I hope everyone is staying healthy and making the best of this unexpected time away from school.  We are projected to return to school on May 11th, which is after the May 6th due date for the Geometry Map projects.  The projects had already started coming in before the early release.  Those who haven't turned them in may plan to bring them in by Wednesday, May 13th.  We will be using the projects for some classroom assignments once they are all in.  Keep in mind that the projects are part of the Tests/ Projects category.

Fractions always make me feel like we've entered the Twilight Zone.  Last week we were busy with fraction and mixed number operations (adding and subtracting).  This week we will review fraction and decimal conversions and operations.  By the end of the week we should be introducing percents. 

In place of the usual warm up this week students will be journaling about various math subjects.  All core classes are using a little extra time in class this week to get students writing about the different subjects. 

Last week we also began mandatory math tutorials for failing students on Tuesday mornings from 8-8:25.  I still have my regular tutoring times available.  They are all mornings from 8-8:25 (with the exception of my duty weeks, which won't roll around again for a couple more weeks) and after school on MONDAY, TUESDAY, and FRIDAY until 4:15 or 4:30.  Thank you to those parents who are juggling schedules and everything else in order to get your children to school for extra help.

I have been super impressed with the projects the students are bringing in.  On Monday, we played the games that were made by the students.  It was a lot of fun.  The students worked so hard on timelines, game boards, PowerPoint presentations, and posters.  We enjoyed a day without any warmups or homework.  Tuesday, we went back to fractions, which we will continue covering the next few weeks.  This week we will simplify fractions, convert among decimals and fractions, and begin adding and subtracting fractions.

Week of January 12-16, 2009

Happy New Year!

This week we will begin fraction models and operations.  These lessons begin in chapter 8 of the Math Explorations textbook.  Many different resources will be used to reinforce key concepts.  The main focus of this week is equivalent fractions (like 1/2 and 2/4) and simplest form. 

Important Events: Project Rough Drafts are due January 7th, and the completed project is due January 14th.  These are a big part of students' grades.  It is important to complete and turn in a project on time.  Grades cut off on the 16th so there will be very little time to turn in late work for reduced credit.

This week we will be reviewing decimal operations.  We will have a test on Wednesday covering all decimal operations and applications.  On Thursday I will pass out a review packet that we will work on through Friday to prepare for next week's benchmark.  The benchmark is scheduled for Thursday, December 18th.

Don't forget Family Math Night tonight (December 8th). I hope you're all able to attend.

 This is the last week of the 2nd six-weeks grading period.  The 6-weeks test will be on Tuesday, November 11. Monday we will review for the test.  Homework on Monday will be more review of what we have learned this period.  As students finish the test on Tuesday, they will be given an "alternative assignment" to work on.  By the end of the period, every student will have this to complete Tuesday night.  They may turn this in on Wednesday to take the place of a missing homework grade or bump a low grade, if nothing is missing.  Please encourage your child to take advantage of this opportunity.  We will finish the week with Least Common Multiple. 

The Coordinate Plane: All four quadrants.  Students should be able to label the x- and y-axes, the origin (0,0), and the four quadrants.  They should be able to give coordinates of plotted points and be able to plot points when given the coordinates.  They also should be able to locate new coordinates when given instructions to move a point however many units in any direction on the coordinate plane.

Functions: Students should be able to create a table based on given information, plot points on the coordinate plane and label the function.

Divisibility, Factors, and Multiples: Students learned divisibility rules for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10.  Given any number, they should be able to state whether it is divisible by a certain number or not.  They learned about factors of numbers, factoring numbers to prime, and how to find the greatest common factor (GCF).  They learned what is the difference between factors and multiples.

Prime and Composite Numbers: Students have learned the difference between prime and composite numbers.  They should be able to use the divisibility rules to check a number and quickly know if it is prime or composite.

Exponents: Students have been working this entire period and some of the first six weeks on exponents.  They have learned what an exponent is and how it affects the base.  They should be able to evaluate an exponent as well as write a repeated multiplication problem in exponential form.  They know how and when to evaluate exponents in a multi-step/operation problem (Order of Operations).  Most students have mastered these concepts.  We are now working on application problems (word problems).

Unique Prime Factorization: Given any number students have learned how to factor it to a product of prime numbers.  They know how to write this in exponential form.  The students have also learned how to use prime factorization to find the greatest common factor and least common multiple.

 Looking at Friday's Quiz results, we are forgetting some of the old material as we learn the new.  Students did well with prime factoring.  However, questions from prior learning, including algebraic expressions, were troublesome.  Our warm ups this week will focus on this to ensure that we retain what we learn after we move on to a new topic.  This week we will begin Greatest Common Factor.  There will be another test on Friday to go back over the old stuff, but also cover GCF. 

 Week of October 27-31, 2008