Post date: Mar 14, 2016 1:12:14 AM
Math 7H Period 1/2
SOLs Covered: 8.9 3-D Models; 8.7 Surface Area & Volume
Math Unit: #19 3-D Models; #20 Surface Area & Volume
CCPS Student Digital Resource: 3-D Models; Surface Area & Volume
Upcoming Assessments: 3.10 Surface Area & Volume Quiz #2 (Thurs. 3/17); 3.11 3-D Models & SA & Vol Test (Mon. 3/21)
MSM2 Period 5/6 & 9/10
SOLs Covered: 7.6 Similar Figures
Math Unit: #20 Similar Figures
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Similar Figures
Upcoming Assessments: 3.10 GeoTrans & SimFigs Test (Mon. 3/14); 4.01 Rel. & Func. CW Quiz (Wed. 3/23)
Greetings all! I know this is going out a bit later than usual, but I was called on for geek squad duties by my mother to help her pick out and set up a new laptop. I'm going to try to keep this on the shorter side since I still have a few chores to complete around the house as well, but as always please feel free to email with any questions.
The Math 7H students worked on 3-D models and seemed to take fairly well to the topic. We took the "quiz" on this together for additional practice and so we could talk in depth about the troubles most kids seem to have with this topic. We quickly moved onto surface area and volume, reviewing prisms and cylinders, which was covered for these students in 6th grade. While our work is digital, I do recommend that students who do not type as fast write the work in their notebooks, recording their final answers to the digital copy or turning in their paperwork. We took a review quiz together on Friday and I'm happy to say that this is the first time everyone got a 100%! This should have been a given for any of the "classwork quizzes" we've taken together before, but there has always been a few kids (varying each time) who haven't gotten them all correct. This is obviously a sign that attention has wandered, so it's excellent that the students have gotten better about focusing on what we are covering.
The MSM2 students started the week with a "catch-up day," allowing students who needed a bit of extra time to catch up on their work. There were a few who were absent that day and still have work to make-up, but most others did an excellent job finishing their missing/incomplete assignments and assessments. The rest of the week we worked on similar figures, which is a mix of our previous work on proportions and dilations. In the past, I always taught a lot of color-coding with the shapes to make matching corresponding sides and angles, but a change to SOL rules a couple years ago means that students can only use a pencil (or pen) and a single color highlighter. We worked on how to make these items suit our needs and I think the kids have taken fairly well to the topic. Those still struggling have been fighting showing their work (including our adapted color-coding) or haven't been following along during class. Some of these same students also need to study, especially focusing on vocabulary and the strategies we have on our smart chart. I ask parents and guardians to encourage the kids to do these things. If students step up their game, they'll find themselves performing better on all of their assignments.
I'm going to wrap things up now, but as always, please email if you have any questions. I hope everyone has an excellent week!