SOLs Covered: 7.PS.1 Probability
Math Topic: 14 Probability
Daily Agenda: March 16-19, 2026
Upcoming Assessments: Unit 9-10 Probability & Histograms (Fri. 3/27)
Good afternoon! It's been a crazy day, so let's jump right into it as I still need to finish prepping for next week. I have just finished updating grades and aside from a few students who have been given the opportunity to complete the final test through midnight tonight (absolute final deadline, no exceptions), grades are now set for the third marking period. With the start of our newest unit, students already have grades for the final marking period. That being said, there are many that still haven't completed the first assignment even after two days in class and thus they are starting the term with a 0 F. As we've done all year, students will still be allowed the opportunity to complete missing work (and redo assignments as needed) through the term deadline, which is set for Friday, May 22nd.
I have been encouraging the kids for several weeks now to also look at their 4th marking period grades to gauge where they currently stand for the year and I encourage parents/guardians to do the same. Because of the date, ParentVUE/StudentVUE will still default to the 3rd term, but you can switch it from a dropdown menu towards the top right of the screen when viewing the grade book (FYI that elective classes that switched at the semester do not show on this screen, but you can manually calculate the two semesters together to determine what the year average would be). For any other class that might still be showing an "N/A" for the year average, I would encourage you to reach out to the teacher of that class as it's generally a setting they need to adjust in the grade book.
No matter where their grades currently stand, please note that it is still entirely possible to turn their final grade for my class around for the year. For the 1st three terms of the year, I manually adjust any students grade to ensure they have no less than a 50% for the term (ex. if they had earned a 25F, it's bumped up to a 50F). While it's still a failing grade, it allows students the chance to turn things around to still pass as long as they make the mental adjustment needed to improve. If they only slipped for one quarter, it can be fairly easy to turn it around, but it is definitely much harder if this had to be done all three terms as they would need to get a 90% or higher to get the final average to a 60D for the year, but it is possible.
Additionally, as we're approaching SOL review season, I shared with the kids (or reminded for those I taught last year) that I use the old high school exam conversion chart (I have no idea if this is still used or been adjusted at the district level, so if any of you are CCPS high school teachers who know, please reach out!) to adjust their grades to reflect any gains made. This is only used to improve grades (never drop) and basically means that if the student has been failing my class but passed their SOL, I will adjust their grades so that they are left passing for the year. This can also benefit students who are passing as I will adjust any 4th marking period grades to show their growth (ex. if they're grade were a 70C but their SOL score equates to an 85, I'll bump their grade up to an 85).
This has already gotten rather drawn out, so I'll wrap things up by informing you that we started our second to last new topic (probability), which will be combined with the next (histograms) for the final regular summative test of the year at the end of next week before we head out for spring break. We'll jump right into SOL review after.
That should more than cover things, but please reach out if you have any questions. Just a reminder that I do not respond to emails outside of working hours in efforts to establish a more healthy work/life balance, but I will get back to you Monday. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!