In math we have been learning about area and surface area. I can understand the concept of area in a two dimensional shape by using a formula. I can calculate the area of rectangles, squares, triangles, and parallelograms by using the correct formulas depending on the shape. I can explore the concept of surface area of a 3D shapes faces by using a formula and writing out a net. I can calculate the surface area of rectangular prisms and cubes by multiplying the area of the faces by the number of faces that have the same area. I can understand how changing dimensions affect area and surface area. I am very confident in calculating the area of rectangular prisms, cubes, triangles, and parallelograms. I am most confident in this because I have been practicing a lot and doing a lot of homework on that topic. I feel that I need to improve on understanding how changing dimensions affect area and surface area because I haven’t spent as much time working on it. I want to get better at this because I feel that it is something very  important.

We have learned about ratios for the past month. We have been studying rates, ratios, unit rates, and proportions. Equivalent ratios are ratios that can be equivalent if you multiply them by the same numbers. For example 2:6 and 4:12 are equivalent because 2 times 2 is 4 and 6 times 2 is 12. There are many different ways you can represent ratios, like tables and double number lines. A double number line is two number lines that are used to keep track of equivalent ratios. Say if there are twenty pigeons for every 40 ducks, how many pigeons would there be if there were 80 ducks? The double number line can help with that by showing that the 80 and the 40 are perpendicular to each other. A table is 2 columns with normally 6 rows. You can use this the same way as a double number line by writing down the number of ducks and pigeons that are in the rows that are parallel to each other, but sometimes the table has a little bit more room. Part-Part Whole ratios are when someone says for every 1 pigeon, there are 2 ducks, if there are 9 boxes of 30 ducks, how many pigeons? Then you have to use the diagram they give you to figure that out. A ratio is kind of like a fraction, but instead they use : to separate the two numbers. A rate is a ratio that keeps repeating itself. For example, Susan receives 20 dollars for every hour she works, what is the rate she will get paid if she works 8 hours? A rate is just a ratio but you use the word rate in the sentence. A unit rate is a rate for one of something. An example is if you ran 70 yards in 10 seconds, you ran on average 7 yards in 1 second.

The learning target was: I can analyze and interpret ratios and rates, and apply them to solve real world problems. Additionally, I can connect equivalent ratios to percentages, using tables and double number line diagrams to reinforce the concept of percentages as rates per 100. On this unit test I got an exceeds. I got an exceeds because I got all of the questions right, and also showed my work.The unit rates and ratios have evolved in this unit by becoming more complex, and starting to use different formulas. For example, when we started this unit we would find a unit price by dividing the price by the number of products there are. As we started getting close to finishing the unit, we used the formula of part over whole equals percent over 100 and then we cross multiplied. What helped me with these concepts was the worksheets that we did. Our class did them together and It taught me how to use formulas in the correct way. This can be applied in real world contexts by being able to find the right deal. For example, If there was something that you needed, and you could buy one of them for 4.50 but you could buy 3 of  those for 12.50, 12.50 would be the right deal because it is cheaper than the original unit price. I used my knowledge of this when I noticed that a group of scouts was selling chocolate bars. It was 3 dollars for one, and 10 dollars for 3. I used my knowledge of finding unit prices and I found out which was the better deal. Tables and double number lines helped me with finding these, but I found out that using tables is a little bit easier for me, because there is more room to put larger numbers, and it is a little bit more organized. Lastly, vocabulary. I learned that percent or percentage means: For every 100. This helped me with percentages by telling me that every time I tried to find the percent of something, I know that the number that I am trying to find the percent of is one hundred percent. As you can see, my knowledge of ratios, rates, and percentages has improved greatly.

On my math test I got three questions wrong, which means I got a meets. I am very proud of this, because even though I got some wrong I still persevered through the hard questions.How my understanding of division of fractions has evolved throughout the year, is from me not being able to identify if a problem was division or multiplication at the start of the year, whereas now I can pretty much tell from any equation. Situations where you can encounter fractions can be like when you are trying to find the volume of something, or trying to measure something. A challenge that I faced during this unit was probably telling between multiplication and division. I am pretty good at it now but it was really hard to learn. At first if it was multiplication I would need to get help from my teacher and I could barely tell if it was. If it was a division problem I would almost never be able to get it right, because I wasn't very used to dividing them. I am pretty confident in solving problems with fractions in the real world. A scenario where that might happen is if you are trying to find the volume of a box or something and the sides are not very precise and are fractions, I can use these skills to help me do that.

My understanding of place value helped me because I knew where to put the different decimals and decimal points. For example, if I had to move a decimal point over three spaces while doing division, I knew to move the decimal point 3 spots over on the other number. When I was at durango treasures, there was a pack of rock candy for 5 dollars. Each pack had 12 rock candies in them, so to find how much one of them would cost, I divided 5 by 12. Connecting different mathematical operations enhanced my overall problem solving skills by teaching me how to tell if a problem was multiplication or division, which made it a lot easier to solve problems. A challenging scenario I encountered when I was working with decimals was finding the unit price for something, because you could sometimes get it mixed up with finding how much you could get for $1. What I learned from this was that when finding the unit price you have to divide the quantity by the price, not the other way around. I think mastering efficient algorithms will help me in the future by teaching me how to calculate prices and quantities. In a real world problem you could use this for finding the price of something, finding the amount of something, etc. If I wanted to find the unit price of something, I would divide the quantity by the price, which would get me the price for one of something.