Welcome!!

Dear Pre-Algebra parents,

Your son/daughter is enrolled in CHAT Pre-Algebra this fall. If you haven't already done so, please buy your textbook. You can purchase it new at Rainbow Resource, BJU Press, etc. Or you might be able to find a used one online on Amazon.com, half.com, or abebooks.com.  Start looking now.  The book is yellow with a cross section of a shell on the front. The ISBN numbers are #978-1-59166-546-5 or #1591665469.  (If you have ordered a book and it does not come in time for the first class, please let me know and I will scan and email what is needed for the first week.)

Please visit www.CHATmathclasses.com. There you can view or download the course syllabus, homework expectations, assignment notes, and tentative assignment schedule. There are also help videos posted for each week to reinforce the concepts taught.  The username is chatmath and the password is numbers.

My goal is to cover chapters 1-13. We will make adjustments as necessary as we go. You will notice that there are usually 5 assignments given per week. You can decide which 5 days you will use as assignment days. If there is a test to be taken it is considered one of the 5 assignments for the week. There will be assignment notes posted on the CHAT math website which are designed to "tutor" your student through the homework problems that they do at home. They can be printed weekly and given to your student before they start their assignments or they can be read online, but make sure that your student checks them each week, as I will also be including (in blue) the work that I will be looking for when I go through their assignments.  If they don't show the work required, their weekly assignment grade will be affected.

I have made a solutions packet for each student, and will hand out the fall semester portion on the first day of class. It would be a good idea if you would get those answers keys from your student right after class, so students aren't tempted to "over-use" them. They are meant more for the parents than the students. Assignments are to be corrected at home (in pen) and turned in weekly.

Also, when you see on the schedule that there is a test as part of the homework, you are to administer the test as a closed book test. They should then return the test (stapled shut) to me the following week, along with that week's daily assignments (but not stapled to the assignments). I will correct the test and return it to your student the following week with a percentage grade.  Calculators are NOT allowed on any test unless it is noted as such on the test.

As with any math class I have ever taught, I cannot stress enough the importance of not letting your students fall behind. Math is very sequential in nature. I also believe that it is very important for your son/daughter to be drilling their math facts regularly.  I will be posting some online drill activities that students can do online for extra credit during the first semester.  More on that later.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have, both now and as we progress through the school year.  If your son or daughter is working on an assignment and has a specific question, have them email me the page and problem number along with their question, and I will get it answered as soon as possible. I have found that email works quite well for this. They are welcome to call, but that can be hit or miss.   Otherwise, we will always take time at the beginning of class to answer questions from the previous week.

Sincerely,

Kim Nelson, tutor
952-451-9901 (cell)

P.S. There is a lot of information in this email, so I have posted a copy on the CHAT math website for future reference if you need it. (o: