7TH GRADE SCIENCE COURSE SYLLABUS Dear Parents and Students, Welcome to my Science class! I am really excited about this year and look forward to working with your son or daughter. Below are some of my standards and basic information for the class. Please review these together, fill out the parent survey and Health permission form and return to me by Monday, September 8. Students should keep this sheet in their notebooks to refer back to. MATERIALS: Students are to come to class prepared to work each day. This means: Homework (if any) should be complete. Materials for class include a pen (black or dark blue ink), a pencil, science workbook, a section in a three ring binder with plenty of notebook paper, crayons or colored pencils, GLUE STICK, agenda, an SSR book to read, and any other special materials requested for that day. Students should have these supplies with them DAILY. TEXTBOOK: Prentice Hall Focus on Life TARDINESS: Students are tardy if not in their seat when the tardy bell rings. Students should take care of all restroom stops, drinking fountain breaks, eating (no food, GUM, candy, or drinks in the classroom-water bottle okay!), chatting with friends, etc… before coming to class. Students will not be excused from class. MAKEUP WORK: Students will have one day per day of absence, unless otherwise arranged, from the date of return to make up your missed assignments for full credit. Makeup work is the responsibility of the student! Please do not wait to be reminded! LATE WORK/HOMEWORK: If a student comes to class unprepared, they are given the opportunity to come after school that day to finish the homework assignment for half credit. All work not made up results in a zero. STUDENT WORK and NOTEBOOKS: Students should write in black or dark blue ink or pencil only. No colored pens or markers, unless the assignment is to be colored. Papers will not be accepted in any color other than black or blue or pencil. Papers torn out of a spiral notebook ("fringe things") will not be accepted either (please trim them). All assignments must have the proper heading (name, date, number, title) on them to receive credit. Students are to keep all work in their binder unless otherwise stated and will be checked periodically for completeness. They should be carried to class daily, without exception. If your child is earning less than 100% on their notebook grades, they are not doing their homework. CURRICULUM: 7th graders will be learning Life Science this year. Our book is divided into the following 4 units: Unit 1 Introduction to Life Science Unit 2 Genetics and Evolution Unit 3 Structure and Function in Living Things Unit 4 Structure and Function in the Human Body We also have an 8 week Health component which correlates with our Project Alert Drug Awareness Program. Students will learn about these topics in a variety of ways including labs, hands-on activities, reading, art, lectures, writing, research, computers, projects, group and individual activities, discussions, guest speakers, educational games, and possibly some learning trips. If you have an idea or would like to contribute to our class in some way (guest speaker, chaperone a trip, etc....) we'd love to have you! GRADING: Your grade is based on all the assignments given. Labs, activities, projects, class work, homework, quizzes and tests all add up to your grade. Points are recorded, not letter grades. Assignments are given points depending on the difficulty of the assignment. Notebooks typically range from 100-300 points depending on the length of the Chapter. Tests are 100 points. The grading scale below is used: 90-100%=A 80-89%=B 70-79% =C 60-69%=D 0-59% = F My conference period is period 2 and I welcome any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. Email or a hand written note will be the easiest and quickest way for me to communicate with parents. (chaynes@rbusd.org) Thank you, Cathie Haynes 7th Grade Science http://homepage.mac.com/snakelady