Mrs. O’Malley Life Science , 2014 - 2015

1. Mrs. O’Malley Life Science, 2014 - 2015 Grade 7

2. The Wildcats Team Ms. Thompson-Social Studies Mrs. Cash-English Mrs. O’Malley- Science Mrs. Parker or Mrs. Piper- Math

3. Find The Fiction… • I won a surf competition when I was 15. • I am a Va. Tech fan. • I have four children. The ages range from 15-18.

4. Mrs. O’Malley’s Contact Information School Phone: (757) 648-4950, *extension 62716 E-mail: clomalle@vbschools.com or catherinel.o'malley@vbschools.com pams-omalley.wikispaces.com (This is the preferred method of contact! I’ll check my e-mail daily – and frequently.) If you leave a message for me through the school, I will try to check it. Please do not call directly into the classroom unless it is an emergency!

5. What about SOL’s? • Advance students will take the 8th grade core science SOL. • The test is cumulative of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade material. • Review sites and notes are located on my wiki. • Core science will not have a science SOL until 8th grade.

6. What Can Parents Do to Help? • Check your child’s homework via My School Mail and School Net! • My wikispacepams-omalley.wikispaces.com • Please sign up for Parent Portal • Get interested in Science and quiz them about what we are learning! • Each child needs a 3 ring binder with pockets • Make sure they have supplies- ANY extra supplies that the class can use would be great! (pencils, glue sticks, colored pencils, glue sticks, tissues, glue sticks…)

7. Unit One:unit 1: Thinking like A Scientist and Patterns of Cellular Organization

8. Unit 2: Investigating the Relationship Between Genetics, Evolution, and Classification

9. Unit Three:Energy and Ecosystems

10. Unit Four:Investigatingthe Relationship between Man and The Chesapeake Bay

11. Unit Five: Investigating the Relationships Between Solar Radiation, Water, and Weather

12. Mrs. O’Malley’s Class Info Find me at : pams-omalley.wikispaces.com Text book is on-line. Directions for access will be on my wiki. Books will also be checked out. During the course of the school year, you can expect to find classwork activities, homework, make-up assignments, review guides, and materials to review in preparation for the Virginia SOL Test.

13. How is your child assessed? • This year science is incorporating Standards Based Grading:What is it? • The approach is to first assess where the students are in the process of learning a specific topic, and then to gear their progress around that. Students are given a series of formative and summative assignments resulting in a mastery level of the topic that becomes their grade. Keywords: Rigor and Relevance! • Students will track their assignments in their learning portfolio. Student Lead conferences will be offered at the end of each 9 weeks.

14. Student Learning Portfolio Each student has their own folder. Within their folder, there is a list of the standards and the tasks for those standards. Each student will record their own assessments on their learning portfolioas well as I will have a copy. Those are the assessments you will see on parent portal. During the school year, there will be opportunities for a student lead conference with their learning portfolio folders.

15. GRADES-STANDARD BASED GRADING • The primary purpose of standards-based grading is to evaluate students at the highest level of learning they are able to demonstrate through the evidence of their work. Each assignment a student completes is associated with a learning target, and the students’ work is scored on a rubric relative to that learning target. The emphasis is on providing students the opportunity to produce a body of evidence to demonstrate their learning over time. They are provided motivation by being given opportunities to improve.

16. SBG continued • SBG In this system, teachers are better able to differentiate instruction because they are more precisely able to target students’ strengths and weaknesses. Hence, they can plan for and provide intervention for students who are struggling with concepts, or enrichment to students who are demonstrating mastery. Because non-learning factors are removed from consideration, the standards-based grading system places a value on the quality of student work rather than on the quantity of it.

17. Report Card Addendum _ N Novice- Needs Improvement; not making expected progress toward proficiency DP Developing Proficiency – Beginning to grasp and apply key concepts, processes, and skills P Proficient - Regularly grasps and applies key concepts, processes, and skills with limited errors AP Advanced Proficient – Consistently demonstrates proficiency; grasps, applies, and extends key concepts, processes and skills

18. In Parent Portal, parents will see two types of grades: assignment grades and standards grades. Students will receive a score of 0-4 on each assignment they complete, and that grade will be recorded in the grade book. Each standard will be measured by multiple assignments, so a parent will also see a standard grade as well, which will also be 0-4. In fact, the assignment grades themselves do not have weight. Each assignment targets a different level of thinking, and hence a different level of mastery. Parents will see letter grades next to each assignment in Parent Portal. Those letter grades should be disregarded. Instead, the assignments will reflect student growth over time, and the grade for the standard will be given once all evidence is collected. At the end of each quarter a student’s grade is determined using a total points scale. The only points that are counted are the points the students earned on each standard. A final letter grade is determined at the end of the quarter using a conversion of points to corresponding letter grades. The conversion scale is as follows (if there are 5 standards, multiply the values below by 5): A 3.4-4.0 B- 2.3-2.4 D 0.8-1.5A- 3.2-3.3 C+ 2.1-2.2 E 0.0-0.7B+ 3.0-3.1 C 1.8-2.0B 2.5-2.9 C- 1.6-1.7

20. Grading scale/rubric for each strand of an standard objective