Report cards for the 3rd grading period will be distributed tomorrow (Thursday) during a walk-through homeroom which will be between 2nd and 3rd periods. You should already know what to expect on your reportcard, but I want to remind you that you have 9 weeks left plus exams. most classes function on a 40/40/20 principle which means that 40% of your grade is now finished, but you still have 60% remaining. Every point matters - so do your best to finish the school year strong.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Report Cards
Report cards for the 3rd grading period will be distributed tomorrow (Thursday) during a walk-through homeroom which will be between 2nd and 3rd periods. You should already know what to expect on your reportcard, but I want to remind you that you have 9 weeks left plus exams. most classes function on a 40/40/20 principle which means that 40% of your grade is now finished, but you still have 60% remaining. Every point matters - so do your best to finish the school year strong.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Rubik's Cube
The puzzles, games, toys, and of course candy are pretty regular draws for students in my office. Over the past few days students have been discussing what toy is their favorite from the choices that are in my office. The Rubik’s Cube is one that frequently frustrates and yet appeals to a lot of students just the same. Here are some interesting Rubik’s cube facts according to the website listafterlist.com and the website recordholders.org.The Fastest: 9.18 seconds by Edouard Chambon of France
The Fastest Blindfolded: 1 minute, 0.62 seconds by Alexander Yu of the U.S.
Most Cubes while Blindfolded: 10 by Dennis Strehlau of Germany
The Fastest One-Handed: 15.81 seconds by Thibaut Jacquinot of France
The Fastest with Feet Only: 39.88 seconds by Anssi Vanhala of Finland
Most Cubes Solved in 24 Hours: 3,390 by Zbigniew Zborowski of Poland
The Youngest Solver in Competition: Enxi Xie of China, 4.5 yrs old, solved in 1 minute 28.06 seconds
Underwater with no breathing equipment: Dan Harris, 6 cubes in 4 minutes, 10 seconds
So, while I find these facts interesting, I have to wonder – exactly WHAT were they procrastinating from doing?!? Seriously, how bored must you be to try to come up with the idea to solve a Rubik’s Cube with your feet or to take it underwater or to spend 24 hours non-stop trying to solve it, but whatever – it made my blog and plenty of other websites so I guess it was worth it. And the 4 and a half year old little kid who can solve it in less than a minute and a half… well, doesn’t that just make the rest of us who struggle to solve it feel stupid. :-) Oh well, it is still fun to try to figure out even if it is far far away from a world record.
(Thanks to Miss Schwartz for finding this Rubik’s Cube information…)
One additional note for seniors – tomorrow (Wednesday) you have a class meeting. All other grades will be on a regular bell schedule, but seniors will be released from 2nd period 10 minutes early and you will return to 3rd period about 20 minutes late.
So, while I find these facts interesting, I have to wonder – exactly WHAT were they procrastinating from doing?!? Seriously, how bored must you be to try to come up with the idea to solve a Rubik’s Cube with your feet or to take it underwater or to spend 24 hours non-stop trying to solve it, but whatever – it made my blog and plenty of other websites so I guess it was worth it. And the 4 and a half year old little kid who can solve it in less than a minute and a half… well, doesn’t that just make the rest of us who struggle to solve it feel stupid. :-) Oh well, it is still fun to try to figure out even if it is far far away from a world record.
(Thanks to Miss Schwartz for finding this Rubik’s Cube information…)
One additional note for seniors – tomorrow (Wednesday) you have a class meeting. All other grades will be on a regular bell schedule, but seniors will be released from 2nd period 10 minutes early and you will return to 3rd period about 20 minutes late.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Spring Weather
OK - so I feel a little bit like my step-grandmother who loves to talk about the weather, but FINALLY we have spring weather! :-) I am so happy to see the sun shining and to be able to enjoy time outside without freezing. With the warm weather finally here I hope that you took some time to enjoy it over the weekend. I am really looking forward to spending some time watching spring sports beginning this week. I told one of "my" students that I wouldn't come to his baseball games until it was warmer and not raining... finally looks like we will actually be able to find those warmer days. (Of course the rain may still be an issue, but it's still a step in the right direction.) As we begin the final grading period of the year, the warmer weather does have one potential downfall - it is another possible distraction from school work. Please try to stay focused on finishing the school year strong. Enjoy the beautiful weather!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Thank You Notes
A thank you note is a simple enough idea - let someone else know that you appreciate them. I don't know about you, but a lot of times I am terrible at writing thank you notes. It doesn't mean that my gratitude is any less, but... and that is where everything falls apart. If I don't express my gratitude to the person who has been a positive influence in my life or who has done something nice for me or gone out of their way to help me, then how do they know how much I appreciate it? See the problem?And I am pretty confident that many of you face the same problem. So I want to remind you of the importance of thank you notes. They do not have to be long or flowery - simply thank the person who has helped you. This is especially important for teachers who have written recommendation letters for you. Many people do not realize the time and effort it takes to write a good recommendation letter. If you didn't thank your teachers at the time they wrote your recommendation letters, perhaps now - as you finish your high school journey - is the perfect time! Thank them for their help and support in your college application process. Let them know where you ended up being offered admission and what you have decided and make sure that they know how much you appreciate their help along the way. It won't take you a long time, but it will certainly mean a lot to them.
