Teacher:  Lisa Appleyard
Email:  lhensley@windrush.org
Phone Extension:  273

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Middle School science courses emphasize the importance and excitement of scientific inquiry both inside and outside of class.  I will work hard to motivate students to develop or maintain a belief that science is understandable, practical and fun, while also laying the groundwork for future study in science.  My hope is that all students find the subject exciting and fun, feel comfortable with the language and procedures of scientific investigation, and feel ready to pursue deeper challenges in high school.

Instruction is based on a combination of lecture and discussion, reading from science texts, classroom projects and activities, and hands-on laboratory work.  Students should be prepared to work individually and in groups.  Active and safe participation in laboratory experiments is vital.  Several times this year, students will write formal lab reports to communicate their findings in experimental investigations.

CONTENT

The 8th grade science curriculum at Windrush, like the California state standards, focuses on physical sciences.  We will investigate a few topics in life sciences and earth sciences, mostly as they integrate with physics and chemistry, such as the energy in Earth’s atmosphere from the Sun as it affects weather and climate, or how joints in the human body are analogous to simple machines.  Here is a tentative schedule of the year:

TEXT BOOKS

The 8th grade science course will use four small textbooks for four of the units.  The books are published by Prentice-Hall, as part of their Science Explorer series.  The titles used will be “Motion, Forces, and Energy,” “Weather and Climate,” “Chemical Building Blocks,” and “Chemical Interactions.”  Additionally, students will use a variety of sources for information, such as photocopied articles, handouts, and lecture notes. My goal is to put everything into Google Docs so that we can reduce the amount of paper use at the school. Students will download the document(s), make a digital copy and then either submit a digital version showing their work or print out a copy and turn it in on the due date. This will vary depending on the assignment but it will allow for students who miss a day or more at school to keep up with what we are doing in class. 

GRADING

8^th Grade Science Grading System

Homework- 5 points

Labs- 10 points

Quizzes- 25 points

Exams- 100 points

I will only accept late homework if there has been an absence or the assignment is accompanied with a note signed by a parent.  Students should make efforts to connect with me to get missed work after an absence.  Notes and class work can be shared between peers in the case of an absence.

According to Windrush’s progressive principles, students are given a variety of ways to demonstrate their understanding of the subjects that we will explore. In addition to traditional tests and quizzes, students will work on short-term and long-term projects, and participate in class discussions.  Student grades are based on four separate sets of scores, each valued equally at 25% of the overall grade:  participation; tests and quizzes; homework; and projects, experiments, and lab reports.

PARTICIPATION GRADE

Participation is not restricted to answering questions during class discussions! It also includes working carefully and cooperatively with your group during experiments, asking questions to clarify your understanding, and listening politely when others are offering their opinions.  Many questions discussed in science have more than one possible answer.  Students must show respect for others who may have a different opinion than their own.

Necessary Materials:

Students should bring the following materials to class each day:

            • science binder, containing blank notebook and graph paper

            • scientific calculator

            • pencil or pen

            • science book

            • assignment book

If a student does not bring the proper materials to class, he or she will find it very difficult to participate in class and learn new concepts.  To ensure that everyone is prepared, students will frequently be asked to show that they have brought all of their materials, and the reliability will be part of the participation grade.