SECOND QUARTER MID-MARKING PERIOD REPORTS

Progress reports for the 2nd marking period were mailed home on Wednesday, December 16, 2009. Contact your child's guidance counselor if you don't receive this important report.

CHANGE IN THE ACSD 2009-2010 SCHOOL CALENDAR

Due to NYS Education Department's change to the state testing schedule, the Staff Development Day originally scheduled for Friday, April 23, 2010 has been moved to Monday, April 19, 2010. Teachers will attend on April 19, but school will not be in session for students. Friday, April 23 will be a regular attendance day for students and staff.

PSAT RESULTS

AHS Guidance Department will be distributing PSAT results on Thursday, December 10, 2009 to all students who took the practice SATs this past October. As a reminder, Guidance will be holding an Information Night Series on how to interpret PSAT scores on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7pm in the Large Group Instruction (LGI) room at the high school. General information about the college process will also be provided.

MID-MARKING PERIOD FOR THE 2ND QUARTER

Friday, December 11, 2009 marks the middle of the 2nd marking period. Five week reports will be mailed home the middle of the following week.

FILE TRANSFERS BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL

Students now have a way to send digital files back and forth between school and home. See my Handouts page for the directions for using Moodle/iCampus to transfer files from school to home and back again. This is especially useful for students who are working on a long-term project such as their English research project. To access this site, go to http://galileo.dcboces.org/icampus/login and enter the same username and password you use to sign on to the computers at school. The directions are available when you login and can also be found on my handouts page.

PSAT & COLLEGE PROCESS

Our high school Guidance Department continues its Information Night series with a seminar on how to interpret the results of the PSAT test on December 10, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Large Group Instruction Room (Room 1432). The college process will also be discussed including SAT registration, a SUNY overview and other general information pertinent to junior year.

COMPUTER LABS

AHS has two computer labs for students' use. One is located on the West side of the building in room 1450, and the other is on the East side in room 1225. The labs are open from 7:20 a.m. until 3:15 p.m. every day. In the event that there is a meeting after school, or no school the following day, the computer labs will close at 2:20 p.m. There is always a morning announcement in this case. The computer labs can be used before and after school and during a free period (study hall, lunch, etc.). A color printer is available in each lab, along with a black and white printer, for students' use on school projects.

AHS LIBRARY

Our high school library is open from 7:15 AM to 3:10 PM every school day except when preceeding a day off from school when the library closes at 2:10 PM. Students may use the library during a study hall or lunch period by obtaining a pass from the library earlier in the day. Our library has an excellent collection of books and reference materials which are selected based on our high school curriculum. Your child should take advantage of our excellent collection when working on a research project.

PLANNERS

Students will be expected to purchase their own planners/assignment pads this year. This is a change from previous years when planners were distributed to all students. Please be sure your child obtains and uses this very important planning and organizational tool.

GRAPHING CALCULATORS

All students taking math, except those enrolled in Algebra 1A, will be expected to purchase a graphing calculator for their use. A Texas Instrument graphing calculator, model TI-83 or higher, is recommended. Back-to-school sales often offer these calculators at a reduced cost. Contact your child's guidance counselor if this purchase is not possible at this time.