Chemistry Notebooks, Lab Reports, and Testing

Chemistry is all about matter!

What is matter?

Well, we’ll talk more about that in the weeks to come, but for now let’s turn our attention to what really matters – getting ready for the year and the matter of your Chemistry Notebook!

As students read Module 1, they should note the structure of a module. Each module follows a similar structure and I recommend organizing your Chemistry Notebook to reflect this structure.

Each module contains:

• Vocabulary, rules, conversions, formulas throughout the module
• ON YOUR OWN Problems sprinkled throughout the module
• REVIEW Questions at the end of the module
• PRACTICE Problems at the end of the module.
• Experiments sprinkled throughout the module
• A test located in the Solutions and Tests book.

Experiments: Each module provides several experiments. Some will be done at home and some in class. Students will record notes in their lab journal and choose ONE experiment from EACH module and write up a formal lab report for that experiment. This formal lab report will be put into their Chemistry Notebook.

Tests: These are found in a the separate Solutions and Tests book. There is one test provided for each of the sixteen modules that you can administer each week. There are also quarterly tests you can administer every four modules if you’d prefer that schedule.

So think about organizing your binder something like this:

Enjoy organizing your notebook. A little preparation and organization now, will serve you well in the busy days ahead.

In community, we will be focusing our time on lab experiments and working through any On Your Own or Practice problems that the students may need additional help with.

A note about testing, scheduling and grading of tests should be completed at home. Parents may choose a weekly testing schedule or a quarterly testing schedule. Parents may choose to have students complete quarterly tests and turn them into me on weeks 7 and 14.