Instructor: Mary Anne Cheraz, DBA Lessons By Design
Semester Pricing: $300, 353 (HSC)
Mondays: 9:15-10:15, 12:00-1:00
Tuesdays: 9:15-10:15
Grades: 6th-8th Grade
Semester Dates: Fall - 8/31/26-12/14/26, Spring - 1/25/27-5/20/27
Middle School Science - Energy/Marine Biology
Get ready to turn up the energy! In this hands- on class we will dive deeper into the wild world of Energy!
We’ll cook up heat experiments while tracking temperature changes and watching heat transfer in action. We’ll play with light using lenses, mirrors, and diffraction gratings to measure angles, follow how light bends (refraction), and split white light into a rainbow of colors. We’ll make sound ‘visible’ as we explore sound waves, amplitude, and frequency. Then we’ll spark things up with chemical energy and reactions that show how energy can be stored, released, and transformed.
Class will include weekly readings and homework assignments. There will be a test at the end of the semester. If you are enrolled in two Cheraz middle school science classes, you can choose for which class you wish to complete the homework.
Dive into the science of the sea in this hands-on marine biology class! You’ll examine real marine specimens—shells, seaweeds, and preserved sea creatures—and use microscopes to zoom in. As you build and model food webs, you’ll see how predators, prey, and decomposers are all connected in coral reefs, the open ocean, the deep sea, and tide pools. You’ll investigate amazing adaptations like camouflage, bioluminescence, and streamlined bodies that help animals survive crashing waves, total darkness, and crushing deep-sea pressure. In the 'lab', you’ll test how salinity, temperature, and pH affect marine-like environments and the organisms that live there.
**Field trip to the Tide Pools or Aquarium in Spring!
Class will include weekly readings and homework assignments. There will be a test at the end of the semester.
Text: TBD
Supplies:
Recommended:
1. 3-Ring Binder 1 1/2" (can contain multiple subjects with dividers).
2. Lined Paper
3. Plastic sleeve protector for syllabus
4. Pencils and Pens
5. Colored Pencils
6. Highlighter
7. Glue Stick
8. Ruler
9. Blunt scissors
10. There may be some papers to download
Semester Dates: Fall - 8/31/26-12/14/26, Spring - 1/25/27-5/20/27
Self Pay: $300 (Contact teacher directly for payment info)
Directly Vendored Charters as Lessons by Design - $300
- Blue Ridge
- Sage Oak
- Granite Mountain
- Sky Mountain
- Excel
- Innovations Learning Academy
- Aveson
- Compass
- Cabrillo Point
Other Charters: $353
- Homeschool Coaches: Coach Mary Cheraz
