Post date: Jan 17, 2016 9:48:26 PM
Math 7H Period 1/2
SOLs Covered: Aligned with Common Core standards (VA SOL comparison to CCSS can be found here.)
Math Unit: CS in Algebra Student Workbook
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Math 7H
Upcoming Assessments: Coding PBL for another week! 2.10 CW Polynomials Quiz (Wed. 1/27); 2.11 CCPS Quiz #5 (Fri. 1/29)
MSM2 Period 5/6 & 9/10
SOLs Covered: 7.4 & 8.3b Consumer Applications
Math Unit: #14 Consumer Math
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Consumer Applications
Upcoming Assessments: 2.11 CCPS Quiz #5 (Tues. 1/19); 2.12 RRP & CM Test (Mon. 1/25-Tues. 1/26)
I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy our first real taste of winter! It was the perfect snow as well since it came and went within a few hours, with much of the snow already melted. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be able to make it through the end of term without it affecting school. Don't get me wrong, I love a good snow day as much as the next teacher or student, but we have plenty to do before the end of term. On that note, let's get down to business.
I'm sure the most important bit of information to most folks will be the extra credit opportunity that was posted before the start of school on Friday through TenMarks.com. The kids were all informed during class that day and have until January 28th (the day before term ends) to complete it. It is not an "all or nothing" kind of grade as students can complete as much as they chose within that time with all points going towards the summative category. The students were asked to double check that they still have their login information, which was first given to them during the first term and to check with me if they did not; new students were given their login information as well.
Regarding the happenings in class this week, the 7H students became fully immersed in our coding PBL. The project covers a wide range of math topics, starting at the basics (ex. setting up the code to properly solve an order of operations problem) all the way up to higher level skills (ex. setting up coding functions with the proper domain and range to solve mathematical functions). Even when we wrap up our coding work at the end of next week (to be worked on in pieces when the schedule permits and again after SOLs), we will reflect on this work as the topics pop up in our future lessons (ex. discussing how adjusting the size in a shape function was using code to dilate the shape in the same way we'll use computation to do the same during our geometric transformations unit at the beginning of the third term).
The MSM2 classes worked on consumer applications. We started with the basics of finding the percent of a number, using that to move onto calculating tax, tip, discount, and even commission. Finding the percent of change for various scenarios was covered on Wednesday and simple interest on Thursday before taking the quiz on Friday. There were again students who had not finished and they were instructed to complete it over the weekend, turning in the work on Tuesday when we return from the long weekend. Of those students who finished, the mistakes I'm finding are predominantly due to reading the question incorrectly or not completing every step (again probably due to reading the question wrong, ex. finding the discounted sales price when the question only wanted to the amount of discount) as their work shows the correct processes. Students will be able to do corrections on this quiz as it was formative, but the quiz that will be given this Tuesday is a county assessment which, as noted before break, will no longer come with an automatic chance at corrections; it has instead been added to the points list as an additional thing the students can spend their points.
I'm going to wrap things up here for now, but I encourage every student to take advantage of the extra credit opportunity with the extra time off tomorrow.