Post date: Oct 28, 2018 2:46:05 PM
MSM2 Periods 1 & 2
SOLs Covered: 7.11 & 8.14 Order of Operations (Review) & Evaluating Expressions
Math Unit: 7 Order of Operations, 8 Evaluating Expressions
Daily Agenda: Oct. 22-26, 2018
Upcoming Assessments: 1.05 PEMDAS & Evaluating Expressions Quiz (Mon. 10/29)
Math 7H Period 4
SOLs Covered: 7.11 & 8.14 Order of Operations (Review) & Evaluating Expressions
Math Unit: 7 Order of Operations, 8 Evaluating Expressions
Daily Agenda: Oct. 22-26, 2018
Upcoming Assessments: 1.05 PEMDAS & Evaluating Expressions Quiz (Mon. 10/29)
We're heading into the final stretch, folks! Just one week left until the term ends! Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the week, I just wanted to remind students and give parents a heads up that the last day to turn in all make-up work (previously missing/incomplete assignments) and quiz corrections (aka Error Analysis) will be Wednesday, October 31. I'll need time to get everything marked and updated in the grade system by the end of the week, so that's the ultimate deadline for everything. For some students who have been out for an extended amount of time (more than a day or two) this past week and those who might be absent this week, I will possibly need to give an incomplete on their report cards in order to give them the necessary amount of time to get caught back up again.
Now onto last week's math happenings. After starting the week with a quiz on the previous two units, we had a little discussion over the results. This quiz was lower across the board for the entire grade level and my fellow math teachers and I found that many of the kids were falling for some of the "SOL tricks" and too many were not following the teacher recommendation to convert and compare everything in their decimal formats. While the numbers could be compared in any format (decimal, fraction, percent, and even scientific notation), we find that students make less mistakes and catch their errors better when working with decimals. While their previous teachers may have pushed for fractions and/or percents, I want to again remind students that decimal are much easier to compare.
Regarding the new work for the week, we spent a day reviewing order of operations, which included discussing how to use the new online calculator. While the kids are loving how much the calculator can do for them, I've cautioned that they still need a strong understanding of the topics because the calculator can only "give" them the right answer if they "give" it the right problem; if they type it in wrong because they don't properly understand the process, then the calculator isn't answering the "right" question. This is also true for the work we did over the rest of the week, evaluating algebraic expressions through substitution. While this new online calculator can even do most of the work for them with this topic, the students won't be able to catch their typos if they don't first work the problems out "old school" on paper. Sadly, things like regular in-class assessments and the state SOL tests do not only test students math skills. These assessments also test their reading/reasoning skills and now their tech skills, so we'll spend a good amount of time practicing how to use the Desmos calculator as well as the usual breaking down of the words in both the problems and the extra directions given for certain types of problems.
Before closing things out, I wanted to let everyone know of an extra credit opportunity for this term. I give at least one extra credit opportunity each term and this term's opportunity will be via the new ALEKS system. Next term students will be required to complete 30 minutes of ALEKS work each week for a grade, but to get students ready for that, I'll award up to 10 points extra credit towards the summative grade category. Students can sign onto the ALEKS system through the backpack icon on their CCPS dashboard then clicking the McGraw-Hill Education icon. At this time, they can work on any topic (they previously took a pretest to set them up on their own personal learning path). Students have until the end of the school day on Friday to work on this and it can be worked on at home, not just at school.
As always, feel free to email with any questions. I hope everyone has an awesome week!