Summer 2023: Weeks 1 & 2 Class Highlights
Summer 2023: Weeks 1 & 2 Class Highlights
Welcome to our Summer 2023: Weeks 1 & 2 Highlights!
Throughout the summer, we want to keep parents and students up-to-date on what’s happening in our summer courses. Read on to learn a few MEK fast facts, highlights, and the topics covered in your child’s MEK Summer courses the first two weeks of class!
Section 1: Fast Facts
- Over 6: the # of points students will improve on the ACT
- Over 30: the # of MLC classes open this Summer
- Over 575: the # of students participating in MEK courses this summer
Section 2: Week 1 & 2 Highlights
#1. Most test prep students completed anywhere from 2-6 tests.
#2. Students settled down into in-person classes, virtual classes, and homework procedures
#3. Teachers started tracking students’ progress and discussing milestones, overall goals, and study techniques with students.
Test Prep: Milestones & Achievements
SAT 1500 Advanced: Students have taken three SAT simulation tests by the end of Week 2.
SAT 1400 & 1500: By Friday, students have taken 4 simulation tests, they are learning various test taking strategies that will get them to their goal scores. SAT 1400 is focusing on test taking strategies but also reviewing any content they need to brush up on. For Reading, students have been covering reading closely and evidence questions and annotation strategies. For writing, students have been working on verb and punctuation questions.
SAT Foundation: Students are working on test taking strategies and grammar points, such as subject/verb agreement and verb tense. The students are progressing well and are looking forward to the results of their first test.
Core: Core students have been working on fundamental English skills. For reading, they’ve focused on annotation and understanding how to tackle narrative and science texts. For writing, they’ve focused on their grammar knowledge, specifically subject/verb agreement, verb tense, and punctuation.
Exam Prep 8: Students learned reading strategies for main idea, inference, and detail questions and practiced verbal skills with analogies and sentence completion questions. Students have completed 78 math homework problems on number theory, fractions, decimal, ratios, proportions, and percentages. Students will be taking their first simulation test in Week 3.
SSAT/ISEE 8: Students have taken their first ISEE simulation test and are preparing to take their first SSAT simulation test this week by learning strategies for reading, verbal, and math. Aside from tests, students have completed 21 Reading, 74 Verbal, and 34 Math problems for homework.
High School Honors & AP Course Prep | Topics Covered
AP Calculus AB:
- Limits: finding the limit of a function using numerical methods, its graph, and limit laws.
- Continuity: continuity at a point, interval, and one-sided continuity.
- Derivatives: limit definition of a derivative, derivative at a point, interval. Derivative as a function. Differentiability, and some differentiation rules
AP Statistics:
- Analyzing Categorical Data
- Describing Quantitative Data with Graphs
- Normal Distributions
AP Biology:
- Chemistry of Life and Properties of Water
- Elements of Life and an Introduction to Biological Molecules
AP Chemistry:
- Stoichiometry
- Electron Configurations
- Periodicity
Honors Algebra II:
- Sequences and Series with Sigma Notation and its application towards Polynomials
Honors Analysis I:
- Domain, Range
- Function Transformations
- Function Compositions
Honors Biology
- Composition of Matter
- Energy
- Water and Solutions
- Carbon Compounds
- Molecules of Life
Honors Chemistry:
- Structure of the atom
- Quantum numbers
Honors Geometry:
- Fundamentals of Proofs
- Perpendicular & Parallel Lines
- If-Then Statements
Honors Precalculus:
- Graph Transformations: how to and what it means to shift, reflect, and stretch/shrink graphs.
- Inverse Functions: when inverse functions exist and how to find the inverse of a function.
- Radians & Degrees: relationship between radians and degrees.
- Right Triangle Trigonometry: how to use trigonometry to find missing angles/sides of a triangle. How to use right triangles to find the trigonometric values of an angle.
Honors Physics:
- Units, Sig Figs, Vectors
- Kinematics in 1 Dimension
MEK Learning Circles & Labs: Milestones & Achievements
Critical Reading Circles: In MLC Critical Reading (8) students learned how to be an active reader and engage with the text in meaningful ways. They learned the structure of a 5 paragraph Literary Analysis Essay and have written two essays on a non-fiction text.
Writing Circles: In MLC Writing (6&8) students have written one expository essay and one descriptive essay (2 essays total). Students learned the general structure of a 5 paragraph essay and some revision techniques to help them improve their writing skills. Students also completed one grammar lesson.
Operations & Number-Sense Circles: Students have completed 1 cumulative assessment covering 4+ CCSS domains and 10+ standards. ONS classes answered 125+ different math problems.
Problem-Solving Math Circles: Students have completed 1 cumulative assessment covering 4+ CCSS domains and 10+ standards. PSM classes answered 150+ different word problems.
Non-fiction Reading: Using our first topic, Immigration, students were introduced to non-fiction analysis skills and the presentation format. The information and handouts they received in our first class will help them construct their presentations independently, after which they’ll practice at home for their barrister debut. Coming up next week is the Teenage Mental Health Crisis, a topic that should spark much brainstorming and lively discussion.
MAPC: Students have learned the concepts of Prime Factorization and counting principles.
What’s Next?
We’re excited for what’s to come as the Summer continues and look forward to sharing with you the highlights of Weeks 3 & 4 on Friday, July 28th!
