Post date: Mar 18, 2017 5:07:55 PM
Math 7H Period 1
SOLs Covered: 8.7 Surface Area & Volume
Math Unit: #20 Surface Area & Volume
Daily Agenda: March 13-17, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Surface Area & Volume
Upcoming Assessments: Units 19-20 Test (Mon. 3/20-Tues. 3/21)
MSM2 Period 3 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.8 & 8.8 Geometric Transformations; 7.6 Similar Figures
Math Unit: #19 Geometric Transformations; #20 Similar Figures
Daily Agenda: March 13-17, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Geometric Transformations; Similar Figures
Upcoming Assessments: Units 19-20 Test (Tues. 3/21-Wed. 3/22)
After School Help Session: Tues. 3/21, 3-4PM
Hello again, folks! Another week down and only two more to go this term! Before we get into this week's topics, I wanted to let everyone know that the extra credit assignment has been posted on Study Island as promised. There is one posting for the honors class (9 topics total), but the MSM2 classes had to be split into two parts (2 topics in one, 4 topics in the other) in order to cover the entire term, which includes two strictly Math 8 SOLs. The assignment will be open through the end of the day on March 30th (one day before the end of term). The kids will be given a bit of time to work on this extra credit opportunity when we are reviewing for the benchmark, but I encourage them to work on it independently as well. Now onto this week's math happenings.
The honors class continued working on surface area and volume, starting the week with a quick review quiz that covered the Math 7 topics they'd learned last year. We then moved onto the newer components, triangular prisms, pyramids, and cones. This has been a little tougher for them as the kids have struggled a bit with the formulas themselves. These shapes require using other formulas in order, so we had to spend a bit of time breaking down the requirements before them become comfortable. Students are reminded to break down the shape into its individual components. The base shape on a prism/pyramid is used to find its perimeter (p, needed for surface area) and its area (B, needed for finding the volume). The Pythagorean theorem is often needed with the right triangle found in the cross section of pyramid/cone to find the "regular" height (h, inside height from apex to the center of the base used for volume), the slant height (l, outside height from apex to outer edge of the base), and sometimes the side length on the square base of a pyramid or the radius of a cone. I also recommend that students draw the shape out if a picture isn't given with the problem and to highlight the required dimensions. They were much more comfortable by the end of the week, but I'd like to encourage the kids to continue practicing the practice sections assigned on Khan Academy, even after they've completed the requirements for the assignment, until they are more comfortable with the shapes. The test for this section will be started on Monday and time will be given Tuesday to finish as needed.
The MSM2 classes started their week with a quiz on geometric transformations with mixed results. Some students did great, but others need to pay closer attention to the small details of the questions (rotating counter-clockwise rather than clockwise, reflecting over the y-axis versus the x-axis, looking for the coordinates of the prime point rather than the original, etc.). Much of the transformation sections on Khan Academy do not work with our middle school standards here in Virginia (aside from the parts on translations), so students are encouraged to practice with the relevant starred sections on IXL as well as the StudyIsland extra credit assignment previously mentioned. Most of the week was spent working on similar figures, which we've touched on previously during our proportions unit during the second term and in part with dilations during the transformations unit. We spent some extra time matching up corresponding sides and angles as that is usually where I find students struggle the most; once they've identified the matches, they generally have an easy time setting up the proportions and solving for missing sides or determining similarity. Students are reminded to carefully work problems where the shapes are "twisted/turned" around, looking at the angle markings and/or the naming of the shape to identify correspondence. We'll spend some time reviewing Monday as the kids will be testing on these topics Tuesday and Wednesday.
Well, I'm going to wrap things up here. I've got a good bit of work to do getting grades updated since many of the kids worked overtime this week catching up on some of their missing/incomplete work. Let's all keep pushing the kids to work their hardest and give their best for this last stretch of the term! Hope everyone has a great weekend!