Post date: Mar 12, 2021 9:33:30 PM
MSM2 Block 1
SOLs Covered: 7.8 & 8.11 Probability; 8.9 Pythagorean Theorem
Math Unit: 17 Probability; 18 Pythagorean Theorem
Daily Agenda: March 8-12, 2021
Upcoming Assessments: 3.04 Pythagorean Theorem & Angle Relationships Quiz (TBD)
Math 7H Blocks 2 & 3
SOLs Covered: 7.8 & 8.11 & Probability; 8.9 Pythagorean Theorem
Math Unit: 17 Probability; 18 Pythagorean Theorem
Daily Agenda: March 8-12, 2021
Upcoming Assessments: 3.04 Pythagorean Theorem & Angle Relationships Quiz (TBD)
Howdy! We've now entered Phase 576 of the school year... at least it feels like we've had that many different stages of the year, right?! We successfully completed the second "first week" of in-person/hybrid learning (though I think this counts as at least the fourth first day overall).
It's been a great week and I've loved having kids back in the classroom! Though I'm still missing not being able to see their smiles, I love the happy eyes floating above the masks and getting to hear their giggles in person! That being said, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted! I know change can be a good thing, but I personally struggle with transitions (I'm super OCD and routine-oriented) and thus it can take a little time for me to adjust and adapt. That's not a complaint by any means, just a heads up I guess to let folks know that I'm working on coming up with new routines and norms for this new stage. I've already gotten the "attendance taking" routine streamlined and my various Fitbit alarms are helping me keep up with the newest schedule. I'm holding out hope that this time we won't end up closing again as soon as we've all gotten used to the new norm.
In regards to the work this week, I have to call on parents and guardians to again help with getting the kids to finish up some of their missing work. For Monday's async work, I didn't add anything new to the mix and just asked that the kids finish up their required formative assessment work on ALEKS. Sadly, there is a long list of kids who have not done so at this time. While it was due at the beginning of this week, it will stay open and available on ALEKS through March 29th, but please encourage the kids to take care of this as soon as possible. Since this is the only grade currently in that category, it's thus having a bigger impact on the overall grade. You'll notice a note on ParentVUE/StudentVUE if it's missing stating that students only need to make a 60% on ALEKS to earn full points. Partial credit will be given for anything less than a 60%, but students can keep working on it until the final closing date to get the maximum points.
Additionally this week, we also took the quiz on probability and there's still unfortunately quite a few students who still haven't submitted even the first attempt on the quiz. It's been marked in PVUE/SVUE as missing if that's the case, so please help me by encouraging the kids to get this in as soon as possible. All students are reminded that all quizzes for the second semester automatically come with a second attempt, so if you haven't taken advantage of this, please do so. I just request that you email me once you've made your second attempt; I don't get any special notifications for the second attempt and while I of course check, I don't want to miss giving any student the points they've earned because I missed it.
Since we still had quite a bit of missing work and because we're ahead of pace at this point, I made Thursday another catchup day, which left us starting our next unit (the Pythagorean theorem) today. This marks the beginning of all of our geometry work, which some of the kids are thrilled about as they better connect to this type of math. For kids who are stronger visual learners and often those who are more kinesthetically inclined, they have an easier time connecting to geometry than they do with things like algebra because they just "see" it all. The opposite can be true for those who generally connect more with algebra, but those students should still feel connected to the topic at this level as we work with lots of formulas, which they generally feel much more comfortable with using.
I feel myself entering that "you're starting to ramble... even more than usual" phase, so I'm going to wrap things up here. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email/message me. Hope you all have an amazing weekend!