THANKS TO ALL TEACHERS ESPECIALLY THE ONE'S AT PDA!!!

FOR STANDING AND DEMANDING EXCELLENCE

FOR GUIDING AND PROVIDING DIRECTION

FOR BEARING AND SHARING GOODWILL

FOR REACHING AND TEACHING OUR FUTURE.

PDA 2012-13 FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE

May 10. 2013 - Cultural Studies (Final Research Project Due - for seniors only)

May 10, 2013 - Honors Chemistry (Final Research Project Due - for seniors only)

May 10, 2013 - English 12 (Final Research Project Due - for seniors only)

May 15, 2013 - U.S. Government

May 15, 2013 - World History

May 17, 2013 - Commencement

May 20, 2013 - Biology

May 20, 2013 - Chemistry

May 20, 2013 - Physical Science

May 21, 2013 - English 9

May 21, 2013 - English 10

May 21, 2013 - English 11

May 21, 2013 - Creative Writing (All sections)

May 23, 2013 - Computer Science

May 23, 2013 - Accounting

May 24, 2013 - Algebra 1

May 24, 2013 - Algebra 2

May 24, 2013 - Geometry

May 24, 2013 - Pre Calculus

Here are the notes on what we saw today about the interrogative pronouns. So you can study for Thursday's test. 

http://chernandezspanish.blogspot.com/2013/03/interrogatives.html

Aquí están los apuntes sobre lo que vimos hoy sobre los pronombres interrogativos para que puedan estudiar para la prueba del jueves. 

http://chernandezspanish.blogspot.com/2013/03/interrogatives.html

Dear PDA School Community, 

Reminder!!  Please submit questions for our scholars' assimilated town hall debate on same sex marriage and the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana.  

Thanks for your participation.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and
Saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
His response was a question:
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them - quickly and correctly. I am easily managed - you must be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically. I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you
Who am I?
I am Habit.
- Anonymous

Dear students,

I have uploaded the vocabulary to a blog you can use to study today's vocabulary for next lesson's listening comprehension. 

This is the address. I will post there all the vocabulary and the verbs of the week to study. 

http://chernandezspanish.blogspot.com/2012/12/vocabulario-leccion-1.html

¡Hasta el jueves!

Sra. Hernández

On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 1pm.  PDA’s Cultural Studies class will assimilate a town hall debate.   This town hall debate exercise will allow our scholars to continue debating issues concerning same-sex marriage and the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana for persons 21 years or older.  The Cultural Studies’ scholars have been discussing and debating the aforementioned issues in class and researching articles and other sources of information on these issues.

I would like to invite the entire school community to participate in our town hall debate.  To that end I ask that each and every PDA parent, teacher, staff, scholar and stakeholder submit questions (THIS WEEK to will@princetonday.com).  Some, if not all, of your submitted questions will be presented to our scholars on the day of the debate.  If you are able to join us on December 12th, you will be able to ask your pre-submitted question.  

Thus far, our class discussions and debates have been spirited, challenging and insightful.   It is my intent that this exercise will give our scholars another opportunity to further develop their communication skills.  In our ever-changing world I believe it is vitally important that our scholars/future leaders are able to establish their voices on the issues of the day.   If you share my belief I ask again that you please take part in this exercise.

Cheerfully Submitted,

Will
will@princetonday.com

Today I had the pleasure of meeting the mothers of two PDA scholars who confirmed my belief that PDA families are committed to education and academic excellence.  After my parent meetings today I was inspired to send this message to remind our scholars that they have an awesome opportunity to maximize their education experience at PDA.  PDA's comprehensive internet, cloud based school management system combined with its favorable student-to-teacher ratio really affords each scholar the ability to achieve academic excellence. 

As I informed the scholars taking my classes on my first day of instruction this year, my goal is to challenge each scholar to become more effective communicators.   To that end, my classroom exercises provide multiple opportunities for each scholar to provide both oral and written commentary.  I challenge each scholar to work to be as thoughtful and as thorough as possible in his/her communications.  Work to establish your principles, thoughts and beliefs.  Work to find your voice and your message.  And work to be heard and understood.

I strongly believe that when my scholars accept my challenge they will get the most out of their PDA academic experience.  Moreover, by accepting my challenge this school year they will be better equipped to take on the additional challenges that await each and every one of them in the years to come.

Cheerfully submitted,

Will Purcell

will@princetonday.com

I hope everybody's had a wonderful weekend...now time to get back on the grind before the extended Thanksgiving break. Also if anybody is interested in playing baseball...offseason workouts begin tomorrow afterschool, at the field acrossed the street from 3 until 4-415 for all parents please make arrangements for transportation after practice I do not have the means supply an activity bus... Hope to see some participants come out and play.

