Homework and Announcements
2/24/2020
Happy Monday! This is my last week as your teacher prior to my maternity leave. I can honestly say that while I am going to enjoy this time with my kids, I will truly miss teaching each and every one of you. It's even hard for me to look at the upcoming units and see the really cool math that you get to explore without me. All of you have made this a great school year!
That said, I am also excited to be leaving you in such good hands. We are extremely lucky to have Mrs. Loftis taking my place while I'm gone. Not only is she an experienced math teacher, but she is kind and patient and I have no doubt you will have a great end to the school year. Being my last week, here are some things you should know. First, I will be finalizing trimester 2 grades before I leave, so this Thursday will be the final day for any retakes or missing work to be submitted. Please make sure you have a plan. Second, this will likely be the last post you see on this website and I will be archiving the Remind classes. If you need to contact Mrs. Loftis, her email address is [email protected]. Here is my review of the upcoming week: Math 6 We are going to be doing another mini-unit, this time reviewing decimal operations. Instead of starting a new unit with only a couple weeks to go, I opted to fill in the space with a few topics that tend to get skipped by the end of the year. This also will allow Mrs. Loftis to pick up next week with a brand-new unit. The unit she will begin with you is a rendition of our Variables and Patterns book which dives into everything you need to know about expressions and equations in 6th grade. This week we will reviewing decimal operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing) and I will be incorporating a few project-based assignments. Your only homework is MathXL. Math 7 This week, we are taking the time to go back to percentages. Many of you did fantastic on the unit test, but there were also a great number of students who needed more time to comprehend the material. We will be spending the next few days doing some additional activities and problems in order to explore percentages further and then take a retake on Thursday . NOT ALL OF YOU WILL TAKE THE RETAKE. As I mentioned, many of you already earned a great score on the original test, so you will not be required to retake. I will have another activity prepared for you. Your only homework is MathXL. Homework and Announcements
2/18/2020
Happy Tuesday! I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. We are coming up on the end of the trimester, so please take the time to check your grades. The last day for retakes and late work in my class will be Thursday, February 27. Math 6 This week, we are continuing our mini Geometry unit. We spent the majority of last week working on a Geometry project - designing a candy carton - and now we will be wrapping up that project by putting some formality to the ideas we explored. The major concepts in the candy carton project were surface area and volume. Your only homework this week will be MathXL. Math Topics Covered Imagine painting all of the sides of a box. The amount of surface to be covered with paint is the surface area of the box. Your student will focus on finding the surface areas of different three-dimensional objects such as the prisms and pyramids. One way to find the surface area of a three-dimensional object is to draw its net, which shows all the faces of the object as a two-dimensional drawing. A net can be cut out and folded to make the object. To find the surface area of the object, we can find the area of each face (as shown on the net) and add them. The areas of the six rectangular faces shown add up to 76 square units because , so the surface area of this box is 76 square units. Math 7 This week, we are officially wrapping up our percentages unit. I scheduled two review days - Tuesday and Wednesday - with the test scheduled for Thursday. You do not have MathXL this week. Instead, you will be expected to work on the review pages at home if they are not completed in class. Homework and Announcements
2/10/2020
Happy Monday! This week all classes will be taking a benchmark on Thursday. The benchmark exams that we take in middle school are only intended to inform my instruction, so don't stress out for this test. The test is not graded and will not be used for placement. However, please be sure to do your best as the test provides great feedback on how we are doing as a class. Read below to see what your week looks like in math:
