Welcome to Chemistry at Bonney Lake High School with Mrs. Berwick! This class will provide a fun, interesting and challenging learning experience to help you understand the integral relationships and relevance of chemistry in our world. Hands-on experiences using scientific equipment and procedures will be used to help you understand the basic principles, theories of chemistry, such as chemical reactions. We will explore concepts through scientific reading and writing, demonstrations, lectures and interactive assignments, and then you will apply the concepts through labs and problem solving activities and independent homework.  These skills will help develop your scientific thinking to be used for the rest of our life, and they will also be used for success in college courses of Chemistry.

Textbook: Chemistry
The book will be checked out to you, the students, from the library for the semester. Keeping the book covered will help protect it, as you are responsible for any damages to the book. Textbook damage will be assessed a fine and a lost textbook will result in a replacement cost. A classroom  set of lab manuals will be used during class for investigations. They must stay in the classroom, however, so if lab questions are not finished during class, students will need to come in before or after school to finish.

Materials needed for class: Organization is an important part of your success in Chemistry I. Your planner should be carried everyday. If you don't have one, get one...this will be your pass out of the classroom for anything. The planner also has some great resources for you, such as equations and a periodic table. In addition, you will need to bring a 3 section bound lab notebook. All lab investigations, notes, class work and homework will be recorded in the bound lab notebook . A calculator will also be needed for the many computations studied in Chemistry.  Finally, a #2 pencil will be needed for every test taken throughout the year and some kind of writing utensil will be needed daily.

Grading Policy:
The following grading scale will be used throughout for each quarter using the total points of all your assignments. 

100-93% = A   92-90% = A-   89-87% = B+   86-83% = B        82-80% =B-  
79-77% = C+   76-73% = C     72-70% = C-   69-60% = D

Real Life grades are available to view from family access. Family access is the district wide grading program where students and parents can access many important aspects of student life in the Sumner School District.

Throughout each unit you will be doing many assignments to support the concepts that are being taught. Homework and class assignments will be reviewed and discussed for accuracy, and then checked off for completion. These assignments are practice for you as we learn the information. It is your responsibility to get these assignments checked off during work time and before or after class with in a particular unit. You will then be applying the knowledge learned in these assignments to take a test at the end of each unit. All students wanting to improve their score on a test can come in and do test corrections with the teacher if they have completed all assignments from that unit and have completed the test review prior to taking the test. Half credit will then be given for missed questions that are corrected. To earn that half credit, students must write the questions they missed out, write the correct answer and explain why it is the correct answer.

Late work:
Regular class assignments can be turned in up until the day we take the test for full credit. However, if you don't turn it in on the day it is due it will be entered in the grade book as a zero and marked as missing until you complete and turn it in. Once you have taken the test you can no longer turn in any assignments for that unit.

Projects:
You will be completing a number of projects during this class both individually and in groups or partners. The projects are designed to encourage individual and group research, creativity, communication and require you to apply the concepts we have been learning. Topics and specific information will be given later. All projects and presentations that are assigned at least one week in advance are due ON the due date. Emailed copies will be accepted as on time if received before 10:40 a.m. If you are absent on the day of a group presentation, you will not receive credit. Don't be absent!

Make up work from absences
To help students avoid getting behind, all make up work will be posted online and students need to take the responsibility for getting their own make up work from this website. Any work that can be done at home should be completed before returning to class. Work that was due on the day of an absence is due on the day you return. Appointments need to be made within one week to make up a missed lab investigation or test. Make ups can only be completed for excused absences. The student must make the arrangements for the make-up with the teacher as soon as they return. If a student feels they have special circumstances, write them down and have parents sign and turn them in for review to receive a due date extension.

I will be available every day after school for help and make up. Monday- Wednesday until 4:00 and Thursday- Friday until 3:30.

Classroom Expectations:
Respect yourselves, each other, the school and all its contents, and Mrs. Berwick. Take Responsibility for yourself and your actions. J

The Student Handbook rules will also be enforced in our class as well as throughout the school so make sure you understand them fully. If I see or hear food or drink, cell phones or any other electronic devices out in class there will be consequences.

If any science items are broken or damaged by students, a fine will be assessed to that student to replace the items.

Discipline Procedures:

--Warning
--Removal to the hallway until an appropriate time for teacher to leave to discuss behavior, if an understanding is made; student can return to class but will have to get makeup work from classmates. Prohibited items will be confiscated for the rest of the period.
--Removal from class, a phone call home to discuss situation, and letter to take responsibility for return. Prohibited items will be confiscated and turned into front office to be picked up by parents.
-- Removal from class, a phone call home to discuss situation again, and a meeting with parents, Mrs. Berwick and a counselor.
--Referral to administrator

* * * Depending on severity of violation, actions may not occur in order

I am looking forward to a great year with you and hope that we don't have to use the discipline procedures because you all we be so well behaved now that you are in high school.