Education Notes: Grading & Curriculm Changes

Many parents have wanted to know exactly how I grade and there's been...external pressure to say the least about the curriculm standards so I'm addressing them both here.


Primary Education
(children)
-generalized studies in all skill sets. Must pass skills exam with at least a one in all skills
-typical school day: morning period-skill studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-skill studying
-GRADING: Students learn one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level I
(teenagers 12-8 simdays remaining until adulthood)
-specialized studies . Must pass skills exam with at least a four in one skill.
-typical school day: morning period-skill studying/lunch break/afternoon-skill studying
-GRADING: Students learn at least one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level II
(teenagers 8-4 simdays remaining until adulthood)
-specialized studies. Students can chose up to three skill areas for specialized studies. Must pass skills exam with at least a eight in at least one chosen specialized skill.
-typical school day: morning period-specialized studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-specialized studying
-GRADING: Students learn at least one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+


Secondary Education Level III
(teenagers 4 simdays remaining until adulthood that are not attending PAG)
-continued specialized studies. Students can chose up to three skill areas for specialized studies. Must pass skills exam with at least a eight in at least one chosen specialized skill and at least a four in another skill.
-typical school day: morning period-specialized studying/lunch break & recess/afternoon-specialized studying
-GRADING: Students learn one skill a day and recieve an A for thier efforts. Going above that effort results with an A+

Classes:
Classes are assigned with the help of the teacher. All students will take the following classes at least once. Classes are assigned depending on which specialized area is chosen and focuses within the class are chosen based on student preference.

Art & Music:
Students study art by composing thier own paintings and photography series, field trips to the local art gallery. Students study music by studying the violin.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period painting and at least one class period learning violin.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the violin or focusing on painting/photography.

Science:
Students study science by observing bacteria in microscopes, maintaining ant farms, repairing and creating basic electronic equiptment and observing nature.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one
class period observing bacteria, ants or nature (by hunting for bugs or birdwatching) and at least one class period creating basic electronic equiptment.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods observing birds, maintaining ant farms, studying bacteria or creating electronic equiptment.

Simish & History:
Students learn simish and history by composing letters and essays, presenting speeches, reading assignments and some movie viewing assignments.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least
one class period presenting speeches and at least one class period doing reading assignments.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods presenting speeches and writing.

Physical Education:
Students practice tai chi, yoga, boxing, ballet, football and aerobic fitness. Students also learn about nutrition and healthy eating.

Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period practicing boxing or football and at least one class period learning ballet.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the tai chi, yoga and aerobic fitness.

Home Economics:
Students learn to maintain thier living space by learning proper cleaning concepts, and basic cooking recipes.

Primary Education/Secondary Education Level I: Students will spend at least one class period learning proper cleaning concepts and at least one class period learning basic cooking recipes.

Secondary Education Level II/III: Students will spend class periods learning the advanced cleaning concepts and recipes.

Freetime/Recess/Lunch:
Students are able to spend thier freetime playing games, reading or chatting with friends while eating thier lunch.

Homework
Students are given homework 2-3 times a simweek. Homework usually consists of simple assignments to be done with the help of the family. Occasionally students are asked to complete projects started on at school at home or to create projects at home and bring them to school.

President's Note: The Centre

With salaries increasing, we're trying to find ways to make up the funds without increasing taxes. One way is The Centre. We have fees for renting out the party room for events such as weddings , parties and ceremonies. Also, I will try to increase the number of customers purchasing newspapers, buying items and of course thier filing fees for births, deaths, etc.

Food Expo 2008

The Food Expo 2008 is almost here. All lectures/events at Farmer's Market unless noted. Since it will still be fall, not quite winter, weather shouldn't be a problem.


