8th to 9th Grade Transition Information
REGISTRATION
It is that time again! The course request window will open for students to select their courses for the 2019-2020 school year soon!
The course request window will open at 8:00AM for:
Freshmen: March 22th
The window to request courses will close on March 29th at 3PM. This scheduling process is NOT first come, first served. All students within a class (12th, 11th, 10th, 9th) will have equal opportunity for classes, regardless of when they selected courses. Additionally, courses do not FILL as they do at the college level. This process helps us to create the appropriate kind and number of courses we offer at MCHS, leading to a balanced schedule for students and teachers.
Steps for Requesting Classes:
- Course Description Handbook
- The course description handbook can be located on the Mira Costa website. It includes information needed for scheduling, as well as the prerequisites and course descriptions for each available class.
- AP Screencasts
- Students are allowed to take no more than 4 AP classes per year.
- Screencasts provide an overview of each AP course, a description of content covered, the workload required, and many other details that will be important for students and parents to know and be prepared for when registering for each AP course.
- Watch each screencast for the AP courses you plan to take to consider how many AP classes you will realistically be able to manage.
- Time Management Worksheet
- Mira Costa High School has updated the Time Management Activity worksheet along with an estimate of time sheet to assist students when planning for the 2019-2020 school year.
- It is important that students take the time to complete the activity to ensure that they are not overloading their schedules.
- Information for Selecting Courses in AERIES
STUDENTS MUST BE LOGGED INTO THEIR AERIES STUDENT PORTAL
PARENTS CANNOT SELECT COURSES FOR THEIR STUDENTS IN THEIR AERIES PARENT PORTAL
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- Log into your AERIES student account.
- Click on “Student Info.”
- Click on “Course Request Entry.”
- Under “Subject Area”, you can filter courses.
- Select the course you would like to take. (Example: For English 9, you would select 10001).
- If you select a semester course (course number ending in a “3”), make sure to select another semester long course ending in “3”.
- Incoming 9th-11th grade students must select a minimum of 6 courses.
- Incoming 12th grade students must select a minimum of 5 courses.
- The maximum number of courses a student can select is 7.
- The maximum number of AP courses a student can select is 4.
- If you do not want a zero period class, you MUST select “Excused Zero Period”, which will not be counted as one of your course selections.
- For all elective courses, students MUST select one alternate.
- For Incoming 9th grade students planning to play a sport, it is highly recommended that you select “Zero Period Athletics” in order minimize the disruptions to your schedule when your season begins.
- If you participated in a sport in the 2018-2019 school year and plan to continue with this sport, please select “Excused Per 6”
- For Incoming 12th grade students selecting English 12 Seminars, you MUST click on “Add Alternate” for each of your two choices. Select an alternate option for each seminar.
- Once you complete your selection of course reque
sts, you can log out. There is no save button.
- Review Selected Courses
- Review the courses you selected.
- Consider the time required to be successful in these courses in conjunction with any in-school and out-of-school extra curricular activities.
- Discuss the selections and time commitment with your parents in order to ensure you have a balanced schedule.
- Counselor Meetings
- In April and May, every student will meet directly with their counselor to review the selected courses for the fall. If any changes need to be made, a counselor will assist with that process at that time.
MBX Summer School registration opens Thursday, Jan 24th. More information is available at www.mbxfoundation.org under Summer School or by clicking https://www.mbxfoundation.org/
Academic summer school is offered at MBX as a service to students who might be interested in taking a class to free up a period in their schedule during the school year, or to meet an academic requirement to advance to a higher level. For example many students elect to take Health in the summer before their freshmen year. It is a 1 semester class that is a graduation requirement for MCHS. By taking it in the summer, the requirement is completed. By taking Health in the classroom (vs. online) students will have the opportunity to take a course on the Mira Costa campus and potentially meet other kids prior to starting in the fall. In the summer, Health is a 3 week course.
Two semester courses which meet academic requirements to advance, such as Biology or Geometry, should only be taken if a student feels that they need it to meet their academic goals, such as taking an extra science, or to allow for higher level math courses by their senior year. Students should talk with their advisor before registering for these classes. Due to the condensed nature of the coursework, they are particularly rigorous in summer school. Spanish 1, which is offered only in MBX Flex, is specifically to help students who successfully completed just one year of middle school Spanish, would like to potentially advance to Spanish 2 in 9th grade. UC/CSU requires students to have 2 semesters of a visual or performing art. MBX summer school art class will fulfill that requirement. As with Geometry and Biology, we recommend speaking with your advisor prior to enrolling as many MCHS classes fulfill the visual or performing art requirement.
MBX also administers summer athletic programs for student athletes interested in participating in sports at Mira Costa. Many MCHS sports teams offer summer programs, which give athletes the opportunity to meet coaches, learn more about the programs and train for try-outs. These programs are highly recommended, especially for fall sports. Students who meet attendance requirements will receive 5 credit hours towards the MCHS PE graduation requirement of 20 credit hours.