Spanish 3 is an intermediate level language course designed for those students who have acquired satisfactory competency during their first two years of language study. The course builds upon the skills and material covered in Spanish 1 and 2. It reviews all major grammatical structures and introduces a broader scope of grammatical knowledge. Emphasis is given to improving oral skills, broadening the range of grammatical structures the student can effectively use in writing and conversation, enriching the student’s vocabulary and deepening his/her awareness of present day social justice issues within the Spanish-speaking world, as well as examining immigration issues facing Latinos. This class is conducted in Spanish, except when complex grammar concepts require a clearer explanation in English. Students are expected to speak in Spanish at all times.
Spanish 3 Honors
Spanish 3H is an advanced language course designed for students identified during their first two years as those superior Spanish students, who wish to become fluent in Spanish and prepare themselves for Spanish 4 AP. Students will practice the major grammar structures previously studied, as well as more complex grammar concepts, including expanded uses of the subjunctive mood. Considerable emphasis will be given to enriching the students’ active vocabulary and increasing their ability to comprehend and express themselves in spoken and written Spanish. Students will be required to speak in Spanish in a variety of situations ranging from class discussion to oral presentations and situations. Students will be able to read with comprehension selected short stories and newspaper and magazine articles. They will also become more informed about some of the contemporary problems and difficulties affecting Hispanic communities. This class is conducted in Spanish, and students are expected to speak Spanish at all time.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
AP Spanish Language & Culture
AP Spanish language covers the equivalent material of a third-year college course in advanced Spanish composition and conversation. The aims of this two-semester course are: to improve dramatically the student’s speaking ability; to review systematically grammar previously studied; to master — orally and in writing — new and more complex grammar concepts; to expose students to the literary use of Spanish and to increase both their literal and critical reading skills; to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Spanish Language Examination; and to enhance the students’ knowledge of the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will be required to speak Spanish in a variety of situations ranging from class discussions to oral presentations and debates. Students will read newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, poems, and excerpts from novels or plays by peninsular and/or Latin American authors. The selected class materials are designed to stimulate and perfect conversation and to assist students in the imitation of the native speaker’s pronunciation, rhythm, moods and humor as their abilities increase. This class is conducted in Spanish, and students are expected to speak Spanish at all times.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
AP Calculus AB
This course is designed for the student who is interested in pursuing a college major with a strong emphasis in mathematics. The course will cover three main topics of Calculus: limits, derivatives, and integrals. The course will emphasize a multi-representational approach to calculus with concepts and solutions expressed graphically, numerically, and analytically. The course emphasizes conceptual understanding of derivatives, integrals, and limits, as well as applications of these concepts. In order to develop these concepts, functions and graphs are a fundamental part of this course. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Calculus
This course is designed for the student who is interested in pursuing a college major with a strong emphasis in mathematics. In the first part of the course, the elementary properties of functions and their inverses are reviewed, as well as specific types of functions (exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric). Subsequently, the student is introduced to the concepts of limits and continuity; differentiation and its applications to problems of extrema and related rates of change; anti-differentiation and its application to the solution of differential equations; definite integrals and their application to finding areas, volumes, and length of curves. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
Precalculus
This course is designed to give a thorough preparation for college Calculus. The course content is the same as Precalculus Honors, but is presented at a slower rate and with additional algebra review. Most of the course is an analysis of families of functions and relations – polynomials; rational functions; radical functions; trigonometric functions, including an intense study of right triangle trigonometry, its applications to vectors, circular functions, and trigonometric identities; logarithmic functions; and exponential functions — and their graphs both algebraically and through the graphing calculator, including an introduction to the fundamental aspects of Calculus and an introduction to limits, derivatives, and general curve sketching. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
Precalculus Honors
Precalculus mathematics is a course designed for the student who intends to continue the study of mathematics in the direction of the natural or physical sciences and is an intensive preparation for Calculus. Most of the course is an analysis of families of functions and relations – polynomials; rational function; radical functions; trigonometric functions, including an intense study of right triangle trigonometry, its applications to vectors, circular functions, and trigonometric identities; logarithmic functions; and exponential functions — and their graphs both algebraically and through the graphing calculator, including an introduction to the fundamental aspects of Calculus. Significant independent work is considered a requirement for this course – students will be asked to perform independent study tasks, including (but not limited to) viewing and taking notes from screencasts, taking online quizzes, and collaborative learning. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
Precalculus Accelerated
Precalculus mathematics is a course designed for the student who intends to continue the study of mathematics in the direction of the natural or physical sciences and is a preparation for Calculus. Traditional analytic trigonometry is taught at the beginning of the course which includes an intense study of right triangle trigonometry, its applications to vectors, circular functions, and trigonometric identities, and solving trigonometric equations. The rest of the course is an analysis of families of functions and relations – polynomials, rational functions, radical functions, trigonometric functions, logarithmic functions, and exponential functions — and their graphs both algebraically and through the graphing calculator, including an introduction to the fundamental aspects of Calculus. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
Algebra 2
The first part of the course reviews basic terminology, notation, concepts, skills, and application of elementary algebra by examination of the real number system. This part includes real number concepts and skills involving operations with positive and negative numbers and zero, solution of linear equations and inequalities, one and two variable equations, solving verbal problems, properties of polynomials and rational expressions. Ideas such as set, variable, number line, open sentence, ordered pair, equivalent sentences, and Cartesian coordinate system are studied and the student is required to demonstrate ability to solve problems involving these concepts.
The course also includes the concepts of function and relation and emphasizes linear and quadratic relations and functions. The text chapters discussing this material employ symbols, concepts, and methods presented in the earlier chapters. Thus, the course continually grows and builds on learned material. The course also includes discussions on exponential functions and logarithms, and a short look at trigonometry. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
Geometry Honors
This course follows generally the description of the traditional geometry course but provides extensive experience from early stages with the devising, presentation, and defense of student proofs and the theoretical consideration of the nature of proof (direct and indirect; in two-column, flow, and analytical paragraph form). The Honors course includes a more extensive coverage of solid geometry, an introduction to analytic geometry and trigonometry, and opportunities for curricular enrichment in problem-solving. Additional topics include vectors, trigonometric identities, conic sections, and the study of trigonometric and circular functions. Within the context of Geometry, the Honors course includes more challenging algebraic applications, such as solving quadratic, rational, irrational, logarithmic, and exponential equations. This course is designed for the student who successfully completed Algebra 2H as a freshman, but any student may apply. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA