Course Overview7/8th Grade students should be expected to: cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions, identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies, determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies, describe how a text presents information, identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose, integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts, distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text, analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
By the end of grade 7/8, students should read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 7/8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
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Late WorkIf due to an absence: All students who are not present for class, due to an officially approved excused absence, will be able to make up all missing work with no point deduction. If due to not doing the assignment: Students who are unexcused absent or choose not to do work will be allowed to submit work for 70% of the of the original value, until the last day work is collected for each unit. If a student cannot finish any project or homework assignment by the due date, they may ask the teacher for an extension where no points will be deducted for turning in late. I will not deduct any points as long as the student asks for an extension at least 24 hours in advance of being due and shows me ALL the work they have done to that point. This will prevent students who do all of their work last minute and cannot complete the assignment from abusing the system. If a student does not turn in 100% completed work, it will be given back for completion and earn a grade of 0%. As soon as you complete the work, I will raise the grade back to 70%. To help you make up the lost points, please consider doing the weekly extra credit listed on this page.
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Extra CreditExtra credit is available every week for every student. Every Friday you may turn in a current event for 5 extra credit points added to any grade you wish. Your current event must be about something we are currently studying or something of a historical nature about North Carolina and only North Carolina (please do not do extra credit on your favorite sports team or topics that are from prior units). Simply attach the article to your hand written work (1 paragraph explaining what the article is about, 1 paragraph with your personal opinion). You may only do one per week, totaling nine per quarter. As each Friday passes, that opportunity is gone - so you must do one per week to get full credit, you may not skip a week and then turn in multiple assignments on the same day.
PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR ADDITIONAL EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES OR EXTRA CREDIT FOR YOUR STUDENT ONLY, AS THESE REQUESTS WILL BE DENIED. What I do for one I do for all and already have in place 36 opportunities for the students to get extra points.
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After school tutoring will be offered on Thursdays from 2:15-2:45pm. Students must have a signed permission slip and be picked up by 2:50pm at the latest. Students may bring a snack. Because we are here to work, students who goof off or waste this time will not be allowed to attend future sessions. Please have a parent write out & sign a permission slip prior to showing up on Thursday. If you do not have a signed parent slip you will not be allowed to stay.
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As per Wake County Public School Policy, I will only reply to emails sent from your approved WCPSS email address with a parent copied on the original email. I am sorry for any delay in communication response this may cause, however by board policy I can only reply to your email questions if these conditions have been met. I do not check school email from home, and in meetings during several days of the week, with that said please allow up to 48 hours for all return of emails.
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At no point this year should students copy work from another student or give another student your work to be copied. Students are not permitted to cut and paste from the internet. Students may not copy passages from our reading text and attempt to claim those as their own work. Students who attempt to engage in the above listed activities will receive a grade of zero on that assignment and parents will be notified either directly on the phone, via email or through the online grade system comments section. I am also asking that students do not use the website "wikipedia" for any assignment - those who do, will receive a grade of zero until the research has been redone from a creditable website and resubmitted for review.
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This year, our learning team will be a "Bring Your Own Device" or BYOD school. East Cary Middle School does allow for students to use their own personal phones, tablets, IPads, laptops, etc... for academic reasons only. Before students may bring those devices, the school will need to have a BYOD permission form on file and students need to understand that their devices are for learning purposes only. Failure to comply with the guidelines of their usage, texting, making calls, playing games or using social media sites is strictly prohibited and will result in the loss of ability to use their device in the future. If a device is confiscated, you the parent must arrive at the front office of the school to pick up those items.
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All of the websites listed on this website have been previewed prior to the 2018 school year, with that said you know how technology works and the positives/negatives that can occur as well as how fast content can change from something safe to something questionable. So please have a parent pre-view anything on the internet prior to your own personal viewing unless we use it in class that day. If anything ever changes to something not age appropriate for our course, I will do my best to take that site down immediately. Please do not ever use Wikipedia for this course. Any work submitted with Wikipedia as a resource will be given back to the student to redo. Finally some videos that are shown closer to the end of the year may be very graphic in nature as many of them are real documentary footage from WWI, WWII and the Cold War. I will do my best to edit out anything above and beyond what the state allows us to show just to err in favor of good judgement. How ever at times our opinion of what is too much for students to see may differ. If that occurs, I am happy to provide an alternate assignment for your students during the viewing of said videos.
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A daily notebook will be kept by every student. Students will keep this notebook until the end of the quarter, where a random sampling of notes will be used as a project grade. Topics on the daily notebook will include: Unit Cover Sheet, Unit Essential Questions, Unit Vocabulary, notes, and worksheets. These notebook entries are to be kept in a neat and organized manner. If you are absent on any given day, YOU should check any other student's notebook PRIOR to meeting with the teacher to find out what you have missed. Because our notebook is used as a study and communication tool for all students, I do not mind you using anyone else's notebook to catch up. If you are absent, YOU are responsible to get all missing work on that day and complete before notebooks are checked at the end of the quarter. A master copy of the notebook is available for you by simply emailing directly to the teacher and asking a for a copy. Students please copy your parents on all email communication to the teacher. At the end of each quarter, do not throw away the notebook as this year you will have a midterm and final exam.
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You may always use the same supplies with your other classes. If you have purchased the same supply for another teacher, please do not feel the need to re-buy; just bring the supplies with you to class all the time:
- coloring pencils - ruler - #2 pencils - blue or black pens - multiple colored highlighters - paper clips - glue sticks - white out - scissors - 3 ring binder (1 section for social studies only) |
100 - 90 A
89 - 80 B 79 - 70 C 69 - 60 D 59 - 0 F
Please take a moment to review how annotation can help you understand social studies reading texts. At various times this year we will read worksheets, answer questions and then annotate. This study guide can help you if you forget how to annotate. Click here
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1st Quarter: Pre-Colonial America, Colonial America, The American Revolution
2nd Quarter: Government, Moving Westward, The Civil War 3rd Quarter: Turn of the Century, Boom & Bust, WWII 4th Quarter: The Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Modern Word Issues
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