Grade 9 Science (Applied)
Information for Students and Parents
Dear Students and Parents: Please read the information below carefully and return the bottom of the page with your daughter or son. If you have any questions please contact your child’s science teacher via the school’s voice mail system or email. Please note that there is a class website where important dates, course information and notes may be posted. It will be updated on a regular basis with daily homework.
Science Teacher: Ms. HoughtonTelephone #: 905-479-2787 Voice Mail #: 631
Email: bsite:
Course Code: SNC1P1 Section #:
Course Content: Unit 1 - Biology: Reproduction – Processes and Applications
Unit 2 – Chemistry: Exploring Matter
Unit 3 – Earth and Space Science: Space Exploration
Unit 4 – Physics: Electrical Applications
Evaluation:The course expectations are divided into the following categories: Knowledge/Understanding of Concepts, Skills of Inquiry, Communication Skills, and Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment (STSE). The final grade in the course will be based on the following weighting:
70% Evaluation throughout the course
30% Knowledge/Understanding (quizzes and unit tests)
30% Skills of Inquiry and Communication (reports, research projects, investigations, presentations)
10% Making Connections STSE (reports, projects, presentations, investigations)
30% Final evaluation.
20% Exam
10% Evaluation Activity such as an investigation or research report suitable to the course content administered towards the end of the course.
The following learning skills will be evaluated and reported on the mid-semester and final report cards; however, they will not be used to determine the final grade: Works independently, Teamwork, Organization, Work habits/Homework, and Initiative.
Attendance and Test Policy: Students are expected to write unit tests on the scheduled day. If a student is going to be away because of a school trip or performance, arrangements should be made with the teacher prior to the test. If you are ill on the day of the test, please have your parent call the teacher by 8:30 a.m. and leave a message on their voice mail stating that you are ill and will be missing the test. Students usually write the test on the first day back, unless other arrangements have been made with your teacher.
Textbook:Science 9: Concepts and Connections by ITP Nelson.
Safety: Students are required to wear plastic safety glasses during certain activities in the course. If your child has any allergies or a health condition that may prevent him or her from participating in investigations/lab activities safely, please let the teacher know on the tear off on the second page.
Homework Expectations: A grade 9 student should be spending an average of 30 minutes per night on Science homework. Homework includes assigned questions from the text, assignments/reports, studying for quizzes/tests, and reviewing material covered in class or organizing a notebook. The pace of instruction is very rapid in the semester system; therefore students must keep up their work on a daily basis.
Cell Phones and Personal Musical Devices are not to be in sight or in use in the classroom. They will be confiscated.
Extra Help: Extra Help is available when pre-arranged after school. It is strongly advised that you do not leave it until the day before a test. Ask for help on a regular basis to ensure understanding.
Missed Work: Students are responsible for ALL work missed due to absence. It is the student’s responsibility to find out what work was missed and when it is due. Students will be asked to exchange contact information with two other students in the class so that each person has two people they can contact to find out about missed work. Failure to have a parent phone the attendance office on the day of the absence or to present his or her teacher with a valid admit slip on the day of return will be counted as an unexplained absence. This will result in a mark of zero for all work completed in class or work assigned on the day of the absence.
Cheating and Copying: If a student is caught cheating on a test or a quiz, he or she will receive a mark of zero. Copying assignments and lab reports is also unacceptable. Each person is responsible for writing his or her OWN lab reports following the experiment unless instructed otherwise. If students are working in lab partners or groups, the members of the group may help each other to complete the activity, BUT each student is to complete the analysis questions and/or lab report on their own.
Language: All reports are to be typed or neatly hand written in proper English. Scientists need to be good communicators. You may speak any language outside of class; however in class you will be expected to speak English at all times. This is especially important during lab activities when safety is a major concern.
Please complete (print clearly) cut, and return this portion with your son/daughter.
I have read the above expectations for the course and understand them.
Student’s Name:
Student’s Signature:
Parent(s)/Guardian Name(s):
Parent Signature:
Daytime (work) phone #: ( )
Evening (home) phone #: ( )
Health concerns: