Welcome to Ms. Jennifer Ward's online classroom for her Haverford High School students. Family support and guidance are integral to a students success in the classroom. I hope the following pages will help parents and guardians support the work that students are doing in our English classroom. I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

HOMEWORK AND ASSIGNMENT POLICIES:

• Please review our course syllabus (honors syllabus) for complete class details. 
• Assignments will be listed on a weekly calendar on the course website at the beginning of each week. Students should keep track of assignments in their Haverford planner. 
• Copying, cheating, or plagiarizing are grounds for failing the assignment and/or disciplinary action.
• All handouts, assignments, class notes, vocabulary, and literary definitions will be kept in a class binder. Students must have all work organized, fully completed, and correctly labeled in order to receive full credit.
• In order to receive full credit on all assignments, students must turn in their work on the designated due date. Writing assignments, projects, and daily assignments will lose points if turned in late.
• In the case of an excused absence, students are responsible for making up all missed work and for any class notes given during their absence within two days. Students should plan to speak to the teacher before or after school upon return and/or utilize information posted on the class website.

10 ENGLISH GRADES: 

Grades in this class are weighted by category. Each quarter students will receive grades for assignments that assess their progress in reading, research, writing, speaking and listening, and general homework assignments.  Tests, quizzes, projects, and writing assignments will make up 80% of each quarter’s grade with the remaining 20% coming from daily assignments and practice activities. Each quarter starts fresh; grades from the first quarter do not carry over into the grade for the second quarter. The final course grade is calculated by combining the percentages for each of the two quarters with the final exam grade. Each quarter is worth 40% of the final grade and the final exam grade is worth 20% of the final course grade. 

     A+ = 100%-98%        A = 97%-93%         A- = 92%-90%

     B+ = 89%-88%          B = 87%-83%          B- = 82%-80%

     C+ = 79%-78%         C = 77%-73%         C- = 72%-70%

     D+ = 69%-68%         D = 67%-63%         D- = 62%-60%

     F = 59%-0%

REQUIRED SUPPLIES:

• Something to write with a pencil or pen
• A highlighter
• A 1 1/2 binder
• A spiral notebook to use as a Writer’s Notebook

WEB RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND FAMILIES

The following sites have been identified as being of value to the parents and family members of students.

• The National Education Association is an excellent resource for parents (www.nea.org/parents/).
• The National Parent-Teacher Association fosters parent involvement in education (www.pta.org).
• The Copernicus Education Gateway is a site for parents who wish to support their children in school (www.edgate.com).
• Awesome Library is a guide to resources for teaching and learning about specific subjects (www.awesomelibrary.org/parent.html).
• Kid's Health is a site devoted to children's health information (www.kidshealth.org/index2.html).
• Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays has a lot of information for parents about young people questioning their sexual orientation (www.pflag.org).
• Safekids helps parents address issues of safety on the internet (www.safekids.com/child-safety-on-the-information-highway/).
• Fathers' World is web site resource for fathers (www.fathersworld.com/features.html).
• Parents Helping Parents is a site for parents of special needs children (www.php.com/).
• College Savings is a site for helping parents plan for college expenses (www.collegesavings.org).

Last Revised: 3 September 2013