June-Food in the Garden
Opening CeremonyOpening Address: Ayanna Kent, Hood Council President

Lectures

Plans for an Effecient Garden-Grex Grey

Contests

Fishing Contest (Celebration Park) (same rules as last year)

Raffle for §100 gift certificate from Farmer's Market

Events

Charity Fish Fry (Celebration Park) §5/sim (use the fish from the fishing contest, benefits the church)


July-Food in the Kitchen

Lectures

Kitchen Designs-Jolie Dawson

Contests

Cooking Competition

Raffle for §100 gift certificate from CupaJava

Events

Cookbook Signing with Jolie Dawson (CupaJava)

Lemonade Sale (Dawson Central Plaza) (benefits the school)


August-Food on the Table

Lectures

A Well Set Table-Fiona Kent

Contests

Raffle for §2500 Dining Room Makeover (§50/Ticket)

Raffle for §100 Dinner at The Peacock

Events

Neighborhood Potluck (Dawson Central Plaza) (each family brings a dish)

Website Layout Changes

The website is horrible and in need of better organization. I have written out plans for each section and overall navigation:

Residential Directory

• Will add photos of the home and each sim to the directory. Thumbnail images only.
• Will add a census section to include number of sims grouped by ages/gender

Community Life

• Will add a more in-depth club/organization section
  
• Want to reorganize the site to make things easier to find-this section has become a catch-all section.
  
• Current page listing in community life includes:
  Apple Valley News;
  Administration, Laws and Rights;
  Archival Room;
  Pierce Apprenticeship Guild (PAG);
  Clubs & Organizations;
  Council Meeting Minutes;
  Office of Tourism;
  Residential Information;
  Tours;
  This SimWeek in Apple Valley;
  Yellow Pages;
  
• A better way to organize this information might be the following
  (bold=page linked from toolbar; normal=page linked from the bold page):
  
  Community Life:
  Apple Valley News;
  Clubs & Organizations;
  This SimWeek in Apple Valley;
  Office of Tourism (with Tours as a sublink of this page);
  
  Administration Office:
  Administration, Laws and Rights;
  Council Meeting Minutes;
  Archival (and Records) Room;
  Link to new page on Education: Apple Valley Academy & PAG
  
  Yellow & White Pages:
  Residential Information;
  Yellow Pages;
  Pierce Apprenticeship Guild (PAG);
  (links to the Community Store and A. Pentragnani)

Leave comments/suggestions. Feel free to leave any concerns/issues you have had with navigating the site as well.

Financial Director Note: Budget Funds

I propose that the budget have funds established in the budget item for the following areas and managed by the following staff members:



General Fund
-Hood President

Covers expenses for foreign alliances, council administration, immigration/emigration, welfare.



Economic Development Fund

-Financial Director

Covers expenses for local trades and stores, home businesses, imports.



Community Development Fund

-Community Director

Covers expenses for culture, focal farming & fishing, general beautifying (plants, landscape, community lots)



Education Fund

-Education Director

Covers expenses for the administration of the academy & apprenticeship guild



Security Fund

-Security Director

Covers expenses for local infrastructure, security, & justice


Public Health Fund

-Medical Centre Director

Covers expenses for the adminstration of the Medical Centre



Archives/Technology Fund

-Archives/Technology Officer

Covers expenses for the community library and archives, press relations, website, electronic infrastructure



This will allow directors to have more control over thier funds for thier projects. This also creates the need for directors to present budget proposals in addition to task proposals at the start of thier term. An initial budget meeting will determine which items are funded and which are not. Some income from the hood residents will go directly to certain funds (ie-payment for security monitering goes to the security fund; tuition payments for the apprenticeship guild goes to the education fund; etc)

Community Director: Naming

The names for several buildings are very...generic. So we're asking residents to help us name them, starting with the administrative buildings and then going on to the parks and finally the community owned buildings.

Security Note: Funds & Sales

To help raise simoleans for the security fund I propose that residents are charge $250/simweek for monitoring services on thier security system and $250/simweek for monitoring services on thier fire system. This fee would not include the cost to buy the equiptment. If all residents were outfitted with both monitoring services that would bring in $5000/simweek. The funds would help in paying my salary, making sure vehicles/equiptment are up-to-date for emergency response.