Dear Parents/Guardians, 

My name is Farah Zgheib, I am your Child's AP Chemistry teacher. I am very excited to be working with you and your child this year. The AP Chemistry class will meet all 3 trimesters.  I believe that together we can create the best learning environment for your child. I also believe that one of the main keys to your child’s success is parent-teacher communication.  This year parents will be again able to check their student’s test grades, missing assignments, and overall grade from the Internet.  Please contact your student’s counselor if you need more information about this service. 

I am looking forward for a successful and productive school year together!   

There is information about the AP Chemistry class on "All About AP Chem" page.  All content will be posted on this website under the chapter links and all assignments will be posted on google classroom.  

Many parents in the past have asked for strategies they could use with their son/daughter to get more out their science experience.  The following is a list of suggestions.

 Ask your student:

1. To share the information we are studying in class with you each day.  Check to be certain they are entering assignments and due dates in their planners/ phone calendars.  All of this will help you to encourage your student to be better organized.

2. To set up a space to keep all of their school work organized.  Make sure that they have a central calendar that they mark all of the assignments on so they do not lose track of due dates.  They should write down their work that needs to be completed as soon as they receive the weekly schedule from their teacher.

3. To check their email each day.  A lot of communication will be coming to them through email.  Have them delete anything that they do not need and flag important emails so they do not get lost.  At the end of the week, they should look through the emails that they received and clear out anything they do not need so they are ready for the next week's work.

4. To ask for help AS SOON AS THEY NEED IT!  I am available upon request either before or after school.

5. To make sure to keep up with the assignments.  Again, chemistry concepts build on one another and it is best learned in small chunks, not all at once.

6. To explain the concepts that we are learning in class to you.  Chemistry is a laboratory-based class.  I believe in hands-on learning and real life examples.  There are many opportunities to explain chemsistry concepts in real life. It has been proven that you retain 95% of the material when you teach it to someone else.

I believe that one of the main keys to your child’s success is parent-teacher communication.  I update the weekly schedule each week to let you know what learning should be taking place during the week.  

I will also periodically e-mail parents through PowerSchool.  Please make sure your e-mail is up to date with the main office.  

This year parents will be again able to check their student’s test grades, missing assignments, and overall grade from PowerSchool.  Please contact your student’s counselor if you need more information about this service. 

Your student is encouraged to sign up for text messages from me through Remind.  I will be sending out quick reminders or helpful hints on Remind.  Remind now has a limit on the number of students that can sign up for a class, so I would encourage you to look at your student's remind account to see what is sent out as there is not enough room for all of the students and parents in one class.  All of the weekly accouncements will be posted on here and on the google classroom stream, which you can receive if you sign up for a parent email summary (see that section above.) 

Please also talk to your student about academic honesty.  I have seen a rise in students using their phones to take pictures of homework assignments and tests to send to other students.  Sending or receiving other people’s work is academic dishonesty and could result in a zero for the assignment/test, no credit in the class, and/or academic dishonesty written on their report card.  It is important for students to do their own work to be able to properly learn the material.  Your student has signed an academic honesty agreement that said that they understand what it means and will not engage in any dishonest behavior.

With standards based grading, students need to show that they have learned the material, not that their lab partner or friend has learned the material.