email me at brian.risley@wareacademy.org with questions.
Mathematics at Ware Academy emphasizes understanding over route memorization. One of the ways we accomplish this is through the use of John Van DeWalle's Five Mathematical Representations. By connecting pictures, manipulative models, oral language, written symbols and real-world situations, as deliberately as possible in the math classroom, Ware students are better able to think about what they are doing and why. Additionally, Ware students can critically think through novel situations as well as more familiar ones. Specifically in eighth grade, students at Ware Academy use their foundations in algebraic thinking and Geometry from seventh grade to learn operations with polynomials including factoring. This curriculum is integrated with Geometry. In this way, 8th graders leaving Ware Academy will not only have completed Algebra 1, but have a very strong foundation in Geometry.