SOLs Covered: 8.7 Geometric Transformations; 8.8 Three-Dimensional Models
Math Unit: 18 Geometric Transformations; 19 3-D Models
Daily Agenda: March 27-31, 2023
Upcoming Assessments: Q3 Benchmark Test (A-Thurs. 4/13; B-4/14)
Greetings! Well, we've made it to spring break and just like the kids, I'm eager to head out and start my break. Before jumping into this week's math happenings, I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of some updates to the gradebook. Normally, the day's work doesn't show up the same day as missing with a grade of zero nor do I enter the Edmentum progress (i.e. "RB Q3 Week ##") before the week has officially ended. For today's work and this week's Edmentum, I did update early so that folks (kids and their grownups alike) can see what the students can expect on their report cards for the third term if nothing else is done. That being said, all students can still improve upon their grades (well aside from one since she already has over a 100%). Any assignment or assessment that is missing (it will have a grade of 0F) can still be completed through the final deadline of April 13th. All formative checks can be redone an unlimited number of times through the deadline. Quizzes can be redone once and then all assessments can be corrected to earn back half credit. The IXL extra credit is open through the deadline and will be applied to the test category (an announcement with information on how to access the extra credit is posted on Canvas). Students behind on completing the required amount of time on Edmentum (15 minutes each week) can make up the time; I'll run a report for today and all of spring break upon our return and the week back will be exclusively for catch-up time. To help with this, especially since attendance was low today, I've been able to adjust our plans for the week back to make those first two days a final catch-up day. Please help me by encouraging the kids to make that final push to improve their grades before the deadline!
In regard to this week's work, I couldn't be prouder of their progress. We wrapped up our work on geometric transformations with a quiz on Tuesday and Wednesday and both the kids and I are incredibly happy with the scores. While I think the topic was in general an easier one overall, I also think a lot of the kids have reached a point of maturation and have realized they have to put in more effort if they want to do well. They've been taking more notes, paying more attention, and just had better attitudes about things. It might also be a sign of spring and just getting out of the "winter slump" that some folks get into, but no matter what it is, I'm thankful and hopeful that it will carry over after the break. For pacing reasons, I had to cut down the newest topic (three-dimensional models) down to a day, which I hated and thus instead of making the quiz a take-home to complete over the break as I'd originally thought I'd have to, I instead used the quiz as the main part of the lesson. This means that I projected the quiz on the board and we worked through the whole thing together. Not only were we covering the topic, but I was also using it as an opportunity to go over test-taking strategies (i.e. slash-the-trash, highlighting key words, etc.). Since we'll be in "SOL Review Season" after the break, I plan to do this a little more often, though most of the time kids will do their first attempt independently and we'll do the second attempt together in those cases. Now there is a little frustration for me as some students still didn't make a 100% even though we went over all the answers together, but I think the kids realize that it means they need to do a better job of paying attention (i.e. no sneaking onto their cellphones, trying to get your friends attention across the room, etc.).
It's now after 4:30PM and I'm pretty sure the rest of the teachers have already headed out, so I'm going to close things out here. As always, please let me know if you have any questions, though please be aware that I most likely won't respond until after the break but promise to do so as soon as possible after that. Hope you all have an amazing spring break!