Horizon Science with Mrs. Chenoweth
Welcome to science on Team Horizon! I hope you will enjoy learning about the world around you and how it works. I believe that an inquiry based approach will bring out the scientist in all of my students. Inquiry does not mean that we are just doing labs. We use inquiry as we learn to read and process science text and practice scientific thinking.
Contact Information: The best way to contact me is via email: kristen.chenoweth@dcsdk12.org. I will always try get back to you within 24 hours.
Google Classroom: This is the resource kids will use for in person learning, remote learning, and for make-up work. Here are the class codes:
Period 2 Science: zncawkp
Period 4 Science: 5dwmjly
Period 5 Science: gougbrz
Period 6 Science: wj2zyqw
Period 7 Science: 5x5bzbh
I will be showing students how to sign up for Google Classroom but if they forget, they can go to Google Classroom. They should click the + sign in the upper right hand corner of the page and put in the class code for their science class.
If parents would like access to a parent view of google classroom, you may ask your students to invite you or you can email me at kristen.chenoweth@dcsdk12.org.
Students can also go to the Horizon Student Calendar-This calendar is one place to go for make-up work and questions about lessons and homework.
Curriculum: Team Horizon is a looping team. This means that I will work with your son/daughter for two years. Here are the main concepts that we will be studying based on the Colorado State Standards.
7th Grade Concepts
-Physical Properties of Matter
-Cellular Structure and Function
-Human Body Systems
-Changes in Organisms and Over Time
-Geologic Changes Over Time
-Animal Characteristics and Adaptations
8th Grade Concepts
-Motion and Forces
-Types of Energy and Energy Transfer
-Physical and Chemical Changes
-Structure and Function of Waves
-Weather and Climate Systems
-Characteristics of the Solar System
-Human Activities and Ecosystems
Lessons and Make-up Work: All of my lessons can be accessed from Google Classroom and the Horizon Student Calendar. I include make-up work for the day as well as attachments to resources in each lesson. I expect students to be in charge of looking up and completing make-up work for missed classes within two days of the absence.
Grades: I will report out on two grading categories. Because we do not average grades in a standards based grading system, the grade calculator will not be turned on. It is important that you look at individual scores to determine your overall grade in the two categories. Here is a link to the CMS Journey Learning Description of Grading Practices.
*You will often see symbols instead of numbers in the Work Habits Category of the grade book. These are there to indicate whether or not a student participated in one of the ways they we learn about science. This could include classroom practice or homework. The symbols you are most likely to see are a "+" which means that the student completed the work on time meeting my expectations; and a "M" which means that the student either did not complete the work. A "-" means that the student did not complete the work well or raced through the process. A "p" means that the work was partially completed. After each unit, I will change an "M" to an "I" because I am no longer accepting the assignment. I tabulate these symbols weekly for a Weekly Work Habits grade.
**If you see a lot of "-", "M", "I"and "p" in the grade book, the student is struggling with Work Habits which will most likely affect his/her Content Knowledge.
***Students are always welcome to redo an assignment or complete missing work. The grade will be changed to "turned in late." While I do accept late work, keep in mind that it is important to do work on time because we use homework and classwork as part of our learning process towards Content Knowledge grades.
Lab Safety: Parents were required to sign a DCSD Safety Contract as part of the registration process. It is important to remember that all safety guidelines must be followed during scientific labs.