I hope that everyone enjoyed the time off. Now that we are back at work, we are diving into the next science unit (states of matter and the water cycle).
Science projects should be about halfway finished. As a reminder, the final whole project is due on Monday, January 25th. The remaining checkpoints are due on the next few Wednesdays. Because of all the work at home with projects, I will not be assigning homework for the next few weeks.
Checkpoint #4 is the "Background Information" requirement. This is what we used to call writing a report, and these days we usually call it an expository paper. Today in class, we reviewed plagiarism and paraphrasing in depth. Students should have a very clear idea on each of these concepts. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade, and the work will need to be redone to be accepted.
Regarding the bibliography: I am requiring students to use at least TWO sources for the paper, and one for the definitions. A great website tool for citing sources is EasyBib.com - we have looked at this in class a couple of times. We also watched video clips from BrainPop to help understand plagiarism, paraphrasing, citing sources, and so on. To access the videos, login with fce/ password coyotes.
PLEASE email me with questions or concerns. I know this can be a daunting task, so if there is anything I can clarify, please let me know.
