6th Grade Science Syllabus



2016-2017 7th Grade Science Syllabus

Mr. McGinn - Northwest Middle School

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Welcome to 7th grade! I am so excited to have you in class this year and want to tell you about my class and what I will expect from you in order for you to be successful.

Course Outcome:

Course Description:

This course is an inquiry-based science class integrating technology and engineering while exploring the interrelationships of life, earth, and physical sciences. The major themes are cells and their processes, flow of matter & energy specifically photosynthesis and cellular respiration, heredity/genetics, minerals and rocks, the Earth, Newton’s laws of motion and simple machines.

Knox County Schools Science Department Mission Statement:

“Knox County Science teachers will empower students to search, solve, and succeed in order to contribute to and improve our complex world.”

7th Grade Curriculum

Instruction:

General Pacing:

The basic outline for this class is as follows (for a more detailed list please see the attached Knox County Science Curriculum):

1st 9 Weeks:

Inquiry (will also be addressed throughout the year)

Technology/Engineering (will also be addressed throughout the year)

Earth Science (minerals, rocks, and rock cycle)

2nd 9 Weeks:

Earth Science (Earth structure, plate boundaries, resources)

Physical Science (simple machines, work, Newton’s laws of motion, and waves)

Life Science (plant and animal cells, passive transport, and solutions)

3rd 9 Weeks:

Life Science (photosynthesis, cellular respiration, cell division, asexual and sexual reproduction)

4th 9 Weeks:

Life Science (heredity)

TCAP Review

**Please note this is a guideline that will be used and may be modified based on student needs.

Materials Needed/Fees:

The following materials will be needed as soon as possible for class: pencils, pens, erasers, spiral notebook, loose-leaf paper, and a folder to put important papers in. It is very important for you to be as organized as possible and keep all papers in order for you to be prepared for tests. There is no fee for this class.

Resources:

• Textbook Information:

The Science text you will be using this year is Holt McDougal Science and Technology. We will have a class set of textbooks that we will use in class. If you write in or destroy any textbook – YOU will be responsible for paying to replace it. I will also make available an online book, which will be accessible anywhere with an internet connection.

• Other Books:

o ScienceSaurus A student Handbook by Great Source

o Tennessee Blueprint TCAP Coach by Triumph Learning

• Additional Text Resources:

o Additional text pertaining to our course of study can be found from a variety of online journal sites such as: Gale Science in Context (TEL), ,

• Supplemental Materials:

Instructional time is very valuable; therefore, I do not use videos on a regular basis. The videos I do show in my classroom, however, are educational videos that relate to topics that are a part of the science curriculum. All videos are a part of our school library collection. Some titles that will be used are:

o Brain Pop video clips

o Discovery Education video clips

o Bill Nye the Science Guy: “Simple Machines,” “Plants,” “Waves,” and “Earth Crust”

o Teacher Video Company: “Inside a Cell,” “Meiosis,” “Mitosis,” and “Photosynthesis”

o Dr. Seuss’s Televised Classics: “The Lorax”

o BBC Video: “Planet Earth” and “The Blue Planet: Seas of Life”

If you do not approve of a specific resource listed in this syllabus, please make your request to me in writing and an alternative assignment and/or materials will be provided.

• Helpful Websites:

The following websites may be useful to students throughout the year for reviewing topics and furthering their understanding of science:

o Username: rangernation Password: orange

o Specifically: Dynamic Earth and Rocks

Safety Procedures:

Safety Contract

Assessment:

Homework, Make-Up Work, and Grading Policy:

Make-Up Work Policy for Absent Students

Knox County Board of Education Policy states and Northwest Middle School will follow:

“If a student must be absent from school for any reason, excused or unexcused, up to ten (10) days upon returning to school, he/she shall be given the opportunity to make up any and all assignments that were missed during the student’s absence. The student must request make-up assignments within three (3) days after returning from the absence. Failure of a student to initiate a request for make-up work within three (3) days will result in lost opportunity for credit for that assignment.”

It is the student’s responsibility to obtain their missed assignments from an absence. At parent’s request, the office will gather missed work for students who are absent 5 or more days. However, due to meetings taking place during teachers’ plan times, it is reasonable to allow at least 24 hours before picking up the assignments.

Late Work Policy

Individual teachers, teams and other school officials at Northwest Middle School have the authority and responsibility to impose deadlines for the submission of work. One of our goals as a school is to prepare students for the future by teaching students responsibility, and experiencing the natural consequences of failure to meet reasonable deadlines is the primary manner in which we learn this skill. Please do not expect school administration or teachers to extend or ignore a deadline. For students that choose not complete their assignments on time, the following Late Work Penalties will be assessed:

|Days Late |Percent of Grade Deducted from Student Grade |

|1 day |5% |

|2 days |10% |

|3 days |15% |

|4 days |20% |

|5 days |25% |

|6 or more days |Results in a zero |

**End of the Semester Exception**

All students, absent or not, will be given ten (10) days to complete a missing assignment unless the missing assignments are near the end of the semester. At that point, all assignments not completed by the end of the semester grading cut-off date will be recorded as zeros.

