Novare Science: Life Science

Written to reflect the modern-day study of biology, Life Science addresses important large-scale topics and key micro-scale topics, treated at an appropriate grade level. With minimal mathematics, it is the perfect text for middle school students of the 21st century.

Full program includes:

Life Science

Life Science, by Tracy Creek, is the text for a year-long course designed for 6th grade. The mathematics in Life Science is minimal, making the text a good fit for 6th grade, but it may also be used successfully in grades 7 or 8.

The study of biology has changed substantially in the twenty-first century. Fifty years ago, texts in the life sciences focused primarily on the structures and features of different types of organisms. Today, however, much of current technology and news is about cellular and molecular biology, and thus a life science text that is relevant for today’s students must contain a balance of content addressing important large-scale topics and key micro-scale topics, treated at an appropriate level.

Novare Life Science maintains exactly this balance. Large-scale topics include human organ systems, animal and plant reproduction, and inheritance of traits. Micro-scale topics include cellular respiration, photosynthesis, mitosis, meiosis, and sensory systems. Additionally, there are four crucial chapters treating the energy, populations, nutrient cycles, and biomes of ecosystems. The two final chapters provide an introduction to evolutionary theory and a fascinating description of how mutations in DNA lead to genetic variation.

Life Science Digital Resources

Consisting of documents only, Digital Resources include recommendations for teaching, quizzes, weekly review guides, semester exams, answer keys, sample answers to verbal questions, a lesson schedule, and a sample lesson calendar. The weekly, cumulative assessments are the central component of Novare’s mastery-learning strategy, as they require students to remember key concepts from previous chapters while learning material from new chapters.

The three components for the Life Science course are the text for each student, The Apprentice's Companion for Life Science for each student, and the Digital Resources for Life Science for the teacher.

All files are in Microsoft Word .docx or PDF format.

All items are printable and distributable to your student or classroom; only one copy of digital resources are needed per classroom or home. 

In this downloadable resource, you will find tools for planning the year, such as a daily Lesson List and sample semester schedule. Starting about week 2 or 3, the quizzes should be administered weekly. Fall and spring semester exams are included. Weekly Review Guides are another resource to give your students to guide them as they learn how to study for a mastery-based course like this one. Also included are an answer key and a document of recommendations for teaching the book.

All supplemental materials are here—no other workbooks or manuals are necessary, making this an economical option. Purchasers have access to the Digital Resources for the lifetime of the product.

The Apprentice’s Companion for Life Science

The Apprentice’s Companion is a valuable new combination of an experiment book, field manual, lab journal, sketchbook, and commonplace book. Enhanced with images of art, poems, and quotes by respected scientists and naturalists, the book prompts students to form hypotheses, take data, and revisit those hypotheses to assess, wherever possible, if they are supported by the data.

Throughout the book, students are prompted to form hypotheses, take data, and revisit those hypotheses to assess, wherever possible, if they are supported by the data. The book is enhanced with images of art, poems, and quotes by respected scientists and naturalists.

Twenty-six activities are included, each keyed to one of the chapters in Life Science. For each chapter in Life Science, the Apprentice's Companion includes short activities requiring only a few minutes and longer experiments requiring the entire class period. Some activities extend over a period of several days.