Before I close this post, I want to be very clear - I am NOT talking about writing to me! I do NOT need nor am I in any way hinting, asking for, or needing you to write a thank you note to me! I just figured we could all use a reminder in the importance of writing thank you notes and expressing our gratitude for those around us. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
News, Notes, and Other Important Reminders
I have a variety of news, notes, and other important reminders for you today...To start off with - one important reminder - you all have a LATE START day tomorrow! Enjoy sleeping in... I'm jealous! :-) With tomorrow being the end of the 3rd nine weeks, your teachers will be busy working on grades in the morning so that report cards can go home next week.
Anyone interested in participating in the PSEO (Post-Secondary Education Options) program MUST have their forms completed and turned in no later than next Monday, April 7th.
Juniors, there will be a Junior Student and Parent information night on Monday, April 14th at 7pm in the WKHS Auditorium. According to the e-mails I received after this presentation last year, this is the most useful/ informative evening that we host. I hope that you will plan to attend! And yes, I want you to bring your parents to this meeting and no, I don't want you to just send your parents instead... this is YOUR future and you are responsible for deciding the direction that you will take.
Seniors, don't forget that the deadline for all of the local scholarships is next Friday, April 11th. No late applications will be accepted.
Also for Seniors, I saw today that the WKHS Academic Boosters set out the Academic Signing Day forms in the Counseling Center. If you have been awarded a Merit/ Academic or Fine Art (Not Athletic) Scholarships that will be applied to the college you plan to attend AND the scholarship is worth at least $1,000 renewable for 4 years OR worth at least $4,000 for the first year, then you are eligible to participate in the Academic Signing Day. You must complete the form by May 8th in order to participate in the ceremony which will be held on May 14th at 7:30am. Stop in and see me if you have any questions.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Academic Honors Night
Tonight was the Academic Honors Night recognizing the students who have achieved consistently outstanding grades at WKHS. Approximately 400 students were honored as a part of tonight's ceremony. To qualify for the recognition of a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Key students had to have earned a cumulative grade point average of a 3.5 or higher for 3 (Bronze), 5 (Silver), or 7 (Gold) semesters. Congratulations to each of "my" 84 students who received this special recognition!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission
I hope you had a nice April Fools Day without anyone "fooling" you. :-) Below is an article that I thought you would find interesting regarding the recent admissions decisions. I have seen happy faces and others disappointed as news came in over the past few days, but I hope this helps keep the admissions decisions in perspective because I believe in you and I *know* that there are great things ahead for you!
Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission
New York Times
April 1, 2008
The already crazed competition for admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges became even more intense this year, with many logging record low acceptance rates.
Harvard College, for example, offered admission to only 7.1 percent of the 27,462 high school seniors who applied — or, put another way, it rejected 93 of every 100 applicants, many with extraordinary achievements, like a perfect score on one of the SAT exams. Yale College accepted 8.3 percent of its 22,813 applicants. Both rates were records.
Columbia College admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants, Brown University and Dartmouth College 13 percent, and Bowdoin College and Georgetown University 18 percent — also records.
“We love the people we admitted, but we also love a very large number of the people who we were not able to admit,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College.
Some colleges said they placed more students on their waiting lists than in recent years, in part because of uncertainty over how many admitted students would decide to enroll. Harvard and Princeton stopped accepting students through early admission this academic year; that meant that more than 1,500 students who would have been admitted in December were likely to have applied to many elite schools in the regular round.
Many factors contributed to the tightening of the competition at the most selective colleges, admissions deans and high school counselors said, among them demographics. The number of high school graduates in the nation has grown each year over the last decade and a half, though demographers project that the figure will peak this year or next, which might reduce the competition a little.
