SOLs Covered: 7.PFA.4 Linear Inequalities; 7.CE.2 Solve Contextual Problems Involving Proportional Relationships
Math Topic: 07 Inequalities; 08 Contextual Problems - Part 2 - Proportional Relationships
Daily Agenda: December 15-19, 2025
Upcoming Assessments: Topic 8 Formative Check (Wed. 1/7); Unit 5 Proportional Relationships (Thurs. 1/8)
Season's greetings, everyone! That's (almost) a wrap on the 2025 portion of our school year! I'm sending this out before school so I can go watch the kids' holiday performances during second block today and then head out ASAP once the day is over. We finally had a normal week of school... well as normal as a middle school can ever be this time of year. As you can probably imagine, the kids have been a little more energetic than usual due to the excitement of an impending break, but most of the kids have well behaved overall.
Unfortunately quite a few students have mentally started their breaks early by taking a break from their work recently. For that reason, we've seen some grades drop recently due to missing work. All work can still be turned in for up to full credit through January 9th, but as that's the Friday of the week we return from winter break, that deadline is quickly approaching. We've spoken with all the kids numerous times at this point and give time at the start of every class to work on missing assignments and corrections. Please help me by looking over grades on ParentVUE, looking at the detailed report (the one that shows the list of all graded assignments, viewed by clicking on the subject from the Grade Book page), and speaking with your child about taking advantage of the opportunity to improve their grade before grades are closed out and the term ends.
For math this week, we started the week by finishing up our collaborative review via the Topic 7 Formative Check prior to starting the summative. I showed them in great detail how to properly show the work for every question of an assessment, even for those they were predominately using the Desmos calculator to complete. As we worked, I reminded them they would be allowed to use the paper from our review to help them during the summative, yet unfortunately some students didn't feel the need to follow along and it's showing in both grades. If they followed along diligently, they had a guaranteed 100 A+ for the formative and guidance to help throughout the summative. Again I ask for your help with encouraging your child to take advantage of these opportunities when they arise in the future if they let it slip by this time.
The rest of the week was spent going over ratios, ratio tables, and proportions. This builds on what we did last year with ratios and proportions while now connecting back to our recent and as a preview for some of our future algebra work. We've looked at how the x (input value) and y (output value) are related, how to determine if something is a proportional relationship or not, how to find missing values, and we've also started to look at some real world application. We'll continue this topic/unit into the new year, recapping everything done thus far and doing any necessary catch-up on the Monday we return before we move onto an introduction to some basic problem solving with percentages. In regard to the two upcoming assessments listed above that will be completed after the break, students will have the chance to work on corrections for those through the following weekend, submitting by the end of day Monday, January 12th.
That should cover everything but please continue to feel free to email if you have any questions. I will not be responding over the break, again in effort of creating a proper work/life balance, but I will respond as soon as possible upon our return in January. I hope everyone is able to close out the remainder of 2025 with plenty of love and warmth from family and/or friends who are like family and that you all enjoy any of the holidays you might celebrate this time of year. Happy Holidays!!!