SOLs Covered: 7.NS.3 Analyze Square Roots & Perfect Squares; 7.NS.1 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation
Math Topic: 01 Squares & Square Roots; 02 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation
Daily Agenda: September 8-11, 2026
Upcoming Assessments: Unit 1 Exponents & Powers Summative (Tues. 9/15)
Greetings! With Back-to-School Night last night, making yesterday a 12.5 hour workday for me, I'm one very tired teacher, so this week's update will be a little shorter and sent early, but hopefully still helpful and understandable. This week still had a few "wonky" components, meaning we still haven't had a fully "normal" week: I (along with the rest of the Carver math teachers) had a training yesterday morning, pulling us from 1st/FLEX/2nd block classes and today is picture day, which is being handled through math classes. Even with the changes to the week, we've gotten to the point where the kids are settling into the routines, which will in turn make navigating the year and work easier.
In regards to math this week, we reviewed perfect squares before moving onto negative exponents and powers of ten, which was introduced in 6th grade with positive exponents. The students have done well with this topic, but we've spent a significant amount of time discussing some of the common mistakes kids have made in the past and how they can avoid making those same mistakes, thus also avoiding the negative affect that could have on their scores assessments. We've also heavily discussed the possibility that there might be a writing component added to future math SOL tests. The state hasn't explicitly said they will be doing so, but some of the verbiage coming from the state leads me to believe it's at least a possibility, so we've started working on how to properly explain things in "teacher-speak" from "student-speak." This is something we will do throughout the year as it should help students be more successful even if they do not add a writing element as state math testing is just as much a reading test as it is a math test (those dreaded word problems just keep getting trickier and trickier each year!).
We also started exploring scientific notation, which is a completely new concept for the children. This is one of those topics that I can freely admit can be boring for students, so my way of making a little more interesting is by incorporating the MCU/Marvel into the lesson. Even students who are not Marvel fans themselves at least recognize the characters referenced (predominately Hulk and Ant-Man) and thus they can connect with it a little better. With the minor disruptions to the week mentioned above as well as the students comfort level with the topic, I decided to push the first test to next week so we can have a little more practice with it as well as waiting for a fully "normal" week before tackling the first summative.
That should cover the important bits and the bell ending 2nd (my planning block) has just rung, so I'll wrap things up here. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email. I hope everyone has an amazing, restful weekend!