Short and Sweet:
Below you'll find a more traditional syllabus
- Check Aeries at least weekly
- Look at mcgrewoci.weebly.com often, particularly the "Weekly Work" page.
- You have great kids who need your guidance and help when it comes to time management and organization.
- Please check in with them often about school (academic and social aspects) and when it comes to school work remember the idea..."Trust but Verify"
Below you'll find a more traditional syllabus
Seventh Grade Class Descriptions Mr. McGrew
Science / English (grammar/writing/reading) / P.E.
Goals:
- To facilitate student’s learning of subject content through involvement and active participation in classroom activities and projects.
- To create interest and enthusiasm in the students for all fields of study.
- To instill and or strengthen a sense of personal responsibility.
Science: Based on the Next Generation Science Standards, this year we will study concepts including: Matter and Chemical Reactions, History of the Earth, Earth Systems, Human Impact./Natural Hazards, Ecosystems, Scientific method/Measurement/Graphing
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.
Grading for Science:
All grades are under the general category; Science. Tests are open notebook tests. Notes taken in their Science notebook may be used on tests. That does NOT include anything I hand out or anything that is printed.
English / (Grammar): Students write and speak with a command of Standard English conventions appropriate to the grade level. Including the following topics:
Sentence Structure: Place modifiers properly and use the active voice.
Grammar: Identify and use infinitives and participles and make clear references between pronouns and antecedents.
Identify all parts of speech and types and structure of sentences.
Demonstrate the mechanics of writing (e.g., quotation marks, commas at end of dependent clauses) and appropriate English usage (e.g., pronoun reference).
Punctuation: Identify hyphens, dashes, brackets, and semicolons and use them correctly.
(Writing): Based on the Common Core State Standards, this year we will study topics including: writing and speaking with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to the grade level and delivering focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience as well as writing narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive texts of at least 500 to 700 words in each genre.
(Reading): Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of the text by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition, by grade eight, students read one million words annually on their own, including a good representation of grade-level-appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade seven, students make substantial progress toward this goal.
Grades for English:
Grades are broken up into the following categories with the shown weights:
Writing: 60%
Vocabulary: 15%
Participation:15%
Accelerated Reader: 10% ( A student can earn over their goal for extra credit, up to 200% of their goal for a total of 10% extra credit in the class.)
Physical Education: This year students will demonstrate the motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities. Students will demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities. Students will be assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance. Students must wear appropriate clothes; ex. no flip flops, ugs or sandals. Clothing must not hinder their ability to participate or pose a safety risk. Grades are based on a 5 point daily scale: participation, attitude, effort, dress, and sportsmanship. A student may loose multiple points for the same transgression if repeated. Not having appropriate clothing will result in a 0 for the day that cannot be made up. P.E. makeups for absences, are available from me (due within 5 days of absence) and accommodations are made for doctors’ notes. Parent notes are limited to 3 per quarter after that the student will earn a 0 for the day which can be made up.
Homework:
There will not be regular daily homework assigned, generally homework is classwork that didn’t get finished in class. Some of the topics covered will be project oriented. At the beginning of each new topic of study I will post a project outline on my web page, which will cover the goals, expectations and timeline of the new project. Amendments to any project or time line will be discussed in class and updated on the daily agenda.
Late Work:
All work is to be complete and finished upon entering the classroom on the day and period that the assignment is due, to be considered “on time”. If homework/class work is complete and on time but receives a grade of less than 70% it can be made up to 70% by the Friday after it shows up on Aeries. Tests and quizzes lower than 70% can also be made up to 70%. Makeup’s are on the agenda and generally on Fridays. In the case of absenteeism it is the student’s responsibility to find out about, gather and complete missed work. That is not to say that I won’t help but it is their responsibility to initiate the process. Make up tests will be given Friday morning during Elective time. (There are no electives on Fridays)
Weekly Schedule:
The weekly schedule of work will always be written on the board in the classroom and posted on my website: mcgrewoci.weebly.com . The weekly schedule is relatively rigid but there are times that I will change it in the course of the week, these modifications will not generally be changed on the website but will be changed on the board in class.
If you have any questions or need to talk to me about your child please feel free to contact me through the school office @642-1570 or e-mail me @ [email protected] (probably a quicker response this way, especially for short answer questions.)
Thank you,
Tim McGrew