Blog Archive

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Welcome to 2020-2021!!!

     Hi all, I am excited to be your teacher for Calculus BC for the upcoming year and hope that we are able to be back in the classroom in the second half of the school year.  We did so very well on the AB test last year (will give you some data online) and I am so proud of each and every one of you.  This will be a chance to get Calc 2 college credit and we will work very hard to attain that.  I know you will step up to the challenges this year presents.

     Assuming things work the way they normally do, which you never know right now, this will also be an opportunity to replace your AB score for colleges by doing better on the exam at the end of the year.  You cannot regress and get a lower score but you can change that 2 to a 4 for example with hard work.  So not only will you be learning college calc 2, but you will be reviewing all the stuff from calc 1 and getting an opportunity to go to college with a really solid foundational Calculus base.

We will go through this blog together and learn how to use it, but for the most part you will get everything you need from schoology this year.  The blog will have some nice resources you can use and I will keep it up to date with assignments and due dates but these will be in your one stop shopping schoology site as well.  So for now this is just a resource site as we go along.

I am looking forward to the first day next week and seeing you online!

Monday, May 11, 2020

Final weeks assignments and announcements


Hi all, hope you are well and staying safe.  It’s hard to believe it is here and that tomorrow is the big day, and this week is the final week.  At least they are only virtual tears this year.  Our directions for the week are below as well as some other information you should read.


Directions for week of 5/11 to 5/15: AP test and make up work

We know the exam is on the 12th and you should have received your exam ticket this weekend.  Make sure you have printed your checklist, practiced the demo, and know how you are going to submit.  Remember PDF is now acceptable but follow the directions pasted below.

Of course, all the resources you have available are good to use today to get ready for tomorrow.  The problems we have done, the prediction packet, and AP live videos on you-tube.  The director of the AP program today tweeted that he cancelled a bunch of exams for students that had planned to cheat, and remember there are serious consequences for doing so like reporting to your college, etc…..  It is definitely not worth it, so just do the best you can and know that is ok.



Step 1  Work for the week:  This week is a catch up week and focus on your AP exams.  So if you have turned in everything nail those tests and if not then you need to get stuff turned into me.

Step 2:
  Do the best you can on your AP exam and remember to log in 30 minutes early..  Have your materials laid out and prepared, know the device you are using, and how you are going to submit.

Step 3:  Have your materials of instruction together as the school will let you know how you are going to submit your book and calculator back to us soon.



Additional Important Information

·         Answers for all FRQ’s are on Schoology to help you


·         Remember for those taking the AP test.  The college board is doing their review videos at the link below: 



They are outstanding and should give you a nice review of the material and I suggest you watch as many as possible, and as I previously mentioned this week is testing tips and mock problems so watch and do as much as you can.



·         The prediction packet has many wonderful free response examples that you should have been working through.  If not start with one problem per prediction ignoring the area between curves and rotational volume prediction.  When you get done go back and start with a second cycle through.  You have enough examples to make at least three complete cycles.  If the scoring rubric does not answer your question do not hesitate to e-mail one of us and we will answer ASAP.


·         Our Monday teams meeting this week will cover the mock exam from last week.  This is the parent notification of the fact we will be running these meetings.  You must send us an e-mail though by 10:00 AM today to be included in that review. Without that e-mail saying you want to attend you will not be able to.   Once you e-mail me, you will get an invite in your school e-mail. 


·         Grades are now active and building in the fourth quarter, remember the fourth quarter is all process grades and some of you are missing some significant work that has to get turned in to get a pass for the class in the fourth quarter.  Some of you are missing significant discussions on schoology, so go fill those out this week.



·         If you did not read the testing information e-mail and attachment on Friday make sure you go to your school e-mail and do so.  Remember the testing information, and checklist are on Schoology as well as a typing syntax document if you decide you do not want to photo your work on AP day and want to type everything in.  PLEASE PRACTICE with the demo this week to make sure you understand how to operate the system on the 12th.



Lastly, this is not how I wanted the year to end.  I so look forward to looking you all in the eyes and telling you how very proud of you I am.  I ask a lot because I expect a lot out of you, and know the quality of mathematical students I am sending on to universities is high.  In addition to your academic prowess, you have learned how to manage your time and deal with things when they have not been easy.  You are all so capable of whatever you want and I know you are going to go set the world on fire.  I will miss giving those hugs goodbye that I would have on Friday, but when this is all over, I am not hard to find.  Remember, once you are my student, you are always my student and I will help however I can.  I am so proud of you all and it has been an incredible honor to be your teacher for one, two, or in some cases, three years of your high school career.  OK; gotta go now before the keyboard shorts out.  I am thinking of you all this week and standing beside you the whole way.
Mr. Halstead

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Final AP Practice Problems assignment and AP Push, with additional important announcements.


