Post date: Oct 16, 2016 10:40:43 PM
Math 7H Period 1
SOLs Covered: 8.1b Comparing & Ordering Rational Numbers
Math Unit: #06 Negative Exponents, Powers of 10, Scientific Notation; #07 Comparing & Ordering Rational Numbers
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Neg.Expo., Pow.10, & Sci.Note; Comparing & Ordering Rational Numbers
Upcoming Assessments: Comparing & Ordering Rational Numbers Quiz (Mon. 10/17); Properties Quiz (Fri. 10/21)
MSM2 Period 3 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.13b Evaluating Expressions
Math Unit: #05 Evaluating Expressions
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Evaluating Expressions
Upcoming Assessments: Scientific Notation & Comparing/Ordering Quiz (Fri. 10/21)
This week's update will be a fairly short one (too many chores at home, but never enough hours!). The honors class wrapped up their review of basic negative exponents, powers of 10, and scientific notation before moving onto comparing various forms of rational numbers. As always they've taken quickly to it all, but a few students had Chromebook troubles this week and have some of the digital work to complete now that they have working Chromebooks again. There are a few that also need to go back and look over their previous work as some rushing led to little errors, which they can easily fix with a little more attention.
The MSM2 students worked on evaluating algebraic expressions. At first there were many groans and complaints at the sight of algebra, but they quickly realized it was essentially order of operations work again once the variables are replaced with their numeric values. This led most to feel much better about the unit after last week's improvements, but there were a few struggles as some students have continued to fight the need to show all their work. Parents and guardians, please continue to push the kids to take their time with their work, following the steps that I've laid out for them. While I'll be the first to admit that there's usually more than one way to do most math problems and there are even a few shortcuts that do not automatically lead to mistakes, if a student's chosen way isn't resulting in correct answers and good grades, they should definitely reevaluate their chosen method, instead doing the work the way I've shown. For this unit, that includes first copying the original expression before substituting the numeric value into it. Some of the kids seem to see this as an unnecessary step and while some have still been successful, others are forgetting or missing important parts of the problem that completely change the results, which is the whole reason for that step.
Before I wrap up for the week, I want to make sure that everyone is aware of one of the biggest updates for the week. The kids now have available to them an extra credit opportunity, which will be open until October 31st. The extra credit assignment is on Study Island, a site most students are familiar with from work done at EDMS during their 6th grade year. All students now have their login information, which they should have added to their Math Sites & Games documents as well as added into their math notebooks.
Well, that ended up being a little longer than I first set out to write, but I'm definitely wrapping it up now. There's still laundry and dishes to do plus a few more school things before I can call it a night. I hope everyone has a great week!