in anything to me personally as I probably will misplace it as I am always busy setting up labs, demos, helping students, and etc. Hand it into my purple crate, which is in the front of class. 
 
If you have any problem regarding due dates, technology issues, etc, you must contact me through email: grodskib@whbschools.org   
  
Email is necessary because it is a time stamped record.  I understand that this is not your only course and I will work with you on most occasions, however if you abuse this policy I will not allow any extensions.
 
Sincerely and Tall,
Mr. Grodski