Joyce Hansen WSMS 8th Grade Science

Course Title:  8th Grade Science  2018-2019

Textbook:  Prentice Hall Science Explorer         Instructor:  Mrs. Hansen

Course Objective:  This 8th grade science course expects student to be active learners.  Students will be expected to participate in exploring the various objectives outlined by the state of North Carolina.  Students will learn about Laboratory Safety and Investigations, the Scientific Method and how to interpret results of experiments.  This course will cover topics in Earth Science, Chemistry, Biology, and Physical Science. Students will actively investigate the scientific realm of their world through projects, presentations, memorization, writing, reading, and labs.  Student’s mastery of these science concepts and skills will be measures through class work, Labs, projects, goal tests, and subject quizzes throughout the year. At the conclusion of this course, all students will take the state produced End of Grade assessment (EOG) assessment. The course will be taught by goal objectives as determined by the state of North Carolina.  

Grading:  Daily practice is necessary to fully grasp the sometimes complicated details of this course.  I expect all students spend at least 30 minutes each evening practicing, reviewing, studying science concepts.   All course assignments will be graded on a 100 point scale (i.e. 88%).  The corresponding letter grading scale used by SCS is as follows: A: 100-90,   B: 89-80, C: 79-70, D: 69-60, F: < 60

Course Grade will be calculated as follows:

Classwork   10%

(Warm ups, class participation, lecture notes, activities, notebook, and written assignments)

Lab work   15%

(Pre-lab & post-lab write-ups, hands-on performance, safety)

1- Quarterly Performance Tasks/Projects 15%

1- Quarter Exam 30% (created from the subject quizzes)

Subject Quizzes 30%

** NOTE:  Daily, extra credit opportunities will be provided for students to complete.  Students have the opportunity to earn 1-3 extra credit points (per assignment) to put towards a subject quiz grade!!!

Excused Absences-Make-up Work:  It is your responsibility to obtain missed assignments when absent.  Any missed assignments or tests missed due to an excused absence must be made up within three school days (as noted in the student handbook).  Assignments will not be accepted late (following the 3-day period)

Late Work:  Late work grading policy is as follows:  

1 day late: 20 points is subtracted from earned assignment grade

2 days late: “F” (65 % is max score for perfect assignment)

3 days late: Not accepted and 0% is recorded grade.

REQUIRED Daily Materials:  *Agenda/planner *3-ring binder with 5 dividers * Loose leaf paper kept in 3-ring binder * Pencil * Pen * Textbook  

Recommended: colored pencils, small pencil sharpener, markers, glue stick, highlighters