Grading Policy:

First Semester

|40% Formative |Examines what students are learning |

|Assessments |(e.g. participation, quizzes used to gather data, class work, and homework) |

|60% Summative |Examines what students have learned, documents level of mastery |

|Assessments |(e.g. major tests, quizzes used to show mastery, projects, presentations, and written papers) |

Second Semester

|34% Formative |Examines what students are learning |

|Assessments |(e.g. participation, quizzes used to gather data, class work, and homework) |

|51% Summative |Examines what students have learned, documents level of mastery |

|Assessments |(e.g. major tests, quizzes used to show mastery, projects, presentations, and written papers) |

|15% TCAP/ TNReady |Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement Test or TN Ready Assessment |

Knox County Grading Scale:

93-100 – A

85-92 – B

75-84 – C

70-74 – D

0-69 – F

School Board Policy I-431 on Religion in the Curriculum:

The Board affirms that it is essential that the teaching about religion—and not of a religion be conducted in a factual, objective and respectful manner in accordance with the following: 

1. Music, art, literature, or drama with a religious theme or basis are permitted as part of the curriculum for school-sponsored activities and programs provided it is essential to the learning experience in the various fields of study and is presented objectively; 

2. The emphasis on religious themes in the arts, literature and history shall be only as extensive as necessary for a balanced and comprehensive study of these areas. Such studies shall never foster any particular religious tenets or demean any religious beliefs; and 

3. Student-initiated expressions to questions or assignments which reflect their beliefs or non-beliefs about a religious theme shall be accommodated. For example, students are free to express religious belief or non-belief in compositions, art forms, music, speech and debate.

Parent Portal Policy:

ASPEN and Canvas pages (found on northwestms.) are two valuable resources for you to use to ensure your child has the most successful experience in this class. In order to provide timely feedback, I will update grades once per week.

Student Expectations:

My rules are very simple: be prepared for class, be respectful to yourself and others, participating, asking questions, and be the best student you can be. If you choose to break a rule, you are choosing to have a consequence to your action. Those consequences may include: privileges taken away, phone call home, parent conference, or ultimately, a referral to the principal. I want you to learn and in order to learn, you must have self-control. We will also be adhering to the student classwork completion procedure of the school, which states: An essential factor to being successful in middle school is classwork completion. The faculty at Northwest Middle School requires and expects that all students complete all assignments in order to increase student achievement and student responsibility. If a student chooses not to complete an assignment on time then they will lose points as stated in the Late Work Policy. Students choosing not to complete classwork will also be asked by the teacher to complete the Personal Responsibility Card acknowledging their refusal to work. These cards will be turned in daily to the Grade Level Administrator who will collect the cards and take further action as deemed appropriate and necessary.

Teacher Expectations:

If you need to contact me, feel free to call the school at 594-1345 or email me at carl.mcginn@ Aspen and Canvas are two valuable resources for you to use to ensure your child has the most successful experience in this class. In order to provide timely feedback, I will update grades once per week. If you feel as though your child needs extra help in my class, I will provide tutoring before or after school if needed, or pull them from related arts with administrator approval.

Technology and Engineering (2 week and throughout)

• Design and conduct open-ended scientific investigations.

• Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, organize, analyze and interpret data.

• Synthesize information to determine the cause and effect relationships between evidence and explanations.

• Recognize possible sources of bias and error, alternative explanations, and questions for further exploration.

• Communicate scientific understanding using descriptions, explanations, and models.

• Explore how technology responds to social, political and economic needs.

• Know that the engineering design process involves an ongoing series of events that incorporate design constraints, model building, testing, evaluating, modifying, and retesting.

• Compare the intended benefits with the unintended consequences of a new technology.

• Describe and explain adaptive and assistive bioengineered products.

The Earth (8 weeks)

• Describe the physical properties of minerals.

• Summarize the basic events that occur in the rock cycle

• Analyze the characteristics of the earth’s layers and the location of the major plates.

• Explain how earthquakes, mountain building, volcanoes, and sea floor spreading are associated with movements of the earth’s major plates.

• Differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable resources in terms of their use by man.

• Explain how human activities affect the earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.

Motion (8 weeks)

• Identify six types of simple machines.

• Apply the equation for work in experiments with simple machines to determine the amount of force needed to do work.

• Distinguish between speed and velocity.

• Investigate how Newton’s laws of motion explain an object’s movement.

• Compare and contrast the basic parts of a wave.

• Investigate the types and fundamental properties of waves.

Cells (6 weeks)

• Identify the cell as a common unit of living things.

• Understand cell structures and the functions.

• Recognize and differentiate between the structure and function of plant and animal cells.

• Identify animal and plant cell models

• Describe the levels of organization in living things.

• Understand that materials move in and out of all cells

• Understand the different solution concentrations affecting substance movement

Flow of Matter and Energy/Matter (3 weeks)

• Distinguish between the processes of photosynthesis and respiration.

• Interpret the events represented by a chemical equation.

• Investigate the relationship between living things and the environment while considering the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen.

• Distinguish among elements, compounds, and mixtures.

• Explain the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Heredity (4 weeks)

• Recognize the importance of cell division and its sequential stages.

• Differentiate between asexual and sexual reproduction.

• Describe the process of sexual reproduction in flowering plants.

• Identify the molecules of a DNA strand and describe how the molecules bond together as well as what can happen when mutations occur

• Understand the relationship between alleles, genotypes and phenotypes as well as dominant and recessive traits.

• Identify and explain the relationship among genes, chromosomes, and inherited traits.

• Make a prediction about the probable appearance of offspring based on genetic characteristics of the parents.

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I ____________________________________(please print) have received Mr. McGinn’s syllabus for his seventh grade science class. I have read it and understand the expectations regarding my textbook, materials needed, classroom rules, homework, make-up work, and grading.

As a parent, I have also read the syllabus and understand what my child can do to be successful in science this year.

Please sign this page of the syllabus, and get your parent to sign it as well. Be sure to turn it in to Mr. McGinn for a grade.

______________________________ ____________________________

Student Name Parent Name

______________________________ ____________________________

Student Signature Parent Signature

____________________________

Parent Phone Number

____________________________

Parent Email

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