2014-2015
Dear Parents and Students:
Welcome to 7th grade science. I look forward to an exciting year with your students. They will be doing a variety of hands on activities to learn about life science. Some of these activities this year will be to learn how to use a microscope and identify different types of tissues, learning how to classify and group organisms, simulate natural selection, and learn about the body systems.
Each student will be responsible for their own class supplies. They will need a spiral notebook, a folder, and a writing utensil each day for class. They will be expected to participate in all of the activities, which also means bringing all needed supplies to class each day.
They will be graded on a total point system. Each marking period, they will receive grades for their homework, in class activities, and tests. They are responsible for all lab activities and questions for each lab they are in class for. (A student is not responsible for a lab activity if they are not in class that day).
For Example:
Assignments/Points Students grades
HW#1 5 pts HW#1 5 pts
HW#2 5 pts HW#2 4 pts
Lab #1 15 pts Lab #1 15 pts
Lab #2 15 pts Lab #2 13 points
In class 5 pts In class 5 pts
Review 30 pts Review 30 pts
Test 30 pts Test 27 pts
Total 105 pts possible Total 99 pts
Students grade: 99 pts/105 pts x 100% = 94%
To keep track of your student’s progress, a progress report will be sent home every three weeks (middle of the marking period and the end of the marking period). This progress report shows your student’s current grade, their grade for each assignment, and what assignments they are missing. All assignments are due at the beginning of the class period, any assignments that are turned in after this are considered late. They have the opportunity to turn in any late or missing assignment up until the end of the marking period. I will be in touch with each student about their missing assignments weekly and they will receive a progress report every 3 weeks during the entire school year.
Students will have weekly homework, flash cards, a review game, extra credit and then a test to complete each chapter in the book. All homework assignments are important as they review the material they learned in class each day. The homework assignments should not take more than 10-15 minutes, if they take your student longer, please contact me. Extra credit assignments are important as they can help to balance a student’s grade.
Each student will be expected to turn in a project on nutrition, which is usually due during marking period 5. It is a comprehensive project which takes several weeks to complete. Your student will be keeping a food log on what they eat for 3 days and then analyzing it to determine how well they eat compared to what they should be eating based on the governments food guide pyramid. Once they determine what they could do better to improve their nutrition, they will keep another food log for 3 days and try to eat better during those 3 days. I hope you will take the time to talk to your student about their eating habits and what they learned from this project.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 594-3341 ext. 3917, or at sdarlow@gstboces.org.
I hope your students will enjoy the learning activities in my science class this year!
Sharon Darlow
7th grade science teacher
8th grade science teacher