SOLs Covered: 8.5 Angle Relationships; 8.9 Pythagorean Theorem
Math Unit: 14 Angle Relationships; 15 Pythagorean Theorem
Daily Agenda: Feb. 13-17, 2023
Upcoming Assessments: Quiz 3.02 Angle Relationships & Pythagorean Theorem (A-Wed. 2/22; B-Thurs. 2/23)
Greetings! With today being such a "blah" day, I'm just as eager to head out as the kids today, so let's get straight into this week's math happenings. We started this week by wrapping up our unit on angle relationships by covering how to find missing angles. While sometimes it's a simple computation problem, it's more often going to require a bit of algebra. The kids weren't thrilled for the reappearance of algebra, but they did agree that the problems aren't as complex as those we covered during our algebra units. And while they don't see it this way, I think it's a great way for us to continue reviewing the process of solving multi-step equations. Some kids are still struggling with the fine details (when to combine like terms vs. when we're moving variables and which operations we have to do for both), so the extra practice this work entails will help keep the concepts fresh. Algebra work will keep popping up in review and will be their whole semester next year when they get into high school Algebra I, so it's really important that the kids continue to practice. To help with that, there are additional resources in the unit folders and on my class Portaportal, but the kids can also use sites like IXL and Khan Academy, both of which they have available through their PG Class Link.
The rest of the week was devoted to covering Pythagorean theorem. The kids were a little leery at first, both because of the name itself as well as seeing "letters getting thrown into their math again" in the form of the formula itself, a²+b²=c². With a little practice the "old school way" and then after I showed them how to set things up on the VA scientific Desmos calculator, the kids quickly realized the work really isn't hard at all. Today with the A-day kids, we got into word problems, which promptly brought on plenty of moans and groans, but once I showed them how we can turn the word problem into a picture, they agreed that even this wasn't too bad. The B-day kids will get this practice on Tuesday (reminder, no school Monday!) and then we'll be taking the quiz on the two units (14 Angle Relationships and 15 Pythagorean Theorem) on Wednesday/Thursday.
Before I close this out, I'd like to again ask students and their grownups to look at their current grades on Tyler as there are already a lot of students with at least one missing assignment. This is in part due to absences, but students are still responsible for the work they miss while out. I do realize that completing the work can be difficult when students might have missed the lessons, but I'm happy to help students before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 7AM and the school has it's on tutoring before and after school for several subjects, including pre-algebra (sign up here). Students can also use the additional resources in the modules, unit folders, and class Portaportal if they are unable to do either.
Well, that should cover everything. As always, please let me know if you have any questions. Hope you all have an amazing weekend!