SOLs Covered: SOL 8.4 Consumer Math
Math Unit: 09 Consumer Math
Daily Agenda: November 14-18, 2022
Upcoming Assessments: Q1 Benchmark Test (A-Mon. 11/28; B-Tues. 11/29)
Good afternoon! I'm just as eager to get started with our break as the kids, so I'm going to try to keep this update quick. We started the week with the B day kids learning about discount, tax, tip, commission, and markups before we all covered simple interest and prepared for the quiz on the unit. To help with the review and to emphasis some of the common mistakes kids often make when assessing this standard, I went over the entire Unit 9 formative check with the class on the board as we've done a few times in the past. This again means that I went overall the correct answers, so it was an easy 100A+ if they followed along; as some students and their families will find, not all students who were present that day were paying close enough attention (despite repeated prompts and reminders to focus) and thus they didn't all get that easy A+. I'd like to ask that families speak with the kids about the importance of paying attention in class to reinforce what I have already discussed with them. For students who were absent, they can make arrangements to come in before school one morning after fall break to get that same advantage.
While we went through the formative check, I pointed out all the simple yet crucial mistakes kids often make on this topic. Kids will often not take the questions through to the last step; for example, many fill find the amount of discount for a problem, forgetting to calculate the sales price that the question is really asking for. In reverse, sometimes the kids take it too far; for example, finding the final cost of a meal when the question only wants the amount of tip. There are also little formatting problems where kids will get all of the math right but type it in wrong such as when the question wants the answer typed in money format, but the student forgets to include the dollar sign or doesn't type the change correctly (ex. typing 19.5 instead of $19.50) or not including a percent symbol when it's required. This type of mistake was always heartbreaking to me as a kid but all of these types of mistakes I get almost offended on the kids' behalf as it makes it seem like the student doesn't get the topic but it really is either more of a reading issue or an attention issue. These are exactly why I give an extra attempt on quizzes and I wish more than anything I could do the same for tests and the SOL, but it's my hope that they'll be fully prepared when we get to that point.
We ended the week with the quiz on the unit, which the kids have done really well with overall, though many did need that second attempt to correct all the little mistakes I just mentioned. There are still quite a few students who need to finish the quiz (some just needing to finish their second attempt), so they've been asked to finish it over the break. They've also been asked to study for their benchmark test that will be taken as soon as we come back from the break; I hate testing right after a break, but that's just how the pacing played out. I gave the kids a review to help with their studying, the key to check it can be found on the class Canvas page in the module that has been set up for the benchmark. They can email any questions over the break, though I've warned I won't be quite as fast replying as I fully plan to enjoy the time with my family and friends while out. I hope they all are able to enjoy some downtime as well, but some kids gave themselves a bit of downtime before the break even started and thus have a few missing assignments in the gradebook that need to be made up. For students who haven't been working on their Edmentum learning path during royal block, I've set up an assignment that can be done to make it up on Delta Math; students can also work on Edmentum over the break and any time spent working on it next week can be used to makeup either of the past two weeks. For missing formative checks, the kids just need to go onto Canvas and complete/redo those. I'll start sending emails and making phone calls for kids who are still behind when we return, but I'm hoping the kids will use the extra time to catch up on the things that have fallen by the wayside so far in this new quarter.
Well, as is probably no surprise to you by now, I've yet again gotten carried away, so I'll go ahead and close things out here. I do want to say that I'm so thankful for all the amazing kiddos I have who do what they can to make my day just a little brighter simply by being their amazing selves! I've already seen some amazing progress in these kids since the year started and I look forward to seeing where the rest of the year takes us. Thank you also to the amazing families behind these kids; they wouldn't be as awesome as they are without you! I hope everyone has an amazing break and holiday; for those who are giving up their holidays to continue looking out for the rest of us, thank you for your sacrifices!