Other factors were the ease of online applications, expanded financial aid packages, aggressive recruiting of a broader range of young people, and ambitious students’ applying to ever more colleges.
The eight Ivy League colleges mailed acceptance and rejection letters on Monday to tens of thousands of applicants. Students could learn the fate of their applications online beginning at 5 p.m. on Monday, so three of the colleges said they were not ready to make public their admissions data. But the expectation was that they would also turn out to have been more competitive than ever.
“For the schools that are perceived to have the most competitive admissions processes, there has been this persistent rise in applications,” said Jeffrey Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale.
Ten years ago, slightly fewer than 12,000 students applied to Yale, compared with the 22,813 who applied this year, Mr. Brenzel said. Yale’s admittance rate — the proportion of applicants offered admission — was nearly 18 percent in 1998, more than double the rate this year.
“We’re really happy with the class,” Mr. Brenzel said of the students offered admission. “On a day like today it’s also easy to be aware of the incredible number of fantastic students who you have to turn away, because you know they would be successful here.”
At Harvard, as at Yale, the applicant pool included an extraordinary number of academically gifted students. More than 2,500 of Harvard’s 27,462 applicants scored a perfect 800 on the SAT critical reading test, and 3,300 had 800 scores on the SAT math exam. More than 3,300 were ranked first in their high school class.
Admissions deans and high school guidance counselors said they spent hours at this time of year reminding students who had been put on waiting lists or rejected entirely that there were other excellent colleges on their lists — and that rejection was often about the overwhelming numbers, rather than their merits as individuals.
“I know why it matters so much, and I also don’t understand why it matters so much,” said William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin. “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us away from it.”
By ALAN FINDER
Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission
New York Times
April 1, 2008
The already crazed competition for admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges became even more intense this year, with many logging record low acceptance rates.
Harvard College, for example, offered admission to only 7.1 percent of the 27,462 high school seniors who applied — or, put another way, it rejected 93 of every 100 applicants, many with extraordinary achievements, like a perfect score on one of the SAT exams. Yale College accepted 8.3 percent of its 22,813 applicants. Both rates were records.
Columbia College admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants, Brown University and Dartmouth College 13 percent, and Bowdoin College and Georgetown University 18 percent — also records.
“We love the people we admitted, but we also love a very large number of the people who we were not able to admit,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College.
Some colleges said they placed more students on their waiting lists than in recent years, in part because of uncertainty over how many admitted students would decide to enroll. Harvard and Princeton stopped accepting students through early admission this academic year; that meant that more than 1,500 students who would have been admitted in December were likely to have applied to many elite schools in the regular round.
Many factors contributed to the tightening of the competition at the most selective colleges, admissions deans and high school counselors said, among them demographics. The number of high school graduates in the nation has grown each year over the last decade and a half, though demographers project that the figure will peak this year or next, which might reduce the competition a little.
Other factors were the ease of online applications, expanded financial aid packages, aggressive recruiting of a broader range of young people, and ambitious students’ applying to ever more colleges.
The eight Ivy League colleges mailed acceptance and rejection letters on Monday to tens of thousands of applicants. Students could learn the fate of their applications online beginning at 5 p.m. on Monday, so three of the colleges said they were not ready to make public their admissions data. But the expectation was that they would also turn out to have been more competitive than ever.
“For the schools that are perceived to have the most competitive admissions processes, there has been this persistent rise in applications,” said Jeffrey Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale.
Ten years ago, slightly fewer than 12,000 students applied to Yale, compared with the 22,813 who applied this year, Mr. Brenzel said. Yale’s admittance rate — the proportion of applicants offered admission — was nearly 18 percent in 1998, more than double the rate this year.
“We’re really happy with the class,” Mr. Brenzel said of the students offered admission. “On a day like today it’s also easy to be aware of the incredible number of fantastic students who you have to turn away, because you know they would be successful here.”
At Harvard, as at Yale, the applicant pool included an extraordinary number of academically gifted students. More than 2,500 of Harvard’s 27,462 applicants scored a perfect 800 on the SAT critical reading test, and 3,300 had 800 scores on the SAT math exam. More than 3,300 were ranked first in their high school class.
Admissions deans and high school guidance counselors said they spent hours at this time of year reminding students who had been put on waiting lists or rejected entirely that there were other excellent colleges on their lists — and that rejection was often about the overwhelming numbers, rather than their merits as individuals.
“I know why it matters so much, and I also don’t understand why it matters so much,” said William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin. “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us away from it.”
By ALAN FINDER
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