SOLs Covered: 7.NS.1 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation
Math Topic: 02 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation
Daily Agenda: September 8-12, 2025
Upcoming Assessments: Unit 1 Exponents & Powers Summative (Mon. 9/15)
Good afternoon! I have plans I have to leave for soon, so this will truly be a short email update. The beginning of the week was devoted to math MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing. This test is to show us students' current levels in a similar way to the old Virginia SGA SOL (Student Growth Assessment), but I actually prefer the data from MAP as it shows me a lot more than what the state would release to teachers. We'll be taking the test again in the winter and the spring to see how the students improve throughout the year. I'm also looking into some of the extra practice options that are available based on MAP scores, which includes Khan Academy that has an added feature to fine tune students' pathways based on their scores within each category.
We spent the rest of the time going over scientific notation, which the kids have done fairly well with, especially when they could virtually explore things in scientific notation to see how they compare in size. Between that and my personal "superhero method," the kids have have gotten a solid grasp of converting and comparing numbers in scientific notation. The one hiccup I do see are the students who try to do all the work in their head rather than writing it down, so please help me by encouraging them to do things the "old school way" with paper and pencil. I had originally planned to have the quiz today, but I honestly feel bad about all of the extra testing coming from the county/state the past two weeks, so I pushed the quiz to Monday. We'll do a little review to start and then jump straight into it.
That should cover everything and I need to be running out the door now anyway. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!