Mr Trupe!

Due to the storm, and the fact the quarter ends wednesday and all the work being completed for the quarter is finished, except for your end of quarter Test. Each student is being given a 1-time opportunity, if needed.

Assignment for today, Look at Thinkwave and if you are missing any assignments, now is your opportunity to complete it late for 50%. So you have until 11:59 to have everything completed and turned in for 50%, if you haven't turned everything in by now.

Be safe,

God Bless,

Mr. Trupe

Your quarter test is scheduled for tuesday 10/30/12. and attached is your study guide!

Study Guide for test

SAT Access & Equity

More than ever, the population of students taking the SAT reflects the diverse makeup of America's classrooms.

Among SAT takers in the class of 2012:

45 percent were minority students (up from 44 percent in the class of 2011 and 38 percent in the class of 2008) making this the most diverse class of SAT takers ever.

Among public school SAT takers in the class of 2012, 46 percent were minority students, up from 39 percent five years ago.

28 percent reported that English was not exclusively their first language (up from 27 percent in the class of 2011 and 24 percent in the class of 2008).

Among public school SAT takers in the class of 2012, 25 percent reported that English was not exclusively their first language, up from 23 percent five years ago.

36 percent of all students reported their parents' highest level of education as a high school diploma or less.

MID - QUARTER TEST WEDNESDAY:

ALGEBRA 1

GEOMETRY

ALGEBRA 2

PRE-CALCULUS

If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is...

Have a nice weekend ladies and gentlemen...week 3 is in the books...week 4 starts in 3 days...after week 4, we are halfway through the quarter, right in time for progress reports...if your grade is lower than you like, work hard to get it where it needs to be...if your grade is where you want it, continue to work hard to maintain it...

Good Luck and have a nice weekend...

Economics - we start Budgeting next week

English - we start working, reading, and writing about material in our books next week, so make sure you're prepared for class everyday

"People only see what they are prepared to see."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Exciting things are happening in science at Princeton Day Academy!
In Physical Science, we are participating in the FIRST Tech Challenge, a robot-building project that teaches students all aspects of an engineering project. We will compete with our robot in a couple of months, so stay tuned for details. You can see this year's challenge on the following website: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/game. 
In Biology, we are continuing to learn about the characteristics of life.
In Chemistry, we are learning about matter and the history of atomic theory.
In Physics, we are taking a problem-solving approach to motion in one dimension (straight line motion).
In Ecology, we are starting a collaboration with NASA called Exploration Earth and Beyond. This program will culminate with an astronaut on the International Space Station taking pictures at our request and interacting with our students as they work to understand and determine solutions for a problem facing Earth (global warming or deforestation, for example).

In Forensics, students are learning how to be excellent public speakers. They have given two formal speeches so far, one on their personal heroes (parents, you were the most frequent choice of personal hero by your scholars) and one on a desirable personal characteristic and a famous person who exemplifies that characteristic. These speeches are at least two minutes long.

I have asked all scholars and their parents to email me with the scholar’s name in the subject line of the email. The purpose is to establish email communication between us. I can then easily email scholars’ work back to them and parents can let me know of any questions or concerns they may have. The emails count as a homework grade: 50 for the scholar’s email and 50 points for the parents’.

Here is a great website for help on physics problems.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1dkin/ 

Have a great weekend.

Fran

Be a life long learner, not a life long student. You can't rob the world of your mind...

Individual characteristics or dispositions of every PDA student bring to their learning, such as their interests, responsibility for learning, effort, values and perceived ability.

Are students confident or fearful when they approach new learning tasks?

Do they attribute success to luck, or do they appreciate the effort required?

Do they feel in control of the factors that lead to success?

The answer are yours.....

My "CONGRATULATIONS" TO ALL PDA SCHOLARS ...

Please download the Spheres of Earth Student Guide. Complete the outline assignment by Tues, Sept 25.

A few tips on the College application process

•Form an application assembly line. Since you have limited time, it's critical to be efficient. Spread out all of your applications for the colleges and group together the common pieces. For example, almost all colleges have a page where you need to list your grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. Most colleges ask for your honors and awards as well as require admission essays. By focusing on completing each group of papers together, you'll save yourself a lot of time by not having to repeatedly look for the same information.

•Don't skip proofreading. With deadlines looming it can be easy to skip proofreading your application. Yet, careless mistakes that range from simple errors in grammar to actually misspelling the name of the college detract from an otherwise strong application. An even better idea is to have someone else look at your application.

