Fruita Monument High School

Physics Syllabus
Instructor information:
Name: Mr. Fredrickson
Email: Tristan.Fredrickson@d51schools.org
Phone: (970)-555-0000

Course Information:
Welcome to Physics! In this course you will discover and learn about mechanics, kinematics,
fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, optics and waves, and a basic
introduction into quantum mechanics. You will get to perform various labs, activities, and
conduct your own experiments. In this class you will learn to look at the world in a whole new
way!

Rule:
I only have one rule in my classroom and that is don’t do anything that bothers anybody else.
It’s that simple.

Expectations:
I expect you to show up every day and on time unless you have an excused absence. When you
are given homework or assignments I expect you to do your own work on them and turn them
in by the due date/time. I expect you to be kind and courteous to your fellow classmates and
me. My largest expectation from you is to participate in class and do the best you can in my
class. I want to see you trying to be your best and to push yourself.
Grading:

A 90-100%
B 80-89%
C 70-79%
D 60-69%
F 0-59%

The grading system in the class will be based on the 100-point scale with the letter grades
shown in the table above. The scale itself will not be curved, however I will curve each test
individually. The various components of the class will be combined with the following
weighting:
Tests: 10% each (3 tests total)
Homework: 25%
Lab Journal: 25%
In-class activities/participation/projects: 20%
If you receive your test back or a homework assignment and you feel like you got the wrong
grade you have 2 weeks to come talk to me and plead your case. I will talk about this more
thorough, but you will have the opportunity to make up 1 exam grade and 2 homework
assignments for full credit. In this class you won’t just be graded on your final answer to a
question. Partial credit will be given to correctly drawn diagrams, showing all equations used,
and showing all the steps you took to get to the final answer. Generally the final answer will be
a small portion in grading your response to a question.

Homework:
There will be homework assignments due every other Friday. This will give you a total of 7
homework assignments in this class. You will be given 2 weeks for a reason, do NOT put them
off till the last minute. All of the homework assignments combined will be worth 25% of your
overall grade. They will consist of related problems to what we are working on in class. The
homework assignments are intended for extra practice on problems similar to ones in class and
what will be on your exams (wink wink).
I expect all the work on your homework to be your own work. This doesn’t mean you can’t
work with your fellow students, in fact I strongly advise you work together with other students,
but the work you turn in needs to be your own work. Show all of your work, even if it is a simple
step you don’t think you need to show I want to see all the steps you took to get to your
answer.
I strongly recommend reaching out for help when you need it. Many of the questions you
answer on the homework assignments will closely relate to the questions you are going to see
on the tests. Use your resources, talk to fellow classmates, talk to me, or even ask other
teachers if you need help with a question.
My late policy for homework stands as this, you may turn in your homework up to 1 week after
the due date. On this 1st day after the due date you will lose 10% of the grade and every day
after that the assignment will lose another 5%. You may turn in your homework after 1 week
after the due date to have me check your work, but no grade will be given for it. I give you 2
weeks to complete the homework which is plenty of time so you shouldn’t have any issues
completing it by the due date unless you have an excused reason.
You will have the opportunity to make up 2 homework assignments throughout the class. If you
do decide to make one up you have 1 week after the due date to correct the problems you
missed points on and turn them back in. You will receive full credit on the points you gain back.
Once a week has gone by after the due date you will no longer be able to make corrections so if
you decide you want to make corrections be sure to let me know and to get started on them as
quickly as you can.

Tests:
You will have 3 tests in this class. They will come at even intervals throughout the class. Each
test will be worth 10% of you grade making all the tests 30% of your overall grade. Test
questions will be similar to questions we do in class and questions you complete on your
homework assignments. Tests will take place during regular class time. I will supply you with
the equations you will need for the test so all you need to bring to tests is a writing utensil and
a calculator. If you have an excused absence on a test day you will be allowed to take it at a
later scheduled time. If you are absent and it is unexcused you will not be allowed to retake it.
If you show up late you will take the test with the remaining amount of class time there is left.
You will have the opportunity to retake 1 test for full credit to try to improve your grade or if
you had an unexcused absence on a test. You can retake any of the tests up until the last week
of school. If you are retaking the test to try to improve your grade, your grade can not go down,
I will keep the higher of the 2 grades that you received. You are only allowed to make up 1 test.
If you are going to retake 1 of the first 2 tests I recommend retaking them within a week so the
material is still fresh in your brain.
On the day before the test we will have a review and question day where we can go over
anything we learned so far and you can ask any questions you might have.
Absences/Tardies:
If you are absent or tardy and it is excused you will be given the chance to make up everything
you missed for full credit. If you are absent or tardy and it is unexcused you will still be given
the materials you missed, but you will not be given credit for them, unless it is a test that you
can use your 1 retake on. For an absence or tardy to be excused it must be excused by the
school, I cannot excuse it just from you talking to me. This goes back to my expectations, I
expect you to show up every day and on time, unless it is excused by the school.

Classroom Participation:
In-class activities and participation will make up 20% of your overall grade. The best way to
succeed at this class to show up every day and to pay attention. You will be learning a lot of
new material in this class so attendance plays a huge role in how well you’ll do in this class. We
will have a couple larger projects in this course that we will discuss later, but showing up and
working on those is also very recommended. This class is a lot of fun and we get to perform a
lot of different experiments and labs, but you have to be here to do those. Most labs will not be
able to be set up and reperformed after the class has done them, so that is why it’s important
to make sure you’re here for those. This is a really great class and it will be well worth it to you
to show up and participate every day.