Grade 8 SY26 EOY Capstone · Week 2 of 4

Portrait and Story

Grade 8 Science | Rosche

This week you turn your evidence into a portrait — a claim about the kind of scientist or engineer you are becoming, backed by proof from your own work.

How to Use This Page

  • This capstone is paper-first and off-tech. Your printed packet is where the daily work lives. Work in your packet every day.
  • This Canvas page is a backup mirror — you only need it when you want to look something back up, find an online resource, or submit work digitally.
  • Text-to-Speech tip: In Chrome, right-click any paragraph and choose Read aloud to have the page read to you.

Open Your Packet

Use your printed packet. This week complete the Portrait of a Scientist ratings and begin your scientist story draft.

A portrait is not a list of grades. It is a claim about the kind of scientist or engineer you are becoming, backed by proof from your own work.

The Three Kinds of Evidence

SEP: What I Do

Ask questions, plan tests, use models, analyze data, argue from evidence, communicate clearly.

DCI: What I Understand

Living systems, matter and energy, forces, thermal systems, Earth systems, and engineering ideas.

CCC: How I Think

Patterns, cause and effect, systems, scale, structure, stability, and change.

Story Builder

  1. Choose one artifact that shows your strongest scientist or engineering habit.
  2. Choose one artifact that shows a struggle, revision, or redesign.
  3. Choose one artifact that shows what you want to keep exploring.
  4. Draft the story in first person. Use "I" because this is your story.
Sentence frame help

Example: "I chose this artifact because it shows me at my best as a scientist or engineer — I was using evidence to revise a model I got wrong the first time."

Story starters: "This year in science, I discovered that I am a scientist or engineer who…"  |  "The evidence that surprised me most was…"  |  "One thing I want to explore next is…"

Make It Specific

Too generic

"I learned a lot in science."

Specific and strong

"When I redesigned my thermal container, I learned that a good engineer uses test data to decide what to change."

Before you submit the Week 2 checkpoint, underline the artifact and circle the scientist habit in each paragraph of your draft.

Week 2 Checkpoint

Ready when… Evidence that shows it
Portrait ratings complete Portrait of a Scientist table is filled in with a rating and one artifact note for each scientist habit.
Three story artifacts chosen One artifact for strongest habit, one for struggle or revision, one for future curiosity — each named in the packet.
Scientist story draft written Draft uses "I," names at least one artifact as evidence, and includes at least one scientist habit word per paragraph.
Artifact and habit underlined Artifact underlined, scientist habit circled in each paragraph before submission.

Looking Back & Online Help

For the times you are on a device, here are three ways this Canvas page can support you:

Check your grades & feedback

Open the Canvas Grades area for this course to see checkpoint scores and teacher comments. This is the fastest way to know if you are on track.

Find online resources

Practice science vocabulary at the Vocabulary practice tool (opens in a new tab). Check Canvas for any other resources your teacher has posted.

Ask or search a question

Post in the Canvas course Q&A discussion, ask your teacher directly, or do a safe search to look something up. Remember: this page is a backup — your packet and your teacher are always your first stop.