Smith @SDA 

WELCOME | Fall 2024

I am excited for the fall term and meeting you all this school year!

This site contains many important resources for you as a parent/caregiver. It is your gateway to information about what your student will be learning throughout the school year. Not only will it allow you to review the topics discussed in class, it has links to:

Although my focus is for every student to learn science, I especially want students to learn how to be independent life-long learners. We will explore how to read complex scientific texts, use observations to develop conclusions, and learn different strategies for reviewing/studying scientific concepts.

This course is built differently than most traditional classroom environments. We will be building our science knowledge through an inquiry based process. In order to accomplish this type of learning it will be built upon answering questions based on phenomena rather than rote memorization. This will lead the students to research and test ideas in order to construct knowledge.

Since all students having access to a touchscreen Chromebook my goal is to make all work completed digitally using the district issued technology.  Therefore I will be housing all course related items within Google Classroom. This online tool gives your student twenty-four hour access to all course content. I believe these resources will create an opportunity for success if the materials are available in the classroom and online.

Most importantly I want students to feel successful and connected.  In order to achieve this I will provide multiple opportunities for every student to demonstrate their learning.  I also want to explicitly focus on providing strategies for social emotional learning.  These include:

These pillars of social emotional learning will provide balance for students as we transition back to the classroom from distance learning providing students the emotional support and skills to be life-long learners.

Thank you for taking time to view this web site.  I look forward to getting to know your student throughout the school year.