August 12, 2020

Dear Parent or Guardian,

I would like to start this school year by introducing myself so you know a little bit about who will be teaching
your child this year. My name is Kara Clay, and I recently completed the Single Subject Credential Program in
Biology at California State University, Fullerton. Before attending CSUF, I graduated from UC Santa Barbara
with a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolution and a minor in Spatial Science.

This class may be a little different from how you and I remember learning Biology. In the spirit on the Next
Generation Science Standards and the current best practices in teaching science, I believe that it is highly
important for students to be able to explore scientific ideas, make their own observations, and build their own
understandings of what we are learning about in class. This means your student will spend less time listening to
me lecturing and memorizing facts, and more time working actively with her or his classmates on laboratories,
activities, and inquiry-based learning.

The major topics we will be covering in this class are as follows:

1. Ecology: How do matter and energy move between different organisms in an ecosystem? How do
organisms interact with other organisms and with their physical environment?
2. Structure and Function: How do structures, ranging from individual molecules to entire body systems,
work together to carry out all the functions necessary to keep an organism alive?
3. Inheritance and Variation of Traits: How are traits from one generation passed to the next generation?
How does information stored in DNA translate to different traits that can be seen in an organism?
4. Natural Selection and Evolution: How did species come to be the way they are, and how are they still
changing in response to their environments?
5. Human Impact: How have humans impacted the natural world around us, and how can we come up with
solutions to lessen this impact?

Throughout each of these units, we will also be learning about scientific practices like designing and carrying
out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, communicating scientific information, and engaging in
scientific arguments using evidence. These practices will help students learn the biology concepts they are
studying, and maybe more importantly teach them how to think like scientists, giving them life long skills
whether they choose to pursue a career in the sciences or not.

I hope to have a great year with your student! Don’t expect this class to be an easy one, but I hope that it will be
an enjoyable one. If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at any time at
kclay@(schooldistrict).edu and I will get back to you within 24 hours during the week or by end of day Monday
if you email me on the weekend after 3:30 PM Friday.

We have a back to school night on Thursday, August 25, when you have an opportunity to meet all of your
child’s teachers and learn more about what we will be doing this school year.. I hope to see you then!

Kara Clay
 Miss Clay’s Biology Class
2020-2021

Grading Policy Grade

Scale
Grades will be determined by the following:
A+ 98-100%
Assessments: approximately 40% of grade A 93-97%
This category includes quizzes and tests in each unit, as well as A- 90-92%
a cumulative final exam at the end of each semester.
B+ 88-89%
Science Notebook: approximately 20% of grade B 83-87%
Students will keep a science notebook, which includes daily B- 80-82%
warm-up tasks, quick-writes, notes, observations, hypotheses, lab C+ 78-79%
data, as well as some worksheets and reference materials.
Notebooks are collected for grading at the end of each unit. C 73-77%
C- 70-72%
Laboratory: approximately 20% of grade D+ 68-69%
Includes both teacher-designed and student-designed laboratory
D 63-67%
investigations, and also some digital labs. Students will
complete lab write-ups that include observations, questions, and D- 60-62%
hypotheses, procedures (either teacher-provided or F 0-59%
student-generated), data, analysis, and conclusions.

Classwork & Homework: approximately 20% of grade

Question sets, practice problems, reading guides, video guides,
etc.

Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, acts of plagiarism
(representing another person’s work as your own) and any form of cheating on
assignments or assessments.

