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Mrs. Olszewski's Middle School Science
Christ King Middle School Science
Mrs. Betty Olszewski
"Science is God's way of explaining His creation to us."
Revised: Sunday, November 8, 2009
PARENTS, PLEASE LOOK IN YOUR CHILD'S SCIENCE NOTEBOOK TO SEE HIS/HER CORRECTED ACTIVITY REPORTS AND SCIENCE JOURNAL ENTRIES.
6th grade: The Archdiocesan Science objectives that we will cover in these chapters are:
1. Identify how devices have been designed to convert energy from one form to another; explain that energy is the ability to do work; identify the many different types of energy.
2. Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
3. Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, interpret, and present data.
4. Communicate scientific procedures and explanations, as well as the importance and implications of experimental results to peers, teachers, and other adults.
5. Use the metric system for all scientific measurements.
6. Show evidence of how science and technology are interdependent.
7. Design/develop a process to create a product or solution to a problem.
8. Identify the Law of Conservation of Energy.
9. Describe and investigate the properties of light, heat, gravity, magnetic fields, electrical fields and sound waves and their interactions with common objects.
10. Infer that as energy transformations occur, some energy escapes as heat, sound, or light; identify heat conductors and insulators and know how heat can move.
Class work:
The Invention Project is due on Monday. The students are to bring their invention to the second floor tables as soon as they arrive on Monday. The students are then to go back outside until the first bell.
Remember: I will be grading what I see, so please take care in transporting the projects to school. If the project breaks in transit to school, I can only grade what is presented to me in school, not on what the invention looked like at home.
During class time on Monday the students will have to "sell" their invention to their classmates. Any students who do not have time to present their invention on Monday will do so on Tuesday.
On Wednesday the students will get back into the textbook and have an activity on calculating kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy. There will be some class notes on the 8 forms of energy also.
On Thursday the students will have some more class notes and then another activity on energy being transformed from one form into another.
Friday we will begin our study of thermal energy with some class notes and a video.
7th grade: The Archdiocesan Science objectives that we will cover in these chapters are:
1. Describe and investigate the properties of light, heat, gravity, magnetic fields, electrical fields and sound waves and their interactions with common objects.
2. Demonstrate that light travels in straight lines unless reflected or refracted.
3. Identify visible light as one component of the electromagnetic spectrum; white light is composed of all the colors of the rainbow.
4. Demonstrate that light interacts with matter by transmission, absorption, reflection, and refraction.
5. Demonstrate that light can be reflected with mirrors or refracted with lenses; concave and convex lenses can change the path of light.
6. Explain how the Sun is the major source of energy for the Earth; light is a form of energy.
7. Demonstrate that light is essential for vision.
8. Demonstrate how things that absorb light often transmit heat.
9. Know the 7 kinds of radiant energy of the electromagnetic spectrum and their common uses, if any.
Class work:
On Monday there will be an activity on the reflection and diffraction of light.
Tuesday will be an activity on the refraction of light.
Wednesday will be the review for the test. The students will be assigned their Science Journal entry for these chapters, if they have not done it already.
Thursday will be the test on Chapters 3 & 4 of Sound and Light. I will be collecting the student notebooks that day also.
On Friday we will begin a new book, Earth's Changing Surface. We start with some class notes and a short activity.
The test on this new chapter will be on Thursday, December 3.
8th grade: The Archdiocesan Science objectives that we will cover in this science book are:
1. Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
2. Design and safely conduct a controlled experiment using the Scientific Method.
3. Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, interpret, and present data.
4. Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions and raise questions for further research.
5. Communicate scientific procedures and explanations, as well as the importance and implications of experimental results to peers, teachers, and other adults.
6. Use inferences to help decide possible results of investigations and use observations to check inferences.
7. Use accepted scientific knowledge, models, and theories to explain results and to raise further questions.
8. Make and use graphs and data tables to analyze data.
9. Identify the needs and values of society that influence the direction of technological development.
10. Realize that technology cannot solve all human problems or meet all human needs.
11. Understand that the frontiers in technological development provide many career opportunities.
12. Utilize technological tools in the study of science (as computers and calculators) and laboratory equipment (as microscopes, etc.).