Math 6 This week, the sixth graders are taking a little break from the normal routine to complete a mini-Geometry unit. They will be working with partners to design and build candy cartons. No part of this project will come home for homework and should be completed entirely in class. Your only math homework is MathXL. Math 6 Topics Covered The candy carton unit will cover the following Math 6 Geometry topics: finding the areas of triangles and rectangles, nets, calculating surface area of 3D solids, and finding the volume of prisms. Math 7 This week, the seventh graders will be wrapping up the percentages unit. We only have a few more lessons left and will probably take the unit test next Thursday after spending a couple days reviewing. Your only math homework is MathXL. Math 7 Topics Covered Your student is learning to describe increases and decreases as a percentage of the starting amount. For example, two different school clubs can gain the same number of students, but have different percent increases. The cooking club had 50 students. Then they gained 6 students. This is a 12% increase because 6 out of 50 is 12% (6/50). They now have 56 students, which is 112% of the starting amount. The computer club had 8 students. Then they gained 6 students. This is a 75% increase, because 6 out of 8 is 75% (6/8). They now have 14 students, which is 175% of the starting amount. Here is a task to try with your student: The photography club had 20 students. Then the number of students increased by 35%. How many students are in the photography club now? Homework and Announcements
2/3/2020
Math 6
This week, the sixth graders will be finishing up their unit on fraction operations with a test on Wednesday. I am not assigning a MathXL assignment to facilitate a more meaningful review for the students. Tonight and tomorrow night, students will take home a review activity. Please do not spend too much time on this activity (20 minutes and then put it away). The whole idea is that they should be reviewing in class and then revisiting for just a little bit at home. These assignments will not be graded for completion, but for effort. This should also be your window into how much they accomplished during their class time. Were they productive with the 50 minutes given? Math 6 Topics Covered This unit was pull from Let's Be Rational. The test will cover all of the investigations and many review problems will come from this text. Math 7 This week, the seventh graders will move on to the second section of our percentages unit. We have officially made the transition from fractions and decimals onto percents. We will end the week with a partner quiz on Friday. Your only math homework is MathXL. Math 7 Topics Covered Your student is learning to describe increases and decreases as a percentage of the starting amount. For example, two different school clubs can gain the same number of students, but have different percent increases. The cooking club had 50 students. Then they gained 6 students. This is a 12% increase because 6 out of 50 is 12% (6/50). They now have 56 students, which is 112% of the starting amount. The computer club had 8 students. Then they gained 6 students. This is a 75% increase, because 6 out of 8 is 75% (6/8). They now have 14 students, which is 175% of the starting amount. Here is a task to try with your student: The photography club had 20 students. Then the number of students increased by 35%. How many students are in the photography club now? Homework and Announcements
1/28/2020
Happy Tuesday! I hope you all enjoyed another long weekend. This week will be business as usual as 6th grade nears the end of their unit and 7th grade continues through the first section of their unit. Please read below for details.
Math 6 This week, the sixth graders will be finishing up their unit on fraction operations with a few lessons on word problems. For the last few weeks, we've been reviewing and learning all of the operations on fractions. Now, we will be applying these skills to solve word problems. All sixth grade classes will end the week with a partner quiz for practice. Next week, we will be ready to take the unit test on fraction operations and this will likely fall on Tuesday or Wednesday (February 4 or 5). Your only math homework is MathXL. Math 6 Topics Covered This weeks lessons are being pulled from the Let's Be Rational book in your home textbook. If you would like to review them, read through pages 68 - 72. These are the lessons we are covering in class. Math 7 This week, the seventh graders will continue working through the first section of their percentages unit and we will end the week with a quiz on Friday. Your only math homework is MathXL. Math 7 Topics Covered This week your student is learning about proportional relationships that involve fractions and decimals. For example, a baker decides to start using 1/6 less than the amount of sugar called for in each recipe. If the recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, the baker will leave out 1/6 x 2, or 1/3 cup of sugar. That means the baker will only use 2 - 1/3, or 1 2/3 cups of sugar. The amount of sugar the baker actually uses is proportional to the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. The constant of proportionality is 5/6. Here is a task to try with your student: The baker also decides to start using 1/6 more than the amount of liquid called for in each recipe.
