Honors Biology is designed to challenge and engage students with a strong interest in the life sciences. This course covers a wide range of topics within biology, focusing on advanced concepts, critical thinking, problem solving, and hands-on laboratory experiences. Students will delve into the intricacies of the natural world, from the molecular level to ecosystems, and explore the relationship between living organisms and their environment.
UC/CSU Subject D Approval (Pending)
Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
The purpose of freshman English is three-fold: 1) to master certain grammatical material that will aid in the discussion of composition, 2) to begin a systematic approach to writing, and 3) to identify certain literary concepts in a variety of literary genres. To achieve these goals, English 100 presents the incoming students with a course of study that exposes them to the forms of literature: the short story, non-fiction essay, poem, drama, and novel. Freshman English also presents the students with various writing assignments that will start them on the process of building a personal writing style. The subjects for these assignments move from the students’ own experiences to topics related to their reading, and the movement during the course of the year is from narrative and descriptive writing to writing that is more expository in nature. Writing assignments generally will progress from one-page papers at the beginning of the year to longer essays at the end of the year. By the end of the course, the student will have written approximately 10-12 papers in a variety of rhetorical modes including creative, descriptive, narrative, expository, and literary analysis writing. The student will also have completed at least one multi-paragraph expository essay.
The major difference between English 100 and English 103H is in the number of books that are read and their inherent difficulty, in the mode of instruction in the classroom, in the student initiative required, and in the number of writing assignments and their increasing and various difficulty.
Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA
Spanish 1 is designed for the beginning Spanish student. No background in Spanish is expected. Comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills are developed simultaneously from simple to more complex sentence structures. The language skills are presented in a logical progression so that the student learns by practice both in the classroom and at home with the help of on-line tutorials. The learning process is based on the active participation of each student in a variety of formats. Students learn essential vocabulary, basic structures of the language, and cultural aspects of Latin America and Spain. By the end of the course, each student has the ability to do the following: ask questions and answer them affirmatively or negatively using present tenses; arrange proper word order; speak and write clearly; write short compositions; and use common idiomatic expressions.
This course is designed for incoming freshmen who have some experience in Spanish but did not place in Spanish 2 Honors at St. Ignatius. Since these students already have some basic skills in Spanish, they will review and/or learn, at an accelerated pace, the vocabulary and grammar structures taught in a regular level one course. Significant emphasis will be placed on improving students’ speaking and writing skills. They will acquire an expanded vocabulary, a deeper understanding of grammatical concepts, increased reading proficiency, improved oral expression, increased aural proficiency, the ability to write short compositions, and further knowledge of Spanish and Latin American cultures.
Algebra 1 is a traditional course in elementary algebra with an emphasis on solving problems. The course falls into four basic parts: 1) the four operations on real numbers and their use in the solution of simple equations and related problems; 2) polynomials, factoring, and fractions, leading to the solution of more complicated problems; 3) inequalities, functions and relations, and systems of open sentences; and 4) irrational numbers and quadratic functions and equations. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
The course follows the general goals and objectives of the regular Algebra 1 course. In addition, advanced topics of algebra are introduced: absolute value equations and inequalities, linear programming, polynomial functions and their graphs, analytic techniques to explore various curves, and an introduction to topics of geometry and trigonometry. Finally, students will be given challenging problems appropriate for an accelerated course. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
This course is offered to entering freshmen who have demonstrated mastery of Algebra 1 content. The course includes in-depth analysis of higher degree polynomials; analysis, interpretation and graphing of rational functions, including asymptotic behavior; an in-depth consideration of the conic sections, including transformations. Students who successfully complete Algebra 2 Honors typically enroll in Precalculus Honors after the completion of their Geometry course. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA
This course follows generally the description of the traditional geometry course but also includes more proof (direct and indirect; in two-column, flow, and paragraph form). This course is designed for the student who successfully completed Algebra 1Acc as a freshman, but any student may apply. Within the context of Geometry, the Accelerated course includes more challenging algebraic applications, such as solving quadratic equations. It also includes an introduction to analytic geometry and trigonometry, helping to prepare students for Precalculus. A Texas Instruments TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator is required.
Biology (Life Science) is the scientific study of life and living organisms. This course aims to develop students into scientifically literate citizens who have mastered the critical thinking skills that will allow them to make informed decisions in a world increasingly impacted by scientific discovery. This course also aims to develop in students an appreciation for the natural world and our role in its stewardship. Units of study in this course include evolutionary biology, genetics, heredity, cell structure and function, human reproduction, and ecology.