13. Use a variety of resources to explore scientific discoveries.
14. Illustrate the impact that science and technology have had on society.
15. Show evidence of how science and technology are interdependent.
Science Fair work: The topic for each student's Science Fair Project is due on Monday of this week.
Class work:
On Monday we will finish the activity that we began on Thursday of last week, then begin another activity on lab and graphing skills.
Tuesday will be finishing Monday's activity.
Wednesday will be another activity on estimation in science.
Thursday will be a review for the test. The students will be assigned the Science Journal entry, if they have not completed it yet.
Friday, November 13, is the test on The Nature of Science and Technology, Chapters 1-4.
Science Fair work: On Monday, November 16, the Planning Sheet for the student's experiment and research is due.
Parents, if you need to contact me at anytime throughout the year, please reach me via my e-mail at olszewskib@christkingparish.org.
Science Policies (2009-2010)
Science is an area of study that is constantly changing and advancing. These advances require today's students to be prepared to make informed decisions on many everyday questions. Therefore, the goal of the science program in Christ King Middle School is to develop each student's questioning and problem-solving skills, as well as to increase their knowledge about the world around them.
Some basics that apply to all grade levels:
1. The Christ King Middle School's discipline code will be followed in all classes.
2. Most of the student's work will be contained in a 5-subject spiral notebook. Each student is
required to have this notebook with him/her for class each day. The first two sections of this notebook will be for class notes, the third section for the Science Journal, and the fourth and fifth sections for the Activity Reports.
3. Usually notebooks will be collected and checked on every test day. However, on occasion, the
notebooks will be collected whenever I see a need to do so. I do not have to announce in advance when I am going to collect the notebooks for grading. Any homework that is not completed on time will be counted as late. Late work will not be graded any higher than a "C". The longer the homework is late, the more points will be taken off. Besides this, the student will stay in at recesses until the late work has been completed.
4. Lab activities are an integral part of the course. These activities engage the students in the use of
scientific equipment, as well as improving critical thinking skills. Labs further encourage good organizational skills and personal responsibility for behavior. Graphing skills will also be developed to give the students the ability to analyze their data.
5. Each activity that is done in class time has an Activity Report to be done for homework, due the
next day. Each Report usually is worth 10 points toward the quarter grade. Activity Reports must be in correct numerical order and have this format:
a. Activity number and title on the top line of the notebook page
b. Objective for the activity
c. Data table(s) and facts collected in the activity
d. Conclusion (one sentence).
6. Usually tests are given at the end of every chapter, but a few tests will combine chapters.
7. A study guide for each test will be handed out on the first day of class notes for each unit.
Students can use these to begin studying immediately for the chapter test.
8. Every assignment, test and project will be assigned a certain number of points toward the
quarter grade. The amount of points earned by the student for each assignment/project/test will be added together at the end of the quarter and divided by the total points that were possible. This will give the student's overall percentage for the report card grade.
9. Usually the class period before each test will be devoted to using the study guide to prepare for
the test.
10. When the test is returned to the student, the corrected test will have the grade for the test on
top, as well as the student's current average in Science on the bottom of the test. All parents are expected to view the child's test scores on Web Grader after they have been posted. Posting will be done within 48 hours of the child taking the Science test, barring a major problem occurring.
11. Homework is expected to be done every night, whether it is going over the class notes of the
day, finishing the Activity Report from the day's lab work, or doing the Science Journal entry for the chapter.
12. Up to 10 points of Extra Credit can be done by each student each quarter. These points will
then be added to the total points accumulated by the student at the end of the quarter. Extra Credit work is reading a science article (either from the supplied Current Science Magazines or from any other good science source) and summarizing it in the student's own words. Personal opinions are not to be given in this summary. Ten good sentences in the summary will give one Extra Credit point toward a Science test or assignment. Also the "Chapter Projects" at the beginning of each chapter in the textbook can be done for some extra credit points. Other extra credit work will be considered if you ask me about it.
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Send E-Mail to: olszewskib@christkingparish.org
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