Welcome to the Elmwood High School Earth Science website! This site will be used to communicate with one another, sharing our findings and ideas, as well as to access most of the notes, labs, worksheets, and homework assigned or completed in class. I want you to have access to as much as possible in order to make this class a success. I will continually update this site throughout the year as plans grow and change when we progress through the units listed above. During this course, you will learn concepts from many different science sub-disciplines, including ecology, environmental science, geology, meteorology, oceanography, and engineering, and it will include a lot of cross-curriculum. (On the job, scientists can't ignore English and Math!)
Mrs. Lynch |
Portfolios
I will keep your portfolios in the room using a filing system.
One of my goals for this class is for you to learn how to evaluate your own progress throughout the Earth Science units. I don't want you to get to the end of the unit and think "why didn't I do better or try harder?". Instead, I want you to be able to assess how you are doing at any point in time, which will help you stay on track. At the beginning of every unit, you will fill out a sheet, describing your goal for the upcoming unit. Maybe you want a certain grade or to study more efficiently. It is YOUR goal... not mine, and everyone's goal will be different. At some point in the unit, you will place an assessment within your portfolio that you are particularly proud of, for whatever reason it may be! You will fill out a corresponding sheet that I provide, answering questions about the assessment, describing why you are proud of your work and what you learned from completing it. Lastly, at the end of each unit after your test (if you finish early), you will describe your strengths, weaknesses, and planned improvements for the unit, as well as give me some feedback on what you loved and what you didn't. You will also fill out a "Show Off" sheet after each test, in which you place a work you are proud of within the portfolio. All tests will be kept in here as well and pulled out during parent-teacher conferences.
Standards Used to Guide the Earth Science Curriculum
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RST/introduction/
http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
Disclaimer: Not all of the materials listed on this site were created by me, but instead I have used material and concepts from other teachers, internet resources, friends, and instructors in order to make my classes successful! So for you fellow sharers, thank you.