Virtual Office Hours for Interim

Hi all,

I will be conducting virtual office hours on this Sunday, Nov. 8th, from 7PM-9PM.  Good luck studying for your interim!

For your interim, please remember to bring

1. Your assessment statements to hand in
2. A calculator
3. A ruler
4. A pen and pencil

Best!

Mr. Hill

Virtual Office Hours

Hi all,

We'll be trying something new to offer you some support in preparing for your unit exam.  This Sunday, from 8:00PM - 9:00PM, I'll be conducting virtual office hours to address any last minute questions you have about our stuff of life unit.  If you'd like to take advantage of this, you can instant message screen name MagisterHill on AIM.  Make sure to tell me who you are.

I will have an away message up if I'm working with another student.  If I have an away message, IM me with your question and I'll take your questions in the order that I get them.

Hope this is helpful.

Best,
Mr. Hill

Unit 2 Exam is one week from today

Today, R6 demonstrated the properties of water and R4 learned a little bit more about Microsoft Excel to help them rewrite their lab reports.  Tomorrow, I will be posting a big post about water with some helpful review material.

Note that today is one week until your unit 2 exam, and two weeks until your first interim assessment.  The time to review is now!  I'm posting an outline of the rest of the week, with relevant assessment statements for each day.

Monday / Tuesday - Properties of Water Demos and Discussion (3.1.4-3.1.6)
Wednesday - Whole Class Modeling of Polypeptide Structure (3.2.5)
Thursday - Lecture on Protein Folding (7.1)
Friday - Organic and Inorganic Stuff Share Out / Exam Review (3.2.1 and 3.1.1-3.1.3)

Next Monday - Unit 2 Exam
Next Wednesday - Unit 2 Exam Review and Interim Assessment Review

Homework
R4 - Please revise your Lab #1 to turn in tomorrow.  You must hand this in when you walk in tomorrow.

R6 - Continue to work on assessment statements, due the day of the Interim Assessment.

Classroom resources

Today, we worked in groups to examine the "tools of the trade" are available to help them with the considerable workload to follow in IB Biology.

Homework for Monday, September 14th: Complete the online microscope pre-activities in preparation for our first use of the microscope in lab this week.  Please go go to this website, courtesy of the University of Deleware, that offers you two resources: a video introduction to the microscope, and a virtual microscope that you can manipulate and use.  This will help you sharpen your scope skills in preparation for the real thing.  Using these resources, please complete the pre-lab handed out in class.  If you lost it or were absent, the worksheet can be downloaded below.

Microscope pre-lab worksheet

Have a wonderful weekend!
-Mr. Hill

Assessment in Biology

Today, we answered the question: "How will I be graded in Biology?" That's a good question.

All discipuli have hard copies of the syllabus and the Student Handbook, which lay out the expectations for this class, the major assignments that contribute to your grade, and how your grade is calculated.  For reference, you can download those documents here:


Student Handbook

Syllabus

For parents, discipuli, and advisors: please note that on the last page of the student syllabus there is a grade tracker to keep note of your graded assessments and computer your cumulative average.  You can use this tool to keep yourself on track in between term reports.  If you need to update the information in your grade tracker, see me and we can go through your file.

Thanks,
Mr. Hill

Welcome to IB Biology!

Greeting to Class II discipuli and their parents, guardians, siblings, family pets, and all others who are joining us for the inaugural voyage of IB Biology!

The International Baccalaureate and the Brooklyn Latin School are proud to offer an intense two-year course in Biology, the scientific study of life.  Throughout our journey together, this blog will serve as a home base and study resource for discipuli and their families alike.  As we progress, I will be updating the blog with course information, upcoming deadlines and test dates, study material, helpful animations and videos, and just plain ol' fascinating biology stuff for the curious.  Discipuli, I recommend you bookmark this page and check it regularly.

To parents: I'm often asked how you can help your child succeed in my class.  Maybe some of you are expert NASA trained scientists, and maybe some haven't looked at science since you accidently blew up the chemistry lab in high school.  Both are great, as is everything in between.  Regardless of your background, the best way you can help your child (and me!) is to talk to them regularly about what they're learning in biology.  The more they talk and think about this stuff outside of class, the better it sticks.  And let's face it, biology is fascinating!  You're invited to check the blog regularly if you want to find out more about what we're learning, or if you want to check up on upcoming tests, quizzes, and other assignments.

I'm looking forward to working with everyone over the next two years.