Hi all, hope you are well and staying safe.  Our directions for the week are below as well as some other information you should read.

Directions for week of 5/4 to 5/11: More AP Practice problems and final preparations for the exam

We know the exam is on the 12th and this week on the you-tube site they will be practicing more AP problems and going over some test prep.  I HIGHLY suggest you sit down with paper and work through the problems they do on you-tube as I think they will be geared towards that magic day.  I am cutting our work for the week down to two problems as a result.  I debated doing three as we have the last couple of weeks but reminded myself you will get out of this week what you put into it in readying yourself for the exam.  You should know your weaknesses and have plenty to practice between the prediction packet and the AP live videos so work hard to get yourself ready.  If you were curious, the third problem I was going to assign dealt with area between curves, rotational and cross-sectional volume, and rectangular arc-length.  There are problems on that topic in the prediction packet and past AP live videos that address that topic.  It is the one thing I feel we haven’t hit hard in the review problems so make sure you prep yourself.  I am giving another mock test as your assignment that is due next Monday and that we will go over in one final teams meeting on the 11th.

Step 1Download and print out the Mock AP exam.


This mock exam is due by Monday 5-11-20 at 9:00 A.M.


Step 2:
  Do these two problems like you will on the AP test with notes, formula packet, and calculator.  Photo them and send them back to Mr. Halstead via e-mail.  You can send them to me in PDF, but remember the AP exam is not going to accept PDF so make sure you can send in .png, .jpg, .jpeg. format 1 picture per page p to 5 pages per problem.  Remember you will have to download them to your device and attach them to the problem in 5 minutes so practice, practice, practice. 



Step 3:  There are three quick discussion questions to answer this week on schoology.


Step 4:  Extra credit opportunities

Extra credit for College board video practice test from Monday and scored on Tuesday uploaded by 5/5 at 11:59pm. 

Extra credit for college board video practice test from Wednesday and scored on Thursday uploaded by 5/8 at 11:59pm.


Additional Important Information

·        Answers for last week’s FRQs will be posted tomorrow on the blog and you should check them, remember last week’s problems are due Monday 5-4-20 at 4:00.



·         Remember for those taking the AP test.  The college board is doing their review videos at the link below: 



They are outstanding and should give you a nice review of the material and I suggest you watch as many as possible, and as I previously mentioned this week is testing tips and mock problems so watch and do as much as you can.



·       The prediction packet has many wonderful free response examples that you should have been working through.  If not start with one problem per prediction ignoring the area between curves and rotational volume prediction.  When you get done go back and start with a second cycle through.  You have enough examples to make at least three complete cycles.  If the scoring rubric does not answer your question do not hesitate to e-mail one of us and we will answer ASAP.


·       Our Monday teams meeting this week will cover the problems that are due on the 4th today.  This is the parent notification of the fact we will be running these meetings.  You must send us an e-mail though by 10:00 AM today to be included in that review and 6:00 Friday before to get the team's meeting review for this week’s mock exam and last minute advice on the 11th.  Without that e-mail saying you want to attend you will not be able to.   Once you e-mail me, you will get an invite in your school e-mail. 


·       Grades are now active and building in the fourth quarter, remember the fourth quarter is all process grades and some of you are missing some significant work that has to get turned in to get a pass for the class in the fourth quarter.  Some of you are missing significant discussions on schoology, so go fill those out this week.



·       If you did not read the testing information e-mail and attachment on Friday make sure you go to your school e-mail and do so.  Remember the testing information, and checklist are on schoology as well as a typing syntax document if you decide you do not want to photo your work on AP day and want to type everything in.  PLEASE PRACTICE with the demo this week to make sure you understand how to operate the system on the 12th.



Miss you all very much and I know you can do this.  Remember the work for achieving as high as you can on the AP test now lies primarily in your hands.  We will help you as much as we can under these conditions and we are proud of the work you are continuing to do.  Work hard and if I can help let me know.
Mr. Halstead.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Assignment and Announcements for 4-27-20 to 5-4-20


Hi all, hope you are well and staying safe.  Our directions for the week are below as well as some other information you should read.

Directions for week of 4/27-5/4: More AP Practice problems

We have now finished everything on the exam.  We will be practicing AP problems pretty exclusively until the AP test now.  Then we will work on the lessons that are not on the AP exam including Area between curves, rotational volume, and cross-sectional volume.

