Dear Seventh Grade Parents:
The seventh grade will be completing a cross-curricular Science-Writing project, due Monday, December 12. Each student will write and illustrate an 8-page children's storybook in which a science topic from the seventh grade guidelines is clarified for a fifth grade audience. The seventh grade guidelines--from which teachers formulate their lesson plans--will first be divided up among the class. Students will make the science data from the assigned guideline page the basis for their stories, in which the character(s) will use that science topic to help solve some conflict, puzzle, or mystery. The grade for this assignment will constitute major grades for science, writing, reading, and communication. Creative approaches to the creation of this storybook will be rewarded. The following rubrics will be taken into account when grading this project, with the highest marks going to those who have successfully incorporated all of these points:
I. The story clearly explains the science topic in an entertaining way to a fifth grade audience (For a model, see Sir Cumference And the Swor d in the Cone). Fifth graders are shown how this science concept relates to a real-life situation (or situations).
(20 points)
II. The children's book is at least eight pages in length and uses characterization techniques to give each character his/her own identity; is used and properly formatted and punctuated. (20 points)
III. On typing or construction paper, each page is properly illustrated and colored (bold colors that can be seen at a distance for classroom reading are preferable to weak pastels); backgrounds are drawn; all text is neatly printed or typed, with no crossing out. (20 points)
IV. There are no misspellings or typographical errors; at least one good vocabulary term is used per paragraph, with context clues that reveal their meanings. (20 points)
V. Student effectively uses at least eight literary terms relating to the short story, such as description, dialect, exposition, sensory details (imagery), figurative language (similes, metaphors, hyperboles, personification, onomatopoeia), flashback, foil, foreshadowing, historical fiction, irony, myth, science fiction, suspense, symbol, theme. (20 points)
NOTE: All of these terms and their definitions/examples can be found in the "Glossary of Literary and Reading Terms" in the back of our Literature textbook.
Each category will be judged on a scale from 1-5. Those who have successfully met all the objectives listed (scoring a 5 in each category) will receive a science, reading, and writing grade of 100 for this project; a communication grade will be formed from each student's ability to read his or her book to our--or possibly a lower grade--class.
Dates of book inspections (each time, for a grade):
Pages 1-2: Friday, November 11
Pages 3-4: Friday, November 17
Pages 5-6: Friday, December 1
Pages 1-8: Monday, December 12
Science Topics
BB: Environmental Pollution and Conservation
CB: Genetics
AB: Plants
EC: Digestive System
BF: Monerans
KG: Fungi
TH: Structures and Functions of Cell
CH: Cellular Processes
EJ: Classification
CK: Microscopes
JK: Protists
RM: Evolution
Jen.P: Viruses
Ja.P: Nervous System
SR: Bacteria
MR: Endocrine System
LS: Muscular System
RS: Circulatory System
KT: Ecosystems
The seventh grade will be completing a cross-curricular Science-Writing project, due Monday, December 12. Each student will write and illustrate an 8-page children's storybook in which a science topic from the seventh grade guidelines is clarified for a fifth grade audience. The seventh grade guidelines--from which teachers formulate their lesson plans--will first be divided up among the class. Students will make the science data from the assigned guideline page the basis for their stories, in which the character(s) will use that science topic to help solve some conflict, puzzle, or mystery. The grade for this assignment will constitute major grades for science, writing, reading, and communication. Creative approaches to the creation of this storybook will be rewarded. The following rubrics will be taken into account when grading this project, with the highest marks going to those who have successfully incorporated all of these points:
I. The story clearly explains the science topic in an entertaining way to a fifth grade audience (For a model, see Sir Cumference And the Swor d in the Cone). Fifth graders are shown how this science concept relates to a real-life situation (or situations).
(20 points)
II. The children's book is at least eight pages in length and uses characterization techniques to give each character his/her own identity; is used and properly formatted and punctuated. (20 points)
III. On typing or construction paper, each page is properly illustrated and colored (bold colors that can be seen at a distance for classroom reading are preferable to weak pastels); backgrounds are drawn; all text is neatly printed or typed, with no crossing out. (20 points)
IV. There are no misspellings or typographical errors; at least one good vocabulary term is used per paragraph, with context clues that reveal their meanings. (20 points)
V. Student effectively uses at least eight literary terms relating to the short story, such as description, dialect, exposition, sensory details (imagery), figurative language (similes, metaphors, hyperboles, personification, onomatopoeia), flashback, foil, foreshadowing, historical fiction, irony, myth, science fiction, suspense, symbol, theme. (20 points)
NOTE: All of these terms and their definitions/examples can be found in the "Glossary of Literary and Reading Terms" in the back of our Literature textbook.
Each category will be judged on a scale from 1-5. Those who have successfully met all the objectives listed (scoring a 5 in each category) will receive a science, reading, and writing grade of 100 for this project; a communication grade will be formed from each student's ability to read his or her book to our--or possibly a lower grade--class.
Dates of book inspections (each time, for a grade):
Pages 1-2: Friday, November 11
Pages 3-4: Friday, November 17
Pages 5-6: Friday, December 1
Pages 1-8: Monday, December 12
Science Topics
BB: Environmental Pollution and Conservation
CB: Genetics
AB: Plants
EC: Digestive System
BF: Monerans
KG: Fungi
TH: Structures and Functions of Cell
CH: Cellular Processes
EJ: Classification
CK: Microscopes
JK: Protists
RM: Evolution
Jen.P: Viruses
Ja.P: Nervous System
SR: Bacteria
MR: Endocrine System
LS: Muscular System
RS: Circulatory System
KT: Ecosystems