Post date: Mar 26, 2017 12:03:27 AM
Math 7H Period 1
SOLs Covered: 8.13 Data Analysis
Math Unit: #21 Data Analysis
Daily Agenda: March 20-24, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Data Analysis
Upcoming Assessments: Data Analysis Quiz (Mon. 3/27); Probability Quiz (Tues. 4/4)
MSM2 Period 3 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.6 Similar Figures; 7.12 & 8.14 Relations & Functions; 8.16 Graphing Linear Functions
Math Unit: #20 Similar Figures; #21 Relations & Functions
Daily Agenda: March 20-24, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Similar Figures; Relations & Functions; Graphing Linear Functions
Upcoming Assessments: Relations & Functions Quiz (Wed. 3/29); Unit 20 Test (Thurs. 3/30)
After School Help Session: Tues. 3/28, 3-4PM
Greetings! It's been a super busy week and now we're just one week from the end of term and two weeks from spring break! Like last week, I wanted to give a few reminders and updates before getting into the details on math class this week. There is an extra credit opportunity on Study Island that will be available through Thursday that I encourage every student to take advantage of before it's too late! The kids should also work to take care of any missing/incomplete work and complete an error analysis for assessments to help pull up grades.
I also wanted to let parents and guardians know about a couple of other ways to get a peek into the daily happenings in math class. If you didn't already know, I have a "Teacher Twitter" account that originally started as a way to connect with a broader professional learning network in order to find new ideas and to stay on top of what's happening in education. With our "new" (this school year) superintendent, Dr. Lane, and our principal, Mr. Maynes, being such huge supporters of using social media to also connect with our local community, I've extended my use of this account to share what's happening in my classroom, 7th grade, and the school as a whole. It's been a fun experience thus far (we've even had a couple of celebrity responses that have had as all excited!) and I've even seen kids getting more into their work in hopes of getting it shared in some format. There are quite a few other teachers and administrators using Twitter at EDMS and around CCPS, so it's been awesome getting a glimpse into other classes around the school and district as well. Now while the kids have enjoyed it also (though some opt out of being included in posts), quite a few pointed out that middle schoolers are more "into" Instagram than Twitter, so after checking with Mr. Maynes that using Instagram would also be alright, I set up an account. If you're interested, you can follow me on Twitter @MsLambieMath, on Instagram @MsLambieMath, or see the feeds on the class website homepage. Now onto this week's math!
The honors class started the week with a test on Monday and since I knew part of each math class would be used for spring pictures, the kids had Tuesday to finish up when we weren't down in the auditorium. We started our final unit of the term, data analysis, on Wednesday. The first day was devoted to reviewing the various types of graphs that they've learned in the past before moving onto the "new type," scatterplots, on Thursday. Aside from just going over the logistics of scatterplots and reading different examples, we also worked on learning how to use the Chromebooks and Google Drive to enter data and create digital graphs. This is a skill I wish I'd learned at a much younger age as it would have made my own school work as a kid much easier through secondary, so I made sure the kids also understood that they can use Google Forms and Spreadsheets to help gather and organize data before it's used to create the graphs. This is something I'll revisit with the kids when we are working on our coding PBL project after math SOL testing has wrapped up.
The MSM2 students wrapped up their review of units 19 and 20 before starting the test on Tuesday. Again with pictures taking place during math classes on Tuesday, the kids were given all of class on Wednesday to finish. For those folks who peek ahead at what's planned for class, you might have noticed from the calendar that the term 3 review scheduled for Thursday and Friday in order to prepare for a term 3 benchmark test was eliminated. I had to do quite a bit of reworking the schedule after learning that there would be no benchmark provided nor required by the county; since the EDMS administration still requires data for the third quarter, I had to move and adjust things through the end of April to make everything work. At this point, the calendars should be set through the end of the year (though if I've learned anything in 12 years of teaching, it's to expect the unexpected and that flexibility is often crucial). This includes the SOL test dates, which I have incorporated on my class calendars; I'll be adding a post to the school's website sometime this week with all the testing dates for those wanting to work around those schedules. Now getting back to the MSM2 classes, the kids were given Thursday to wrap up missing/incomplete assignments and even work on the extra credit opportunity. We started working with relations and functions on Friday. The work for this unit and all grades for next week will go onto the final report card, so grades as of today are pretty much what students will see for their term 3 report card; for those students not happy with their current grades, please take advantage of the opportunity at bringing up old grades as well as the Study Island extra credit.
Well, this update got pretty long and I've still got loads of things to take care of this weekend, so I'll close things out here. As always, please feel free to email with any questions. Hope everyone is enjoying the finally-pleasant-again weather!