•Recycling is not only for aluminum cans. Since each college requires one to three essays, you can save yourself a lot of time by recycling some of your essays. By editing the introduction and conclusion you can change the focus of your essay so that it can answer another college's question. While recycling is a good idea, it is very important to have someone else read your essay to make sure that it actually answers the question.

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.........

1 Visit bigfuture.org and choose
“Make a Plan.”

2 Answer a few simple questions
about you. Start by answering what grade you are in. Answer
as few as one or as many as five questions to
create your plan. The more you answer, the more
customized your plan.
 

3 You’ve got a plan! Choose an
activity to complete. Your plan includes activities and steps to get ready
for college—choose one to get started. Want to see
more options? Page through your list of activities or
sort them by topic. You’ll find resources, advice, and
student perspectives all along the way to guide you.
 

4 Track and share your progress. Click “done” after completing an activity to update
your plan and track your progress. Then share with
your counselor and family. Want to peek at what’s
coming up next? Use the top menu to browse
through other seasons or grade levels.
 

5 Save your plan.
Use your College Board login to save your plan
and access it—and other saved information like
your favorite colleges—at any time from the
“My Organizer” taskbar at the bottom

Visit bigfuture.org to find your path to college.

On Wednesday students in Chicago public schools returned to classes after missing more than a week of school because their teachers were on strike. One of the questions at the heart of the strike: How should teachers be evaluated?

While education leaders in Chicago were not seriously talking about having students evaluate their teachers, some education reformers are. The idea is nothing new in colleges, where students frequently evaluate their professors. So, do you think middle and high school students should be able to grade their teachers?

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Being prepared for a class is a key part of understanding the material, and getting good grades. By being prepared before the class begins, you can follow along with what the teacher is saying, and pick up on little bits of information that will help you gain an even better understanding. Below are some tips for being prepared for class.

• The first key to being prepared is to read the assigned chapters and the REREAD
• The next step to preparing for class is to do your homework. Answer any assigned questions and problems whether they are collected for a grade or not. It also helps reinforce the things that you have learned.
• Once you get to class it's important that you actively listen to your teacher. Now is not the time to read the assignment you should have read before class, or to work on your homework.

The big thing is to do your work before class. It's been recommended that you allow 2 hours of study time for every 1 hour of class. I recommend at least that, if not more. Being prepared before class will make the time in class more beneficial, and you will leave your class session felling like you really do understand what the professor was talking about. After all, isn't that the reason your going to class?

essay

Study Guide

Study Guide for the test on turesday

This is the vocabulary list for the unit on Characteristics of Life. You'll have to learn these definitions before the quiz on Friday, Sept 21 and for the Test on Wednesday, Sept 26.

There is still time to register for the October 6 SAT and upcoming test dates.

For more information on the SAT, the college admission process,  practice test, sample questions and a SATstudy guide please visit and register at  www.collegeboard.org

SAT Date               Deadline                               Status

Oct 6                    Late Registration Sept 21                  Late

Nov 3                   Oct 4                                                  Register Now! 19 days left

Dec 1                   Nov 1                                                 Register now! 47 days left

A college degree is not a sign that one is a finished product but an indication a person is prepared for life.

Wanted to update you with the latest on all things PDA ...

Mock SAT Results

Our Mock SAT results were phenomenal!!

Brandon Dyke, 2014, scored an incredible 2200 out of a possible 2400. He notched a perfect 800 on the hardest portion, Reading, missed only two questions on the Math section for a 770 out of 800 and tallied 630 on the essay section.

This is a truly outstanding score and puts Brandon on the elite level of students nationwide.

We also have another young man who did quite well, Emmanuel Orji, 2015, who scored a super high 1890, which places him amongst the highest achieving 10th graders in America.

The trend that stood out to us the most is that across the board, the highest scores were achieved by returning PDA scholars.

The national average for the SAT - and the test our scholars took was the same exact test they'll be taking this year - is 1500 out of 2400.

Returning PDA scholars averaged 1790 on the test, which places us 290 points above the national average and a remarkable 513 points above the average for African-American students.

Our students have typically scored well which had led to many college scholarships however, this year's scores place us at the elite level with nearly 80% of our underclassmen on track for the National Merit Scholar program.

Congratulations to our scholars and teachers for their hard work, and focus.

PDA Newspaper

I have attached a copy of our school paper, the PDA Thunder, which was released today.

We are proud of our underclassmen, Brianna Brown, 2016, Zoe Price, 2015 and Chris Rauch, 2016 on producing an impressive first edition.

Go Storm!

Dr. Van W