If I become aware of academic dishonesty by any student, he or she will

receive an F (0%) on the assignment or assessment in question and a parent or
guardian will be contacted by email or phone call. The student will receive a
“U” for citizenship in the class on his or her next grade report. For more
severe offences or repeated offences, I will also refer the student to an
administrator for disciplinary action. This may lead to detention, Saturday
School, or Suspension, and the referral will be documented in the student’s
cumulative record. Repeat offenders may end up being dropped from the class
with a grade of “F” and no credit. Please review the district policy on
Academic Dishonesty for more information.
Classroom Expectations
1. Be in your assigned seat with your science notebook and a pen or pencil in 
front of you when the bell rings. 
2. Any time the teacher or another student is speaking to the whole class, be 
quiet so everyone can hear. 
3. Stay on task and complete assignments and activities to the best of your 
ability. This includes individual work, group work, and participating in 
full-class discussions. 
4. Be a good group member no matter who you are working with. Respect other 
students’ ideas, values, and differences. 
5. Treat your belongings, your classmates’ belongings, and school property 
with care and respect. 
6. Whenever Chromebooks or cell phones are out during class, they should only 
be used for class-related websites or applications. 
7. Take responsibility for your safety and the safety of others in the 
classroom. During laboratory work, follow all safety-related directions 
especially carefully.  
 
Behavioral incidents during class may result in: 
1. Verbal warning 
2. Written warning and email/phone call to parent or guardian 
3. Half hour detention before or after school, possible loss of points for 
the day’s activities, and conference with parent or guardian by phone or 
in person. 
4. Referral to administrator. 
 
Meeting and exceeding classroom expectations may result in: 
1. Verbal reinforcement. 
2. Increases in privileges such as eating in class, hall passes, choosing 
your own group on some activities. 
3. Opportunities for extra credit. 
4. Recommendations for opportunities for school-wide recognition. 

Routines and Procedures

1. Absences and Tardies​: A student with an ​excused​ absence can turn in any
work they missed, without penalty, for a number of days equal to the
number of days they were absent. For example, a student who was absent
two days would have two extra days to make up assignments. It is the
absent student’s responsibility to check Google Classroom for the day’s
agenda, and ask the teacher for any assignments they need. Arrangements
may need to be made to make up labs or assessments at lunch or after
school. Students with ​unexcused​ absences will not be allowed to make up
work for credit. If a student misses warm-up because of an unexcused
tardy, it will count against their science notebook grade.
2. Collecting and Returning Work: ​Most assignments will be turned into the
box at the front of the room and handed back after grading. I will try to
get short-term assignments graded and returned within 3-4 school days.
Some assignments will go directly into the science notebooks and
incorporated into the notebook grade. These are due on the day of each
unit’s test.
3. Late and Missing Work:​ Students with an excused absence may turn in late
work for the number of days of their absence without penalty. All other
late work is subject to a penalty of 20% if it is up to a week late, then
50% until the end of the unit. Past the end of the current unit, late
work may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
4. Daily Routine: ​We start each day of class with the day’s agenda and a
warm-up question up for students to begin. Students should be in their
assigned seats and have their science notebooks and a pencil ready as
soon as the class period starts. At the end of the period, students will
be expected to be back in their assigned seats for the wrap-up discussion
and last-minute announcements. Students are released by the teacher, not
by the bell.
5. Picking Up Supplies and Papers​: Students should check the counter at the
back of the room before taking their seats at the beginning of class for
any handouts, supplies, and returned work they need to pick up. If
supplies or papers need to be distributed in the middle of the class
period, one student from each table group will get them.
6. Moving Around the Room​: While the teacher is presenting or during
full-class discussions, students are to stay in their seats. If at all
possible, wait to get up for tissues, etc. at these times and if your
pencil breaks, please ask to borrow one instead of disturbing the class
by using the pencil sharpener. While students are working individually in
groups, they may get up and then promptly return to their seats after
they have finished their business. When moving to a different location in
the room for an activity, students should wait until the teacher
indicates that it is time before they get up out of their regular seats.
7. Group Work​: Students will often be assigned to work in groups for
laboratory and other activities. All members of a group will be expected
to be active participants, and to facilitate this, students will often be
assigned specific roles within the group. Failure to contribute to your
group may result in a reduction in a student’s grade.
8. Bathroom/Hall Passes:​ Except for emergencies, students will not be
allowed to leave during the first or last 15 minutes of class, or while
the teacher is giving directions to the class. After getting permission
from the teacher to leave, students will write where they are going and
what time they leave the room on the clipboard by the door of the
classroom. Requesting hall passes multiple times in a week or being gone
more than ten minutes may result in a student losing hall pass
privileges.
9. Asking for Help​: I am here to help you learn, so if you have any
questions please do not hesitate to ask! I am available before and after
school most days, but please let me know at the end of class if you are
planning to come in for extra help. You may also email me from your
student account, and I will get back to you within 24 hours, or on Monday
if you email me during the weekend (after 3:30 PM Friday). Please be
aware that if you ask me a complicated question via email I will most
likely either answer it in class or ask you to stop by to talk to me
before or after school.
Communication Plan:
The information contained in my classroom management plan will be sent home with students on the first day
of school on a syllabus, along with the letter to parents and guardians. There will also be a detachable page for
parents and students to sign indicating that have gone over the syllabus and class expectations together.
Information about expectations and the year’s plans will also be available all year on a class website, and
communicated directly to parents if they show up for back to school night.

