I use this rubric to grade my science notebooks. I type in all of the assignments and possible points, then print them out 9 to a page. I make a few copies, cut them apart, and staple a rubric in each notebook so I don’t have to write out what the points are for and which assignments are missing.
To print multiple copies to a page, I look for an option called “Pages per sheet” in the printer properties window, which may be under the tab “finishing” depending on your printer. I print this rubric 9 to a page; you may want to try six or four to a page depending on how hard you find it to read small text.
I type everything once on the first page, then in Publisher, select “insert pages” and insert 8 pages, choosing the “duplicate all objects on page 1″ option.
This site has some truly amazing science articles, in kid-friendly language, on tons of topics and with terrific diagrams. A must-see resource for middle school science teachers.
I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Solutions & Pollution module, and the first few lessons don’t go into the depth I would like, nor are the lab sheets straightforward enough for my students to follow. So, I made the following documents to use instead:
Particle Model for Dissolving (my own design, based on the transparency in lab 1)
Particle Model for Filtration (also my own design)
Lab 1 sheet - Filtration (also in MS Publisher format)
Lab 2 sheet - Solubility (also in MS Publisher format)
The lab sheets are simplified and put in more concrete terms. One difficulty of the lab sheets provided with the curriculum is that they are ambiguous as to where students should record their data and responses. This is intentional, to allow teachers some flexibility, but I prefer to specify in writing where students should write their responses, since it’s hard enough to get them into the mindset of writing everything down.
If you’d like these documents in Publisher 2003 format, email me.
Note: The lab sheets are designed to be copied two to a page and pasted into science notebooks/journals, which I find is a good way to a) keep students organized, and b) reduce notebook setup time - every kid can glue, but not every kid can copy a procedure and make a data table in a reasonable amount of time.
One more resource: This is a great explanation of how sewage is treated. I’m going to have all of my classes read it.
Washington state Grade Level Expectations are available in draft form from OSPI here: Science GLEs (draft). (note: 91-page, 1.9 MB PDF file - not recommended for dialup)
If you would like to preview a few of the lessons from Truth About Science (written by Seattle’s own Kathryn Kelsey), PDF samples are available here.
Perhaps good demonstrations are becoming a lost art. I found today that demonstrating an experiment’s setup is worth - well, more than a thousand words. Rather than explain what to do in the Toughest Towel lab (Truth About Science), I showed students, and they immediately got the idea.
It seems so simple that it’s hardly worth writing about, but my usual practice is to verbally give directions, and this doesn’t work nearly as well.
This looks like a good way to have students practice observing skills. You could give students directions and have them do it in groups, too, if you wanted procedure-following practice:
The raisins sink to the bottom. When enough bubbles of CO2 collect on
the surface, they float to the top. As the CO2 combines with the air
and the bubbles break, the raisins sink. They will turn side to side
depending where the bubbles are.
Source
Here is the Human Body Systems (STC/MS) conceptual story, in three parts:
Part 1 | PDF
Part 2 | PDF
Part 3 | PDF
Here is the conceptual story for SEPUP’s Groundwater Contamination: Trouble in Fruitvale, in two parts:
Part 1 | PDF
Part 2 | PDF
Here is the conceptual story for STC/MS Energy, Machines, and Motion, in three parts:
Part 1 | PDF
Part 2 | PDF
Part 3 | PDF