Welcome to Mr. Thomas' Web Portal!

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Welcome Students and Families!

This year, students will interact with content through different kinds of challenging activities that will help them identify their initial ideas, gain experiences with the content, come to new conclusions and compare these to scientifically appropriate understandings.  Students will be gaining skills that will help them ask good questions, solve complex problems, and communicate their ideas with others.

It has been approved that students may bring and use personal electronic devices to class to support mastery of material and then put away.

The goal of this weebly is to better communicate information, allow students a resource for practice in and outside of the classroom and inform all stakeholders about the classroom and learning. 

Mr. Christopher S. Thomas
Scarlett Middle School Science 7 and 8
734-997-1220
Room 121

Community Privacy Statement

This website may be password protected to protect personally identifiable information (PII).  We will also strive to remove PII from student examples and photos we post. Privately sharing this website with family and friends who are connected to student academic practice and success is encouraged. Please do not post our website link and password publicly. 

Please contact the teacher directly if there are any concerns regarding PII or click here to learn more about how to protect your privacy online.   

IB World School

Scarlett Middle School is an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) World School that embraces the adolescent learner, establishment of trusting relationships, and development of independent, responsible citizens.  The IB approach is grounded on the following five pillars:
  • Inquiry - students asking questions, students finding answers.
  • Global awareness - connecting to the local, state, national and international community.
  • Action and Service - learning by doing, making a positive impact.
  • World languages - all students learning a world language.
  • Access and Equity - intentional development of curriculum and supports connected to the needs of all learners
Our continued development of these programs around the Learner Profile as a way to guide and support the understanding learning behaviors.  As we use the Learner Profile language in our classrooms, families are encouraged to use the same language at home.  

This year will be the last year of the middle school Science curriculum rollout with Sci6 and Sci7 fully implemented with Sci8 wrapping up the rollout in 2018-19. 

Click HERE for Spanish

Classroom Procedures

What do students need during class? It is the student’s responsibility to come to class every day with all of their materials and to be ready and willing to learn!
  • Planner or digital organizer
  • Personal Digital Device if available
  • Classroom Notebook
  • writing tools
  • any pre-assigned materials
  • a smile  :) 

Grades

Regularly updated grades can be viewed from school or at home using Power School.  This is my primary tool in communicating information regarding grades.  Detailed information about this website and how to access it will be provided to students at school.  Parents who are unable to access Power School please contact me or the front office for support.

ANY WORK that a student did not master (less than 80%) our student may choose to remediate for more points and greater understanding using our classroom process.

Formative Practice (practice) may be recorded in PowerSchool to show progress and will count minimally towards final grade 
  • Bell work
  • Classwork
  • Homework
  • Some Labs
​
Summative Assessments (demonstrating mastery) will be recorded in PowerSchool to demonstrate content mastery and make up the bulk of a student's grade
  • Mastery Checks 
  • Tests
  • Projects
  • Some Labs

Activities and Assessment

Activities take many different forms.  We will work in class on individual assignments, partner work, group work, as well as different kinds of labs.  Some of our units will have projects that will have in-class and at-home components.  Tests and quizzes are given 2-3 times each quarter with exams at the end of each semester and will be announced. 

Points will be awarded to most work with the bulk being assigned to mastery; most practice will be graded on the basis of completion and will count minimally.  Because one of our goals is to promote study skills and organizational habits, some points may also be allotted to organization. 

Turning in work on time means that you have completed the practice and it is ready to review when it is due – which may be at the beginning of class, some time during the course of class, or (for homework assignments) the next class period.  You may turn in assignments after their due date for 80% credit.  Labs will be difficult to make up so do everything you can to stay on pace. 

I encourage students to remediate quiz and test corrections for 50% of the missed points up to 1 week after the test has been returned.  So if you score 60% on a test, you may earn 50% back by completing the remediation using the steps on our website.  If completed correctly the corrected score would increase to an 80%.  Maximum points available for all remediation is 80%.    

Digital Materials and Fair Use

All materials linked on our classroom web portal have either been purchased by the district or teacher for student use or are free materials available on the internet. All is available to to be printed for Scarlet Middle School student use only.  

Classroom Norms

Students who are struggling with these expectations in class will:
1st Reminder

2nd Reminder





3rd Reminder
  • Student will be verbally reminded.
  • Student will be verbally reminded and asked to complete the TAKE A BREAK REFLECTION IN THE CLASSROOM (TAB-IN) sheet and return as soon as they are ready. This process may be repeated. Parent/Guardians will be contacted in some circumstances.
  • Student will be verbally reminded and asked to complete the TAKE A BREAK REFLECTION OUT OF THE CLASSROOM (TAB-OUT) sheet in another classroom and return as soon as they are ready. Office referrals for consistently violating classroom norms may be completed. Parents/Guardians will be contacted to ensure student may positively participate.  
Unsafe behaviors such as bullying, aggressive behaviors, language and actions, disrespect and other similar behaviors require an immediate removal from the classroom to administration, counselor or other and therefore the the steps above will not be followed. I will contact you as soon as possible to share information and the plan for returning to class.

Ask for help!

Academic excellence is a classroom expectation!  It is my job to clearly state directions and to provide you with many opportunities to build understandings and find connections among the content.  If you are confused or need help, here are some of your options:
  • Ask questions during CCA, before, during, after class or school, lunchtime, before or after school, in our online communities, etc
  • Review practice using online classroom or in person with Mr. Thomas, study buddies, parents, etc
  • Send me an e-mail, I will strive to respond via email, in person or on the phone within 1 school day

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Visits since
4 October 2013