Step 1Download and print out the three AP problems (Pay attention there are two links here you must click on) that are due on Monday 5-4-20 at 4:00 from the blog, the first two problems are from Byran Passwater and this is his mock of the AP exam that mimicks the 12th.  They are wonderful and he probably has a real good feel for what the test is going to be like since he is one of the presenters on the you-tube videos on the AP review site:   




Step 2:  Do these three problems like you will on the AP test with notes, formula packet, and calculator.  Photo them and send them back to Mr. Halstead via e-mail.  I suggest you download an app like genius scan and practice scanning them and then downloading them to the e-mail (Halstead).   Remember you will only have 5 minutes to download each problem and I do not know how easy it will be to type the entries in.  I should find more information out about that on the 28th, and hopefully have a way for you to practice with the interface.

There is no discussion question to answer on schoology this week.

·        Answers for last week’s FRQs will be posted tomorrow on the blog and you should check them, remember last week’s problems are due Monday 4-27-20 at 4:00.

·         Remember for those taking the AP test.  The college board has now started their review videos at the link below: 


They are outstanding and should give you a nice review of the material and we suggest you watch as many as possible

·       The prediction packet has many wonderful free response examples that you should have been working through.  If not start with one problem per prediction ignoring the area between curves and rotational volume prediction.  When you get done go back and start with a second cycle through.  You have enough examples to make at least three complete cycles.  If the scoring rubric does not answer your question do not hesitate to e-mail one of us and we will answer ASAP.

·        I am going to do teams meetings every Monday at 2:00 reviewing the previous 3 AP practice problems.  This is the parent notification of the fact we will be running these meetings.  You must send us an e-mail though by 6:00 the Friday before so you get an invite though.  Without that e-mail saying you want to attend you will not be able to.   Once you e-mail us you will get an invite in your school e-mail during the weekend.  These meetings will essentially be to answer questions on the ap problems that are due the previous week. 

·        Grades are now active and building in the fourth quarter, remember the fourth quarter is all process grades and some of you are missing some significant work that will be difficult to get turned in all at once to get a pass for the class in the fourth quarter.  Suffice it to say, if you keep doing your work you will be ok.

Miss you all very much.  Remember the work for achieving as high as you can on the AP test now lies primarily in your hands.  We will help you as much as we can under these conditions and we are proud of the work you are continuing to do.  Work hard and if we can help let us know.
Mr. Halstead.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Hwk answers for Taylor and Maclaurin bookwork

Taylor and Maclaurin Bookwork answers

Just so you are aware, all future work answers that are AP practice problems are going to appear in the schoology folder marked practice answers so I can unpublish them after the AP test and not on the blog.  So you will have to access your answers there.

In addition grades are live for the fourth quarter on HAC, some of you did not answer the discussion questions as we were doing the online answers.  You need to go into schoology and answer them so you can get credit for them. 

In addition you can see what your grade for the the pass/incomplete status of the fourth quarter is if you access HAC. 

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Assignment for week 4 on free response practice for the AP exam


Hi all hope you are well:


This post covers your work for Monday through Monday which is the 4-20 through 4-27

Make sure you have read the e-mail that contains the attachments from Ms Bell and myself on AP Testing and what they have told us about it.

Since we are done with new material our focus now is going to change to practicing FRQ topics that may look like what we are going to see on exam day.   I have pulled these problems from the two teachers files that are running the AP review on you-tube.   They have no inside knowledge but are graders of the exam and I believe have a good feel for what the test will look like.  So take these problems seriously, and ask questions on them as we go along.



Step 1:  Download the three AP practice problems for the week using the link below found on the blog.


3 FRQ AP practice problems for the week of 4-20-4-27


Step 2:  Photo the answers to these problems and turn them in by 4-27-20 Monday at 1:00 P.M.
I will be posting answers to these at 4:00 so make sure you get them in on time


There is no Discussion question to answer on schoology this week.



Step 3:  If for some reason you have not submitted your 2012 AP Practice examination please get it in today.  I plan on posting answers on schoology under the practice test answers folder.  There will be a link for multiple choice answers for you to connect to and for free response my handwritten answers will be there as a pdf.  



Step 4:  You should on your own be practicing AP questions from the prediction packet and logging some time on the AP reviews that the college board is running on you-tube.  It won't surprise us at all if those things they are reviewing on series appear on the Exam this year.  They have started the AP review lessons online and they are fantastic.  They are addressing new topics every day and I highly suggest you watch them with a sheet of paper and take notes as the videos are outstanding.  I have watched many at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=SfKlNLkG_38&list=PLoGgviqq4844oVJMjJ8YkD4mQIoMp4Cbu

As always if questions arise as you are doing these topics please e-mail me and I will reply at some point during school hours as quickly as we can.



Miss you guys and am proud of what you are accomplishing! I know it is not easy but get ready for the big day now that the material has been taught.
.
Mr. Halstead