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TMS |
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785
Riverside Drive North
Grosvernordale, CT 06255 |
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ltrudeau@thompsonpublicschools.org 923-9380 |
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Lucinda Trudeau, Eighth Grade Science Rules and Regulations As we begin a new year, many
questions arise about expectations from the students and expectations from
the teacher. It is my hope that many
of these will be cleared up in this letter being sent home. First of all, eighth-grade science is the
study of bridges and bridge building, forces and motion, Earth in the Solar
System, and Heredity and Evolution.
This is a new curriculum that is being taught this year due to changes
in the Connecticut state frameworks.
All of these topics will be explored using scientific inquiry. This allows the students to work through
problems on their own and come up with reasonable explanations. The mysteries of the world we live in can be explored
from many points of views. My approach
will be based on sixteen years of experience in the medical field. These years taught me that everything that
happens could be related to many types of science. I will require that the students find a
“Science in the News.” This is an
article from some news source that is placed in their notebooks. They might be called upon in class to share
this or they might not, but is will be part of their overall notebook
grade. They will need to have a “SIN”
for four days a week. The SIN makes
the kids look to the real world for science around us. Your daughter or son will have plenty of opportunities to
excel in this class. We will be doing
projects, tests, quizzes, homework questions and outlines, notebooks, and
participation grades. These variations
allow each student to do well in one or all of theses areas. All homework assignments will be on a
syllabus, which will be given out at the beginning of each new chapter. This will change based on students’
achievement and other things that come up.
This syllabus will also be posted online and upgraded as needed. The syllabus will include a parent and
students’ signature section. I have
included this part so that all parties involved will know what is going on
and I will be informed that all parties have seen it. Notebooks will be a large part of the learning tool in
science this year. I have included a
table of contents that NEEDS to be included in the notebook. I also have these available for the
students or they can make their own that is similar to this one. This notebook MUST be a THREE-RINGED
BINDER!!! They will have to add things to this and include worksheets and
other handouts as part of it. This cannot be done to a spiral notebook. The
notebooks will be graded at least once a semester. Students must bring their notebooks to
class and a pencil to take notes with.
All quizzes and test MUST be done in pencil. The only time that a pen will be allowed is
when the students are writing a lab report to be handed in for grading. Lab reports MUST be written in pen or
typed. Students must come to class ready to work each day. They will be doing numerous hands-on
activities because this is the only way to learn science. They will learn how to make good
observations, how to analyze data, how to write a good lab report, and how to
work well with each other. Most
importantly, they will learn how to ask good questions. Questioning is the key to successful
learning in science. In each activity,
they will answer many questions but hopefully they will come up with many
questions to ask also. This will be
the springboard for learning how Science, Society and Technology go hand and
hand and are critical to the future of our world. We will explore this on a weekly basis. Students will be graded weekly on participation, positive
or negative. They can earn up to 10
participation points per week. If a
student is disruptive, never has a Science in the News, doesn’t stay on task,
they will earn negative points because of negative behavior. If they do what is asked of them in a
positive manner, they will earn 10 points. Grades are all done on a point system similar to one done
in math. Every assignment will be
graded so homework is extremely important.
This means that, for example, a test might be worth 150 points and a
project 200, homework assignments 125 and quizzes 55 points. Add these points to your 50 participation
point for a 5-week period and you have a total of 580 points you could earn. If you have earned a total of 500 points,
you have earned approximately an 89 for those 5 weeks of class. It would be a very good idea to keep track
of your grades in the front of your notebook and the possible totals of all
these. In this way you will always
know where you stand and you don’t have to rely on me for this
information. All projects will have
plenty of advance notice; tests will also be given with notice. Homework will be graded daily and quizzes
will always be a SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!! Daily, I will keep track of the number of minutes that are wasted. These will be tallied on the board and when
they reach 30, the entire class will stay after with me for an hour
detention. I will be teaching for this
entire hour to make up for the time that the students have wasted
previously. This is a very effective
tool for keeping the students on track and for reducing the amount of fooling
around that takes place. With hard work from all of us, I expect a very, very successful school
year! Lucy Trudeau ltrudeau@thompson.ctschool.net 8th Grade Science |
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To
contact us: |
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Phone:
860-923-9380 Fax:
555-555-5555 Email:
ltrudeau@thompson.ctschool.net |
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