Andrew gave us open work time in class today. He met with people throughout class to consult with them about their personal pursuit proposals and either approve or disapprove them.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• We signed up for x-blocks in the afternoon today. If you did not sign up, the link to do so is: schoolcourses.hightechhigh.org/SchoolCourses
  
• This week is SLC week. SLCs are not mandatory for every student; they will only be required for those struggling in class or failing. If you are not failing and think you could benefit from an SLC, speak with Kay (or Andrew or Kolina) and chances are you'll be able to set one up.
• We have a minimum day on Thursday; we get out at 12:25 PM.
• We are not beginning a new unit until next week, so you can use this week to catch up with all your assignments from previous units. If you finish, you can use the time to work on your personal pursuits.
• Don't forget to document your personal pursuits!

Homework:

• (Due Friday) Unit 5 assignments. The Unit 5 Cover Sheet, Andrew's Unit 5 notes, both Unit 5 worksheets, the Unit 5 Journal Writing, lab criteria for the Flame Lab, and both Crystallization labs + reporting criteria for Crystallization Lab 2 are available in the February 25th post on Andrew's Class Blog on his DP titled "Unit 5." http://alerario.weebly.com/5/post/2014/02/unit-5.html

Today Andrew began class by going over the Pursuit Journal, which is a journal we will be keeping to document our experiences as we engage in our pursuits. If you would like to access the paper that describes this assignment, go to Andrew's DP, hover over "Projects" in the Table of Contents on the left side of his DP, hover over "Pursuit of Happiness" and then click on Project Blog. The assignment will be found in the February 28 post titled "Reflecting on your Pursuit". If you have any questions regarding the assignment, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will attempt to assist you and answer your questions.

Andrew gave us open work time for the remainder of class. He also called people up throughout the period to meet with them about their personal pursuit proposals and to either approve or disapprove them.

Homework:

• (Due next Friday) Unit 5 assignments. The Unit 5 Cover Sheet, Andrew's Unit 5 notes, both Unit 5 worksheets, the Unit 5 Journal Writing, lab criteria for the Flame Lab, and both Crystallization labs + reporting criteria for Crystallization Lab 2 are available in the February 25th post on Andrew's Class Blog on his DP titled "Unit 5."

We had open work time for the majority of class today. Andrew began class by asking for any suggestions on how the class should be changed, and one popular suggestion was a catch up week (a week where people could finish any incomplete work from any of the units). The problem with this suggestion is that people who already completed all of their work may have nothing to do. We then came up with different ideas on things they could do to keep themselves busy; one idea was to work on a space related project, and another suggestion was to work on their personal pursuit of happiness project. This quick discussion was then followed by open work time for the rest of class.

Homework:

• (Due tomorrow) The final draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. We will work on this in class tomorrow.
• (Due tomorrow) Unit 4 assignments. Unit 4's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for Unit 4's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
• (Due next Friday) Unit 5 assignments. The Unit 5 Cover Sheet, Andrew's Unit 5 notes, both Unit 5 worksheets, the Unit 5 Journal Writing, lab criteria for the Flame Lab, and both Crystallization labs + reporting criteria for Crystallization Lab 2 are available in the February 25th post on Andrew's Class Blog on his DP titled "Unit 5."

We had open work time in class today. There weren't any big announcements made, just make sure to turn in the initial draft of your personal pursuit of happiness proposal by tomorrow if you didn't do so today.

Homework:

• (Due Friday) The final draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. Don't worry too much about this now. Andrew will go over this in further detail  tomorrow.
• (Due Friday) Unit 4 assignments. Unit 4's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for Unit 4's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
• (Due next Friday) Unit 5 assignments. The Unit 5 Cover Sheet, Andrew's Unit 5 notes, both Unit 5 worksheets, the Unit 5 Journal Writing, lab criteria for the Flame Lab, and both Crystallization labs + reporting criteria for Crystallization Lab 2 are available in the February 25th post on Andrew's Class Blog on his DP titled "Unit 5."

Today Andrew introduced Unit 5 to us, which focuses on the Periodic Table of Elements and ions. Here are pictures of the board:

Here are pictures of my notes:

Andrew has provided his own notes on the subject which are available on his DP, as well as two worksheets that can help us understand these concepts. I won't go through every detail of the lesson since that would be a waste of time, but feel free to seek out Andrew or myself if you have any specific questions on the topic and we can try to explain it to you in a way that you personally can understand. Feel free to send me an email as well.

We received new Weekly Planners today.

Homework:

• (Due tomorrow) The initial draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. There is a paper describing this assignment that will be posted on Andrew's DP eventually, but if you would like the paper right now, send me an email and I should get back you within 5-30 minutes afterwards. 
• (Due Friday) The final draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. Don't worry too much about this now. Andrew will go over this in further detail on Wednesday.
• (Due Friday) Work on Unit 4 (Part 1) assignments. Unit 4's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for Unit 4's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
• (Due next Friday) Unit 5 assignments. The Unit 5 Cover Sheet, Andrew's Unit 5 notes, both Unit 5 worksheets, the Unit 5 Journal Writing, and two of the labs + the reporting for each of those labs are available in the February 25th post on Andrew's Class Blog on his DP titled "Unit 5."

Today we began class with some project work.

Each table received several post-its which had several happiness related themes written on them. On February 21 (last Friday), Andrew passed the happiness reflections we wrote for his class around to the class (randomly; you didn't receive your own), and we had to identify and select key themes that occurred in each reflection/experience that attributed to the author's happiness. We wrote these themes down on post-its, and the ones Andrew passed back today corresponded to the reflections from the other class. We then sorted these post-its into the six main/broad happiness categories we've identified as a class. These themes are shown in the picture above.

