Information for Families

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.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Room Number:

Room 203

Phone Number:

610-853-5900 ext. 2763

Email Address:

ward@havsd.net

School Address:

Haverford High School

200 Mill Road

Havertown, PA 19083

Web Address:

www.msward.org

HOMEWORK AND ASSIGNMENT POLICIES:

Assignments will be listed on a weekly calendar given to each student on Mondays. Students should keep track of assignments in their Haverford planner. In addition, class assignments are updated weekly on the class website at http://www.msward.org/students.html.

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 joint World Cultures/World Literatures binder. The binder will be collected each marking period for grading by both the World Cultures and English teachers. 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 be accepted one day late for half credit.

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.

GRADES:

Students are graded on a total point system. The final course grade is calculated by combining the percentages for each of the two quarters with the midterm/final exam grade. Each quarter is worth 40% of the final grade, and the midterm/final exam grade is worth 20% of the final course grade. The final course grade is the only grade that appears on a student's transcript.

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 (black or blue ink no gel pens, markers or crayons)

A highlighter

A 3" binder for World Cultures/English class filled with college-ruled loose-leaf

A pack of at least 50 3x5 lined index cards for research

RECOMMENDED SUPPLIES:

A USB Flash drive with at least 128MB

An inexpensive accordion or expansion folder for organizing research materials

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).

Parent-Teen is an online magazine for families with teens (http://parent-teen.com).

Parent Success features parenting tips and strategies (www.parentsuccess.com).

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.htm).

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 2007