Curriculum

Commitment: Be the best K-12 science program in the state of Iowa.

Implementation of District Initiatives:

• Close Reading (enhanced with writing): The science curriculum at S-O requires teachers to implement close reading strategies in their classrooms that include:
  • All grades: read grade level appropriate trade books, textbooks and articles.
  • All grades: create lab notebooks that include student created notes (not notes copied off of whiteboard), written claims supported with evidence mostly gathered by students and summaries of close reads and other classroom activities.
  • Grades 9-12: Completion of weekly ACT prep passages correlated to units of study.
  • All grades: in all writing, students will provide complete sentences with teacher support to ensure students understand how to improve their writing.
• Growth Mindset Development: The science curriculum at S-O requires teachers to implement growth mindset development strategies that require students to perform tasks that require mental dexterity and grit. Our students will be given opportunities that will challenge their thinking and allow them to develop a growth mindset where learning is a process and mistakes are part of this process. An emphasis of "the power of 'yet'" is fundamental to this strategy.
  • All grades: Students will be provided "STEM challenges" that require students to design, test, re-design with emphasis that failure is a critical part of the learning, design and scientific process.
  • Grades 9-12: Students will be provided online and in-class assignments that require an 85% or higher in order to be considered complete. Furthermore, these assignments will allow students unlimited attempts (with no penalty for redos) at these assignments so that a better skill level can be attained.
  • Grades 9-12: Students will be allowed to retake any assessment provided student has met specified criteria.
  • Grades 5-12: Students will be afforded multiple opportunities to improve their claim writing before a final grade is recorded.
• APL Teaching and Learning Strategies: District science teachers (at all grades) will implement APL strategies with fidelity in their classrooms including:
  • Grades 5-12: Daily bellringers that are graded.
  • All grades: Teachers employ "time on the clock" strategies in order to provide students time to discuss questions with partners and teachers time to interview students.
  • All grades: Teachers will post daily objectives and agenda for students to read before class begins.
  • Grades 5-12: A closure activity is provided at least twice per week.
  • Grades 9-12: Students will be provided a list of specific objectives at the beginning of each unit (an objective checklist). This objective list will comprise the totality of concepts and skills to be learned for the unit. Assessments (are directly correlated to this list of objectives).
  • Grades 5-12: Assessments will consist of no more than 30% multiple choice questions; the remaining questions will consist of short answer, data interpretation and essay.

Implementation of Iowa Core Standards:

• All grades (strong emphasis in grades 4-12) will engage in inquiry and claim-based experiments and lab work that requires students to write a testable question, gather relevant evidence, write a claim supported with a justification (minimum of 1 paragraph). Grades 5-12 teachers are required to produce 2 claims per unit.
• All grades will diligently implement the Iowa core science curriculum.

S-O Science Curriculum Maps

Earth Science Implementation Videos

Physical Science Implementation Videos

Life Science Implementation Videos