Post date: Oct 4, 2019 5:45:26 PM
MSM2 Periods 1 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.1 Negative Exponents & Scientific Notation; 7.1 & 8.1 Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers
Math Unit: 04 Negative Exponents, Powers of 10, & Scientific Notation; 05 Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers
Daily Agenda: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2019
Upcoming Assessments: 1.03 Powers of 10, Scientific Notation & Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers Quiz (Tues. 10/8)
Math 7H Period 3
SOLs Covered: 7.1 Negative Exponents & Scientific Notation; 7.1 & 8.1 Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers
Math Unit: 04 Negative Exponents, Powers of 10, & Scientific Notation; 05 Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers
Daily Agenda: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2019
Upcoming Assessments: 1.03 Powers of 10, Scientific Notation & Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers Quiz (Tues. 10/8)
¡Buenas tardes! I'm trying to get this out a little earlier today since I'm booked for babysitting this afternoon and my sister's toddler terrors (who I absolutely adore and who have me wrapped around their tiny fingers) will not be patient enough for Aunt Kimmie to type out an email. This week's focus started with scientific notation, both converting between standard form and scientific notation as well as comparing/ordering numbers in their scientific notation form. In my class, we take a super nerdy route with this by identifying the standard form decimals as "Ant-Man numbers" (since he can shrink down to microscope sizes... we ignore his later movie appearances for this purpose) or "Hulk numbers" (since he becomes a giant anytime he's angry). Even the kids who aren't fans of the movies/comics just seem to "get" this comparison and it's helped tremendously with their understanding.
Since we also work with negative numbers in their scientific notation form, we jump into another pop culture zone by comparing those negatives to being numbers that have been dragged down into the "Upside Down" by the demagorgons (that's a Stranger Things reference in case you're not "in the know"). While in the "normal" world the "big" numbers are greater, the negative values go the opposite direction. If you have a Stranger Things fan in your life, you can imagine how this would work for them but for the non-fans, we still look at where these numbers would fall on the number-line to ensure the concept sinks in fully.
Once we finished tackling scientific notation on it's own, we took it to the next level by comparing it to other types of real numbers. We've hit a couple speed bumps with the merging of topics, so I'm slowing things down a bit more and we'll continue to work on it through Monday before taking the quiz (which had previously been planned for today) on Tuesday. The kids should still ensure they've finished their Google Classroom assignments over the weekend so we can focus on checking those and wrapping up the math notebook work together in class. Even with pushing things back a couple times, we're still ahead of schedule with county pacing guidelines and moving at a very good pace for the year.
In other news, I've caught up on all grading for Units 1-3 aside from math notebooks (still slowed down just by time constraints and the kids needing extra attention during class time). You'll notice that the math notebook grades should be showing up on your side of ParentVUE/StudentVUE as "not graded," which is completely okay for students at this point. The assignments that you might see listed as "missing" or "incomplete" are due to students not doing or not finishing an assignment at the time they were graded. For any formative assignments, students still have the opportunity to improve these grades due to my Liberty & Lambie Point systems, but they need to be completed and resubmitted (for digital Google Classroom [GC] assignments) or turned into the drop-off tray in class (for paper assignments).
Students can also complete quiz corrections for any quiz throughout the year; they must complete the correction form, which is available in class and on this page of my class website in the Error Analysis section. There were a number of kids who'd originally fallen behind in work but who have worked really hard to catch back up again after some class and one-on-one conversations, but if you see things are still listed as missing/incomplete or you don't see a note stating quiz corrections have been completed, please help me by encouraging your child to take advantage of this opportunity. I've made myself available at lunch most days to work with students on their assignments, so if they want a little extra help, all they need to do is ask. For students who have fallen a little too far behind (D/F grades in any class), we (all EDMS teachers) will be calling or emailing in the next few days to make sure everyone is aware. If you are having trouble navigating the updated version of ParentVUE, please feel free to reach out to me (even if not specifically for my class) and I'll be happy to help however possible.
That should about cover everything but as always, please feel free to email if you have any questions/concerns. I hope everyone enjoys what is looking like an actual fall weekend!