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Seniors    

Reading Essential Skills

• Apply knowledge of various Greek and Latin roots.
• Use context to determine word meanings including figurative language and technical vocabulary.
• Support ideas, make inferences, and draw conclusions.
• Analyze the recurrence of archetypal characters.
• Recognize and discuss themes in literature.
• Write analytically about literature.
• Identify and interpret figurative language, and use it in writing.
• Evaluate works of British literature.
• Conduct research using a variety of sources, and organize researched information.
• Follow the writing process: pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing.
• Analyze and write for purpose, audience, and occasion using different writing modes(narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive).
• Practice standard English including proper spelling, punctuation, pronoun    use, sentence structure, and commonly confused words.

Reading Strategies

• Be a role model.  Let your child see you reading.
• Subscribe to the local newspaper or purchase the Sunday edition. The sports section is a good place to look for similes, metaphors, and active language.
• Make sure that your child has a library card, dictionary, and thesaurus, and encourage their use.
• Ask your son or daughter about books assigned for reading in English class. Ask     what the book means (i.e., its point, lesson or theme).
• Before applying in person, ask your child to write a letter to the manager of a business inquiring about a job.
• Research universities and vocational schools that your child is interested in.  Examine a variety of sources.
• Ask your child to write for university information instead of sending for it online.
• Ask your child to practice writing a required admission essay. Topics are available online. Some may be found in a university’s catalog.
• Choose a book which has been made into a movie. After both you and your child have read the book, see the movie together and  talk about the similarities and differences  ( The Bourne Identity, The Notebook, The  Manchurian Candidate).

Math Strategies

• Encourage your son/daughter to take a math course in his/her senior year. There  are a variety of classes offered at the high school to meet the needs of students.
• To avoid remedial math courses in college, have your son/daughter work hard to learn math concepts.
• Set a time and provide a quiet location to complete math work at home.
• Make use of tutoring opportunities that may be available at the High School. Check the site for availability and schedules.
• Play family games that involve math and logic.
• Have your son/daughter develop a budget and learn to pay bills.
• Encourage your son/daughter to take math courses in the first year of college while concepts are still fresh in the mind.
• Help your son/daughter have a positive attitude about math, and help him/her to understand that learning math takes time and effort. Such a challenge is healthy for    the mind and builds critical thinking skills.

College Entrance Exam Test-Taking Strategies

• Enroll in Union’s Test Prep Classes for the ACT and SAT.  Super Saturday and 8-Night Courses are available.
• Visit the ACT website www.actstudent.orgto take advantage of the free on-line practice tests that are available.
• Go to the ACT website www.act.org/path/parent/college to  see the college planning checklist specifically designed for students in their junior year. This guide gives specific tips about test prep as well as college admissions and financial aid applications.
• Visit the student section of www.colleageboard.org to find information about planning for college and sign up for the SAT’s “Question of the Day” to be emailed to you each day.
• Visit the Union High School College and Career Center for scholarship opportunities and admissions information.

Juniors

Reading Essential Skills

• Explain major ideas in messages.
• Identify/Use figurative language.
• Expand vocabulary in reading, writing, and speaking.
• Analyze details.
• Draw inferences, conclusions, and generalizations.
• Use knowledge of literary devices (allegory, figurative language, imagery, point of view, and symbolism).
• Identify author’s purpose/point of view.
• Read and comprehend both fiction and non-fiction.
• Recognize correct use of sentence structure.
• Determine correct use of subject-verb agreement.
• Identify correct use of pronouns.
• Use correct verb forms and tenses.

Reading Strategies

• Be a role model. Let your child see you reading.
• Subscribe to the local newspaper, or purchase the Sunday edition. The Sports section is a good place to look for similes, metaphors, and active language.
• Make sure that your child has a library card, dictionary, and thesaurus, and encourage their use.
• Ask your child to give a summary of what he/she is reading in school. Remember that students read in several subjects. Asking about a favorite subject will generate the best response.
• Before applying in person, ask your child to write a letter to the manager of a business inquiring about a job.
• Send for a brochure or catalog from a college or vocational school that interests your child. Read it together.
• Give your child a confusing piece of correspondence you have received. Decipher it together.
• Choose a book which has been made into a movie. After both you and your child have read the book, see the movie together and talk about the similarities and differences  (The Bourne Identity, The Notebook, The Manchurian Candidate). 

