SOLs Covered: 7.NS.1 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation; 7.NS.2 Compare & Order Rational Numbers
Math Topic: 02 Powers of Ten & Scientific Notation; 03 Compare & Order Rational Numbers
Daily Agenda: September 14-18, 2026
Upcoming Assessments: Unit 2 Real & Rational Numbers (Tues. 10/6)
Good morning! While we obviously spent time on math, a bigger focus for this week has been grades as we've almost reached the halfway point and we now have several formative grades and we've taken our first summative. For these reasons, we've spent a lot of time talking about how to ensure students are getting the best grades/scores possible. First and foremost is knowing how to check grades to stay on top of everything. Final grades will always be on StudentVUE/ParentVUE (henceforth referred to as VUE), but Canvas shows unofficial grades, most of which are sent directly to VUE. When you click on a specific assignment on VUE, the assignment details will load, including a link to the Canvas copy of the assignment. Even if something was given on paper in class, a digital copy is uploaded to Canvas for many reasons, including giving students an option to complete electronically for most if they do not have access to the paper, whether they're absent trying to stay caught up while out, lost the original paper, or not having it with them for whatever reason at a time they sit to do work. The way something is named on VUE directly matches how it is named on Canvas and almost identical to how it is listed in the Daily Agendas and the Google Drive copy (VUE limits the number of characters in the assignment title, so it sometimes needs to be shortened).
The gradebook on Canvas is in part considered unofficial as we complete many more assignments than just those that are graded. You may also notice that for certain tasks, such as this first unit summative, there are two copies of listed. When students do corrections and/or a second take, the original score would be lost if not for that second entry on Canvas, so the "1st take" entry is for tracking and comparison purposes only and doesn't get calculated in the final grade; students can see a note that I left explaining that part on the assignment itself, though I think (unfortunately) that parents/guardians can't see those details. I also will not give lower than a 40% for an attempted summative to ensure a student's grade doesn't "tank" from one assessment as we do not have many summatives each term, so this allows for easier tracking of the students who I need to pull for remediation.
The vast majority of the week has been spent on this first summative as I've used this both as a standard assessment grade while also treating it as a teaching opportunity for how students should approach all future math testing when left to work independently the rest of the year. The students were expected to complete the "1st take" on their own, though they were allowed to use their notes (partially because of the various disruptions here at the start of the school year but also as an added incentive to take the note-taking process seriously), but we spent the rest of the week going over the correction/retake process, which includes a correction form they must complete before they can even get a chance at a second take. We will went over the whole test together while discussing test taking strategies. This included some of the standard strategies teachers have always taught, but it also included how to show work for a computerized test as I've found that the more we've pushed technology at students, the more they struggle with merging said technology with our "old school methods" for working in math class. While I'm a bit of a "tech fan," I fully recognize the drawbacks to it, especially with seeing the impact the increased has had on students over the years, so I'm trying to instill some balance between both the "old" and the "new school" approach to education.
In addition to everything above, I also rolled out the class reward point system, which is tracked on PBIS Rewards (located in the "Backpack" on RapidIdentity, aka CCPS Dashboard). No points are needed for this first assessment since I'm using it as a teaching opportunity, however for future assessments, the second attempt would require students to spend some of their reward points to "buy" the chance to retake. Please note that summative corrections (which will earn back half credit per missed question) will always be "free," so even if a student doesn't have enough points for the retake, they can still improve their grade. The district has only recently finished updating PBIS Rewards, so I'll be updating the class store with the various things students can spend said points on and using this to encourage the students while also incorporating some financial literacy. Once it's set up, I'll remind them of discussions I've already started having with them about budgeting their points and thinking about their "wants vs needs" when they are contemplating a purchase (they might want to spend their points on a treat, but should they save them for a time they might need to buy a second attempt or even an open-notes test?). We won't jump right into the full point system for some of the "big purchases" like test retakes this term. This is to ensure that students have both had a chance to fully settle into my routines and procedures as well as giving them a chance to earn and save up points.
I know that is a lot of information to send on a Friday morning, so please reach out if you have any questions regarding any of this or any other concerns you might have. I do also request that families look over students' current grades for all classes to ensure they are on the right track for 7th grade. As always, I hope everyone has an amazing, restful weekend!