Andrew gave us the remainder of class to finish work. We will begin Unit 5 (or as Andrew put it, "Part 2 of Unit 4") tomorrow.

Homework:

• (Due Wednesday) The initial draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. There is a paper describing this assignment that will be posted on Andrew's DP eventually, but if you would like the paper right now, send me an email and I should get back you within 5-30 minutes afterwards. 
• (Due Friday) The final draft of your individual pursuit of happiness. Don't worry too much about this now. Andrew will go over this in further detail on Wednesday.
• (Due Friday) Work on Unit 4 (Part 1) assignments. Unit 4's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for Unit 4's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
  

We were given work time for most of class today. Andrew opened up the class with the introduction of a new assignment that we can complete once per unit: video reviewing. Details describing this are available in the post titled "Unit 4 Video Posts" in the Class Blog on Andrew's DP. You can earn either 5, 10, or 15 points on this assignment depending on the amount of work you do.

Homework:

• (Due tomorrow) All Unit 3 assignments. Andrew's notes on measurement are up on his DP in the February 3rd post titled "Unit 3- Measurement." If you would like this week's Weekly Planner, the Unit 3 worksheets, and parts 1 & 2 of one of this unit's labs, you can also find these on the post mentioned above.  My notes are in the February 3rd post of this blog. The density activity reporting criteria can be found on the February 6, 2014 post on his DP.
• (Due tomorrow) If you are attending the field trip to Sycamore Canyon, you must bring your permission slip to school tomorrow (signed by a parent) in addition to $7 for the bus if you are taking it as your means of transportation.
• (Due next Friday) Work on Unit 4 assignments. This week's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for this week's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."

We were given work time for most of class today. Here are pictures of the notes on the white board that will help you complete the worksheets for Unit 4:

Don't forget to let Andrew or Brian Delgado know asap if you are planning on attending the field trip to Sycamore Canyon after school on Friday.

SLCs will be held in two weeks. They won't be mandatory for every student. You'll most likely need to have one if you're failing a class or if Kay and Andrew are concerned about you as a student.

Homework:

• (Due tomorrow) Write a reflection on an experience that you feel brings you happiness. The paper describing the assignment is available for download on Andrew's DP. To access this paper, go to the Projects tab on his DP, scroll over "Personal Pursuit of Happiness", click "Project Blog", and the paper will be attached to the February 13th post titled "Our Project Launch!".
• (Due next Friday) Work on Unit 4 assignments. This week's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for this week's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
• (Due this Friday) Work on Unit 3 assignments. Andrew's notes on measurement are up on his DP in the February 3rd post titled "Unit 3- Measurement." If you would like this week's Weekly Planner, the Unit 3 worksheets, and parts 1 & 2 of one of this unit's labs, you can also find these on the post mentioned above.  My notes are in the February 3rd post of this blog. The density activity reporting criteria can be found on the February 6, 2014 post on his DP.

Today in class, we began Unit 4, which focuses on atoms. Here is a picture of what the white board looked like after Andrew finished writing on it:

Here are pictures of the notes I took:

In addition to all this, Andrew told us a bit of history on the discovery of the atom, in addition to the following announcements:

• Our team has been invited to join Brian Delgado's freshman team and the Astronomy Club on a field trip to Sycamore Canyon this Friday.  Bus tickets cost $7, and the bus will be departing High Tech High at 5:00 PM and returning at 8:00 PM. If you are interested in participating, let Andrew or Brian know as soon as possible so they can provide you with a permission slip.
• Independent Assignment proposals are now available on Andrew's DP in the blog post titled "Independent Assignments" posted on February 18th.
• In honor of the emerging of High Tech High's space program, we will be learning a lot of space science this semester!
• We will be receiving a lot of new equipment soon, which will allow us to conduct a lot of new experiments. Stay tuned.

Homework:

• (Due tomorrow) Write a reflection on an experience that you feel brings you happiness. It must be typed, one page, and single spaced. You must write about the experience itself, and then in a separate paragraph write about how the experience made you feel physically. If you did not receive the paper describing this assignment, send me an email and I will send you a picture of the paper.
• (Due next Friday) Work on Unit 4 assignments. This week's cover sheet, both worksheets, and explanations/criteria for this week's Illustration and Journal Writing assignments are on the February 18th post titled "Unit 4-The Atom."
• (Due this Friday) Work on Unit 3 assignments. Andrew's notes on measurement are up on his DP in the February 3rd post titled "Unit 3- Measurement." If you would like this week's Weekly Planner, the Unit 3 worksheets, and parts 1 & 2 of one of this unit's labs, you can also find these on the post mentioned above.  My notes are in the February 3rd post of this blog. The density activity reporting criteria can be found on the February 6, 2014 post on his DP.

Andrew gave us all of class today to work on our Unit 2 & 3 assignments.

Homework:

• (Due Wednesday) Write a reflection on an experience that you feel brings you happiness. A paper further describing this assignment should be posted on Andrew's DP soon. Otherwise, send me an email and I can send you pictures of the paper.
• (Due two weeks from Friday) All Unit 3 assignments. Andrew's notes on measurement are up on his DP in the February 3rd post titled "Unit 3- Measurement." My notes are in the February 3rd post of this blog. If you would like this week's Weekly Planner, the Unit 3 worksheets, and parts 1 & 2 of one of this unit's labs, you can also find these on the post mentioned above. The density activity reporting criteria can be found on the February 6, 2014 post on his DP.