STRONG VINCENT MIDDLE SCHOOL

Curriculum Overview:

Life Science

Semester 1: The FOSS Populations and Ecosystems Course explores ecosystems as the largest organizational unit of life on Earth, defined by its physical environment and the organisms that live in the physical environment. Students learn that every organism has a role to play in its ecosystem and has structures and behaviors that allow it to survive. Students raise populations of organisms to discover population dynamics and interactions over a range of conditions. They learn that food is the source of energy used by all life forms in all ecosystems to conduct life processes. Reproduction, including limiting factors, heredity and natural selection are explored as ways to understand both the similarity and the variation within and between species.

Physical/Earth Science

Semester 2: The Catastrophic Events Course explores study storms, winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes. They model the water cycle, the collision of air masses to visualize these effects. The students use data sets to predict the weather and make evidence-based claims. Students learn about gradual processes (erosion, deposition, plate motion, and fossilization) and catastrophic events (earthquakes, volcanoes) and how they contribute to changes on the earth’s surface.

Classroom Rules:

1. You will sit in your seat and remain seated.

2. You will raise your hand to speak.

3. You will respect the teacher and students.

4. You will arrive on time, prepared with science materials.

5. You will follow directions and work on the task.

Violation of these rules will result in a consequence as directed in the Woodrow Wilson student handbook: Warning 1, Warning 2, Teacher Detention and, if necessary, Administrative Referral.