Parent Information Sheet

Astronomy

Mr. Young

Phone: 903 839-5551 (school) 903 595-6946 (home)

Email: youngt@whitehouseisd.org

Web Site: www.mryoungphysics.com

Planning Period: 1^st, from 7:50 to 8:30

Tutorials: Every morning (Except Thursday) and every afternoon

Additional tutorials are available during Friday night School and Saturday School

Textbook: Discovering the Universe (8^th Edition)

CD with the Text Book: Starry Night Enthusiast

Grading: Daily Work…………………….. 50%

Chapter Tests and Labs……….... 30%

6 Weeks Test ……………………20%

Astronomy is a very demanding subject. It is usually taught as a college course. However, between the teacher and the textbook the course material will be brought to a level that your child will be able to handle. Be sure to take a look at your child’s Astronomy book; there are some beautiful pictures in it!

It is necessary that your child have access to a computer with Internet access for this class. There is a DVD that comes with the book that will require the Internet to be fully useful. In addition, there are assignments that will require the Internet. If you do not have internet access at your house arrangements will have to be made with the teacher so that your child can take full advantage of all the resources available for this class.

Your child will need to have the following materials for this class every day: Two working pens and pencils, ten sheets of blank note paper, a single subject notebook complete with six pockets, and, of course, the textbook. In addition, your child will often be required to download material from the internet.

As a part of your child’s college preparation homework is assigned in this class as a means of preparing for class and for the chapter tests rather than for a grade. Doing work and not getting a grade for it is a difficult concept for high school students; so, it is important that your child learns the importance of doing work for its own sake, for their own growth and understanding rather than for a grade.

You should be aware of the late work policy for this class. Work that is turned in late will have a penalty added to the grade. A 10% penalty will be added to the earned grade for work that is late on the due date and a 30% penalty for work that is one day late. You should also be aware of the early policy for this class. Work that is turned in one full day before it is due will have a 30% bonus added to the earned grade.

While family access is provided as a means for you to keep up with your child’s progress, in this class your child will be given the opportunity to keep their grades up-to-date even more efficiently. They will be given a grade record sheet for this class upon which they will record all of their assignments and the grade they earned for their work. It will often be the case that this record sheet is more up-to-date than family access. It is also important that your child be allowed to compare their grade record sheet with skyward in order to discover any mistakes that Mr. Young might have made while recording their grade.

You are encouraged to go to my web site (www.mryoungphysics.com). On this site you will find a weekly syllabus consisting of the order of study for a particular week and the assignments for that week. Your child is required to download these syllabi every week. The syllabi are posted in two week intervals and past syllabi are always available for examination. You will also find a copy of this information sheet as well as other papers that will be given to your child, including the class rules, policies and the all-important procedures.

In order to be successful in this course your child must review notes and class work as well as do a lot of reading. I will make every effort possible to help your child to be successful in this class. However, many students have found it helpful to form study groups. You may wish to encourage your child to do this as well and you may want to consider making your house a welcome location for such a group to meet. I have found from much experience that pizza and classical music (www.abc.net.au/classic) go together very well with the study of the music of the spheres!