Homework and Announcements
1/21/2020
I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! This week, each class will be moving onward in their units. Please read below:
Math 6 We are continuing our unit on fraction operations and wrapping up the final operation: division. Everything in this unit can be found in your textbook at home, and this week will come out of investigation 3 of the Let's Be Rational text. Students will still be receiving the daily lessons for their math folders simply because I love how efficient and productive we are with this system. Remember that at the end of each lesson, I have detailed where to find the lesson overview and extra practice problems in the textbook. Your only homework this week is MathXL. We might take a partner quiz on Friday. This is a BIG "maybe" as I do not want to over-test, but I also feel it would be beneficial to wrap up all of the operations with a nice little assessment. If we take a quiz, it will be a partner quiz to alleviate some of the stress. Topics Covered this Week At this point, we have covered addition, subtraction, and multiplication of fractions. This week, we will be diving in division. This is the first operation that you most likely did not see in elementary school (although I know of a few fifth grade teachers who cover it). Throughout the week, continue to analyze what division means: splitting or grouping. If you would like additional review or practice. I recommend reviewing pages 47 - 54 of Let's Be Rational (these are the lessons we will complete in class). You can also work through some of the practice problems as outlined on each lesson I assign. Math 7 Last week, we completed the Circles unit and took a unit test. Please check your score online and plan for a retake if you earned a D or an F. We are going to begin a new unit title Proportional Relationships and Percentages. This unit does not match anything in your textbook at home. We are adding this extra unit in simply because the CMP3 text doesn't dive into percentages as much as we need to. That said, your daily lessons will be your best resource for notes, new vocabulary and practice problems. Your homework this week is MathXL. Topics Covered this Week Homework and Announcements
1/13/2020
Happy Monday everyone! We are looking at another full week this week. All classes will have a quiz or test of some sort this week. Please read below for more details.
Math 6 We are continuing our unit on fraction operations: Let's Be Rational. Everything in this unit can be found in your textbook at home. Students will still be receiving the daily lessons for their math folders simply because I love how efficient and productive we are with this system. However, at the end of each lesson I will detail where to find the lesson overview and extra practice problems in their textbook. Your only homework this week is MathXL. We will be taking a quiz on Tuesday (tomorrow) on fraction addition and subtraction. After that, we will be diving into multiplication. Topics Covered this Week We will be wrapping up fraction addition and subtraction on Tuesday, and then we will begin fraction multiplication on Wednesday. As part of this new topic, we will be discussing the connection between "of" statements and multiplication situations. For instance, 2 groups of 12 is 2x12. How would this look if it were 2 1/2 groups of 12? If you would like additional review or practice. I recommend reviewing pages 30-36 of Let's Be Rational (these are the lessons we will complete in class). You can also work through some of the practice problems as outlined on each lesson I assign. Math 7 We will be ending our circles unit this week. This is a short unit and the test that we are taking on Wednesday will be short also. Please be prepared with your circumference and area formulas memorized. Your homework this week is MathXL and the review sheet. Homework and Announcements
1/6/2020
Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the Winter break! Here is everything that is going on this week:
Math 6 We are starting a new unit this week on fraction operations: Let's Be Rational. Everything in this unit can be found in your textbook at home. Students will still be receiving the daily lessons for their math folders simply because I love how efficient and productive we are with this system. However, at the end of each lesson I will detail where to find the lesson overview and extra practice problems in their textbook. Your only homework this week is MathXL and we will be ending the week with a quiz on Friday. Topics Covered this Week We will be learning how to add and subtract fractions. This is a topic that is often covered in fifth grade, but we review it thoroughly again in sixth grade. We will also be expanding to include mixed numbers this year. If you would like additional review or practice. I recommend reviewing pages 8 - 17 of Let's Be Rational (these are the lessons we will complete in class). You can also work through some of the practice problems as outlined on each lesson I assign. Math 7 We will be continuing our circles unit this week. Before break, we learned about circumference and now we will be moving on to area. This is a short unit and we should be wrapping it up with a test next week. Your only homework this week is MathXL. Topics Covered this Week Prior to the break, we learned about Pi (3.14) and how this important number is the ratio of circumference to diameter. More specifically, to find the circumference, you multiply the diameter by Pi. This week, we will be expanding on this knowledge to develop an understanding of how to find the area of a circle. This Week...
