WOW! Our team, 6-3, had the highest science scores in the 6th grade on the CRCT! Out of the students who took the CRCT at LMS and who have Mrs. Hook for science class, a whopping 89% met or exceeded on the science section of the test. I am so proud of all of my students for their hard work in science this year. This is proof that it paid off...and perhaps that we have a whole slew of budding geologists, meteorologists, or astronomers on our team! Congrats to all my 6-3 science kids! You guys are great! 
 
-Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Parents and students: 
 
My laptop has gone to laptop heaven, and I was without a way to update grades for about a week (until this morning). Thus, you will see many recently updated grades in PowerSchool. Please note: I did not receive essays on The Lorax from a great many students. I must have these in my hands no later than Thursday, May 15, for this grade to be counted on the 2007-2008 school year!!! This was a major test grade. Due to it being a test grade, I have opted to give a grade of 50 to any student who did not turn in a Lorax essay rather than an NHI, which would count as a zero. Since this was due on April 25 and it is nearing the end of the school year, I am unable to be lenient about missing grades at this point. Absolutely no late work will be accepted for any reason after Thursday, May 15. Thanks for your cooperation! 
 
-Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Parents and students: 
 
The deadline for permission slips and money for our field trip to the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta the last week of February is Friday, Feb. 15!!! We still need over 30 students to sign up and pay by this day, or the field trip will have to be cancelled! This is an invaluable learning opportunity and I am so excited about the science topics to be covered. Please help me in making sure we are able to take advantage of this great experience by sending in permission slips and money this week. Parents, the adult cost is $40 if you would like to attend. Thanks! 
 
Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

None of the following items are required by any means, but science class is in need of some general supplies as well as specific lab needs: 
 
General: 
Tissues (It's that time of year!) 
Paper towels 
Baby wipes and/or Clorox (disinfecting) wipes 
Hand soap (We're fortunate to have a working sink in our room.) 
Hand sanitizer (not an urgent need, we still have some left) 
Sandwich bags 
 
Specific for unit/labs: 
1-gallon ziploc-style bags 
play-doh 
gumdrops 
toothpicks 
 
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!  
LH 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Dear Parents, 
 
I am asking for your patience in my giving out make-up work to your students in the event that they have not handed in assignments during my absence. If you don't already know, I was on extended medical leave for nearly a month. I returned on 01.28.08. There are a great many students who, in PowerSchool, have "NHI" for several assignments, or may have a low test grade. My guess on the the reason for the high number of NHIs is that students did not take their work as seriously in my absence because they thought it might not count. Regardless, I returned to a couple of very large stacks of papers to be graded and entered. I am in the process of getting through this work, and will not be handing out any make-up work until that is done. I am asking for your patience while I work through both my schoolwork and my medical recovery, as there will be an opportunity for all students to complete make-up work and make test corrections after I get though these stacks of paperwork! Thanks again for your patience and understanding.  
 
-Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Parents and Students: 
 
I have been out of school on medical leave until today (Jan. 28). Due to my extended absence, there are currently no grades in PowerSchool. I will be working on entering grades this week and hope to be completely updated by sometime next week. I apologize for the delay and ask that you bear with me in this difficult time of recovery. 
 
Lindsay Hook 
 
*IMPORTANT NOTE 
Students have asked me to clarify the confusion in quarter 2 and semester 1 grades as printed on report cards. Because my grades were stored in my computer and not updated in the Walker County server prior to the printing of report cards, most students had science averages that were inaccurately low on their report cards. This is in the process of being corrected, but no student had a grade that was lower than their report card grade - all grades either stayed the same or increased. You may notice a change in the Q2 and S1 averages in PowerSchool, and this will be reflected in each student's permanent record. You will receive an updated official progress report when all changes are made in all levels of the system. Thanks again for your patience! 
-Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Parents & Students: 
 
I will be finishing up grading projects and entering those scores over the holiday break. If you see a blank for your grade, that does not mean you have a zero or that it was not turned in. It simply means that grade has not yet been entered. Weather tests have been graded and entered, as has all make-up work. So, have a happy, restful break, and if you see parentheses ( ) for any of your grades, don't worry! 
 
-Mrs. Hook 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

There will be a Halloween Dance on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the main campus from 4-6pm. Students who purchase tickets will have the option to ride the bus over to the main campus after school. There will be prizes for costume contests in various categories. However, students may NOT wear their costumes, crazy hair, or face paint to school. Tickets are $5 and will be sold in the school store, which is open before school daily and during lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

FYI -  
On PowerSchool, you may see a grade for which you think you earned more points than what is showing. The reason for this is that, when extra credit is offered, I can only give points up to the limit of an overall average grade of 100. So, for example, if you earned 15 extra credit points, but you see only 7 entered, it is because any more points would have pushed your average OVER 100. Those actual grades are recorded in my gradebook and additional points will be added to the score at the end of the quarter as needed and allowed. Thanks! 
 
