Syllabus

Syllabus

Ms. Jennifer Skardon

7th Grade Science Syllabus

Phone: (864) 452-0326

Email:  jskardon@greenville.k12.sc.us

Website: https://sites.google.com/greenvilleschools.us/jskardon/home

Course 7th Grade Science Description

This year’s seventh grade science classes will incorporate the South Carolina Science Curriculum Standards. State standards can be found at https://ed.sc.gov/instruction/standards-learning/science/standards/ .

Yearly Overview & Learning Objectives

Students in 7th Grade will develop their knowledge of the physical, life, and earth sciences through complex investigations and explanations. The concepts they study become increasingly abstract in a developmentally appropriate manner to allow for the slow, incremental development of these cognitively complex ideas. Seventh graders will also cultivate their investigative skills by generating their own questions, recognizing and explaining the relationships among variables, and critiquing the conclusions that are drawn from scientific investigations.  

Textbook

Our textbook is a workbook style physical copy that students can keep in the classroom and found in a digital format via Savvas (students sign in through classlink). 

Materials

• 2 composition notebooks – 1 for each semester

• Colored pencils & Glue sticks or tape

• Wired Earbuds

• Pens/pencils

Assessment

Grades will be weighted as follows: 

Major Assignments - count 50% of final grades

• Tests

• Projects

• Formal Writings

• Research-based Products

Minor Assignments - count as 50% of final grade

• Quizzes

• Labs

• Journals/Small Writings

• Informal Presentations

• Classwork/Homework

Grading Scale

The district grading scale will be used for each nine weeks:

• 90-100 A

• 80-89 B

• 70-79 C

• 60-69 D

• 0-59 F

Homework Policy

To reinforce science concepts learned in class, homework is sometimes given. Homework generally consists of any class work assignments that were not finished during class time. Assignments should be recorded daily in the student agenda and checked by parents.  Class work that is finished as homework can count as a grade.

Missed Work/Makeup Policy

Students have five (5) school days to make up work missed during an excused absence. If a test is announced before the absence, students should be prepared to take it the day they return to school. It is the student’s responsibility to make arrangements with the teacher to make up assignments or request an extension of time. After five days, any assignment not made up will be recorded as late.  Students are responsible for getting their own missed work from the absent folders.

Communication with Parents

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Parents will be notified by phone, written notes, requested conferences and/or e-mail at appropriate times during the year.  

Student Records

Student records, progress and achievement are as follows: 

• Grade Book: All grades will be recorded in the teacher's grade book with assignment title and due date.  The Parent Portal is available for parents to monitor their child's grades. 

• Progress Reports: Progress reports go out after four weeks of study.  

• Report Cards: Grades are sent home at the completion of each nine weeks.

Units of Study

1st Quarter

• Rules, Procedures, and School Information

• Lab Safety and Procedures

 Matter and Its Interactions

•  States of Matter

•  Composition of molecules

•  Properties of molecules through chemical reactions

•  Synthetic material and natural resources

• Conservation of mass, energy, and atoms in chemical reactions

2nd Quarter

 Energy

• Transfer of energy in chemical reactions

• Kinetic and potential energy

• Interpret and analyze the relationships of energy from object to object

 From Molecules to Organism

• Cellular Life Processes

• Energy transfer from food to organism 

3rd Quarter

 Ecosystem Dynamics

• Effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem

• Interactions of organisms across multiple ecosystems

• Flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem

• How changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

• Design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

4th Quarter

Earth & Human Activity

• Explain how uneven distributions of resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

• Design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

• Analyze how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

• Clarify evidence of the factors that have impacted global temperatures over the past century.