Post date: Dec 18, 2016 5:34:43 PM
Math 7H Period 1
SOLs Covered: 8.3a Practical Problems with Proportions
Math Unit: #12 Ratios, Rates, & Proportions
Daily Agenda: December 12-16, 2016
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Practical Problems with Proportions
Upcoming Assessments: Consumer Applications Quiz (Fri. 1/6)
MSM2 Period 3 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.15 Inequalities
Math Unit: #12 Inequalities
Daily Agenda: December 12-16, 2016
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Inequalities
Upcoming Assessments: Ratios, Rates, & Proportions Quiz (Fri. 1/6)
After School Help Session: Tues. 1/10, 3-4PM
Seasons Greetings! We made it to break and since I know everyone is definitely ready for that break from school, I'm going to try to keep this week's update fairly short so everyone can get back to enjoying the free time! Before getting into what each class did this past week, I wanted to make sure everyone knew that an extra credit opportunity for this term has been posted on StudyIsland and will be available through the weekend after we return from break (closing on 1/9/17). Ideally, I'm hoping each student takes a little time to work on this opportunity over the break along with making up any missing/incomplete assignments. I know some kids will have busy weeks with family plans and trips though, thus the extra week before the assignment closes.
The honors class continued working on proportional reasoning skills, reviewing concepts they have all proven themselves fairly strong with in order to prepare for the consumer applications work we'll be covering when we return from break. Since they flew through the work this week and I didn't want to start a new unit before break, most of the honors kids were able to work on enrichment activities (additional Khan Academy coding to extend last week's Hour of Code, logic puzzles, Cartesian cartoons) while a few others caught up on assignments. A few still have some final Khan Academy assignments and the last Edmodo work check to complete, in part due to struggles with getting replacement Chromebooks this past week, so I highly encourage these students to work on these over the break so they can come back all caught up with their classmates.
A good part of the week was spent on prep and then testing in the MSM2 classes. The previously planned inequalities quiz was turned into more of a practice quiz and was done together as a class, with me projecting the test to the board while students followed along on their Chromebooks. This was done in part to give us additional review as students were still struggling with some of the inequality rules (i.e. when to flip the inequality symbol, how to check solutions, etc.). An even bigger reason was to review test taking strategies that kids seem to keep dropping simply due to the digital element of the test. One of the most important things with algebra (really most math in general) is working the problems out step by step, but with today's digital format of testing, kids are trying to work it all on a calculator and/or mentally, without writing things down in some format. This is something I've written about in the past, but I'm still trying to impart the importance to students, so if parents/guardians can help emphasis this point at home, I would greatly appreciate it. For most of the students who are merging the "old" and the "new" together, they found they did fairly well on the test, but those who are writing the minimum struggled on this first test of the term. To help the kids both improve their scores as well as reviewing the topic, four additional Khan Academy assignments were set up. Each completed KA assignment can take the place of a missed problem on the test; for students who do not need the extra grade points, Lambie Points will be awarded instead, so I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity no matter what score they got on the test.
Well, that ended up being longer than I set out to type, so I'm closing things out here. I've got a fairly packed couple weeks planned with my family, so I won't be quite as "connected" over the break and might not respond immediately, but still feel free to email if you have any questions. Happy Holidays!