Example: 
CRCT Coach Review - all points earned past the first 5 counted as extra credit. There was a possibility to earn up to 19 points. However, some students started with a very high average. If, for example, a student had a 100 average, and I entered all 12 points (which would be, for this assignment, 7 extra credit points), their average would skyrocket to a 170 average! Unfortunately, no student can have an average above 100, so this student's grade would show up in PowerSchool as 5/5, with a 100 average for the nine weeks. 
 
I hope this clarifies everything! :-) 
LH 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Thanks for all of the generous donations of Oreo cookies for our lab today! We had more than enough. The students had a great time! Please email me if you'd like a picture of this lab...I took lots, and tried to get almost everyone in at least one picture.  
 
LH 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

I have had some questions about PowerSchool grades and make-up work. Hopefully this will answer some of those. 
 
1. I do not give out make-up work or "extra" work. If a student is absent, he/she is responsible for asking me for their make-up work on the day they return. That work is due to me within 5 days of the original absence, NOT the day they decide to finally ask for it. If they don't bother to ask for make-up work until 2 weeks later, then that work will be a zero. 
 
2. I do not give out "extra" work. All assignments are due on the original due date for full credit. I will accept late work for 5 days after the original due date and deduct points for each day it is turned in late. Once 5 days have passed, I will no longer accept that assignment. 
 
3. For test grades and lab reports, I WILL accept late work for up to 2 weeks. However, the grade will be drastically reduced the later the assignment is turned in. In general, a student has one week to make up a test or quiz for full credit. 
 
4. Key to PowerSchool codes: 
 
( ) = Parentheses - this means no grade has been entered for an assignment. It does not count against the average, and it does not mean the work has not been turned in. It just means I either haven't graded it, or it hasn't been entered yet. 
 
M = Missing - the student has not handed in this assignment, or if he/she did, it was a no name paper. This counts as a zero. 
 
0 = Zero - A grade of zero that cannot be made up. 
 
REDO - A lab report was turned in that could not be graded because it was not in format. Counts as a zero until it is corrected. 
 
AB = Absent - The student was absent when this assignment was due. It needs to be made up within 5 days to avoid the "ab" being changed to a 0. 
 
EX = Excused - The student was not in class and the assignment cannot be made up (like a lab, etc.), so they are excused from it. It does not count against their average. 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Students created lab safety posters to be laminated and hung on the windows in our classroom. I chose the top 6-7 for each classroom on the criteria of neatness, color, creativity, and spelling. (No posters with misspellings were up for voting.) Then, the students voted for their favorite from these choices. The top 3 from each class, to be hung up for the remainder of the year, are as follows: 
 
2nd Block: Jake Hampton, Hunter Ridley, Helena Yates 
 
3rd Block: Caitlin Amos, Caleb Howard, Hunter White 
 
4th Block: Destiny Duncan, Emily Odom, Evie Watters 
 
5th Block: Colton Cooper, Erica Madison, Cassie Shelton 
 
Congratulations to everyone who participated! You will receive a grade in PowerSchool for this assignment, regardless of whether or not you won! :-) 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

The lab report for the paper-making lab we did on May 2 was due on Monday, May 7. We had a detailed lesson on how to write lab reports. I allowed students to turn in VERY LATE lab reports for partial credit until Wednesday, May 16. Even after that date, I have accepted lab reports for partial credit. At this point, I can NO LONGER accept these reports. If your child has an "M" for this assignment, it will be changed to a zero soon. Students not turning in this report will have a significantly lowered grade, as this report was a major grade this nine weeks. Not completing this report by 3 weeks after the original due date is simply unacceptable. I have reminded the students who were missing this report several times to turn it in and all students have been given numerous opportunities to make up this work. 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

All students on team 6-1 were present every single day for the week of CRCT! We had only a couple of tardies, and everyone showed up to take the tests every single day! Great job! Keep it up - we only have 6 more weeks to go!  

Posted by: Lindsay Hook

Parents, 
I know last quarter there were some instances of confusion about a student's grade. Sometimes, even though grades have been entered into PowerSchool, the average will remain at zero. This is because of the fact that I drop several low grades, and the program chooses the lowest ones for me. In the past I have dropped 3 low homework grades and 2 low quiz/project grades. So, until enough grades are entered in a nine weeks to surpass that, the average looks like a zero even though several assignments may have been entered. This quarter, I will be dropping the lowest 2 homework/classwork grade as well as the lowest 1 quiz/project grade. Until at least 3 homework assignments and 2 quizzes are entered, the average will show up as a zero. Just click on the average to view the grades for particular assignments. Also, any grade that shows up as parentheses ( ) means it has not been entered yet - this is like a blank. It doesn't mean it's missing. I will enter an M for missing assignments, and a 0 for one that either earned a zero or was missing for so long that it can no longer be made up. A student will have a grade of 50 for any test grade for which they made a score of 50 or below. I hope that clears up any confusion. I don't have many grades entered yet, since we've been spending so much time in class studying for CRCT and this week was spent testing. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks! I'm looking forward to a great spring! 
Mrs. Hook :-) 

Posted by: Lindsay Hook