WELCOME!

Mrs. Whalen Science Room 107

MRS. WHALENCONTACT INFORMATION

Phone – 847-357-6050

Email: erinwhalen@sd54.org

Website: http://mead.sd54.org/ewhalen/

SCIENCE CURRICULUM

Unit

Unit Title Length NGSS – MS NGSS - HS

1 Forces and Motion

12 weeks MS-PS2-1MS-PS2-2MS-PS2-3MS-PS2-5

HS-PS2-1HS-PS2-3HS-PS2-4

2 Energy 10 weeks MS-PS3-1MS-PS3-2MS-PS3-3MS-PS3-4MS-PS3-5MS-PS3-1MS-PS4-2

HS-PS3-1HS-PS3-3HS-PS4-1

3 Space Systems 8 Weeks MS-PS2-4MS-ESS1-1MS-ESS1-2MS-ESS1-3

HS-ESS1-3HS-ESS1-4

4 Human Impacts 4 Weeks MS-ESS3-3MS-ESS3-4MS-ESS3-5

HS-ETS1-1

GRADING POLICY

Grades are determined as followsAssessments 60%In-class Activities 40%

Each unit will have a common assessment. Students must meet minimum standards on the assessment (70%). If they do not meet, students will be required to attend a re-teaching lesson and retake the assessment until mastery is shown. This will ensure students are leaving with a guaranteed curriculum.

Students will also receive a standards mastery grade at the end of each trimester according to the D54 Junior High science descriptors found on the report card.

STANDARD BASED GRADES

1 Cite specific evidence to support the analysis of science and technical information.

2 Determine the central ideas or conclusion of scientific information; provide an accurate summary distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

3 Precisely follow or design a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, using computational thinking, or performing technical tasks.

4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context.

5 Integrate quantitative or technical information with information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

6 Analyze quantitative or technical information gained from experiments, simulations, videos, or multimedia

TEXT BOOKS

There are three textbooks that we use published by Holt. The text books can be accessed on line at

my.hrw.comUsername: mmustang12

Password: method

GRIT

Grit is having the ability to persevere through a challenging problem. It is hard to watch a child struggle, and our natural response is to jump in and help them. However, our children need opportunities to experience productive struggles in a safe environment in order to build their endurance for grit as well as to build confidence in their own abilities.

Example of talking about grit with your child – Instead of “how was your day or what did you learn today”, ask “What is something that you struggled with today? How did you deal with it?”