In the case that a student isn’t meeting expectations on how to conduct him or herself in the classroom to the
point that a parent is being notified, I will have extra copies of the expectations on hand to use during a
conference. An abridged version will also be sent home at the beginning of the second semester, or the full
version for students who are switched into the class at the semester.

Students’ grades will be continuously updated in Aeries so parents will be able to check up on how their student
is doing academically and contact me with any concerns. If I have a concern, either behaviorally or
academically, I will contact a parent by email, and possibly follow up with a phone call if I don’t hear back.

Rationale:

Parent/Guardian Letter: The parent/guardian letter serves as an introduction and initial communication between
myself and the adults that my students go home to at the end of the day. The introduction to myself and my
educational background lets them know who is going to be teaching their student, and my educational
philosophy and the outline of what we will be doing in the class lets them know what to expect from the class.
Having open lines of communication between the teacher and the parents let us work together to help the
student succeed in my class, and this letter is just the beginning.

Grading: The standard A-F 10% scale isn’t the only way to assign grades, but it’s the most familiar to students
and it works well for my purposes. I’ve assigned Assessments to be 40% of the grade, which is a good balance
of requiring students to be able to demonstrate their mastery of the material, but not having tests be too
high-stakes. The science notebook should be an easy 20% of the grade to get, as long as students are in class
and use their notebooks as required. Laboratory assignments represent another 20% of the grade. The final 20%
is a catch-all for all other assignments. I didn’t separate homework into its own category, as a lot of the time if
students have work to do at home it will be a continuation of the same assignment they started in class.

Classroom Expectations: Number 1-4 and 6 of my classroom expectations are centered around setting the bar
high for students to stay focused on learning and for them to allow other students to do the same, so that I can
maximize instructional time. The goal is to spend as much time as possible, out of the 55 minutes I get every
day, learning biology. The other two expectations on the list include one about taking care of physical property,
to cover any situations like handling equipment recklessly or vandalism, and one about paying attention to
safety, which is especially important in the science classroom.

Routines and Procedures: This section of the classroom management plan lays out some basic policies about
how things will work day-to-day in the classroom. Having a written plan is especially important for things like
absent and late work, so students know what their rights are in terms of turning in work, and I don’t have to
make up policies on the fly when a student asks. Policies about things like when students are allowed to get up
out of their desks may be flexible at times, but having defined classroom norms facilitates an organized
classroom where students know what they are supposed to do. It’s hard to enforce rules and maintain order
when students don’t know what the rules are.

Communication plan: a great syllabus and parent letter don’t do any good if no one reads them, so I’m requiring
that students bring back a signed form where parents sign off that they have received and read the letter and
syllabus. The letter also invites parents to back to school night, which will be my first face-to-face meeting with
them. Building a relationship with parents and keeping communication that goes both ways allows me to work
with parents to meet students’ educational needs and solve any problems that come up.