12/16/2019
Last week of school before break! I hope everyone is looking forward to a fun and relaxing two weeks.
MATH 6 This week, I will not be assigning any homework; however, I will be giving an extra assignment to students who need to prepare for a retake. Please consider this assignment as a means to prepare you for your retake, not as a punishment. As such, do not spend hours stressing over this. Please come in for help and make sure you understand the material. This is not about completion as much as it is about catching up on what you don't understand. You can complete the extra assignment at any time throughout the week and turn it in when you are ready. I will meet with each student after they complete the assignment to see if they would like to schedule a retake. While retake tests are optional, the assignment is not. I highly recommend retaking any test on which you receive a low grade simply because math concepts in this class build on previous units. If you didn't perform well on the second unit test, and you didn't go back and try to understand those topics, chances are you also struggled on the test that followed. I highly recommend you try to finish the assignment early this week so that you can perhaps take a retake and improve your grade before you leave for break. CONTENT: This week, we will be diving into some fun Geometry lessons. This is good content, but I wanted to keep things light this week. We will be focusing on what area is. MATH 7 This week, I will not be assigning homework. Please take this time to make sure you check your grades and look into taking a retake test if you need to. CONTENT: We are going to be exploring the circumference of circles and ending the week with a partner quiz on the topic. Homework and Announcements
12/9/2019
Happy Monday! We have a big week ahead of us. All classes are wrapping up the unit that they are currently working on at some point this week. Read below to see how best to prepare:
Math 6 This week, we are finishing our mini-unit on percentages. We went out of the text book for this unit as I have found in past years that our text doesn't quite dive deep enough into percentages. You will be receiving a review sheet on Wednesday and the test will be on Thursday. Your only homework is MathXL and the review sheet if you don't finish it in class on Wednesday. Math 6 - Topics Covered this week Let’s say 440 people attended a school fundraiser last year. If 330 people were adults, what percentage of people were adults? If it’s expected that the attendance this year will be 125% of last year, how many attendees are expected this year? A double number line can be used to reason about these questions. Students use their understanding of “rates per 1” to find percentages, which we can think of as “rates per 100.” Double number lines and tables continue to support their thinking. The example about attendees of a fundraiser could also be organized in a table. Toward the end of the unit, students develop more sophisticated strategies for finding percentages. For example, you can find 125% of 440 attendees by computing With practice, students will use these more efficient strategies and understand why they work. Here is a task to try with your student: For each question, explain your reasoning. If you get stuck, try creating a table or double number line for the situation.
Solution: Any correct reasoning that a student understands and can explain is acceptable. Sample reasoning:
(source: Open Up Resources) Math 7 Last week, we wrapped up our Comparing and Scaling unit. We are going to be reviewing today and testing tomorrow. The test is shorter than usual, so I am only setting aside one day to complete it. Your only homework is MathXL and the review sheet if you don't finish it in class. Math 7 - Topics Covered this week This week your student will work with graphs that represent proportional relationships. For example, you could make a graph that represents a relationship between the amount of square feet of carpet purchased and the cost in dollars. Say for instance that each square foot of carpet costs $1.50. The point on the graph tells us that 10 square feet of carpet cost $15. In proportional relationships, the points on the graph are arranged in a straight line. If you buy 0 square feet of carpet, it would cost $0. Graphs of proportional relationships are always parts of straight lines including the point (0,0). Here is a task to try with your student: Create a graph that represents the relationship between the amounts of grape juice and peach juice in different-sized batches of fruit juice using the recipe “for every 5 cups of grape juice, mix in 2 cups of peach juice.” (source: Open Up Resources) |