Algebra II Essential Skills

• Add, subtract, multiply, divide, and simplify radical expressions and expressions containing rational exponents.
• Add, subtract, multiply, divide, and simplify rational expressions, including complex fractions.
• Recognize the parent graphs of polynomial, exponential, radical, quadratic, and logarithmic  functions and predict the effects of transformations on the parent graphs, using various methods and tools which may include graphing calculators.
• Use algebraic, interval, and set notations to  specify the domain and range of functions of various types.
• Solve systems of linear equations and inequalities using various methods and tools which may include substitution, elimination, matrices, graphing, and graphing calculators.
• Solve quadratic equations by graphing, factoring, completing the square and quadratic formula.
• Graph a quadratic function and identify the x- and y-intercepts and maximum or minimum value, using various methods and tools which  may include a graphing calculator.
• Given the graph of a polynomial function, identify the x- and y-intercepts, relative maximums and relative minimums, using various methods and tools which may include a graphing calculator.
• Identify whether the model/equation is a curve of best fit for the data, using various methods and tools which may include a graphing calculator.
• Enroll in Union’s Test Prep Classes for the ACT and SAT.  Super Saturday and 8-Night Courses are available.
• Visit the ACT website www.actstudent.orgto take advantage of the free on-line practice tests that are available.
• Go to the ACT website www.act.org/path/parent/college to  see the college planning checklist specifically designed for students in their junior year. This guide gives specific tips about test prep as well as college admissions and financial aid applications.
• Visit the student section of www.colleageboard.org to find information about planning for college and sign up for the SAT’s “Question of the Day” to be emailed to you each day.
• Visit the Union High School College and Career office for scholarship opportunities and admissions information.

Sophomores

Reading Essential Skills

• Expand vocabulary in reading, writing, and speaking.
• Recall and organize information.
• Use knowledge of literary devices (allegory, figurative language, imagery, point of view, and symbolism).
• Analyze details.
• Analyze poet’s use of imagery and personification.
• Give credit for information.
• Demonstrate correct use of verb forms and tenses.
• Demonstrate a correct use of sentence structure.
• Demonstrate a correct use of parallel structure.
• Spell studied words correctly.
• Demonstrate a knowledge of literary elements.

Reading Strategies

• Be a role model. Let your child see you reading.
• Subscribe to the local newspaper or purchase the Sunday edition, and work the crosswords and crypt-a-quotes.
• Make sure that your child has a library card, dictionary, and thesaurus, and encourage their use.
• Before applying in person, ask your child to write a letter to the manager of a business inquiring about a job.
• Give your child a confusing piece of correspondence you have received. Decipher it  together.
• Encourage your child to find the hidden catch in junk mail offers.
• Choose a book which has been made into a  movie. After both you and your child have read the book, see the movie together and talk about the similarities and differences  (The Bourne Identity, A Walk to Remember, The Manchurian Candidate).
• Visit www.collegeboard.org and sign up for the SAT’s “Question of the Day” to be e-mailed to you each day.

Geometry Essential Skills

• Use the angle relationships formed by parallel lines cut by a transversal to solve problems.
• Identify relationships between pairs of angles (adjacent, complementary, and vertical).
• Use the relationships of congruency and similarity to determine unknown values (e.g., angles, side lengths, perimeter, circumference,area).
• Use logical reasoning skills (inductive and deductive) to construct and judge the validity of arguments.
• Find the distance between two points; the mid-point of a segment; and calculate the slopes of parallel, perpendicular, horizontal, and vertical lines.
• Compute length, perimeter, or circumference, area, volume, and/or surface area of geometric figures in a  variety of contexts.
• Find angle measures and arc measures related to circles.
• Find angle measures and segmentlengths using the relationships among radii, chords, secants, and tangents of a circle.
• Use transformations (reflection, rotation, and translation) within coordinate geometry  (e.g., reflect points across the y-axis).
• Use the properties of angles, righttriangles, and similar polygons to solve problems.

Geometry Strategies

• Set a time each day and a quiet location for math work to be completed at home.
• Ask to see your child’s math grade on a weekly basis.
• Make use of tutoring opportunities that may be available at the Intermediate High School. Check with the site for availability and sched-   ules.
• Create a written collection of the definitions, formulas, theorems, and postulates that are used in class, and have your child explain a few of them to you each week.
• Play a geometric game together like Tangoes (tangrams) or Tetris.
• Play a logic game like Clue or Rummikub with your child.
• Work logic, Suduko, or?Kenken puzzles.
• Watch a mystery with your child, and discuss why the evidence proves or disproves guilt.
• Calculate the area of a slice of pizza. 
• Look closely at man-made and natural objects to find geometric shapes.For example, buildings, bridges, ships, windows, and towers are  all examples of geometric structures.  The earth is a large sphere, as are the other planets in the solar system; and fish scales are examples of tessellations.