Post date: Nov 11, 2017 9:46:47 PM
MSM2 Periods 1 & 2
SOLs Covered: 7.13 (7.12 & 7.13) Verbal Expressions & Equations
Math Unit: 10 Translating Expressions & Equations
Daily Agenda: Nov. 8-10, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Verbal Expressions
Upcoming Assessments: 2.02 One-Step Equations Quiz (Mon. 11/20/17)
Math 7H Period 3
SOLs Covered: 8.15a (8.17) Solving Equations (Including Properties)
Math Unit: 11 One- & Two-Step Equations; 12 Multi-Step Equations
Daily Agenda: Nov. 8-10, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Equations & Properties
Upcoming Assessments: 2.01 One- & Two-Step Equations Quiz (Mon. 11/13/17); 2.02 Multi-Step Equations Quiz (Mon. 11/20/17)
After School Help Session: Thurs. 11/16/17, 3-4PM
Greetings all! I hope everyone is staying warm on this super chilly day. Since it's a bit cold even with the heat on in my old house, I'm going to keep this pretty short and sweet, so let's get into this week's math happenings.
It was a short week after a long weekend for the kids (Monday and Tuesday were student holidays as you obviously know), so we started with a bit of review and catch up on the previous week's topics and assignments to get the kids back in gear. There are still a few students who haven't wrapped up these assignments yet and since these are the first grades of the new term, it's resulted in a major hit to their Term 2 grades at this point. This of course can easily and quickly be remedied by the kids finishing and submitting these formative assignments/assessments, so please help me by encouraging the kids to take care of them as quickly as possible.
The majority of these three days were spent merging the topics covered at the end of last week with the newest topics. For the MSM2 classes, this meant moving from practical problems with real numbers (AKA word problems) into verbal translations of expressions and equations. Both topics require being able to translate what operations are required, though the algebraic topic we've moved onto requires a bit more precision as one little word can completely twist an expression around. For example, there are words (i.e. than, from, to) that flip the terms around, over the operation; to help the kids better remember this, I made the idea a little silly by calling them the "John Cena" words that come out of nowhere to slam it over the operation. This seemed to help most of the kids and I'll keep enforcing the idea for those who are forgetting to flip or those trying to flip all the time.
The 7H students reviewed the basics of one- and two-step equations, including modeling equations before taking the first steps into multi-step equations. This is the second topic of the year that is almost completely new to the kids (the first being the laws of exponents), so there is a little struggle for them. This is why we'll be taking this unit pretty slow, not quizzing on multi-step equations until the following Monday (11/20).
All the kids were given a permission form on Friday for an upcoming activity I'd like to do. Since there is food involved and thus food allergies are a possible concern, it's very important that students return the completed form. If allergies are an issue for any students, I'll try to find a suitable substitute in order to allow them to participate. Students who do not return the form will not be allowed to take part in the activity. If folks are willing and able to help out by donating supplies for the activity, it would be so greatly appreciated. The supplies needed are as follows: mini marshmallows (regular and multi-color), Teddy Grahams (regular and chocolate), small paper cups, and sandwich baggies.
Well, this obviously got wordier than I set out to write up, but I think everyone's used to that by now. As always, feel free to email with any questions. Stay warm this weekend!